CLIFFORD J. DRUCE
2nd Lieut., Gloucester Regiment
Forecast
IF I should chance to fall, and find
A last couch on this soil of France,
Do not seek out with yearning mind
The place, nor give my grave one glance.
The cross would mark a cenotaph;
And careless of the flesh thus laid
In unfamiliar earth, I'd laugh
To know how quickly it decayed.
My spirit, freed, impatient still
At the irrelevant, blind stroke
That stole the servant of its will
With all half-done, with thews unbroke,
Would swiftly reach the land which knew
The love that time had not yet staled,
And haunt the country whence it drew
The life that has not sped nor failed.
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