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The Kia ora coo-ee : the magazine for the ANZACS in the Middle East, 1918

Our Heroic Dead

page 13

Our Heroic Dead.

The following verses are contributed to the "Kia-Ora Cooee" by Mrs A. Edwards, of Bristol, England. This lady has a son serving with the A.I.F. in Palestine.

Dear comrades who have fallen, and will fight with us no more,
Who have vindicated, gloriously, the 'honour of our Corps,
You are "gone but not forgotten", though still the merry jest
Beguiles an idle moment, or an interval of rest.
When the sun has sunk in splendour, and the stars give mystic light,
And we keep our lonely vigil, through the watches of the night,
It is then, when shadows deepen, that your faces we recall,
And again the "Charge" is sounded and again we see you fall!
Life, in its fairest promise, and youth, that was bright and gay
Were yours, but you gave them freely, to the cause that is ours to-day.
Such gifts are of priceless value, and will shine with a lustre bright,
In the glorious crown, of vict'ry, that is even now in sight.

As the tide of war rolls onward, we are borne upon its crest,
And must leave you in fair Palestine, to your deep, untroubled rest.
With its everlasting mountains, and its Jordan flowing nigh,
And its palm trees gently waving, and its blue, unclouded sky.
You were cradled in the sunshine—you are sleeping in it still,
To the lullaby of Nature, and the music of the rill.
And these voices, sweet and thrilling, will for ever with you stay —
Companions of your solitude when we are far away.
And when—our cause triumphant, and if kindly Fate decree,
We have sailed for "home and beauty" to our land across the sea,
We shall think with pride and pleasure, of the glory you have won,
And that now, your labours ended, you are sleeping in the sun.