Autograph letter signed by Harley Matthews, written from Gallipoli Peninsula, to Bertram Stevens, relating to conditions at the front, 10 July 1915 and poem, 'The Quest of Love' for possible publication in The Lone Hand; and, 'Summer Song' - Page 7

[Page 7]

The Quest of Love
My sleeping comrades never stirred,
For there had been no call to arms.
Still round the heights the battle rang
Yet not that woke me, but a bird
That somewhere sang.

To hear him sing made me forget
Why I lay here and all such things.
Straightway I felt the wind that blew.
I saw the scattered clouds that let
The stars shine through.

A flame felled all the sky! & then,
As swift, died out. But I had seen
The low black bushes on the hill.
The men that stirred in pain, the men
That lay so still.

At last the gun crashed. Then for long
The night was vivid with the light,
And shaken with the roar of guns.
And yet I heard a bird's clear song
Ring through it once

I saw he moving on the slope.
At each form fearfully she knelt
And looked intently on the face.
Then on she went again, and hope
Made swift her pace.