LEST the young soldiers be strange in heaven, God bids the old soldier they all adored Come to Him and wait for them, clean, new-shriven, A happy doorkeeper in the House of the Lord. Lest it abash them, the strange new splendour, Lest it affright them, the new robes clean; Here's an old face, now, long-tried, and tender, A word and a hand-clasp as they troop in. "My boys," he greets them: and heaven is homely, He their great captain in days gone o'er; Dear is the friend's face, honest and comely, Waiting to welcome them by the strange door. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 106 by ALFRED TENNYSON INVITATION TO A PAINTER: 1 by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 80, 81. GHAFOOR, MUNTAKIM by EDWIN ARNOLD THE GOOD SHEPHERD WITH THE KID by MATTHEW ARNOLD ETHELWALD, FR. METRICAL HISTORY OF ST. CUTHBERT by BEDE THE EMIGRANT LASSIE by JOHN STUART BLACKIE BALAUSTION'S ADVENTURE: PART 4 by ROBERT BROWNING THE WANDERER: 1. IN ITALY: ROOT AND LEAF by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON |