FullReads

‘EQUALITY OF SACRIFICE’

A. ‘I was a “have.”‘ B. ‘I was a “have-not.”‘
(Together) ‘What hast thou given which I gave not?’

A SERVANT

We were together since the War began
He was my servant–and the better man.

A SON

My son was killed while laughing at some jest. I would I knew
What it was, and it might serve me in a time when jests are few.

AN ONLY SON

I have slain none except my Mother, She
(Blessing her slayer) died of grief for me.

EX-CLERK

Pity not! The Army gave
Freedom to a timid slave:
In which Freedom did he find
Strength of body, will, and mind:
By which strength he came to prove
Mirth, Companionship, and Love:
For which Love to Death he went:
In which Death he lies content.

THE WONDER

Body and Spirit I surrendered whole
To harsh Instructors–and received a soul …
If mortal man could change me through and through
From all I was–what may The God not do?

HINDU SEPOY IN FRANCE

This man in his own country prayed we know not to what Powers.
We pray Them to reward him for his bravery in ours.

THE COWARD

I could not look on Death, which being known,
Men led me to him, blindfold and alone.

SHOCK

My name, my speech, my self I had forgot.
My wife and children came–I knew them not.
I died. My Mother followed. At her call
And on her bosom I remembered all.

A GRAVE NEAR CAIRO

Gods of the Nile, should this stout fellow here
Get out–get out! He knows not shame nor fear.

PELICANS IN THE WILDERNESS

(A GRAVE NEAR HALFA)

The blown sand heaps on me, that none may learn
Where I am laid for whom my children grieve….
O wings that beat at dawning, ye return
Out of the desert to your young at eve!

THE FAVOUR

Death favoured me from the first, well knowing I could not endure
To wait on him day by day. He quitted my betters and came
Whistling over the fields, and, when he had made all sure,
‘Thy line is at end,’ he said, ‘but at least I have saved its
name.’

THE BEGINNER

On the first hour of my first day
In the front trench I fell.
(Children in boxes at a play
Stand up to watch it well.)

R. A. F. (AGED EIGHTEEN)

Laughing through clouds, his milk-teeth still unshed,
Cities and men he smote from overhead.
His deaths delivered, he returned to play
Childlike, with childish things now put away.

THE REFINED MAN

I was of delicate mind. I went aside for my needs,
Disdaining the common office. I was seen from afar and killed….
How is this matter for mirth? Let each man be judged by his deeds
I have paid my price to live with myself on the terms that I
willed.

NATIVE WATER-CARRIER (M. E. F.)

Prometheus brought down fire to men.
This brought up water.
The Gods are jealous–now, as then,
They gave no quarter.

BOMBED IN LONDON

On land and sea I strove with anxious care
To escape conscription. It was in the air!

THE SLEEPY SENTINEL

Faithless the watch that I kept: now I have none to keep.
I was slain because I slept: now I am slain I sleep.
Let no man reproach me again, whatever watch is unkept–
I sleep because I am slain. They slew me because I slept.

BATTERIES OUT OF AMMUNITION

If any mourn us in the workshop, say
We died because the shift kept holiday.

COMMON FORM

If any question why we died,
Tell them, because our fathers lied.