Versamelde gedigte

[p. 431]

Reported missing - presumed dead

Let me not mourn because one more is given

To swell our sacrifice to ravenous death,

One more unfolding blossom that beneath

War's ponderous hoofs will be trod down and driven
Into the land of ghosts, one more life riven

From the safe anchorage of its peaceful sheath,

To flash, a falling star, across the heath

And die in outer darkness. We have striven
For all that is more precious and more dear

Than life itself, counting the price to pay

To guard it, cheaper than to chance its loss

Through failure to defend it without fear.

We still have faith - the faith that dares to say,

‘That which we strive for, counts; all else is dross.’