<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">Hope</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">SINCE Death has summoned to the dark Beyond</p><p class="line">Our best and bravest, and no heart dare hope</p><p class="line">For the dim days to be-so frail, so fond</p><p class="line">And foolish our dead dreams-we blindly grope</p><p class="line">Amid a world convulsed by storm and strife,</p><p class="line">With helpless hands, seeking our old lost faith,</p><p class="line">Our vanished loves; calling in vain for life;</p><p class="line">The answer from the reeking void is "Death."</p><p class="line">Nature, hast thou no part in this our pain?</p><p class="line">No sympathy with man? Else why bestow</p><p class="line">The smiling tears of tender April rain,</p><p class="line">The loveliness we loved a year ago?</p><p class="line">The golden glory of the fainting west,</p><p class="line">The broken gleam of stars on windy seas,</p><p class="line">The splendour of the mountain's lofty crest</p><p class="line">Darkling against the sky, the evening breeze</p><p class="line">Laden with perfume of an English spring,</p><p class="line">The purple pageantry of hill and moor,</p><p class="line">The joy of flow'rs that blow, of birds that sing,</p><p class="line">The beauty that our hearts so loved of yore</p><p class="line">Why flaunt them while we weep? Soft she replies,</p><p class="line">ìAs flowers fade, suns set, and yet shall be,</p><p class="line">So, tho' men perish, Man's spirit never dies,</p><p class="line">But lives and grows to all Eternity."</p></div><p class="byline">Wynne Stewart</p>(The <em>(Woman at Home)></em></body></html> · Great War