The Old Soldier

Lest the young soldiers be strange in Heaven,
God bids the old soldier they all adored
Come to Him and wait for them, clean, new-shriven,
A happy door-keeper in the House of the Lord.

Lest it abash them, the great new splendour,
Lest they affright them, the new robes clean,
God sets an old face there, long-tried and tender,
A word and a hand-clasp as they troop in.

My boys! he welcomes them and Heaven is homely;
He, their great Captain in days gone o'er.
Dear is the face of a friend, honest and comely,
As they come home from the war and he at the door.