Over the Dead
Who in the splendour of a simple thought,
Whether for England or her enemies,
Went in the night, and in the morning died;
Each bleeding piece of human earth that lies
Stark to the carrion wind, and groaning cries
For burial — each Jesu crucified —
Hath surely won the thing he dearly bought,
For wrong is right, when wrong is greatly wrought.
Yet is the Nazarene no thigh of Thor,
To play on partial fields the puppet king
Bearing the battle down with bloody hand.
Serene he towers above the gods of war,
A naked man where shells go thundering —
The great unchallenged Lord of No-Man's Land.
[Gilbert Keith Chesterton]
Elegy in a Country Churchyard
The men that worked for England
They have their graves at home;
And bees and birds of England
About the cross can roam.
But they that fought for England,
Following a falling star,
Alas, alas, for England
They have their graves afar.
And they that rule in England
In stately conclave met,
Alas, alas, for England,
They have no graves as yet.
