Page:More songs by the fighting men, soldier poets, second series, 1917.djvu/144

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

WALTER LIGHTOWLER WILKINSON

Lieut., 8th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

(Killed on Vimy Ridge, April 9, 1917)

A Lament from the Dead

PEACE! Vex us not: we are Dead,
We are the Dead for England slain.
(O England and the English Spring,
The English Spring, the Spring-tide rain:
Ah, God, dear God, in England now!) . . .
Peace! Vex us not: we are the Dead;
The snows of Death are on our brow:
Peace! Vex us not!


Brothers, the footfalls of the year
(The Maiden month's in England now!) . . .
I feel them pass above my head:
Alas, they echo on my heart!
(Ah, God, dear God, but England now!) . . .
Peace! vex me not, for I am dead;
The snows of Death are on my brow:
Peace! Vex me not!


140