Rhymes of a Red Cross Man

<p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0023" id="link2H_4_0023"></SPAN></p> <br/> <h2> Cocotte </h2> <p>When a girl's sixteen, and as poor as she's pretty,<br/> And she hasn't a friend and she hasn't a home,<br/> Heigh-ho! She's as safe in Paris city<br/> As a lamb night-strayed where the wild wolves roam;<br/> And that was I; oh, it's seven years now<br/> (Some water's run down the Seine since then),<br/> And I've almost forgotten the pangs and the tears now,<br/> And I've almost taken the measure of men.<br/> <br/> Oh, I found me a lover who loved me only,<br/> Artist and poet, and almost a boy.<br/> And my heart was bruised, and my life was lonely,<br/> And him I adored with a wonderful joy.<br/> If he'd come to me with his pockets empty,<br/> How we'd have laughed in a garret gay!<br/> But he was rich, and in radiant plenty<br/> We lived in a villa at Viroflay.<br/> <br/> Then came the War, and of bliss bereft me;<br/> Then came the call, and he went away;<br/> All that he had in the world he left me,<br/> With the rose-wreathed villa at Viroflay.<br/> Then came the news and the tragic story:<br/> My hero, my splendid lover was dead,<br/> Sword in hand on the field of glory,<br/> And he died with my name on his lips, they said.<br/> <br/> So here am I in my widow's mourning,<br/> The weeds I've really no right to wear;<br/> And women fix me with eyes of scorning,<br/> Call me "cocotte", but I do not care.<br/> And men look at me with eyes that borrow<br/> The brightness of love, but I turn away;<br/> Alone, say I, I will live with Sorrow,<br/> In my little villa at Viroflay.<br/> <br/> And lo! I'm living alone with 'Pity',<br/> And they say that pity from love's not far;<br/> Let me tell you all: last week in the city<br/> I took the metro at Saint Lazare;<br/> And the carriage was crowded to overflowing,<br/> And when there entered at Chateaudun<br/> Two wounded 'poilus' with medals showing,<br/> I eagerly gave my seat to one.<br/> <br/> You should have seen them: they'd slipped death's clutches,<br/> But sadder a sight you will rarely find;<br/> One had a leg off and walked on crutches,<br/> The other, a bit of a boy, was blind.<br/> And they both sat down, and the lad was trying<br/> To grope his way as a blind man tries;<br/> And half of the women around were crying,<br/> And some of the men had tears in their eyes.<br/> <br/> How he stirred me, this blind boy, clinging<br/> Just like a child to his crippled chum.<br/> But I did not cry. Oh no; a singing<br/> Came to my heart for a year so dumb,<br/> Then I knew that at three-and-twenty<br/> There is wonderful work to be done,<br/> Comfort and kindness and joy in plenty,<br/> Peace and light and love to be won.<br/> <br/> Oh, thought I, could mine eyes be given<br/> To one who will live in the dark alway!<br/> To love and to serve&mdash;'twould make life Heaven<br/> Here in my villa at Viroflay.<br/> So I left my 'poilus': and now you wonder<br/> Why to-day I am so elate. . . .<br/> Look! In the glory of sunshine yonder<br/> They're bringing my blind boy in at the gate.<br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />