(The Evolution of a Junior Subaltern)
I was twenty years old on yesterday
But never a night could span;
The years I have lived since yesterday,
(The hair on my temples is turning gray)
For I’m more than a middle-aged man!
Was ever a fate for “only sons”
Such as my fate devised?
I have listened aghast to the barking guns,
Have watched the river of blood that runs
From men who are paralyzed.
We talked of “War” when the fields were green
In the Autumn, a year ago;
No I, having been what I have been,
Am fain to die, for my eyes have seen
Too much for a man to know.
I saw the form of a man I knew
Writhing in agony;
I covered my face to shut out the view
But the thing was there, and I full-well knew
I had no choice but to see!
Yonder’s a schoolmate from “The Hill” –
I was his fag one year;
And now he lies there cold and chill
While I am alive and tortured still
In the grip of a nameless Fear!
“Steady the men – they’ve charged again!”
It changed to a gurgling groan;
I saw that my hands were warm and red
And thing that they held in them was dead
And I was alone – alone.
I was twenty years old when alarm was sent,
And that was a night ago;
Now I am old and worn and bent,
I have paid the Price, but my youth is spent –
I am one of the Men-Who-Know.