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XCVI
The Sleep of Death
WE see no terror in your eyes.
They say that sleeping you were found;
Now we with bayonets guard you round.
Night's shadow up the hillside creeps,
But you still watch the lighted skies,
Although the sentinel that sleeps
The next dawn dies.
Ah, the remorse is gone that grew
To think of what my comrade said:
"Give this to her when I am dead"—
A heart-shaped thing of little worth
That held her picture for his view,
But he was killed and in the earth
Before I knew.
It was last night. My watch I kept,
The stars just overhead shone dim.
Nought moved upon the hills' far rim.
But in the hollows shadows seethed,
And as I watched, towards me crept.
I listened: deep my comrades breathed
Where near they slept.
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