Page:The Muse in Arms, Osborn (ed), 1917.djvu/174

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LI

Ode to a Young Man

Who Died of Wounds in Flanders, January 1915

IN MEMORIAM R. W. R. G.

CAN it be true that thou art dead
In the hour of thy youth, in the day of thy strength?
Must I believe thy soul has fled
Through heaven's length?


A scholar wast thou, learn'd in lore;
Poet was written in thine eyes.
Thou ne'er wast meant for bloody war
To seize in prize.


Yet when they asked thee, "Lo! what dost thou bring?"
Thou gav'st thyself,
Thou gav'st thy body, gav'st thy soul;
Thou gav'st thyself, one consecrated whole
To sacrificial torture for thy King.


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