<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="" class="head">From Home</h1><h1 align="" class="head"><span class="smallcaps">To the Men Who Fell at Beaumont-Hamel</span><br xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"/><em>November</em> 13<em>th,</em>1916</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">THE pale sun woke in the eastern sky</p><p class="line">And a veil of mist was drawn</p><p class="line">Over the faces ot death and tame</p><p class="line">When you went up in the dawn.</p><p class="line">With never a thought of fame or death,</p><p class="line">Only the work to do,</p><p class="line">When you went over the top, my friends,</p><p class="line">And I not there with you.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The veil is rent with a rifle-flash</p><p class="line">And shows me plain to see</p><p class="line">Battle and bodies of men that lived</p><p class="line">And fought along with me.</p><p class="line">Oh God! it would not have been so hard</p><p class="line">If I'd been in it too,</p><p class="line">But you are lying stiff, my friends,</p><p class="line">And I not there with you.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">So here I sit in a pleasant room</p><p class="line">By a comfortable fire,</p><p class="line">With every thing that a man could want,</p><p class="line">But not the heart's desire.</p><p class="line">So I sit thinking and dreaming still,</p><p class="line">A dream that won't come true,</p><p class="line">Of you in the German trench, my friends,</p><p class="line">And I not there with you.</p></div></body></html> · Great War