‘I Tracked A Dead Man Down A Trench’ by Walter Scott Stuart Lyon

I tracked a dead man down a trench,
I knew not he was dead.
They told me he had gone that way,
And there his foot-marks led.
The trench was long and close and curved,
It seemed without an end;
And as I threaded each new bay
I thought to see my friend.

At last I saw his back. He crouched
As still as still could be,
And when I called his name aloud
He did not answer me.

The floor-way of the trench was wet
Where he was crouching dead;
The water of the pool was brown,
And round him it was red.

I stole up softly where he stayed
With head hung down all slack,
And on his shoulders laid my hands
And drew him gently back.

And then, as I had guessed, I saw
His head, and how the crown—
I saw then why he crouched so still,
And why his head hung down.

From: https://allpoetry.com/’I-Tracked-A-Dead-Man-Down-A-Trench‘

Date: 1915

By: Walter Scott Stuart Lyon (1886-1915)

Tags: 1915, i tracked a dead man down a trench, poetry, walter scott stuart lyon