RUDOLPHE LOUIS NÈGROZ
Lance-Corporal, West Yorks
Con Amore
IF but my love were as my love should be,
And pen a fitting scribe unto my heart,
Even then your praise I could not worthily
In ringing rime chime forth: no earthly art
Could frame the incommunicable worth
That is all yours, purchased with many tears,
And patient bravery, and happiness of earth
Renounced to buy your children's future years.
Then on the little mound your toil made good
Against a merciless tide of circumstance
I'll stand, taking the breath of gratitude
To mind and heart their power to enhance,
That I may reach the ear of future times
And hint my Mother's worth in these poor rimes.
The world must know your greatness, little Mother!
I will not have it so to be confined
That it should dwell but in the heart of my brother,
My sister's and mine own, and in our mind
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