Isandlwana

By John McCrae

1872-1918


Scarlet coats, and crash o' the band,
         The grey of a pauper's gown,
         A soldier's grave in Zululand,
         And a woman in Brecon Town.

My little lad for a soldier boy,
         (Mothers o' Brecon Town!)
My eyes for tears and his for joy
         When he went from Brecon Town,
His for the flags and the gallant sights
His for the medals and his for the fights,
And mine for the dreary, rainy nights
         At home in Brecon Town.

They say he's laid beneath a tree,
         (Come back to Brecon Town!)
Shouldn't I know? -- I was there to see:
         (It's far to Brecon Town!)
It's me that keeps it trim and drest
With a briar there and a rose by his breast --
The English flowers he likes the best
         That I bring from Brecon Town.

And I sit beside him -- him and me,
         (We're back to Brecon Town.)
To talk of the things that used to be
         (Grey ghosts of Brecon Town);
I know the look o' the land and sky,
And the bird that builds in the tree near by,
And times I hear the jackals cry,
         And me in Brecon Town.

         Golden grey on miles of sand
         The dawn comes creeping down;
         It's day in far off Zululand
         And night in Brecon Town.

DayPoems Poem No. 1094
<a href="http://www.daypoems.net/poems/1094.html">Isandlwana by John McCrae</a>

The DayPoems Poetry Collection, www.daypoems.net
Timothy Bovee, editor

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