I Stood With the Dead

I Stood with the Dead, so forsaken and still:
When dawn was grey I stood with the Dead.
And my slow heart said, ‘You must kill, you must kill:
‘Soldier, soldier, morning is red’.

On the shapes of the slain in their crumpled disgrace
I stared for a while through the thin cold rain…
‘O lad that I loved, there is rain on your face,
‘And your eyes are blurred and sick like the plain.’

I stood with the Dead… They were dead; they were dead;
My heart and my head beat a march of dismay:
And gusts of the wind came dulled by the guns.
‘Fall in!’ I shouted; ‘Fall in for your pay!’

Similar poems:

The Truth the Dead Know For my Mother, born March 1902, died March 1959 And my Father, born February 1900, died June 1959 Gone, I...

My Life had stood a Loaded Gun My Life had stood a Loaded Gun In Corners till a Day The Owner passed identified And carried Me away...

Soldier, Soldier “Soldier, soldier come from the wars, Why don’t you march with my true love?” “We’re fresh from off the ship...

Thou Whose Spell Can Raise the Dead Thou whose spell can raise the dead, Bid the prophet’s form appear. “Samuel, raise thy buried head! “King, behold the...

Memorial Day For The War Dead Memorial day for the war dead. Add now The grief of all your losses to their grief, Even of a...

Marzo Pazzo Mad March, with the wind in his wings wide-spread, Leaps from heaven, and the deep dawn’s arch Hails re-risen again...

House TWO Swede families live downstairs and an Irish policeman upstairs, and an old soldier, Uncle Joe. Two Swede boys go...

It was not Death, for I stood up It was not Death, for I stood up, And all the Dead, lie down It was not Night, for all...

Yes, the Dead Speak to Us YES, the Dead speak to us. This town belongs to the Dead, to the Dead and to the Wilderness. Back...

Come not when I am dead Come not, when I am dead, To drop thy foolish tears upon my grave, To trample round my fallen head,...

The Blind And The Dead She lay like a saint on her copper couch; Like an angel asleep she lay, In the stare of the...

I stood upon a high place I stood upon a high place, And saw, below, many devils Running, leaping, And carousing in sin. One looked up,...

The Stars are old, that stood for me The Stars are old, that stood for me The West a little worn Yet newer glows the only Gold I...

I stood upon a highway I stood upon a highway, And, behold, there came Many strange peddlers. To me each one made gestures, Holding forth...

The Mountains stood in Haze The Mountains stood in Haze The Valleys stopped below And went or waited as they liked The River and the...

He Wishes His Beloved Were Dead Were you but lying cold and dead, And lights were paling out of the West, You would come hither, and...

Lodged The rain to the wind said, ‘You push and I’ll pelt.’ They so smote the garden bed That the flowers...

A Boundless Moment He halted in the wind, and what was that Far in the maples, pale, but not a ghost? He stood...

Alfred Moir Why was I not devoured by self-contempt, And rotted down by indifference And impotent revolt like Indignation Jones? Why, with...

When I am dead, my dearest When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor...