"The effect of our bombardment was terrific.
One man told me he had never seen so many dead before."
_War Correspondent_.
"_He'd never seen so many dead before_."
They sprawled in yellow daylight while he swore
And gasped and lugged his everlasting load
Of bombs along what once had been a road.
"_How peaceful are the dead_."
Who put that silly gag in some one's head?
"_He'd never seen so many dead before_."
The lilting words danced up and down his brain,
While corpses jumped and capered in the rain.
No, no; hfc wouldn't count them any more ...
The dead have done with pain:
They've choked; they can't come back to life again.
When Dick was killed last week he looked like that,
Flapping along the fire-step like a fish,
After the blazing crump had knocked him flat ...
"_How many dead? As many as ever you wish_.
_Don't count 'em; they're too many_.
_Who'll buy my nice fresh corpses, two a penny?_"