Y
��Wilson MacDonald
Born at Cheapside, Ontario, in 1880. Educated at Port Dover Public School, at Woodstock College, and at McMaster Uni versity.
THE GIRL BEHIND THE MAN BEHIND THE
GUN
OU have seen the line of khaki swinging grandly down
the street;
You have heard the band blare out Brittanic songs: You have read a ton of papers and you ve thrown them
at your feet,
And your brain s a battlefield for fighting throngs. You have cheered for Tommy Atkins and you ve yelled
for Jack Canuck ;
You have praised the French and Belgians, every one ; But I m rhyming here a measure to the valour and the
pluck Of the Girl behind the Man behind the Gun.
There s a harder game than fighting, there s a deeper wound by far
Than the bayonet or the bullet ever tore ; And a patient little woman wears upon her heart a scar
Which the lonesome years will keep for evermore. There are bands and bugles crying and the horses madly ride,
And in passion are the trenches lost or won ; [side But SHE battles in the silence with no comrade at her
Does the Girl behind the Man behind the Gun.
They are singing songs in Flanders and there s music on
the wind,
They are shouting for their country and their king; But the hallways yearn for music in the homes they left
behind,
For the mother of a soldier does not sing. [foes,
In the silence of the night-time, mid a ring of hidden
And without a bugle cry to cheer her on, She is fighting fiercer battles than a soldier ever knows her triumph is an open grave, at dawn.
�� �
