A Sheaf

by John Galsworthy

I, who in battle, my comrade’s arm linking,

Shouted and sang—life in my pulses hot

Throbbing and dancing! Let not my sinking

In dark be for naught, my death a vain thing!

God, let me know it the end of man’s fever!

Make my last breath a bugle call, carrying

Peace o’er the valleys and cold hills, for ever!

CREDO

(From the Neutral Press, 1914.)

To love peace with all one’s heart. To feel that war is a black stain on the humanity and fame of man. To hate militarism. To go any length to avoid war for material interests, war that involves no great principle, distrusting profoundly the common meaning of the phrase “national honour”—all this is my belief.