The
Penalty
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The cold dawn wakes in pain
With mist and drizzling rain;
An ambulance draws nigh
Holding one doomed to die. Heart-sick
at such a death, |
5 |
| |
His
comrades hold their breath,
All ankle-deep in mud
Soon to be stained with blood. Blindfold
his eyes, lest he
The firing party see;
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10 |
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Handcuff
him to that stake,
Lest he some movement make. His
strength may fail the test,
Pin paper on his breast
To mark the fluttering heart |
15 |
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Which
shirked the nobler part. Before
the shells he quailed
And lamentably failed.
Death, which he fled from then,
Now comes from brother men. |
20 |
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His wild thoughts fiercely roam
To past years, past sins, home,
And mingle with the rain
He will not hear again. A
moment more and fate
|
25 |
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Will
open some dark gate;
What will the quenchless mind
Beyond that portal find? Somewhere
he heard that God
The hill of darkness trod; |
30 |
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But
in this blinding night
He gropes in vain for light. [Page 60]
Though
sweat breaks on his brow,
He will not weaken now;
His bearing gives no sign |
35 |
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Of
cowardice in the line. Would
God that he had shared
All that the others dared,
And braved the thunderous fire
Among the broken wire. |
40 |
| |
But on his bandaged face
No human eye can trace
The changes that are wrought
By agony of thought. He
sets his teeth and stands
|
45 |
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With
twitching, handcuffed hands,
His marked heart well in view;
God grant their aim be true. A
shuffling in the mire,
“Ready, Present—Fire.” |
50 |
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He
falls, and one man more
Has vanished from the war. [Page 61]
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