The Red Horizon

Night, a grey troubled sky without moon or stars. The shadows lay on the surface of the sea, and the waves moaned beneath the keel of the troopship that was bearing us away on t...

When I come back to England, And times of Peace come round, I'll surely have a shilling, And may be have a pound; I'll walk the whole town over, And who shall say me nay, For I'...

The farmhouse where we were billeted reminded me strongly of my home in Donegal with its fields and dusky evenings and its spirit of brooding quiet. Nothing will persuade me, ex...

Four by four in column of route, By roads that the poplars sentinel, Clank of rifle and crunch of boot-- All are marching and all is well. White, so white is the distant moon, S...

The company came to a halt in the village; we marched for three miles, and the morning being a hot one we were glad to fall out and lie down on the pavement, packs well up under...

Up for days in the trenches, Working and working away; Eight days up in the trenches And back again to-day. Working with pick and shovel, On traverse, banquette, and slope, And...

At night the stars are shining bright, The old-world voice is whispering near, We've heard it when the moon was light, And London's streets were verydear; But dearer now they ar...

Buzz fly and gad fly, dragon fly and blue, When you're in the trenches come and visit you, They revel in your butter-dish and riot on your ham, Drill upon the army cheese and lo...

I have been thrilled with fear three times since I came out here, fear that made me sick and cold. I have the healthy man's dislike of (p. 112) death. I have no particular desir...

You ask me if the trench is safe? As safe as home, I say; Dug-outs are safest things on land, And 'buses running to the Strand Are not as safe as they.

Our old battalion billets still, Parades as usual go on. We buckle in with right good will, And daily our equipment don As if we meant to fight, but no! The guns are booming thr...

There's a tramp o' feet in the mornin', There's an oath from an N.C.O., As up the road to the trenches The brown battalions go: Guns and rifles and waggons, Transports and horse...

A brazier fire at twilight, And glow-worm fires ashine, A searchlight sweeping heaven, Above the firing-line. The rifle bullet whistles The message that it brings Of death and d...

'Tis only a dream in the trenches, Told when the shadows creep, Over the friendly sandbags When men in the dug-outs sleep. This is the tale of the trenches Told when the shadows...

Four of us volunteered and a guide conducted us along to the firing line. He was a soldier of the 23rd London, the regiment which had made the charge the night before; he limped...

We are marching back from the battle, Where we've all left mates behind, And our officers are gloomy, And the N.C.O.'s are kind, When a Jew's harp breaks the silence, Purring ou...

You'll see from the La Bassée Road, on any summer day, The children herding nanny goats, the women making hay. You'll see the soldiers, khaki clad, in column and platoon, Come s...

There's the butter, gad, and horse-fly, The blow-fly and the blue, The fine fly and the coarse fly, But never flew a worse fly Of all the flies that flew

Along the road in the evening the brown battalions wind, With the trenches threat of death before, the peaceful homes behind; And luck is with you or luck is not, as the ticket...

I have a big French rifle, its stock is riddled clean, And shrapnel smashed its barrel, likewise its magazine; I've carried it from A to X and back to A again, I've found it on...

Lonely and still the village lies, The houses asleep and the blinds all drawn. The road is straight as the bullet flies, And the east is touched with the tinge of dawn.

"What do you do with your rifle, son?" I clean it every day, And rub it with an oily rag to keep the rust away; I slope, present and port the thing when sweating on parade. I st...

When the young soldier takes the long, poplar-lined road from ---- his heart is stirred with the romance of his mission. It is morning and he is bound for the trenches; the earl...