Rilla , I saw the Piper coming down the Valley with a shadowy host behind him . The others thought I was only pretending -- but I saw him for just one moment . And Rilla , last night I saw him again . I was doing sentry-go and I saw him marching across No-man 's - land from our trenches to the German trenches -- the same tall shadowy form , piping weirdly -- and behind him followed boys in khaki . Rilla , I tell you I saw him -- it was no fancy -- no illusion . I heard his music , and then -- he was gone . But I had seen him -- and I knew what it meant -- I knew that I was among those who followed him . `` Rilla , the Piper will pipe me ` west ' tomorrow . I feel sure of this . And Rilla , I 'm not afraid . When you hear the news , remember that . I 've won my own freedom here -- freedom from all fear . I shall never be afraid of anything again -- not of death -- nor of life , if after all , I am to go on living . And life , I think , would be the harder of the two to face -- for it could never be beautiful for me again . There would always be such horrible things to remember -- things that would make life ugly and painful always for me . I could never forget them . But whether it 's life or death , I 'm not afraid , Rilla-my-Rilla , and I am not sorry that I came . I 'm satisfied . I 'll never write the poems I once dreamed of writing -- but I 've helped to make Canada safe for the poets of the future -- for the workers of the future -- ay , and the dreamers , too -- for if no man dreams , there will be nothing for the workers to fulfil -- the future , not of Canada only but of the world -- when the ` red rain ' of Langemarck and Verdun shall have brought forth a golden harvest -- not in a year or two , as some foolishly think , but a generation later , when the seed sown now shall have had time to germinate and grow . Yes , I 'm glad I came , Rilla .
It is n't only the fate of the little sea-born island I love that is in the balance -- nor XXXXX Canada nor of England .
across among behind for from in of that whether with