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In Memoriam
7
This poem is a good representation of the theme of comradeship. The author conveys his genuine love for his soldiers as if he was their own father. He feels like he raised them during their time throughout the trenches and on the battlefield.
"In Memoriam"
So you were David’s father,
And he was your only son,
And the new-cut peats are rotting
And the work is left undone,
Because of an old man weeping,
Just an old man in pain,
For David, his son David,
That will not come again.
Oh, the letters he wrote you,
And I can see them still,
Not a word of the fighting,
But just the sheep on the hill
And how you should get the crops in
Ere the year get stormier,
And the Bosches have got his body,
And I was his officer.
Oh, never will I forget you,
My men that trusted me,
More my sons than your fathers’,
For they could only see
The little helpless babies
And the young men in their pride.
They could not see you dying,
And hold you while you died.
Happy and young and gallant,
They saw their first-born go,
But not the strong limbs broken
And the beautiful men brought low,
The piteous writhing bodies,
They screamed “Don’t leave me, sir”,
For they were only your fathers
But I was your officer.
Comradeship
"In Memoriam"
By Ewart Alan Macintosh
You were only David’s father,
But I had fifty sons
When we went up in the evening
Under the arch of the guns,
And we came back at twilight -
O God! I heard them call
To me for help and pity
That could not help at all.
Born March 4, 1893, Lieutenant Ewart Alan Mackintosh fought in WWI as an officer of the Seaforth Highlanders. He was killed on the second day of the second battle of Cambrai on November 23, 1917. His poetry has been considered to be comparable to the most famous war poet, Rupert Brooke.