Nearer and ever nearer ...
My body, tired but tense,
Hovers 'twixt vague pleasure
And tremulous confidence.
Arms to have and to use them
And a soul to be made
Worthy, if not worthy;
If afraid, unafraid.
To endure for a little,
To endure and have done:
Men I love about me,
Over me the sun!
And should at last suddenly
Fly the speeding death,
The four great quarters of heaven
Receive this little breath.
_Charles Hamilton Sorley_
Charles Hamilton Sorley, who promised greater things than any of the
younger poets, was born at Old Aberdeen in May, 1895. He studied at
Marlborough College and University College, Oxford. He was finishing
his studies abroad and was on a walking-tour along the banks of the
Moselle when the war came. Sorley returned home to receive an
immediate commission in the 7th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. In
August, 1915, at the age of 20, he was made a captain. On October 13,
1915, he was killed in action near Hulluch.
Sorley left but one book, _Marlborough and Other Poems_. The verse
contained in it is sometimes rough but never rude. Although he admired
Masefield, loveliness rather than liveliness was his aim. Restraint,
tolerance, and a dignity unusual for a boy of 20, distinguish his
poetry.