407,300 (WWII)

Let goods and kindred go

This mortal life also

The body they may kill

God's truth abideth still

His Kingdom is forever

Even trees bend to listen

Watchful as the melody rings

Igniting dancing red leaves

To flaunt their brilliant flags

Over the quiet graves slumbering

in their tear-stained shrouds

Red were their veins

Hot was the blood

That swelled from the hearts

Of the fearless dead

Forfeiting their right

To live long in serenity

Their fire our bulwark

And our liberty their fire

The unceasing fever

Engulfing their youth

Like all creatures

Like the leaves

They must succumb

Their stems, cores

Rotted and moulded

Clipped, separated from life

Everything dies

The brave, the beautiful

Even the free

Weep for the fallen

As the tree does the leaves

~Ana Milano, Senior