Maurice Baring - Pierre lyrics

I saw you starting for another war, The emblem of adventure and of youth, So that men trembled, saying: "He forsooth Has gone, has gone, and shall return no more." And then out there, they told me you were dead, Taken and k**ed; how was it that I knew, Whatever else was true, that was not true? And then I saw you pale upon your bed, Scarcely two years ago, when you were sent Back from the margin of the dim abyss; For d**h had sealed you with a warning kiss, And let you go to meet a nobler fate: To fight for hearth and home, O fortunate, To die in battle with your regiment.