In Sun and Shade: A Book of Verse

by Frederick George Scott

 

THE UNBROKEN LINE

 
We who have trod the borderlands of death
    Where courage high walks hand in hand with fear,
Shall we not hearken what the spirit saith,
    “All ye were bothers there, be brothers here”?

We who have struggled through the baffling night
5
    Where men were men and every man divine,
While round us brave hearts perished for the right,
    By chaliced shell-holes stained with life’s rich wine.

Let us not lose the exalted love which came
    From comradeship with danger and the joy
10
Of strong souls kindled into living flame
     By one supreme desire, one high employ.

Let us draw closer in these narrower years,
    Before us still the eternal visions spread;
We, who outmastered death and all its fears,
15
    Are one great army still—living and dead.