Toasts and Memories

When once I sat in estaminets
With trusty friends of mine,
We drank to folk in England
And pledged them well in wine,

While thoughts of Gloucester filled us--
Roads against windy skies
At sunset, Severn river,
Red inn-blinds, country cries.

That stung the heart with sorrow
And barbéd sweet delight
At Riez Bailleul, Laventie,
At Merville, many a night.

Now I am over Channel
I cannot help but think
Of friends who stifle longing
With friendly food and drink.

“Where’s Gurney now, I wonder,
That smoked a pipe all day;
Sometimes that talked like blazes,
Sometimes had naught to say?”

And I, at home, must wonder
Where all my comrades are:
Those men whose Heart-of-Beauty
Was never stained by War.