Over the Bridge by W.S.Vernon, verses I-V, VI-X, XI-XV, XVI-XX, XXI-XXV, XXV-XXX

XXI

IN youth we think of many things,
Of this and that regard
How swiftly pass those twenty Springs
That sprightly youth discard!

We lived, and worked, and played the fool,
And yearned for nothing more,
For twenty years was then the rule
Before men went war.

For twenty years we had our fun,
How glad we were to be alive,
Some lived ’til they were twenty-one,
But few to twenty-five!

XXII

DEATH knows no season, Time respect,
Not friendship any creed,
Nor shall the mind of Man reflect
Upon the nature of this deed.

‘Tis said the means must have an end,
And each effect its cause,
So does the mind of Man extend
Beyond its inner walls,

We lived by what is known as trust,
In God and in Mankind;
We found a strange, peculiar trust,
Beyond the reaches of the mind.

Now my soul is full of wonder
At the friendships then I made,
For those I left, still lie under
The pressure of my spade.

XXIII

WE pass, as through a door,
Into the great unknown of Time,
And leave our foolish thoughts of war
The sordid paths of crime;

The honour and the glory keep,
Those who still remain shall know
That they who plant can never reap
The harvest that they sow.

For some will boast of other’s deeds
And wear the pride of other men,
Hoping that their present needs
From ‘dead men’s glory’ come again!

XXIV

THE Sabbath is the day they chose
To send a legion through the skies,
Why they did still no one knows,
And now, ’tis far too late for lies.

For seven days and seven nights
We lay in that September line,
Watching every day the flights
That brought the many to the few.

And many died ere they did touch
The fringe of Arnhem town,
While those who waited suffered much,
Ere they claimed their own.

But claim they did their earthy right
To life that lies beyond the grave;
They had no other choice but tight,
Arid what they had, they gave.

XXV

SUCH love had I for those I knew
It cannot he recalled!
For all the world could not renew
The ballad I record.

I lived with them, I fought with them,
They died that I might live,
Not one alone could condemn,
I can but now forgive!

Over the Bridge by W.S.Vernon, verses I-V, VI-X, XI-XV, XVI-XX, XXI-XXV, XXV-XXX