2018 Concert Series Gallipoli to the Somme | Page 11

across the window ledge.
And look and look,
and know that they may never look again.
The great clock of the station, –
how strange it is.
Terrible that the minutes go,
terrible that the minutes never go.
….
God, make the train start!
Before they cannot bear it,
make the train start!
The three children, there,
in black, [with the old nurse,]
standing together, and looking, and looking,
up at their father [in the carriage window,]
they are so folorn and silent.
The little girl will not cry,
but her chin trembles.
She throws back her head,
with its stiff little braid,
and will not cry.
Her father leans down,
[out over the ledge of the window,]
and kisses her, and kisses her.
He is going.
….
He takes the boy’s chin in his hand,
leaning out through the window,
and lifts the face that is so young, to his.
They look and look,
and know that they may never look again.
…
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