Marching Men: War Verses/The Recruit

by Helena Jane Coleman

For works with similar titles, see The Recruit.

THE RECRUIT.

 

THROUGH all the anguish of these days,
The haunting horror and the woe,
One thought can set my heart ablaze
My memory aglow.

It is his look just as he turned
After the last good-byes were said,
A look as though for him there burned
Some beacon-light ahead.

As though beyond the farthest thought
Of this dark world's horizon rim,
Some star of faith by us uncaught
Swung into range for him.

As though his spirit, winged, had flown
Past stormy seas on some far quest,
And like a bird had found its own
Hid in a quiet nest.