Mother, with unbowed head <br />Hear thou across the sea <br />The farewell of the dead, <br />The dead who died for thee. <br />Greet them again with tender words and grave, <br />For saving thee, themselves they could not save. <br /> <br />To keep the house unharmed <br />Their fathers built so fair, <br />Deeming endurance armed <br />Better than brute despair, <br />They found the secret of the word that saith, <br />'Service is sweet, for all true life is death.' <br /> <br />So greet thou well thy dead <br />Across the homeless sea, <br />And be thou comforted <br />Because they died for thee. <br />Far off they served, but now their deed is done <br />For evermore their life and thine are one.<br /><br />Sir Henry Newbolt<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/farewell-116/
