OCR Text |
Show ABOU BEN "WTLHELM" (With appropriate apologies) Abou Ben "Wilhelm" (may his tribe decrease de-crease !) Awoke one night from a horror of peace, . - And saw by aid of moonlight through the pane Dripping with blood of women slain in . shame Satan himself, writing in a Book of Flame. Exceeding war had made Ben Wilhelm - bold, And to the Devil in the room he said: "What writest thou?" Then Satan raised his head And, with a jest at thought of Belgium's Bel-gium's dead, Answered: "The names of those to whom I turn For guidance in my realm below." "And is mine one?" said Wilhelm. "Nay, not so," Replied the Devil. Wilhelm spoke more low, But wearily still, and said as one forlorn: for-lorn: "Write me as one the War Was Forced Upon !" The Devil wrote and vanished. The next day He came again, with manner cheered and gay, And showred the names of those who'd grace Hell's throne, And lo! Ben Wilhelm's name was all alone ! A. B. Warren, in Life. |