Ebook Trials and Triumphs

The leaves that green to summer branches clung,
Lit by the torch of autumn, flare and burn
In radiance more than summer's; then - they fall,
And leave the branches lone and tenantless.

The torch of Time with autumn splendor lights
Your summer memories, who here have told
Of battle-front and camp-fire comradery.
Viewed through the mist of years, you see your past
Aglow like autumn woods through autumn haze -
The glamour and the glory more than tune's.
Too soon - O wearers of the sacred blue -
The frost that falls shall bare those golden boughs;
But as one lays away the autumn leaves
Between the pages of his book, so, here,
Forever safe from storms that dull and fade;
Forever safe from snow's oblivion;
Forever to your children's children's eyes
As bright and glory-hued as to your own,
These martial memories of your youth are kept.

Marian Warner Wildman.