.NDE.NDA4MQ

THE SPIRES OF OXFORD (Seen from the train)

By W. M. Letts

I saw the spires of Oxford
As I was passing by.
The gray spires of Oxford
Against a pearl-gray sky.
My heart was with the Oxford men
Who went abroad to die.

The years go fast in Oxford,
The golden years and gay,
The hoary Colleges look down
On careless boys at play.
But when the bugles sounded war
They put their games away.

They left the peaceful river,
The cricket-field, the quad,
The shaven lawns of Oxford
To seek a bloody sod—
They gave their merry youth away
For country and for God.

God rest you, happy gentlemen,
Who laid your good lives down,
Who took the khaki and the gun
Instead of cap and gown. 
God bring you to a fairer place
Than even Oxford town. 

Hand written: CapT J.B. Mitchell M.C.
3/8th/ City of London
Killed in action SepT 15/16

Photograph of four soldiers squatting around a catch of fish
Hand written:  Esquimalt Dockyard.

BC Archives MS-0392  FRANK SWANNELL PAPERS
Box 1    Diary and enclosures, 1915
Volume 4