A Treasury of War Poetry (2nd Series)/Old War

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178043Old WarArthur L. Phelps

CANADA

OLD WAR

I see you sitting in the sungleams there,
   Scabbard on arm, the mighty blade withdrawn,
   Musing a little. Dreams of customs gone
People your mood—old loves, old quests to dare;
The sword so doubly tempered to its wont
   Of battle, keen to be swift smiting through
   Dark arms, you fondle almost as if you
Had borne it shouting in the fight's red front.

All this upon a quiet afternoon
   Of golden sun in Canada. The years
       Are but a curtain that you brush aside.
This hour you hear the ancient battle rune
   In gleaming glens, and to your sight appears
       Old war and all its honour and high pride.

Arthur L. Phelps

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.

This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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