COMMON FORM

If any question why we died,
Tell them, because our fathers lied.


A DEAD STATESMAN

I could not dig: I dared not rob:
Therefore I lied to please the mob.
Now all my lies are proved untrue
And I must face the men I slew.
What tale shall serve me here among
Mine angry and defrauded young?

               --Rudyard Kipling, from "Epitaphs of War"