FLOWERS OF THE TRENCHES 



35 



66. Foliage spiny or scale-like or 

 both, fruit a blue berr}-. 

 JUNIPER OR RED CEDAR 

 c. Foliage very spiny, white 

 below — ^A low shrub. 



GROUND JUNIPER 



Flowers of the Trenches 



Translated from the French for The Natlre-Stldv Review by H. G. B. 



Close to my trench 

 I have picked for you 

 These pretty blue flowers, 

 Love's forget-me-nots, 

 To which April gave rebirth. 

 In offering you them 

 I think I see 

 The pretty color 

 Of your sweet eyes, 

 (Close to my trench 

 I have picked for you 

 These pretty flowers 

 Love's for-get-me-nots.) 



And when May comes. 



Oh my trench friend, 



I shall offer you, 



The lily- of -the- valley, all white. 



Picked I in Flanders 



In those great woods 



Where — since September, 



We've been fighting for freedom 



Gay and confident. 



(And when May comes. 



Oh my tender friend, 



I shall offer you 



The lily-of-the-vaUey, all white.) 



If I see July, 



Bathed in light, 



My gift shall be 



Poppies, 



With red petals, — 



The flowers of midsimimer — 



Picked under fljnng bullets 



And colored by the blood 



Of all the heroes. 



(If I see July, 



Bathed in light. 



My gift shall be 



Red poppies.) 



Then all these flowers — 



The colors of France — 



Shall make the boquet 



A holy remembrance. 



And if, some day, 



In the wild tempest, 



Brutal death carries me away. 



Thinking of you 



I shall close my eyes. 



(Then all these flowers — 



The colors of France, 



Shall make the bouquet 



A holy remembrance.) 



(Written by a Belgian soldier in France and sung to the tune "The Time of 

 Cherries.) 



