Poems (Coates 1916)/Volume II/Requiem for a Young Soldier
For other versions of this work, see Requiem for a Young Soldier.
REQUIEM FOR A YOUNG SOLDIER
PEACE to-night, heroic spirit!
Pain is overpast.
All the strife with life is ended;
You may rest at last.
The devotion that, amazing,
Welled from out the deep
Of your being, no more needed,
Quiet you may sleep:
Sleep, who, giving all for others,
Battled till the victory nigh,
You, too, toil and heart-break over,
Had the right to die! . . .
We may guard the grave that holds you,
As a shrine of Truth
Lighted by the pure devotion
Of your radiant youth;
We, you died for, may forget you!
You will have no care,
Who, content, to-night are sleeping—
Painless, dreamless, there!