The Soldiers at Lauro

Spike Milligan 1918 (Ahmednagar, India) – 2002 (Rye, United Kingdom)



Young are our dead
Like babies they lie
The wombs they blest once
Not healed dry
And yet - too soon
Into each space
A cold earth falls
On colder face.
Quite still they lie
These fresh-cut reeds
Clutched in earth
Like winter seeds
But they will not bloom
When called by spring
To burst with leaf
And blossoming
They sleep on
In silent dust
As crosses rot
And helmets rust.
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Submitted by RobertHaigh on June 10, 2020

Modified on March 14, 2023

21 sec read
89

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCBDEFEBGHGIJKJLMNM
Closest metre Iambic dimeter
Characters 352
Words 71
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 20

Spike Milligan

Terence Alan Patrick Seán Milligan KBE, better known as Spike Milligan, was born in British India. His talent for comedy was evident from an early age, and he found fame as a member of the Goons, along with Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine. He wrote many books, including volumes of comic verse. He was also a passionate campaigner for animal rights and the environment. more…

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