Explore "The First Funeral" by Robert Graves on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
(_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! "