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1917
THEY shall not return to us, the resolute, the young | |
| The eager and whole-hearted whom we gave: | |
| But the men who left them thriftily to die in their own dung, | |
| Shall they come with years and honour to the grave? | |
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| They shall not return to us, the strong men coldly slain | 5 |
| In sight of help denied from day to day: | |
| But the men who edged their agonies and chid them in their pain, | |
| Are they too strong and wise to put away? | |
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| Our dead shall not return to us while Day and Night divide— | |
| Never while the bars of sunset hold. | 10 |
| But the idle-minded overlings who quibbled while they died, | |
| Shall they thrust for high employments as of old? | |
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| Shall we only threaten and be angry for an hour? | |
| When the storm is ended shall we find | |
| How softly but how swiftly they have sidled back to power | 15 |
| By the favour and contrivance of their kind? | |
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| Even while they soothe us, while they promise large amends, | |
| Even while they make a show of fear, | |
| Do they call upon their debtors, and take council with their friends, | |
| To confirm and re-establish each career? | 20 |
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| Their lives cannot repay us—their death could not undo— | |
| The shame that they have laid upon our race. | |
| But the slothfulness that wasted and the arrogance that slew, | |
| Shall we leave it unabated in its place? | |
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