The Old Soldier


LEST the young soldiers be strange in heaven,   
  God bids the old soldier they all adored   
Come to Him and wait for them, clean, new-shriven,   
  A happy doorkeeper in the House of the Lord.   

Lest it abash them, the strange new splendour,           
  Lest it affright them, the new robes clean;   
Here’s an old face, now, long-tried, and tender,   
  A word and a hand-clasp as they troop in.   

“My boys,” he greets them: and heaven is homely,   
  He their great captain in days gone o’er;           
Dear is the friend’s face, honest and comely,   
  Waiting to welcome them by the strange door.   
 

Katharine Tynan