The Halt

" Mark time in front ! Rear fours cover ! Company — halt ! Order arms! Stand at — ease! Stand easy." A sudden hush: And then the talk began with a mighty rush — " You weren't ever in step — The sergeant. — It wasn't my fault- Well, the Lord be praised at least for a ten minutes' halt." We sat on a gate and watched them easing and shifting ; Out of the distance a faint, keen breath came drifting, From the sea behind the hills, and the hedges were salt. Where do you halt now ? Under what hedge do you lie ? Where the tall poplars are fringing the white French roads? And smoke I have not seen discolours the foreign sky ? Is the company resting there as we rested together Stamping its feet and readjusting its loads And looking with wary eyes at the drooping weather ?