11th November 1918
The Soldier (War Sonnets No. 5)
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blessed by the suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts a peace, under an English heaven.
Rupert Brooke Dymock Poet (1887-1915)
1 comment:
We will remember them.
We got the kids inside just before eleven (these are four and half year olds) and told them in language appropriate for them and then they sat so very quietly and still while they thought about what we'd said, for the two minutes, and then we did the NZ national anthem. Never to young to learn.
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