Ewart Alan Mackintosh
As I go down the highway,
And through the village street,
I hear the pipers playing
And the tramp of marching feet.
The men I worked and fought with
Swing by me four on four.
And at the end you follow
Whom I shall see no more.
Oh, Stalk, where are you lying ?
Somewhere and far away,
Enemy hands have buried
Your quiet contemptuous clay.
There was no greeting given,
No tear of friend for friend,
From us when you flew over
Exultant to the end.
I couldn’t see the paper,
I couldn’t think that you
Would never walk the highway
The way you used to do.
I turn at every footfall,
Half-hoping, half -afraid
To see you coming, later
Than usual for parade.
The old Lairg clique is broken,
I drove there yesterday.
And the car was full of ghosts that sat
Beside me all the way.
Ghosts of old songs and laughter,
Ghosts of the jolly three,
That went the road together
And go no more with me.
Oh, Stalk, but I am lonely.
For the old days we knew.
And the bed on the floor at Lesdos
We slept in, I and you.
The joyful nights in billets
We laughed and drank and swore —
But the candle’s burned out now, Stalk,
In the mess at Henancourt.
The candle’s burned out now, old man.
And the dawn’s come grey and cold.
And I sit by the fire here
Alone and sad and old.
Though all the rest come back again.
You lie in a foreign land,
And the strongest link of all the chain
Is broken in my hand.
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Analysis (AI Assisted)
This poem reflects the sorrow and longing of a soldier mourning the loss of a comrade, capturing the quiet ache of grief, the weight of memory, and the bitterness of survival. The poem’s tone is wistful, poignant, and filled with a deep sense of loss. It explores themes of friendship, death, and the emotional scars of war that continue to haunt those who are left behind.
In the opening stanza, the speaker walks down a familiar path, observing the sounds of life continuing around him — the pipers playing, the marching feet of soldiers, and the comrades from his past now marching on, four by four. Yet there’s a void in this scene: the speaker is haunted by the absence of “Stalk,” the friend and comrade who has died, and whom he will never see again. The “tramp of marching feet” and the pipers’ music serve as a reminder of both the camaraderie of the past and the finality of death.
The speaker’s grief is evident in the second stanza, where he expresses the shock and disbelief of losing his friend. The line “Enemy hands have buried / Your quiet contemptuous clay” reflects the cruel irony of death in war — that a friend who once walked beside him is now “buried” by those who were once enemies. The “quiet contemptuous clay” hints at Stalk’s personality — perhaps someone who had a sharp, defiant attitude toward death and battle, someone who may have been difficult to mourn in the conventional ways. There was no formal “greeting” or tearful farewell, only a brutal finality. The speaker’s disbelief is palpable — he couldn’t imagine a future without Stalk, and yet, here he is, facing the harsh reality of a life without him.
The third stanza deepens the sense of loss, as the speaker continues to be haunted by memories. There’s a vivid image of Stalk’s absence and how it manifests in the speaker’s daily life. “I turn at every footfall, / Half-hoping, half-afraid / To see you coming, later / Than usual for parade.” The constant longing for his friend’s return is coupled with a painful fear — the fear of never seeing him again, which reflects the internal struggle between hope and resignation that survivors often face.
The fourth stanza brings in another element of nostalgia. The “old Lairg clique” is now “broken,” and the journey back to a familiar place is colored by the ghosts of past memories. The speaker’s car is filled with the “ghosts” of past times — the old songs, laughter, and the camaraderie that once defined their group. But now, the speaker is alone in the present, carrying the burden of memory without the living presence of his comrades. This stanza reinforces the sense of a past that can never be reclaimed, and a future that feels emptier without Stalk by his side.
The fifth stanza is more personal and intimate, taking us to a memory of shared spaces and experiences. The speaker reflects on the simplicity of their days together: “The bed on the floor at Lesdos / We slept in, I and you.” These images of the “joyful nights” in billets, filled with laughter and camaraderie, contrast sharply with the present solitude. The “candle’s burned out now” serves as a powerful metaphor for the end of an era — the end of a time when everything felt alive, full of potential and camaraderie. Now, in the “mess at Henancourt,” the candle is extinguished, and the warmth of their companionship has faded into the cold reality of loss.
The final stanza brings the poem to a somber close. The “candle’s burned out now,” signaling not only the end of a specific time and place but the extinguishing of hope that things could return to the way they were. The speaker reflects on the passage of time — “the dawn’s come grey and cold,” a metaphor for the bleakness of a world without Stalk. The image of sitting by the fire “alone and sad and old” emphasizes the emotional desolation of the speaker, who now lives in a world that feels colder and emptier without his comrade. Though others may return, Stalk remains in a “foreign land,” physically and metaphorically distant from the speaker, and the strongest link in the chain of their friendship is forever broken.
This poem is ultimately a meditation on loss, memory, and the unrelenting passage of time. The speaker’s sorrow is not just for the death of a friend, but for the irreparable change that war has brought to his world. The death of Stalk marks the end of a certain way of life, and the speaker is left grappling with the fragments of the past — the ghosts, the memories, the moments of joy and camaraderie — but also with the overwhelming sense of absence. The image of the broken chain is especially powerful, symbolizing the irrevocable separation between the speaker and his lost friend, and the emotional weight of survival. The speaker is left to carry the memory alone, haunted by it, yet unable to move forward without it.