| George Herbert Clarke, ed. (1873–1953). A Treasury of War Poetry. 1917. |
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| 38. Canadians |
| | | By Will H. Ogilvie |
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| WITH arrows on their quarters and with numbers on their hoofs, | |
| With the trampling sound of twenty that re-echoes in the roofs, | |
| Low of crest and dull of coat, wan and wild of eye, | |
| Through our English village the Canadians go by. | |
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| Shying at a passing cart, swerving from a car, | 5 |
| Tossing up an anxious head to flaunt a snowy star, | |
| Racking at a Yankee gait, reaching at the rein, | |
| Twenty raw Canadians are tasting life again! | |
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| Hollow-necked and hollow-flanked, lean of rib and hip, | |
| Strained and sick and weary with the wallow of the ship, | 10 |
| Glad to smell the turf again, hear the robin’s call, | |
| Tread again the country road they lost at Montreal! | |
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| Fate may bring them dule and woe; better steeds than they | |
| Sleep beside the English guns a hundred leagues away; | |
| But till war hath need of them, lightly lie their reins, | 15 |
| Softly fall the feet of them along the English lanes. | |
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