The Zenith

To-day I reach the zenith of my life,
No time more noble in my span of years
Than this, the glorious hour of splendid strife,
Of War, of cataclysmal woe, and tears.
All petty are the greatest things of yore,
All mean and sordid is my dearest lay;
I have done nothing more worthwhile before…
My hour, my chance, my crisis, are to-day!

Albert (en route for the Somme), 9th October, 1916