Before Sedan
By Austin Dobson
(English poet and essayist, born 1840)
Here in this leafy place
Quiet he lies,
Cold, with his sightless face
Turned to the skies;
’Tis but another dead;
All you can say is said.
Carry his body hence,—
Kings must have slaves;
Kings climb to eminence
Over men’s graves;
So this man’s eye is dim;—
Throw the earth over him.