CONTENTS
WAR’S EMBERS
THE VOLUNTEER
(To A. L. B.)
I would test God’s purposes:
I will go up and see
What fate He’ll give, what destiny
His hand holds for me.
For God is very secret,
Slow-smiles, but does not say
A word that will foreshadow
Shape of the coming day.
Curious am I, curious ...
And since He will not tell
I’ll prove Him, go up against
The naked mouth of Hell.
And what hereafter—Heaven?
Or Blighty? O if it were ...
Mere agony, mere pain the price
Of the returning there.