Requiem for a Young Soldier

PEACE to-night, heroic spirit!Pain is overpast.All the strife with life is ended;You may rest at last.

The devotion that, amazing,Welled from out the deepOf your being, no more needed,Quiet you may sleep:

Sleep, who, giving all for others,Battled till the victory nigh,You, too, toil and heart-break over,Had the right to die! . . .

We may guard the grave that holds you,As a shrine of TruthLighted by the pure devotionOf your radiant youth;

We, you died for, may forget you!You will have no care,Who, content, to-night are sleeping—Painless, dreamless, there!