• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books and booklets
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry and songs
  • Slang
  • Timeline
  • Topics
    • Anzac Day
    • Australia Day
    • Australian Aborigines
    • Australianism
    • Australian literature
    • The Eureka Rebellion
    • Explorers
    • Significant events and commemorative dates

The Soldier’s Vision of Christ [poem by L. E. Homfray]

28 February 2017 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This poem by L. E. Homfray was published in ‘Somewhere in France’ (1917).]

The Soldier’s Vision of Christ

The battle was raging fierce and strong,
In countless numbers the wounded lay,
Beyond the reach of all human aid
A boy lay breathing his life away.

And up from his weak and tortured lips,
Went forth through the gloom one dying cry,
“There is no other to save us now,
Oh! Son of Mary, in love draw nigh.”

Then suddenly at his side there stood
A glorious vision in raiment white,
And from that Face neath the thorny crown,
A radiance shone through the awful night.

“Fear not, beloved,” thus spake the Voice,
“For have I not all thine anguish borne?
For thee have I suffered pain and death,
The cruel nails and the crown of thorn.

And when thou walkest through Death’s dark vale
My Presence shall be thy strength and stay,
Till all the anguish of pain and strife
Shall end in the light of eternal day.

When morning broke and the searchers came
They wondered to see the smile he wore,
The infinite calm, and sweet content
Of one who rememberest pain no more.

“His eyes have seen the vision of Christ,”
Said one who had known him long and well,
And after the sound of battle strife
The rapture of peace — ah! who could tell?

L. E. Homfray



Source:
L. E. Homfray, ‘Somewhere in France’, Sydney: D. S. Ford, [1917?]

Editor’s notes:
stay = something which serves as a prop, a means of support; a strong thick rope or wire used to support a mast

Vernacular spelling in the original text:
neath (beneath)

Old spelling in the original text:
rememberest (remembers)
spake (spoke)
thee (you)
thine (your)
thou (you)
thy (your)
walkest (walk; walks)

Filed Under: poetry Tagged With: L. E. Homfray (author) (1873-1951), poem, Somewhere in France (L. E. Homfray 1917), SourceSLV, year1917

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Australian flag, 100hThe Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
A list of significant Australiana
Significant events and commemorative dates
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian literature
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Australian explorers
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • Mercenary Mum, by Neryl Joyce [book review]
  • The Year of the Angry Rabbit, by Russell Braddon [book review]
  • Western bush fire: Several crops burnt [5 January 1906]
  • Buy “Australian-Made” [by W. R. Bagnall, 22 June 1928]
  • The Bad Boy [poem regarding Henry Parkes, 12 May 1877]

Top Posts & Pages

  • The Bard and the Lizard [poem by John Shaw Neilson]
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • The drover’s wife [by Henry Lawson]
  • The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • To a Blue Flower [poem by John Shaw Neilson]

Categories

Archives

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Search this site



For Australia


Copyright © 2022 · Log in