The Last of the Light Brigade

( You wrote o' the Light Brigade, sir. Here's all that isn't dead. )

The Beginner
(Kipling)

On the first hour of my first day
In the front trench I fell.
(Children in boxes at a play
Stand up to watch it well.)

( Tired and shagged out after a long squawk )

Rudyard Kipling, Epitaphs of the War, 1914-1918:

A Son

My son was killed while laughing at some jest. I would I knew
What it was, and it might serve me in a time when jests are few.

( What has thou given which I gave not? )