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Poem

Quietly they set their burden down: he tried
To grin; moaned; moved his head from side to side.

He gripped the stretcher; stiffened; glared; and screamed,
‘O put my leg down, doctor, do!’ (He’d got
A bullet in his ankle; and he’d been shot
Horribly through the guts.) The surgeon seemed
So kind and gentle, saying, above that crying,
‘You
must
keep still, my lad.’ But he was dying.

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