The Poetry Corner

The Route March

By Henry Lawson

Did you hear the children singing, O my brothers? Did you hear the children singing as our troops went marching past? In the sunshine and the rain, As theyll never sing again, Hear the little school-girls singing as our troops went swinging past? Did you hear the children singing, O my brothers? Did you hear the children singing for the first man and the last? As they marched away and vanished, To a tune we thought was banished, Did you hear the children singing for the future and the past? Shall you hear the children singing, O my brothers? Shall you hear the children singing in the sunshine or the rain? Therell be sobs beneath the ringing Of the cheers, and neath the singing Therell be tears of orphan children when Our Boys come back again!