The Death Of A Soldier (In Memoriam)

Life contracts and death is expected,
 As in a season of autumn.
 The soldier falls.
 
 He does not become a three-days personage,
 Imposing his separation,
 Calling for pomp.
 
 Death is absolute and without memorial,
 As in a season of autumn,
 When the wind stops,
 
 When the wind stops and, over the heavens,
 The clouds go, nevertheless,
 In their direction.
 
 (The Death Of A Soldier, by Wallace Stevens)