Valour and Innocence <br />Have latterly gone hence <br />To certain death by certain shame attended. <br />Envy--ah! even to tears! -- <br />The fortune of their years <br />Which, though so few, yet so divinely ended. <br /> <br />Scarce had they lifted up <br />Life's full and fiery cup, <br />Than they had set it down untouched before them. <br />Before their day arose <br />They beckoned it to close-- <br />Close in confusion and destruction o'er them. <br /> <br />They did not stay to ask <br />What prize should crown their task-- <br />Well sure that prize was such as no man strives for; <br />But passed into eclipse, <br />Her kiss upon their lips-- <br />Even Belphoebe's, whom they gave their lives for!<br /><br />Rudyard Kipling<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-queen-s-men/
