Collected Poems Of The Great War A Century On

No. 14. - THE COMPATRIOT by ALAN S JEEVES How near me came the hand of death As round about the fallen lie And as I snatched a stolen breath Another sorry hundred die Still, as I lay there cold and scared When, came the morning I was spared. With blooded face and shattered limb I cleared my eyes so I could see And looked into the eyes of him But I was better off than he For, he so tall and strong and good Was lying lifeless in the mud. How much he lived his life in fun And sang the songs that made us brave Who, waking with the early sun, The brightness of the day he gave Within his face the morning shone Yet, in a heartbeat he was gone.