<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="" class="head">In Memory of a Young Airman</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">BROWN hair, brown brow, brown throat, like bronze</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Sculptured by a Praxiteles,</p><p class="line">And hazel eyes, like summer dawns,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Lighting the isles of Southern seas.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">He seemed like some great poet's dream</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Of some white lovely Grecian god--</p><p class="line">Adonis, with young eyes agleam;</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Or Herakles, with shoulders broad.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Or Hermes, with his wingéd feet</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Flying on messages divine;</p><p class="line">Or Ganymede, the stripling sweet,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Pouring the gods their ruby wine;</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Or Hyacinthus, ere the wound</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Turned him to flowers in Zephir's arms;</p><p class="line">Or tall Narcissus, ere he swooned</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">From love of his own mirrored charms.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Yet, though his beauty and his grace</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Were as the dreams of Grecian art,</p><p class="line">'Twas England's soul illumed his face,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">'Twas England blossomed in his heart.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And England, England, England lit</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">His eyes with loving, filial joy;</p><p class="line">He went and gave his life for it,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">This happy-hearted English boy.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And gave it not as one might lay</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">A gift upon an altar high;</p><p class="line">He did not kneel, he did not pray;</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Gaily he sallied forth to die.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">He had nor gods, nor marble fanes,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">He had no pious faith forsooth,</p><p class="line">Save English lawns, and English lanes,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">And English homes, and English truth.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">England, his Merrie England, stood</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">For all things high, and all things free;</p><p class="line">For all things wise, and all things good;</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">For Justice and for Liberty.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">So he faced peril with a jest,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">And with a smile he paid the price.</p><p class="line">England was worthy England's best,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">England was worth all sacrifice.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">There was such laughter in his breath,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">He was so young, and strong, and straight,</p><p class="line">His beauty made a mock of death</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">His joyance had no place for hate.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">He went as warrior of the air,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Above him were the sun and stars,</p><p class="line">And rosy clouds, and under there</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The trenches' livid weals and scars;</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The bloody fangs of barbéd wire,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The muddy craters choked with dead,</p><p class="line">The cannon belching smoke and fire,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The crests of battle breaking red.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">He saw the glint of steel below,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The thunder of the guns he heard;</p><p class="line">But what to him were death and woe!</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">He only was a boy, a bird--</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">A boy on high adventure bent,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">An eagle soaring to the blue;</p><p class="line">Up to the radiant sun he went,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Through the bright fields of air he flew.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">He loosed his bolt. The bright death sped</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Spinning like an Ithuriel's spear,</p><p class="line">Earth spluttered red around the dead,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Yet felt he neither wrath nor fear.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">For he was messenger of Fate,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Merely a boy, a bird, a Doom,</p><p class="line">And neither doubt, nor fear, nor hate</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Within his boyish heart had room.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">There came a blizzard through the skies,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">A shrieking gust of shrapnel rain;</p><p class="line">A blinding mist came o'er his eyes,</p><p class="line">He felt a sudden throb of pain;</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Then peace. With broken wings he lay</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Upon the ground. But still meseems</p><p class="line">The climbing spirit cleaves its way,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">With the white wings of happy dreams.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And still meseems the boundless force,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The beauty and the love set free</p><p class="line">From the gross flesh, will run its course</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Through æons of Eternity;--</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Unspoilt, unspent, will reach its aim,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">And from the dead will spring perchance</p><p class="line">A Europe purged by steel and flame--</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">A nobler England, nobler France.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Yea, from his fame as white as snow,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">And from his sacrificial blood,</p><p class="line">The lilies of new France will grow</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The roses of new England bud.</p></div></body></html> · Great War