"...WE WERE YOUNG.

WE HAVE DIED.

REMEMBER US.

 

...OUR DEATHS ARE NOT OURS;

THEY ARE YOURS;

THEY WILL MEAN WHAT YOU MAKE THEM...

 

...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... WE HAVE DIED.

REMEMBER US."

 

 

 

 

"The Young Dead Soldier" by Archibald MacLeish. Reprinted from "Articles of WAR , A Collection of Poetry About WWII" edited by Leon Stokesburg. University of Arkansas Press, 1990, p. 8.

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