A treasury of war poetry, British and American poems of the world war, 1914-1919/Pierrot Goes to War
PIERROT GOES TO WAR
IN the sheltered garden, pale beneath the moon,
(Drenched with swaying fragrance, redolent with June!)
There, among the shadows, some one lingers yet—
Pierrot, the lover, parts from Pierrette.
Bugles, bugles, bugles, blaring down the wind,
Sound the flaming challenge—Leave your dreams behind!
Come away from shadows, turn your back on June—
Pierrot, go forward to face the golden noon!
In the muddy trenches, black and torn and still,
(How the charge swept over, to break against the hill!)
Huddled in the shadows, boyish figures lie—
They whom Death, saluting, called upon to die.
Bugles, ghostly bugles, whispering down the wind—
Dreams too soon are over, gardens left behind.
Only shadows linger, for love does not forget—
Pierrot goes forward—but what of Pierrette?
October, 1917.