THE EFFECT

"The effect of our bombardment was terrific. One man told me
he had never seen so many dead before."

_War Correspondent._

"_He'd never seen so many dead before._"
They sprawled in yellow daylight while he swore
And gasped and lugged his everlasting load
Of bombs along what once had been a road.
"_How peaceful are the dead._"
Who put that silly gag in some one's head?

"_He'd never seen so many dead before._"
The lilting words danced up and down his brain,
While corpses jumped and capered in the rain.
No, no; he wouldn't count them any more....
The dead have done with pain:
They've choked; they can't come back to life again.

When Dick was killed last week he looked like that,
Flapping along the fire-step like a fish,
After the blazing crump had knocked him flat....
"_How many dead? As many as ever you wish.
Don't count 'em; they're too many.
Who'll buy my nice fresh corpses, two a penny?_"