Lest the young soldiers be strange in heaven, <br />God bids the old soldier they all adored <br />Come to Him and wait for them, clean, new-shriven, <br />A happy doorkeeper in the House of the Lord. <br /> <br />Lest it abash them, the strange new splendour, <br />Lest it affright them, the new robes clean; <br />Here's an old face, now, long-tried, and tender, <br />A word and a hand-clasp as they troop in. <br /> <br />'My boys,' he greets them: and heaven is homely, <br />He their great captain in days gone o'er; <br />Dear is the friend's face, honest and comely, <br />Waiting to welcome them by the strange door.<br /><br />Katharine Tynan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-old-soldier/
