The following are stanzas three and four of the poem, “For the Fallen” by Laurence Binyon. The original was published in the Times of London September 21, 1914. It is now usually a part of the Ode of Remembrance and the entire seven-stanza poem is recited as a tribute to the casualties of all wars:
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 shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
The normal response after stanza four is “Lest we forget.” Today on Memorial Day, “We will remember them….lest we forget.”
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