Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BEFORE SEDAN, by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BEFORE SEDAN, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Here in this leafy place
Last Line: Death will not have it so.
Alternate Author Name(s): Dobson, Austin
Subject(s): Corpses; France; Tragedy; World War I; Cadavers; First World War


HERE in this leafy place,
Quiet he lies,
Cold, with his sightless face
Turned to the skies;
'T is but another dead! --
All you can say is said.

Carry his body hence, --
Kings must have slaves;
Kings climb to eminence
Over men's graves.
So this man's eye is dim; --
Throw the earth over him.

What was the white you touched,
There at his side?
Paper his hand had clutched
Tight ere he died;
Message or wish, may be: --
Smooth out the folds and see.

Hardly the worst of us
Here could have smiled! --
Only the tremulous
Words of a child: --
Prattle, that had for stops
Just a few ruddy drops.

Look. She is sad to miss,
Morning and night,
His -- her dead father's -- kiss,
Tries to be bright,
Good to mamma, and sweet.
That is all. "Marguerite."

Ah, if beside the dead
Slumbered the pain!
Ah, if the hearts that bled
Slept with the slain!
If the grief died! -- But no: --
Death will not have it so.




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