Marion Anning
Marion Anning Mrs. Norman Amung of Chilhwack, B.C., an elder sister of Miss Eloise Street (q.v.). Her husband is serving in France with the 7th Railway Battalion.
THE LUMINOUS MAID
SPRING stood on the edge of the dreadful fields
To scatter her flowers.
Roared War and Death, in ribald mirth,
'This plain is ours!'
In a horror of mud and blood, they cast
The luminous maid;
But up she sprang, in her smirched gown,
Defiant and unafraid.
'Stark War,' she cried, 'and hateful Death,
List' well to my words!
For every pellet of lead, I will loose
A thousand singing birds;
For every shell that scars my earth,
A thousand flowers will sow;
And on each piteous shattered tree,
New shoots and leaves shall grow.
Yea, every drop of valiant blood
Your rage has drawn
Shall rise from the ground and mock at you,
Ere I pass on!
Then War and Death, amazed and shuddering,
Saw upon the ground,
Quivering and red, the poppies lie,
Like pools of blood around;
And heard this chant, 'O Death, where is thy sting?
Thou canst not kill
That symbol of the risen Christ,
The Spring!'
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