WAR VERSE EDITED BY FRANK FOXCROFT NEW YORK THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY PUBLISHERS PREFACE Tins is by no means the first collection of poems of the great war and it is certain that it will not be the last. If it has one outstanding characteristic which dis tinguishes it from other collections, it is that the material for it is not the result of a quest among volumes of verse, and only to a slight degree is it the work of the recog nized poets. It owes its origin to the fact that the Editor has been a close reader of the English journals, magazines and reviews since August, 1914, and has been increasingly impressed with the fine quality of the war verse con tributed by writers unknown or little known. The spirit rather than the form of this verse carries its appeal to the reader. It is not the work of professional verse writers who have seen in the events of the war stirring and timely literary material but, to a large extent, it is the spontaneous expression of sincere feeling, the feel ing of the soldier in the trenches, waiting for the order to go over the top the next morning, and thinking of home, of England, of Oxford, or of the crocuses of Not tingham, or the feeling of the wounded man in the hos pital or of the nurse who cares for him. In not a few instances, the poems, when printed, have borne, under the name of the writer, the inscription Killed in action, , which has given the lines the peculiar poignancy of a message from a man who has fought his last fight, and has done it without fear or faltering. VI PREFACE Regarded merely as verse, some of the poems by little known writers in this collection rise to as high a level as the writing of the recognized poets regarded as the expression of true feeling, they often rise much higher. It would be presumptuous to describe this volume as an anthology. That term would imply research, orderly arrangement, classification. It has seemed to the Kditor more suitable to present these poems without explanations or any definite grouping. The verses are sometimes li ht and gay, more often serious, but always they ring true. FRANK FOXCROFT. INDEX TO TITLES VH1 INDEX TO TITLES EPIPHANY VISION In the Waul EUfHANASY .... EVERLASTING ARMS, THE . FAITHFUL COMRADE, THE , FAREWELL FAREWELL TO ANZAC FLAGRANTE HELLO . FLANDERS 1915 . 14 FOR A SCRAP OF PAPER FOR THE RED CROSS . FOR THEE THEY DIED FROM BOSRAH . GERMAN PRISONERS . GIFTS OF THE DEAD . GODS HILLS .... , Gons OK WAR .... SOLD STRIPES .... GKAV IN FLANDERS, A . GRAY GAUNTLET GUEAT GUNS OF ENGLAND, THE GUARDS CAME THROUGH, THE . GUNS IN SUSSEX, THE HALF A SCORE o SAILORMEN , HEART-CRY, THE HE is DEAD WHO WILL NOT FIGHT J rt f Adav-Mactloiitilit 349 A. fr. Jjw. . . 28-2 A. Cr. Itys-JtfMS . 50 JP. y. Fisher . .164 jHfnry Newbolt . . Ill C Fox Smith . , 153 A. C Sftfis . , 5 U 179 2S5 Paul Hyacinth L yMH trwilattd fa Sir Jtwti btattt Owen Seaman Jo in Drinkwafrr Allhuwt Sergeant Josef It , habbctton Lttthtwi Hdward Mclbtnt i A. K Flortne A Wenm Lord Crtwe Eimim Atkinson Lord Dunsany , S y Arthur Oman Dtyfo Sir Arthur Conan Jfyytt C Fox Smith F. W. BowdMon . Julian Gnnfilt . 168 392 J il 127 V 46 204 3 31 43 130 INDEX TO TITLES HE PRAYED . HELPING HEY JOCK, ARE YE GLAD YE LISTED .... His MAJESTYS MINE-SWEEPERS HOME AT LAST .... HYMN OF LOVE, A An Answer to the Hymn of Hate . I HAVE A RENDEZVOUS WITH DEATH IN ENGLAND .... IN FLANDERS FIELDS IN LAST YEARS CAMP IN THE MORNING IN TIME OF WAR IN WAR . IN WAR TIME .... INN o THE SWORD, THE A Song of Youth and Wai INWARD CLARION, THE IT CANNOT UK KINGS HIGHWAY, THE KircHENKRs MARCH LAMKNf FROM THE DEAD, A LAUREL AND CYPRESS LEAVE HER, JOHNNIE LK POILU DE C LIFES FAVORITE LITANY IN WAR TIMIC LITTLE OLD ROAD, THE LITTLE PKOPLBS, THE LITTLE SHIPS, THE LIVING LINE, THE LONDON TROOPS LONE HAND, THE LONB WOMAN, THE LOOM, THE LOST LAND, A To Germany LOUVAIN . LULLABY, A MAGPIES IN PICARDY MARCH, THE MARK LTBBRUM . MAKTYUKD NATION, THE W. M. Letts . . 167 P. B 107 NetlMunro . 165 JK OD... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.