Lord, if it be Thy will
That I enter the great shadowed valley that lies
Silent just over the hill,
Grant they may say, 'There 's a comrade that dies
Waving his hand to us still.'
Lord, if there come the end,
Let me find space and breath all the dearest I prize
Into thy hands to commend:
Then let me go, with my boy's laughing eyes,
Smiling a word to a friend.
Yet you are not to imagine that these men took life sadly or half-heartedly or were one whit the less soldierly and fearless because such dark thoughts lurked at the backs of their minds and they sat now and then to fashion them into verse. Freston's more prevailing spirit is in his stirring sonnet 'On Going into Action,' and the gladness that was behind all his acceptance of death shouts triumphantly in another sonnet, 'O Fortunati':
Oh happy to have lived these epic days!
To have seen unfold, as doth a dream unfold,
These glorious chivalries, these deeds of gold,
The glory of whose splendour gilds death's ways,
As a rich sunset fills dark woods with fire
And blinds the traveller's eyes. Our eyes are blind
With flaming heroism, that leaves our mind
Dumbstruck with pride. We have had our hearts' desire!
