Death & Dying
The English Dead
From Ver Tenebrosum (1885)
Give honour to our heroes fall'n, how ill
Soe'er the cause that bade them forth to die.
Honour to him, the untimely struck, whom high
In place, more high in hope, 'twas fate's harsh will
With tedious pain unsplendidly to kill.
Honour to him, doom'd splendidly to die,
Child of the city whose foster-child am I,
Who, hotly leading up the ensanguin'd hill
His charging thousand, fell without a word--
Fell, but shall fall not from our memory.
Also for them let honour's voice be heard
Who nameless sleep, while dull time covereth
With no illustrious shade of laurel tree,
But with the poppy alone, their deeds and death.
Cite this poem
MLA
Watson, William. “The English Dead.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/watson/48/.
Chicago
Watson, William. “The English Dead.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/watson/48/.
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