THE ROAD TO MONTFAUCON

“M. P., the road from Avocourt

That leads to Montfaucon?”

“The road, sir, black with mules and carts

And brown with men a-marching on—

The Romagne woods that lie beyond

The ruined heights of Montfaucon—

“North over reclaimed No Man’s Land

The martyred roadway leads,

Quick with forward moving hosts

And quick with valiant deeds

Avenging Rheims, Liége, and Lille,

And outraged gods and creeds.

“There lies the road from Avocourt

That leads to Montfaucon,

Past sniper and machine gun nest,

By steel and thermite cleansed. They’ve gone—

And there in thund’rous echelon

The ruined heights of Montfaucon.”

Harold Riezelman, 1st Lt., C.W.S.