Nursery Memories

I. – THE FIRST FUNERAL 
 
(The first corpse I saw was on the
German wires, and couldn’t be buried)
 
The whole field was so smelly;
  We smelt the poor dog first:
His horrid swollen belly
  Looked just like going burst.
 
His fur was most untidy;
  He hadn’t any eyes.
It happened on Good Friday
  And there was lots of flies.
 
And then I felt the coldest
  I’d ever felt, and sick,
But Rose, ’cause she’s the oldest,
  Dared poke him with her stick.
 
He felt quite soft and horrid:
  The flies buzzed round his head
And settled on his forehead:
  Rose whispered: ‘That dog’s dead.
 
‘You bury all dead people,
  When they’re quite really dead,
Round churches with a steeple:
  Let’s bury this,’ Rose said.
 
‘And let’s put mint all round it
  To hide the nasty smell.’
I went to look and found it—
  Lots, growing near the well.
 
We poked him through the clover
  Into a hole, and then
We threw brown earth right over
  And said: ‘Poor dog, Amen!’