A Letter From the Trenches to a School Friend

The horses never slackened till

They reached the doorway and stood still.

Then came the knock, the unlading; then

The honey-sweet converse of men,

The splendid bath, the change of dress,

Then - oh the grandeur of their Mess,

The henchmen, the prim stewardess!

And oh the breaking of old ground,

The tales, after the port went round!

(The wondrous wiles of old Odysseus,

Old Agamemnon and his misuse

Of his command, and that young chit

Paris - who didn't care a bit

For Helen - only to annoy her

He did it really, K.T.A.)

But soon they led amidst the din

The honey-sweet — in,

Whose eyes were blind, whose soul had sight,

Who knew the fame of men in fight -

Bard of white hair and trembling foot,

Who sang whatever God might put

Into his heart.