Page:Soldier poets, songs of the fighting men, 1916.djvu/39

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Julian Grenfell, D.S.O.

Again I ran my speedy horse;—
A native jockey comes across,
And knocks me clean from off my pins,
And smiles, and gallops on and wins
The "Mountain Plate" Mussourie.


We all objected—but, of course,
When judges back the winning horse
The horse that finished winner, wins—
And that is when the fun begins
In racing at Mussourie.

[We are indebted to Lord Desborough for the use of these hitherto imprinted poems by his son, Captain Julian Grenfell, D.S.O., whose "Into Battle" (published in The Times on May 28th, 1915—the day his death from wounds was recorded—and afterwards included in Robert Bridges' Anthology, "The Spirit of Man," and in "A Crown of Amaranth") has been described as "the one incorruptible and incomparable poem which the war has yet given us in any language." The above poems were sent home while on service in India, where he killed thirty-six boars in one season. Both achievements are characteristic of the fine courageous spirit and all-round activities of the young Dragoon who "knocked out the champion boxer of South Africa in the intervals of writing poetry."]

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