266 D. HOWARD TRIPP

��AFTERMATH

With steady, silent tread Bearing aloft their dead — One at the foot, one at the head The stretcher-bearers go ; Out of the dark they come Stumbling and staggering, some Bearing, maybe, a chum, Pair after pair they go.

Vague, silhouetted ghosts,

Remnants of martyr'd hosts ;

Think on the blatant toasts

Raised to "King Glory"!

Tread lightly, that's the way,

Wake not the dead, lest they

Have other words to say

Of the same story !

— D. Howard Tripp.

(Lance-Corporal, London Irish Rifles, British Expedi- tionary Force.)

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