<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">Somewhere in France, 1918</h1><p class="byline">ALMON HENSLEY<br xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"/><span class="smallcaps">Everybody's Magazine</span><br xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"/>Permission to reproduce in this book</p><div class="stanza"><p class="line">LEAVE me alone here, proudly, with my dead, </p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Ye mothers of brave sons adventurous;</p><p class="line">He who once prayed: "If it be possible</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Let this cup pass," will arbitrate for us.</p><p class="line">Your boy with iron nerves and careless smile</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Marched gaily by and dreamed of glory's goal;</p><p class="line">Mine had blanched cheek, straight mouth and close-gripped hands</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">And prayed that somehow he might save his soul.</p><p class="line">I do not grudge your ribbon or your cross,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The price of these my soldier, too, has paid;</p><p class="line">I hug a prouder knowledge to my heart,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The mother of the boy who was afraid!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">He was a tender child with nerves so keen</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">They doubled pain and magnified the sad; </p><p class="line">He hated cruelty and things obscene</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">And in all high and holy things was glad.</p><p class="line">And so he gave what others could not give,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The one supremest sacrifice he made,</p><p class="line">A thing your brave boy could not understand; </p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">He gave his all because he was afraid! </p></div></body></html> · Great War