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<h3><SPAN name="page260"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>SONG OF THE SOLDIERS’ WIVES</h3>
<p style="text-align: center">I</p>
<p class="poetry"><span class="smcap">At</span> last! In
sight of home again,<br/>
Of home again;<br/>
No more to range and roam again<br/>
As at that bygone time?<br/>
No more to go away from us<br/>
And stay from us?—<br/>
Dawn, hold not long the day from us,<br/>
But quicken it to prime!</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><SPAN name="page261"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>II</p>
<p class="poetry">Now all the town shall ring to them,<br/>
Shall ring to them,<br/>
And we who love them cling to them<br/>
And clasp them joyfully;<br/>
And cry, “O much we’ll do for you<br/>
Anew for you,<br/>
Dear Loves!—aye, draw and hew for you,<br/>
Come back from oversea.”</p>
<p style="text-align: center">III</p>
<p class="poetry">Some told us we should meet no more,<br/>
Should meet no more;<br/>
Should wait, and wish, but greet no more<br/>
Your faces round our fires;<br/>
That, in a while, uncharily<br/>
And drearily<br/>
Men gave their lives—even wearily,<br/>
Like those whom living tires.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><SPAN name="page262"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>IV</p>
<p class="poetry">And now you are nearing home again,<br/>
Dears, home again;<br/>
No more, may be, to roam again<br/>
As at that bygone time,<br/>
Which took you far away from us<br/>
To stay from us;<br/>
Dawn, hold not long the day from us,<br/>
But quicken it to prime!</p>
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