War and Love/A Soldier's Song

by Richard Aldington

For works with similar titles, see A Soldier's Song.

 

A SOLDIER'S SONG

How sadly for how many nights
My dear will lie alone,
Or lie in others arms than mine
While I lie like a stone.

If she remembers me or weeps
For her lost happiness,
Though dead, I shall be pierced at heart
For her great loneliness.

If she forgets me, if she gives
Her lips and limbs to new desire,
Though dead, I shall be pierced at heart,
Burned stark by a sharp fire.

I would not have her pine and weep,
Nor would I have her love again—
Whatever comes after I die
There will be only pain and pain.

I dare not ask for life, I dare
Only to ask for utter death
So that I may not know she breathes
Life from another's amorous breath.