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266 D. HOWARD TRIPP
��AFTERMATH
With steady, silent tread Bearing aloft their dead — One at the foot, one at the head The stretcher-bearers go ; Out of the dark they come Stumbling and staggering, some Bearing, maybe, a chum, Pair after pair they go.
Vague, silhouetted ghosts,
Remnants of martyr'd hosts ;
Think on the blatant toasts
Raised to "King Glory"!
Tread lightly, that's the way,
Wake not the dead, lest they
Have other words to say
Of the same story !
— D. Howard Tripp.
(Lance-Corporal, London Irish Rifles, British Expedi- tionary Force.)
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