Near Martinpuich that night of hell <br />Two men were struck by the same shell, <br />Together tumbling in one heap <br />Senseless and limp like slaughtered sheep. <br /> <br />One was a pale eighteen-year-old, <br />Blue-eyed and thin and not too bold, <br />Pressed for the war not ten years too soon, <br />The shame and pity of his platoon. <br /> <br />The other came from far-off lands <br />With bristling chin and whiskered hands, <br />He had known death and hell before <br />In Mexico and Ecuador. <br /> <br />Yet in his death this cut-throat wild <br />Groaned 'Mother! Mother!' like a child, <br />While the poor innocent in man's clothes <br />Died cursing God with brutal oaths. <br /> <br />Old Sergeant Smith, kindest of men, <br />Wrote out two copies and then <br />Of his accustomed funeral speech <br />To cheer the womanfolk of each:- <br /> <br /> <br />'He died a hero's death: and we <br />His comrades of 'A' Company <br />Deeply regret his death: we shall <br />All deeply miss so true a pal.'<br /><br />Robert Graves<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-leveller/
