In Memory of Soldier Poet Roland Leighton--1895 1915 killed in action aged 19

I have known
the sweetness of love.
The songs of springtime
with its mandolin winds.
All the pleasures of a child
played with and tired of.

Now thrust on the battlefields
 of blood and death.
All around me
flows the horrors of war.
Blood and destruction
but all this must one time end.

I am tired of love
that is given for only lending.
The impatient and unfaithful heart.
All the unimportant
despicable pettiness of peace.

Give me
Oh blessed Gods of war.
A hell of fire.
A battlefield
of blood and death.
The burdens of
a strong man’s agony.