The Young Dead Soldiers

The young dead soldiers do not speak.
Nevertheless they are heard in the still
     houses.
(Who has not heard them?)

They have a silence that speaks for them at
      night
And when the clock counts.

They say,
We were young. We have died. Remember us.

They say,
We have done what we could
But until it is finished it is not done.

They say,
We have given our lives
But until it is finished no one can know what
     our lives gave.

They say,
Our deaths are not ours,
They are yours,
They will mean what you make them.

They say,
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.

They say,
We leave you our deaths,
Give them their meaning,
Give them an end to the war and a true peace,
Give them a victory that ends the war and
     a peace afterwards,
Give them their meaning.

We were young, they say,
We have died.
Remember us.

--Archibald MacLeish