Lost in the swamp and welter of the pit, br He flounders off the duck-boards; only he knows br Each flash and spouting crash,--each instant lit br When gloom reveals the streaming rain. He goes br Heavily, blindly on. And, while he blunders, br "Could anything be worse than this?"--he wonders, br Remembering how he saw those Germans run, br Screaming for mercy among the stumps of trees: br Green-faced, they dodged and darted: there was one br Livid with terror, clutching at his knees. . . br Our chaps were sticking 'em like pigs . . . "O hell!" br He thought--"there's things in war one dare not tell br Poor father sitting safe at home, who reads br Of dying heroes and their deathless deeds.