Nursery Memories

I. – THE FIRST FUNERAL           

 

(The first corpse I saw was on the

German wires, and couldn’t be buried)

 

The whole field was so smelly;

    We smelt the poor dog first:

His horrid swollen belly

    Looked just like going burst.

 

His fur was most untidy;

    He hadn’t any eyes.

It happened on Good Friday

    And there was lots of flies.

 

And then I felt the coldest

    I’d ever felt, and sick,

But Rose, ’cause she’s the oldest,

    Dared poke him with her stick.

 

He felt quite soft and horrid:

    The flies buzzed round his head

And settled on his forehead:

    Rose whispered: ‘That dog’s dead.

 

‘You bury all dead people,

    When they’re quite really dead,

Round churches with a steeple:

    Let’s bury this,’ Rose said.

 

‘And let’s put mint all round it

    To hide the nasty smell.’

I went to look and found it—

    Lots, growing near the well.

 

We poked him through the clover

    Into a hole, and then

We threw brown earth right over

    And said: ‘Poor dog, Amen!’