by

The Soldier

Please listen, Lest We Forget. C xxx

The Soldier

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, blest by 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 at peace, under an English heaven.

By Rupert Brooke, 1915

3 thoughts on “The Soldier”


  2. Such a tragedy He was only 28 years old when he died in 1915 from blood poisoning while waiting to be evacuated to a military hospital. This is not only his eulogy but that of over 10 million soldiers and 10 million civilians. The poem In Flanders Fields was also written by a soldier, Lt.Col, John McCrae who was a doctor and age 45 when he also died during WW! Such a waste of life.

    In Flanders Fields
    In Flanders Fields, the poppies blow
    Between the crosses, row on row,
    That mark our place; and in the sky
    The larks, still bravely singing, fly
    Scarce heard amid the guns below.

    We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
                          In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
   If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
                            In Flanders fields.
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  3. Yes, the waste, both world wars were such a waste of life, such a waste of everything really. But as is often stated, it’s those left behind who suffer the most – the families, women & children, so many lives ruined. Power. It’s all about power. In the words of JFK “Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.” The Dalai Lama (a very wise man) once said “War is neither glamorous or attractive. It is monstrous. It’s very nature is one of tragedy & suffering.”

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