POETRY.
THE DEBT.
Tsar have given their all for England! Never now Will they have joy in meadows and green lanes, Gather the 1ia-rvest, guide the quiet plough, Go singing homeward as the daylight wanes: Nor feel the restless tide of life that beats About her strenuous cities, circling far; Tread happily the once-familiar streets, Revisit haunts where old, sweet memories are: Never sit, dreaming, by a twilight fire, Clasp hands they love, take children on their knees, In the blest comfort of fulfilled desire: They have given all these for England—more than these!
They have given their youth that England's age may be By deed and faith and courage justified) Given their freedom that England may go freer That she may live in honour, they hays died.
And who will see that she more nobly goes Down the long years of time, because of these; Guards better her heart's treasures; better knows The meaning of her larger destinies ?
We who are, jointly, England ! We must go More nobly now, less selfishly afraid; Be braver, truer, and more generous; so And only so can the great debt be paid.
Faith to match theirs, and courage that shall live, And loyal service, and a splendid pride :- The best and highest that our lives can give We must give now because for us they died : Nor less than this if we would help to build England aright in years that lie ahead,
An England safe—with her ideals fulfilled—
Through her beloved and unforgotten dead. Evrars Simms.
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