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.