Cross Roads

TOGETHER

     THEY LAY TOGETHER IN THE SUN AND WAITED FOR THE END;
     SIDE BY SIDE, TOGETHER, BEARDED FOE AND FRIEND;
     JEAN FROM THE PLEASANT FIELDS OF SINGING, SOUTHERN
        FRANCE,
     JEAN FROM THE POPPY FIELDS SIGHING WITH ROMANCE;
     FRITZ FROM A FATHERLAND HE BLINDLY LOVED AND SERVED,
     FRITZ WHOSE SOFT-NOSED BULLETS HAD NEVER FLINCHED NOR
        SWERVED;
     AND PETER, WHOSE TIRED EYES WERE WIDE AND DEEP AND
        BROWN,
     PETER FROM DELANCEY STREET, IN NEW YORK TOWN.

        They didn't speak, these three,
        They didn't know each other's tongue;
        And, then,
        When men
        Whose songs are nearly sung
        Are lying side by side,
        Their breathing not so... free,
        The gulf is rather wide.

        In the sun they lay there;
        And Fritz's hair
        Was very bright.
        He was a foe
        To kill on sight—
        And yet the light
        Upon his hair was so,
        So very fair....

     Jean found himself remembering HER hair;
     Of palest gold it was, a magic snare
     To net men's soul in!  She had bade him go,
     Sobbing, "Je t'aime"—which means, "I love you so!"
     Her hair—her hands—her lips,
     Red as a sunset cloud when daytime slips
     Into the night.  No, redder!
                                   Like a flower
     That blooms upon the earth for just an hour;
     A poppy flower, fragile, soft....  HER LIPS
     Red as the heart-blood of a man, that drips
     Into eternity....
        Jean sighed,
        And died.

     PERHAPS HER LIPS WERE VERY NEAR—WHO KNOWS?
     WHEN EYES MUST CLOSE
     AGAINST THE SUN, AND LIFE, WHO CARES?
     ONE ONLY DARES
     TO WONDER!

     Fritz lay still.
     He felt the strength, the faith, the stubborn will,
     Drop from him like worn garments, till he lay
     Half-frightened in the burning light of day.
     He had killed many, yes....
     From under
     His tunic, gropingly, he drew a cross;
     He wondered would it make, for her, the loss
     A little less?
     Ah, to press
     His bearded lips once more upon her cheek,
     To hear her speak....

     Yes, he had killed, and killed—
     And he had thrilled
     To do it....
     But just to sit
     Beside her, in the shade,
     THAT had been paradise!
     Her soft arms laid
     About his throat....
     THEY STRANGLED HIM—
     His eyes grew dim....
     He choked—once... twice....

     Peter from Delancey Street, laughed with white-
        lipped pluck.
     "Dyin' side o' HIM!" he coughed.  "Ain't it rotten
        luck!
     "Poor guy, they got him, though—got him same as
        me...."
     Peter, from Delancey Street, stopped talking suddenly.

        He saw—
        A candy store,
        On the busy, smelly corner of a crowded city
           slum;
        He heard the hum
        Of traffic in the street,
        The sound of feet
        Upon the pavement; and he saw,
        Behind the counter there,
        THE GIRL.  She wore
        Her hair
        Plastered tight to her little shell-like ears.
        He felt her tears
        Upon his face
        The night he told her that he'd left his place,
        His steady paying job, to go and fight.

        "Good night!"
        He'd said to her.
        "Somebody's gotta go!
        Yerself, you know,
        We gotta STIR
        T'lick them fellers Over There!"
        Her slicked-back hair
        Had roughened up against his khaki sleeve,
        And she had cried:
        "Dear, MUST you leave?"
        And he had dried
        Her eyes, and smudged the powder on her
           nose....

        "Here goes!"
        Said Peter of Delancey Street.
        He saw
        A candy store—
        A city slum, a girl with plastered hair,
        Who waited there....

     THEY LAY TOGETHER IN THE SUN—BRAVELY TO THE END,
     SIDE BY SIDE, TOGETHER, BEARDED FOE AND FRIEND.
     JEAN FROM THE POPPY FIELDS, SIGHING WITH ROMANCE,
     JEAN FROM THE LAUGHTER-LILTING FIELDS OF SOUTHERN
        FRANCE;
     FRITZ FROM A FATHERLAND HE BLINDLY LOVED AND SERVED,
     FRITZ, WHOSE FAITH, ALTHOUGH BETRAYED, HAD NEVER
        FLINCHED OR SWERVED;
     AND PETER, WHOSE TIRED EYES WERE QUESTIONING AND
        BROWN,
     PETER, FROM DELANCEY STREET, IN NEW YORK TOWN.