1 NOVEMBER 1919, Page 15

POETRY

LAST YEAR.

WAS it last Summer, just last year,

Or many and many a year ago,

Our hearts went shadowed by that Fear f

Now Time and Space are darkened so It might be fifty years since then, And, Love, our boys are home again.

So long since we two bore that stfaie.

And shook for what the day might bring, And now our boys are home again, 'Seeped from the hitter and dreadful thing. You will not turn, Love, to rejoice, Even for the boys, Love, the safe boys!

So long, Love, since you went away,

And yet the laggard year's not spent! Our boys are here, Love, brave and gay;

It is so long, Love, since you went. If but this year were gone who knows What flower of hope might bud, what rose P

Only last year ! So wide, so deep The river runs 'twixt now and then. Here is the feast of joy to keep, Since, Love, the boys are home again. But dim in darkness lies last year

And the New Year, Love, the New Year!

KATHARINE TYNAN.