ORIGINAL VERSE.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 September 1918, Page 6

ORIGINAL VERSE.

"OVER THE TOP." Yl'hat is it. like to go over the top In the teeth of a living hell, 'Mid the awful roar of a thousand guns. And scream of the vicious shell f What is it like you want to know. Do you think you can understand What it means to the men who play the game Out there in that ''No Man's Land"! What is it like to go over the top If you've never been there before, To t;ike your chance of life or death In the grip of this awful war; Forcing your way through a hail of lead, On over Die shell torn ground Till at last with a yell of triumph O'er Fritz's trench you bound? What is it like in the trenches, Sticking it day by day, With the mighty roar of a thousand guns Curving' for you a way? What are the things men think of Waiting the word to goOver the top to "No Man's Ijand," Is that what you want to kno\v? What is it like to so over the top When you get the word of command? Well, ask of the men who've been there, They're the ones who understand. For tliev think of, the loved ones left behind, They think of the dear "Homeland." Then over the top at duty's call They're out into "No Man's Land," May be some day we'll surely know As again the tale they tell What it meant to go over the parapet In the teeth of a living hell; And then we shall murmur a silent prayer As at last we understand', For those gallant hero onis.. Who are lying in. "No Man's Land." N. .J. ENfiLEEIELD. , |th Septeiateir. '