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The Spike or Victoria University College Review 1943

Preface to Battle

Preface to Battle

Now in the stolid hours before you join
The future jungle life in dealing death,
Now is the time to summarise—equate
What is at stake and the meaning of your breath.

You have found time to sing your urgent loves,
And reminisce in sorrow of your home,
To chant your battle preludes and anoint
Your weapons in a foreign ocean's foam.

The yellow butterfly, blown like a blossom of broom
By vagrant breezes, no doubt lightly skims
The stricken fields of Java, and the Yangtse
Rolls its turgid way while chaos rims
The dull horizon with a pall of death:
Over Europe Moon poised numb and still, red-veined

With running fire, has still her pristine sheen.
All these, O Singer, have their glory stained,
And all the pleasures once you sang are dulled.
Would you prefer to ponder and relate
Your lingering memories when these stand annulled,
And not assert your voice in urging Fate?

Now in the stolid hours before you join
The future jungle life in dealing death,
Now is the time to summarise—equate
What is at stake and the meaning of your breath.