The Dying Soldier

“Here are houses,” he moaned,
“I could reach, but my brain swims.”
Then they thundered and flashed,
And shook the earth to its rims.

“They are gunpits,” he gasped,
“Our men are at the guns.
Water!... Water!... Oh, water!
For one of England’s dying sons.”

“We cannot give you water,
Were all England in your breath.”
“Water!... Water!... Oh, water!”
He moaned and swooned to death.