Maurice Baring (1874–1945)

I SAW you starting for another war,

The emblem of adventure and of youth,

So that men trembled, saying: ‘He forsooth

Has gone, has gone, and shall return no more.’

And then out there, they told me you were dead,

Taken and killed; how was it that I knew,

Whatever else was true, that was not true?

And then I saw you pale upon your bed,

Scarcely two years ago, when you were sent

Back from the margin of the dim abyss;

For Death had sealed you with a warning kiss,

And let you go to meet a nobler fate:

To fight for hearth and home, O fortunate,

To die in battle with your regiment.