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    A Song of the Guns
    A Song of the Guns
    A Song of the Guns
    Ebook45 pages24 minutes

    A Song of the Guns

    By Gilbert Frankau

    ()

    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 27, 2013
    A Song of the Guns

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      Book preview

      A Song of the Guns - Gilbert Frankau

      A SONG OF THE GUNS

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license.

      Title: A Song of the Guns

      Author: Gilbert Frankau

      Release Date: July 26, 2012 [EBook #40345]

      Language: English

      Character set encoding: UTF-8

      *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SONG OF THE GUNS ***

      Produced by Al Haines.

      [image]

      Cover

      A SONG OF THE GUNS

      BY

      GILBERT FRANKAU, R.S.A.

      BOSTON AND NEW YORK

      HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

      The Riverside Press Cambridge

      1916

      COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY GILBERT FRANKAU

      ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

      Published April 1916

      NOTE

      A Song of the Guns was written under what are probably the most remarkable conditions in which a poem has ever been composed. The author, who is now serving in Flanders, was present at the battle of Loos, and during a lull in the fighting--when the gunners, who had been sleepless for five nights, were resting like tired dogs under their guns--he jotted down the main theme of the poem. After the battle the artillery brigade to which he was attached was ordered to Ypres, and it was during the long trench warfare in this district, within sight of the ruined tower of Ypres Cathedral, that the poem was finally completed. The last three stanzas were written at midnight in Brigade Headquarters with the German shells screaming over into the ruined town.

      CONTENTS

      The Voice of the Slaves

      Headquarters

      Gun-Teams

      Eyes in the Air

      Signals

      The Observers

      Ammunition Column

      The Voice of the Guns

      A SONG OF THE GUNS

      These are our masters, the slim

      Grim muzzles that irk in the pit;

      That chafe for the rushing of wheels,

      For the teams plunging madly to bit

      As the gunners wing down to unkey,

      For the trails sweeping half-circle-right,

      For the

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