The Young Dead Soldiers Do Not Speak
~ by Archibald MacLeish, 1892-1982, American Poet
The young dead soldiers do not speak.
Nevertheless, they are heard
in the still houses: who has not heard them?
They have a silence that speaks for them at night
and when the clock counts.
They say: We were young.
We have died.
Remember us.
They say: We have done what we could
but until it is finished
it is not done.
They say: We have given our lives
but until it is finished
no one can know what our lives gave.
They say: Our deaths are not ours:
they are yours,
they will mean what you make them.
They say: Whether our lives and our deaths were for
peace and a new hope or for nothing
We cannot say, it is you who must say this.
We leave you our deaths.
Give them their meaning.
We were young, they say.
We have died; remember us.
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