THE DEBT UNPAYABLE
What have I given,
Bold sailor on the sea,
In earth or heaven,
That you should die for me?
What can I give,
O soldier, leal and brave,
Long as I live,
To pay the life you gave?
What tithe or part
Can I return to thee,
O stricken heart,
That thou shouldst break for me?
The wind of Death
For you has slain life's flowers,
It withereth
(God grant) all weeds in ours.
F.W. Bourdillon
THE MESSAGES
"I cannot quite remember…. There were five
Dropt dead beside me in the trench—and three
Whispered their dying messages to me…."
Back from the trenches, more dead than alive,
Stone-deaf and dazed, and with a broken knee,
He hobbled slowly, muttering vacantly:
"I cannot quite remember…. There were five
Dropt dead beside me in the trench, and three
Whispered their dying messages to me….