Rhymes of a Red Cross Man

<p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0040" id="link2H_4_0040"></SPAN></p> <br/> <h2> The Stretcher-Bearer </h2> <p>My stretcher is one scarlet stain,<br/> And as I tries to scrape it clean,<br/> I tell you wot&mdash;I'm sick with pain<br/> For all I've 'eard, for all I've seen;<br/> Around me is the 'ellish night,<br/> And as the war's red rim I trace,<br/> I wonder if in 'Eaven's height,<br/> Our God don't turn away 'Is Face.<br/> <br/> I don't care 'oose the Crime may be;<br/> I 'olds no brief for kin or clan;<br/> I 'ymns no 'ate: I only see<br/> As man destroys his brother man;<br/> I waves no flag: I only know,<br/> As 'ere beside the dead I wait,<br/> A million 'earts is weighed with woe,<br/> A million 'omes is desolate.<br/> <br/> In drippin' darkness, far and near,<br/> All night I've sought them woeful ones.<br/> Dawn shudders up and still I 'ear<br/> The crimson chorus of the guns.<br/> Look! like a ball of blood the sun<br/> 'Angs o'er the scene of wrath and wrong. . . .<br/> "Quick! Stretcher-bearers on the run!"<br/> <i>O PRINCE OF PEACE! 'OW LONG, 'OW LONG?</i><br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />