Joyce Kilmer Poem by Francis Duggan

Joyce Kilmer was a poet and a soldier and he died in battle in nineteen eighteen
And his famous poem 'Trees' a thing of beauty and it helps for to keep memories of him evergreen
He passed from life in his very early thirties when perhaps his best songs had not yet been sung
And perhaps there might be some truth in the saying that only the very best are taken young.

Born in New Brunswick New Jersey this noble fellow was far more than a man who died in war
He fought for his beliefs which is more than most do and for his fight he had to travel far
Perhaps to him it is of little value that he was one who died young and died brave
But the poems he left behind still read and cherished and that part of him lives on beyond the grave.

Joyce Kilmer was a man who loved adventure and one who made the most of his brief span
His lust for wander took him off to Europe for to fight in war and prove himself a man
It seems a shame that he did not survive the battle for ahead of him lay a great literary career
And what more can be said of him than that he was a great poet and that he died bravely in the gap of fear.

Joyce Kilmer through his poems is still remembered though he did not live on to grow old and gray
He died under gun fire a noble soldier far from his old home in the U S A
His poems are still widely read and cherished poetic gems like Trees and Roofs and To A Poet Who Died Young
But sad to think that he was taken early and perhaps his best songs he had not yet sung.