Chapter 37: But A Short Time To Live

BUT A SHORT TIME TO LIVE By LESLIE COULSON (Killed in action)

1. Our little hour-how swift it flies
2. When poppies flare and lilies smile;
3. How soon the fleeting minute dies,
4. Leaving us but a little while
5. To dream our dream, to sing our song,
6. To pick the fruit, to pluck the flower,
7. The Gods-they do not give us long
8. One little hour.
9.  
10. Our little hour-how short it is
11. When Love with dew-eyed loveliness
12. Raises her lips for ours to kiss
13. And dies within our first caress.
14. Youth flickers out like windblown flame,
15. Sweets of to-day to-morrow sour,
16. For Time and Death, relentless, claim 
17. One little hour.
18.  
19. Our little hour,-how short a time
20. To wage our wars, to fan our fates,
21. To take our fill of armoured crime,
22. To troop our banner, storm the gates.
23. Blood on the sword, our eyes blood-red,
24. Blind in our puny reign of power,
25. Do we forget how soon is sped
26. One little hour?
27.  
28. Our little hour-how soon it dies;
29. How short a time to tell our beads, 
30. To chant our feeble Litanies,
31. To think sweet thoughts, to do good deeds, 
32. The altar lights grow pale and dim,
33. The bells hang silent in the tower, 
34. So passes with the dying hymn,
35. Our little hour. .