Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE NEW ZEALANDER, by BEN KENDIM


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE NEW ZEALANDER, by                    
First Line: Samothrace and imbros lie
Last Line: Tom, his brother, envied him.
Subject(s): New Zealand; World War I; First World War


[Monody on the death of a member of the New Zealand Contingent, who, going to
rest on the beach, was killed in his sleep by a discharge of shrapnel]

SAMOTHRACE and Imbros lie
Like blue shadows in the sky;
Scented comes the wind from Greece
Slow-winged as the Soul of Peace.

All was still as evening came
With a whisper, sheathed in flame,
And the battlefield grew still
From the Valley to the Hill.

Just beyond the ripples' reach
He was lying on the beach,
Dreaming half of things at home,
Mixing dreams with light and foam.

Three days he had smelt the dead,
Looked on black blood and on red,
Gripped and lain, and cursed and hated,
Feared, exulted, prayed, and waited.

From the dawn till dusk was dim
All the world had spied on him;
And the wind that sighed so low
Seemed the footstep of his foe,

And at night the fireflies dancing
Were the light of men advancing.
Swift his hands. His brain was cool.
"Hell," he said, "poor Tom's at school."

Then he rested on the beach
Just beyond the ripples' reach,
Home and sunset in his dream
Till the shrapnel's quicker gleam

Found his heart, and found his head—
Found him dreaming, left him dead.
And they buried him at night
With men fallen in the fight.

So he fought and went away
With the glory of the day,
And no hatred in his heart
When the great ways met to part.

On a beach without a name
He died sleeping, robbed of fame,
Just before the day grew dim.
Tom, his brother, envied him.





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