WHAT d'ye think, lad; what d'ye think, As the roaring crowds go by? As the banners flare and the brasses blare And the great guns rend the sky? As the women laugh like they'd all gone mad, And the champagne glasses clink: Oh, you're grippin' me hand so tightly, lad, I'm a-wonderin': what d'ye think? D'ye think o' the boys we used to know, And how they'd have topped the fun? Tom and Charlie, and Jack and Joe -- Gone now, every one. How they'd have cheered as the joy-bells chime, And they grabbed each girl for a kiss! And now -- they're rottin' in Flanders slime, And they gave their lives -- for @3this@1. Or else d'ye think of the many a time We wished we too was dead, Up to our knees in the freezin' grime, With the fires of hell overhead; When the youth and the strength of us sapped away, And we cursed in our rage and pain? And yet -- we haven't a word to say. . . . We're glad. We'd do it again. I'm scared that they pity us. Come, old boy, Let's leave them their flags and their fuss. We'd surely be hatin' to spoil their joy With the sight of such wrecks as us. Let's slip away quietly, you and me, And we'll talk of our chums out there: @3You with your eyes that'll never see, Me that's wheeled in a chair.@1 | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HEROD'S LAMENT FOR MARIAMNE by GEORGE GORDON BYRON BIFTEK AUX CHAMPIGNONS by HENRY AUGUSTIN BEERS WHAT THE MOON KNOWS by RICHARD BEHM SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE: 12 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING A MENDER OF CLOCKS by MARGARET E. BRUNER ON A SCOTCH COXCOMB by ROBERT BURNS |