jerry hughes - To the End

I was with him the day he died,
still proud and stoic.
He was in pain, I could see
it in his face. The occasional
grimace, and sharp in-breath.

'Can I get you anything? ' I asked.
'No son, ' he replied. 'Just be with
me to the end.'
It nearly broke my heart but I said,
'Of course, of course.'

A minute later he was dead, and
a glorious chapter of a world war
one Aussie digger died with him.

jerry hughes

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-the-end/