Mattituck High School - Reflector Yearbook (Mattituck, NY)

Page 10 text:

accompanied him as far as the gate and there said, “Goodbye, daddy, come home pi tty soon.” On her birthday, two years later, when in the battlefield of St. Eloi, he wrote and sent her the following in verse. Do you remember the summer’s day, When daddy kissed you and went away, Kissed you and left you busy at play Girl of Mine? You told me then to “Come home pittv soon”, I think you expected me back at noon— Have you watched for me since, gassoon, Girl of Mine? It’s a very long time that you have to wait. From babyhood in through to girlhood’s gate Do you still think that “Daddy is awful late,” Girl of Mine? .... I’m hungry for you, and your handsome eyes, And many a day when the sunlight dies, I look for you there in the western skies. Girl of Mine. But though there are faces of angels there, There’s none with my baby can compare, My babe with the eyes and the curly hair, Girl of Mine. And so I can only stay and wait. Pill 1 come to the road with the Peaceful Gate, It’s the road that will lead me back to you straight, Girl of Mine. Another English poet, Alfred Noyes, born in 1880, had a world wide reputation before the war. His skill lies in the unusual blending of the gay temper and the serious mood. herever the English lano'uace is

Page 9 text:

cian and poet died of pneumonia in France 1918. He was a graduate of the University of Toronto and had been later associated with John Hopkins. He became a member of the Royal College of Physicians, London, and of the Association of American Physicians. Dur- ing the Boer War he received the Queen’s Medal with three clasps for his campaign there. His poem was written amidst the fire and blood of the Battle of Ypres. He had his headquarters in a hole dug in the ground, and often men, who had been shot, would roll down into this dug out. During lulls he watched his comrades burying their dead until the crosses, row on row, grew into a large cemetery. Again and again, between the crashes of the artillery the song of the lark could be heard. From these circumstances grew the immortal lines: In Flanders Field the poppies blow Between the crosses, row and row. That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly, Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow. Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders Field. Take up our quarrel with the foe; To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders Field. Another Canadian Major, A. A. Durkee, wrote “Girl of Mine.’, He left his home in August 1914 for oversea duty. As he left the house his little daughter

Page 11 text:

9 ------ IT spoken his “Forty Singing Seamen”, “Sherwood”, “The Highwayman”, “The old Skeptic”, and “A Night at St. Helena” have been read and greatly appreciated. His “Avenue of the Allies” has made his fame per- manent. The following stanza is from this poem: This is the song of the wind as it came Tossing the flags of the nations to flame: I am the breath of God. I am His laughter. I am His Liberty. That is my name.” So it descended, at night, in the city, So it went lavishing beauty and pitv. Lighting t he lordliest street of the world With half of the banners that earth has unfurled' Over the lamps they are brighter than stars, Laughing aloud on its way to the wars, Proud in America, sweeping along Heath and destruction like notes in a song. Leaping to battle as man to his mate. Joyous as God when he moved to create, Never was voice of a nation so. glorious. Glad of its cause and afire with its fate! Never did eagle in( mightier pinion Tower to the height of a brighter dominion. Kindling the hope of the prophets to flame, Calling aloud in the deep as it came, “Cleave me a way for an army with banners. I am His Liberty. That is my name.” Flora A. Binns.