31 AUGUST 1944, Page 9

PEGUY

t 5 SEPTEMBER, 1914 YOUR course set North from Orleans, satchel tight With books, a needy scholar from her City,

Paris was mastered with its dread and pity • —And there was no more respite from the Fight.

Summon the Maid who knew of no pre-emption, Justice and Truth that come on flaming wings, Your three Republics and your eighty Kings, The Ancient Promise and the Young Redemption!.

Thus girt, leaving Saint Genevieve, Montmartre, With Poverty your guide, younger not older, You tread the road—one bundle on your shoulder— Across the Bauce towards the goal of Chartres.

Thence—choice made, challenge faced, free—you advance 'To meet the bullets in a field of France.

GEORGE MICHAEL ALEXANDER.