BEFORE A DRIVE
Loud spitting motor truck and wagon trains,And caissons and guns and Infantry,All jammed together in the darkAnd mud and rain of northern France,Moving toward the Front.Night after night it had been thus,With days of hard, relentless drudgerySpent over maps of war and battle plans,With one or two or three, perhaps,Short hours of sleep in every twenty-four,Only what chance afforded,Till I had lost all trace of time.Day meant but heavy toil,And night dull tramping onward in the mud,Buffeted about by caissons and guns and motor trucks;Life was but mud and rain and weary men.And then—one evening ere the march began,I chanced to pause and gaze into the West,And there was all the beauty of the worldLying a-top the rain-bejewelled treesIn stripes of crimson, lavender, and blue,And all the other colors known to man!Then darkness came, and I was tramping northward once again,Buffeted about by caissons and guns and motor trucks.But lo! the road that night was smooth;My feet were steady and my heart was gay,For I had looked into the West I loveAnd there had seen the magic of your smile.Charles Lyn Fox, Inf.
Loud spitting motor truck and wagon trains,And caissons and guns and Infantry,All jammed together in the darkAnd mud and rain of northern France,Moving toward the Front.Night after night it had been thus,With days of hard, relentless drudgerySpent over maps of war and battle plans,With one or two or three, perhaps,Short hours of sleep in every twenty-four,Only what chance afforded,Till I had lost all trace of time.Day meant but heavy toil,And night dull tramping onward in the mud,Buffeted about by caissons and guns and motor trucks;Life was but mud and rain and weary men.And then—one evening ere the march began,I chanced to pause and gaze into the West,And there was all the beauty of the worldLying a-top the rain-bejewelled treesIn stripes of crimson, lavender, and blue,And all the other colors known to man!Then darkness came, and I was tramping northward once again,Buffeted about by caissons and guns and motor trucks.But lo! the road that night was smooth;My feet were steady and my heart was gay,For I had looked into the West I loveAnd there had seen the magic of your smile.Charles Lyn Fox, Inf.
Loud spitting motor truck and wagon trains,And caissons and guns and Infantry,All jammed together in the darkAnd mud and rain of northern France,Moving toward the Front.
Loud spitting motor truck and wagon trains,
And caissons and guns and Infantry,
All jammed together in the dark
And mud and rain of northern France,
Moving toward the Front.
Night after night it had been thus,With days of hard, relentless drudgerySpent over maps of war and battle plans,With one or two or three, perhaps,Short hours of sleep in every twenty-four,Only what chance afforded,Till I had lost all trace of time.Day meant but heavy toil,And night dull tramping onward in the mud,Buffeted about by caissons and guns and motor trucks;Life was but mud and rain and weary men.
Night after night it had been thus,
With days of hard, relentless drudgery
Spent over maps of war and battle plans,
With one or two or three, perhaps,
Short hours of sleep in every twenty-four,
Only what chance afforded,
Till I had lost all trace of time.
Day meant but heavy toil,
And night dull tramping onward in the mud,
Buffeted about by caissons and guns and motor trucks;
Life was but mud and rain and weary men.
And then—one evening ere the march began,I chanced to pause and gaze into the West,And there was all the beauty of the worldLying a-top the rain-bejewelled treesIn stripes of crimson, lavender, and blue,And all the other colors known to man!
And then—one evening ere the march began,
I chanced to pause and gaze into the West,
And there was all the beauty of the world
Lying a-top the rain-bejewelled trees
In stripes of crimson, lavender, and blue,
And all the other colors known to man!
Then darkness came, and I was tramping northward once again,Buffeted about by caissons and guns and motor trucks.But lo! the road that night was smooth;My feet were steady and my heart was gay,For I had looked into the West I loveAnd there had seen the magic of your smile.Charles Lyn Fox, Inf.
Then darkness came, and I was tramping northward once again,
Buffeted about by caissons and guns and motor trucks.
But lo! the road that night was smooth;
My feet were steady and my heart was gay,
For I had looked into the West I love
And there had seen the magic of your smile.
Charles Lyn Fox, Inf.