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,
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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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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
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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.
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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. [Page 89]
A moment more and fate
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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;
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30 |
But
in this blinding night
He gropes in vain for light.
Though sweat breaks on his brow,
He will not weaken now;
His bearing gives no sign
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35 |
Of
cowardice in the line.
Would God that he had shared
All that the other dared,
And braved the thunderous fire
Among the broken wire.
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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
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45 |
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 |
He
falls, and one man more
Has vanished from the war. [Page 90] |
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