"I was Elsie Inglis
When I trod the ground;
Now I am lying here
In a long sleep and sound."
What did you do, Elsie Inglis,
To prove your heart's worth?
"I laboured all my life long
To serve women on earth."
And what was it you did
Earned you this requiem?
"When men went out to fight,
I went out with them."
What could a woman do
In such unholy revel?
"Men fought with each other,
And I fought with evil."
When men fought with men
What foe could you hold?
"The foe they left behind them.
Fever, Famine, and Cold."
Which was the bitterest
Of all you saw fight?
"My foe slew blindly,
But men in broad light.
"My foe slew blindly,
The children with the mother:
My foe slew men,
But men slew each other."
MAURICE HEWLETT