John W. Garvin
Editor-Author of 'Canadian Poets' Editor of 'The Collected Poems of Isabella Valancy Crawford.' Eldest living son of the late David Garvin (a native of Armagh county, Ireland) and Melissa Lemon, of Vespra township, county of Simcoe, Ontario. Honour Graduate of the University of Toronto, and an ex-Inspector of Public Schools. Contested West Peterborough in the Conservative interest, for the Ontario Legislature, in the campaign of 1897-98. 'Director and General Sales Manager' of a Toronto securities corporation.
WORLD WAR
September, 1914
VAST hosts of armed men are aflame
With hatred and murderous lust,
And civilization's a name
Half buried in ruins and dust,
While check-mating kings play the game
Of envy, vain-glory, mistrust.
Death still is the wages of sin:
The dead lie in winrows like corn;
All hell with its thunderous din
Is loosened afresh every morn;
While homesteads and quivering kin
Are desolate, drear, and forlorn.
Thou Infinite Breather of Stars
That jewel Thy Face in the night,
Protect with omnipotent bars
Thy manifest selves in their plight;
Forgive ineffaceable scars,
The wounds of inglorious fight!
THE GRIND
FATE grinds the blade of life,
On his swift-whirling wheel;
This sharpens it for strife,
But wears away the steel.
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