By ADELINE ADAMS.
"Singer, why are you white and sad,
And staring through the stars?"
"The friend and brother I once had
Is fallen in the Wars."
"Was he at Mons, or by the Aisne,
Or near the Flanders shore?"
"Also at Rheims, and in Lorraine,
And places many more."
"Had he no children, fair of limb?"
"Yes, he had many sons,
But most are fallen there with him,
Before the monstrous guns."
"And were the daughters of his heart
Crushed also to the sod?"
"The nun who saw their lot and part
Died maniac, cursing God."
"His wife?" "The woman lives, yet dies
Daily, and with the grace
Men say befits her sacrifice,
As it befits her race."
"What was her race, and your friend's rank?
Was he of the first line?
And was he Briton, Russ, or Frank,
Or from beside the Rhine?"
"Ah, many thousand times untold
My friend was each of these,
And went from mart or forge or fold,
To drown in red, red seas!"
[Illustration: Area of War in Western Europe.]
[Illustration: Area of War in East Prussia and Poland.]