When I'm Killed

Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)



When I’m killed, don’t think of me
Buried there in Cambrin Wood,
Nor as in Zion think of me
With the Intolerable Good.
And there’s one thing that I know well,
I’m damned if I’ll be damned to Hell!

So when I’m killed, don’t wait for me,
Walking the dim corridor;
In Heaven or Hell, don’t wait for me,
Or you must wait for evermore.
You’ll find me buried, living-dead
In these verses that you’ve read.

So when I’m killed, don’t mourn for me,
Shot, poor lad, so bold and young,
Killed and gone — don’t mourn for me.
On your lips my life is hung:
O friends and lovers, you can save
Your playfellow from the grave.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 30, 2023

36 sec read
216

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCC AXAXDD AEAEFF
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 628
Words 120
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6

Robert Graves

Robert von Ranke Graves was an English poet, scholar/translator/writer of antiquity specializing in Classical Greece and Rome, novelist and soldier in World War One. more…

All Robert Graves poems | Robert Graves Books

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