<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">From the Line</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Have you seen men come from the Line,</p><p class="line">Tottering, doddering, as if bad wine</p><p class="line">Had drugged their very souls;</p><p class="line">Their garments rent with holes</p><p class="line">And caked with mud</p><p class="line">And streaked with blood</p><p class="line">Of others, or their own ;</p><p class="line">Haggard, weary-limbed and chilled to the bone,</p><p class="line">Trudging aimless, hopeless, on</p><p class="line">With listless eyes and faces drawn</p><p class="line">Taut with woe ?</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Have you seen them aimless go</p><p class="line">Bowed down with muddy pack</p><p class="line">And muddy rifle slung on back,</p><p class="line">And soaking overcoat,</p><p class="line">Staring on with eyes that note</p><p class="line">Nothing but the mire</p><p class="line">Quenched of every fire ?</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Have you seen men when they come</p><p class="line">From shell-holes filled with scum</p><p class="line">Of mud and blood and flesh,</p><p class="line">Where there's nothing fresh</p><p class="line">Like grass, or trees, or flowers,</p><p class="line">And the numbing year-like hours</p><p class="line">Lag on--drag on,</p><p class="line">And the hopeless dawn</p><p class="line">Brings naught but death, and rain--</p><p class="line">The rain a fiend of pain</p><p class="line">That scourges without end,</p><p class="line">And Death, a smiling friend ?</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Have you seen men when they come from hell ?</p><p class="line">If not,--ah, well</p><p class="line">Speak not with easy eloquence</p><p class="line">That seems like sense</p><p class="line">Of ' War and its Necessity ' !</p><p class="line">And do not rant, I pray,</p><p class="line">On ' War's Magnificent Nobility' !</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">If you've seen men come from the Line</p><p class="line">You'll know it's Peace that is divine !</p><p class="line">If you've not seen the things I've sung--</p><p class="line">Let silence bind your tongue,</p><p class="line">But, make all wars to cease,</p><p class="line">And work, and work for Everlasting Peace !</p></div></body></html> · Great War