Ballads of Battle/"When We Remembered—"

by Joseph Lee

"WHEN WE REMEMBERED———"

Think not, far friends, that we forget,In these red realms of wrack and rue,The white cliffs round our England set,The Channel waters white and blue.

Think not, that on this smiling plain,Where, snake-like coiled, the trenches lie,In dreams we do not see againOur bleak hills buttressing the sky.

Think not, within the grim, grey lines,Haunted by gaunt and grimy men,Comes no cool chaunting of the pinesThat guard one well-remembered glen.

By black hearths in the broken farm,Bethink ye we remember notThe fire-glow, welcoming and warm,Which lights the path to one loved cot?—Bethink ye we remember not?

By black hearths in the broken farm.—"When we Remembered———"

Here, where the ruined chapels raiseTheir blackened beams against the blue,Comes echo of the hymn of praiseSung by our home-folk, leal and true.

Here, by the stile, where lovers stood,And strong hands laboured with the sheaves,Where are dear drops of human bloodAs crimson as the poppy leaves;

Here, where the ripened harvests rot—Where rot an hundred ungraved men,Bethink ye we remember notThe little Croft beneath the Ben?Bethink ye we have aught forgot?Bethink ye we remember not?