Rupert Brooke (1887-1915)

"The Soldier"

1     If I should die, think only this of me:
2         That there's some corner of a foreign field
3     That is for ever England. There shall be
4         In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
5     A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
6         Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam;
7     A body of England's, breathing English air,
8         Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

9     And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
10       A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
11           Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
12   Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
13       And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
14           In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.