Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A HARROW GRAVE IN FLANDERS, by ROBERT OFFLEY ASHBURTON CREWE-MILNES



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A HARROW GRAVE IN FLANDERS, by                    
First Line: Here in the marshland, past the battered bridge
Last Line: We ask; and wait.
Alternate Author Name(s): Crewe, 1st Marquess Of; Houghton, Baron
Variant Title(s): Harrow And Flanders
Subject(s): Flanders, Belgium; Graves; World War I - Casualties; Tombs; Tombstones


HERE in the marshland, past the battered bridge,
One of a hundred grains untimely sown,
Here, with his comrades of the hard-won ridge,
He rests, unknown.

His horoscope had seemed so plainly drawn,—
School triumphs, earned apace in work and play;
Friendships at will; then love's delightful dawn
And mellowing day;

Home fostering hope; some service to the State;
Benignant age; then the long tryst to keep
Where in the yew-tree shadow congregate
His fathers sleep.

Was here the one thing needful to distil
From life's alembic, through this holier fate,
The man's essential soul, the hero will?
We ask; and wait.





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