A Letter From the Trenches to a School Friend

This from the battered trenches - rough,

Jingling and tedious enough.

And so I sign myself to you:

One, who some crooked pathways knew

Round Bedwyn: who could scarcely leave

The Downs on a December eve:

Was at his happiest in shorts,

And got - not many good reports!

Small skill of rhyming in his hand -

But you'll forgive - you'll understand.