Upon the margin of a rugged shore
There is a spot now barren, desolate,
A place of graves, sodden with human gore
That Time will hallow, Memory consecrate.
There lie the ashes of the mighty dead,
The youth who lit with flame Obscurity,
Fought true for Freedom, won thro' rain of lead
Undying fame, their immortality.
The stranger wand'ring when the war is over,
The ploughman there driving his coulter deep,
The husbandman who golden harvests reap-
From hill and ravine, from each plain and cover
Will hear a shout, see phantoms on the marge,
See men again making a deathless charge.
Notes
Published in "The Times" in April 1915
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Comments
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Although Sergeant Streets did see active service his regiment was not sent to protect Suez until AFTER Galipoli. That's where he earned his stripes.
His regiment was only newly formed and in the UK at the start of the campaign.
The fact that this was published in April 1915 is therefore extra-ordinary.
I would suggest the poem was written from second hand descriptions and was actually untitled until the editor of "The Times" got hold of it and added a title to match the breaking news of the fighting there. -
Liked the change in rhyme scheme from the first two verses till the final one. Sure there were many poems written about the war, the casualties and the consequences.
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clever, thoughtful
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