Oh, some shall stand in glory's light when all the strife is done, <br /> And many a mother there shall say, 'For truth I gave my son!' <br /> But I shall stand in silence then and hear the stories brave, <br /> For I must answer at the last that gold is all I gave. <br /> <br /> When all this age shall pass away, and silenced are the guns, <br /> When sweethearts join their loves again, and mothers kiss their sons, <br /> When brave unto the brave return, and all they did is told, <br /> How pitiful my gift shall seem, when all I gave is gold. <br /> <br /> When we are asked what did you then, when all the world was red, <br /> And some shall say, 'I fell in France,' and some, 'I mourned my dead;' <br /> With all the brave assembled there in glory long to live, <br /> How trivial our lives shall seem who had but gold to give.<br /><br />Edgar Albert Guest<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-gold-givers/
