Classic Poem

Side by side in the crowded train
Two men were counting the streets;
The cars crept slowly through the rain
And the mist grew thick on the blurring pane,
Side by side in the crowded train
Two men were counting the streets.

One thought, “Oh God, must it end in strife;
A bitter and gasping breath?”
The other thought of the new-born life
That lay that day in the arms of his wife.
And the one was going to welcome Life,
The other to witness Death.