LINES WRITTEN BY A SOLDIER IN THE

ENGLISH ARMY ABOUT MARCH, 1916.

  Christ in Flanders

  “We had forgotten You or very nearly,
  You did not seem to touch us very nearly. 
    Of course we thought about You now and then
  Especially in any time of trouble,
  We know that You were good in time of trouble
    But we are very ordinary men.

  And there were always other things to think of,
  There’s lots of things a man has got to think of,
    His work, his home, his pleasure and his wife
  And so we only thought of You on Sunday;
  Sometimes perhaps not even on a Sunday
    Because there’s always lots to fill one’s life.

  And all the while, in street or lane or byway
  In country lane in city street or byway
    You walked among us, and we did not see. 
  Your feet were bleeding, as You walked our pavements
  How did we miss Your foot-prints on our pavements;
    Can there be other folk as blind as we?

  Now we remember over here in Flanders
  (It isn’t strange to think of You in Flanders)
    This hideous warfare seems to make things clear,
  We never thought about You much in England
  But now that we are far away from England
    We have no doubts—­we know that You are here.

  You helped us pass the jest along the trenches
  Where, in cold blood, we waited in the trenches,
    You touched its ribaldry and made it fine. 
  You stood beside us in our pain and weakness. 
  We’re glad to think You understand our weakness. 
    Somehow it seems to help us not to whine.

  We think about You kneeling in the Garden
  Ah!  God, the agony of that dread Garden;
    We know you prayed for us upon the Cross. 
  If anything could make us glad to bear it
  ’Twould be the knowledge, that You willed to bear it
    Pain, death, the uttermost of human loss.

  Tho’ we forgot You, You will not forget us. 
  We feel so sure that You will not forget us. 
    But stay with us until this dream is past—­
  And so we ask for courage, strength, and pardon,
  Especially I think, we ask for pardon,
    And that You’ll stand beside us to the last.”

APPENDIX IV

LETTER FROM LORD KITCHENER TO HIS MEN

“You are ordered abroad as a soldier of the King to help our French comrades against the invasion of a common enemy.  You have to perform a task which will need your courage, your energy, your patience.  Remember that the honor of the British Army depends upon your individual conduct.  It will be your duty not only to set an example of discipline and perfect steadiness under fire, but also to maintain the most friendly relations with those whom you are helping in this struggle.  The operations in which you are engaged will, for the most part, take place in a friendly country, and you can do your own country no better service than in showing yourself, in France and Belgium, in the true character of a British soldier.