Here dead lie we by A. E. Housman

Here dead lie we was Housman’s reflection after World War I. Published in The Collected Poems of A.E. Housman (1922) p. 197.
An illustration for the story Here dead lie we by the author A. E. Housman
Ypres, Belgium after WWI, destroyed Cloth Hall, built 1200
Here dead lie we because we did not choose
To live and shame the land from which we sprung.

Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose,
But young men think it is, and we were young.