Green fields that are scented and sweet,
God’s sunshine, the air, and the trees,
Thy beauties we knew not before,
They were there, and who doubts them that sees?
But we, who bereft for a space
Of the joys that God meant us to share,
Have been living ‘mid sandbags, and scorched
Without shade from the sun’s ceaseless glare.
Great God! How to welcome the day
When the Trenches are left, and the trees
Promise hopes of a respite from heat,
And from breath-stifling odours release.
For how long? Just four days is the span:
And how fleeting yet heav’n born it seems–
Then again to the Trenches, our goal
And to plan for the Peace of our dreams.