War, the Liberator, and Other Pieces/Victory and Failure
VICTORY AND FAILURE
Arras, April 9th
Roeux, April 23rd, 1917
NOT for the day of victoryI mourn I was not there,The hard fierce rush of slaying men,The hands up in the air,But for the torn ranks struggling onThe old brave hopeless way,The broken charge, the slow retreat,And I so far away.
And listening to the tale of RoeuxI think I see againThe steady grim despairing ranks,The courage and the pain,The bodies of my friends that lieUnburied in the dew—Oh! friends of mine, and I not thereTo die along with you.