Edward Thomas

He left England in his mid thirties to fight somebody's else's war And he died on a battle field from his Homeland afar And what can be said of Edward Thomas that has not been said before? He was a decent human being and his poems will live forever more. His verses are full of beauty he was not an angry man Yet he died in his thirty seventh year and brief was his life span Far from his beloved England the man of letters fell If there's a Heaven he is there though he died in Earthly hell. A less painful death he did deserve and a better life he might have had, He left his young wife a widow and his children without their dad With other idealistic young men he fought side by side For what to them was a just cause they fought their war and died. It was the war to end all wars or so it had been said But many young people are still dying in wars we still read of the war dead All wars are waged by ageing men to be fought by the young And many like Edward Thomas have died their best songs still unsung For him it was a one way trip to Europe in a boat And in Arras he fought and died the gentle English poet And in his excellent poems and prose his name lives on today The one who died for his beliefs in such a noble way.