THE wheels are silent, the cords are slack,

The terrible faces are surging back.

France, they too love thee! bid that keep plain;

The wrath and carnage I stayed afar

Colleagues of my white conscience are:

Accept my slayers, accept me slain!

Shed for days, in its olden guise

The quiet delicate snake-skin lies

To cheat a boy on his woodland stroll:

What if he crush it? Others see