W. N. Hodgson

Awarded the Military Cross in 1915. Killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, July 1st 1916

Written in June 1914

I saw you fooling often in the tents

With fair dishevelled hair and laughing lips,

And frolic elf lights in your careless eyes,

As who had never known the taste of tears

Or the world's sorrow. Then on the march one night,

Halted beneath the stars I heard the sound

Of talk and laughter, and glanced back to see

If you were there. But you stood far apart

And silent, bowed upon your rifle butt,

And gazed into the night as one who sees.

I marked the drooping lips and fathomless eyes

And knew you brooded on immortal things.

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