Lines for Prospective War Memorial

THIS was the beautiful country of their birth,
Their native mother by the living loved,
Their sun and moon shone here; they dug this earth
Thinking thoughts hither, here they lived and moved.

Without alternative their instinct fought
TWhen war was here, each at his brother’s side.
This was their living country; they with thought,
Not only instinct, served her till they died.

But now a deeper and maturer land
Is theirs; the international dead increase.
The living take their sides with war at hand,
But only once; and they die in peace.

The dead are forgiven, if they need forgiving;
They have no country — that is for the living.