<h2> Disabled </h2>
<p>He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark,<br/>
And shivered in his ghastly suit of grey,<br/>
Legless, sewn short at elbow. Through the park<br/>
Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn,<br/>
Voices of play and pleasure after day,<br/>
Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him.<br/>
<br/>
About this time Town used to swing so gay<br/>
When glow-lamps budded in the light-blue trees<br/>
And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim,<br/>
—In the old times, before he threw away his knees.<br/>
Now he will never feel again how slim<br/>
Girls' waists are, or how warm their subtle hands,<br/>
All of them touch him like some queer disease.<br/>
<br/>
There was an artist silly for his face,<br/>
For it was younger than his youth, last year.<br/>
Now he is old; his back will never brace;<br/>
He's lost his colour very far from here,<br/>
Poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry,<br/>
And half his lifetime lapsed in the hot race,<br/>
And leap of purple spurted from his thigh.<br/>
One time he liked a bloodsmear down his leg,<br/>
After the matches carried shoulder-high.<br/>
It was after football, when he'd drunk a peg,<br/>
He thought he'd better join. He wonders why . . .<br/>
Someone had said he'd look a god in kilts.<br/>
<br/>
That's why; and maybe, too, to please his Meg,<br/>
Aye, that was it, to please the giddy jilts,<br/>
He asked to join. He didn't have to beg;<br/>
Smiling they wrote his lie; aged nineteen years.<br/>
Germans he scarcely thought of; and no fears<br/>
Of Fear came yet. He thought of jewelled hilts<br/>
For daggers in plaid socks; of smart salutes;<br/>
And care of arms; and leave; and pay arrears;<br/>
Esprit de corps; and hints for young recruits.<br/>
And soon, he was drafted out with drums and cheers.<br/>
<br/>
Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer Goal.<br/>
Only a solemn man who brought him fruits<br/>
Thanked him; and then inquired about his soul.<br/>
Now, he will spend a few sick years in Institutes,<br/>
And do what things the rules consider wise,<br/>
And take whatever pity they may dole.<br/>
To-night he noticed how the women's eyes<br/>
Passed from him to the strong men that were whole.<br/>
How cold and late it is! Why don't they come<br/>
And put him into bed? Why don't they come?<br/></p>
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