the easy road or the hard to
tread?
And, much concerned for his own estate, would sell his soul to
remain in the sun?
Let him depart nor look on Our dead.
Our King asks nothing of any man more than Our King himself has
done._

A DEATH-BED

'This is the State above the Law.
The State exists for the State alone.'
[_This is a gland at the back of the jaw,_
_And an answering lump by the collar-bone._]

Some die shouting in gas or fire;
Some die silent, by shell and shot.
Some die desperate, caught on the wire;
Some die suddenly. This will not.

'Regis suprema Voluntas lex.'
[_It will follow the regular course of--throats._]
Some die pinned by the broken decks,
Some die sobbing between the boats.

Some die eloquent, pressed to death
By the sliding trench, as their friends can hear.
Some die wholly in half a breath
Some--give trouble for half a year.

'There is neither Evil nor Good in life
Except as the needs of the State ordain.'
[_Since it is rather too late for the knife,
All we can do is to mask the pain._]

Some die saintly in faith and hope--
One died thus in a prison-yard--
Some die broken by rape or the rope;
Some die easily. This dies hard.

'I will dash to pieces who bar my way.
Woe to the traitor! Woe to the weak!'
[_Let him write what he wishes to say.
It tires him out if he tries to speak._]

Some die quietly. Some abound
In loud self-pity. Others spread
Bad morale through the cots around ...
This is a type that is better dead.

'The war was forced on me by my foes.
All that I sought was the right to live.'
[_Don't be afraid of a triple dose;
The pain will neutralize half we give._

_Here are the needles. See that he dies
While the effects of the drug endure....
What is the question he asks with his eyes?--
Yes, All-Highest, to God, be sure._]

GEHAZI

'Whence comest thou, Gehazi,
So reverend to behold,
In scarlet and in ermines
And chain of England's gold?'
'From following after Naaman
To tell him all is well,
Whereby my zeal hath made me
A Judge in Israel.'

Well done, well done, Gehazi,
Stretch forth thy ready hand,
Thou barely 'scaped from judgment,
T