This man was called LAURENCE BINYON and he lived from 1869 until 1943

He wrote a seven verse poem called 'FOR THE FALLEN' {of World War One} which in itself is very moving, but six of those verses are long forgotten.

 We chose to use only one verse, verse four, which is now so well known, that without it, our Remembrance Services would sound strange and empty.

Here is that poem with verse four highlighted in white.

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fall in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal,
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation.
And glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow,
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again,
They sit no more at familiar tables of home,
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time,
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known,
As the stars are known to the Night.

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.