After (Kipling)
After the War.The snow lies thick on Valley Forge,
The ice on the Delaware,
But the poor dead soldiers of King George
They neither know nor care—
The ice on the Delaware,
But the poor dead soldiers of King George
They neither know nor care—
Not though the earliest primrose break
On the sunny side of the lane,
And scuffling rookeries awake
Their England’s spring again.
On the sunny side of the lane,
And scuffling rookeries awake
Their England’s spring again.
They will not stir when the drifts are gone
Or the ice melts out of the bay,
And the men that served with Washington
Lie all as still as they.
Or the ice melts out of the bay,
And the men that served with Washington
Lie all as still as they.
They will not stir though the mayflower blows
In the moist dark woods of pine,
And every rock-strewn pasture shows
Mullein and columbine.
In the moist dark woods of pine,
And every rock-strewn pasture shows
Mullein and columbine.
Each for his land, in a fair fight,
Encountered, strove, and died,
And the kindly earth that knows no spite
Covers them side by side.
Encountered, strove, and died,
And the kindly earth that knows no spite
Covers them side by side.
She is too busy to think of war;
She has all the world to make gay,
And, behold, the yearly flowers are
Where they were in our fathers’ day!
She has all the world to make gay,
And, behold, the yearly flowers are
Where they were in our fathers’ day!
Golden-rod by the pasture wall
When the columbine is dead,
And sumach leaves that turn, in fall,
Red as the blood they shed.
When the columbine is dead,
And sumach leaves that turn, in fall,
Red as the blood they shed.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1936, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 87 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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