The 36th Battalion: a record of service of the 36th Battalion with the Third Division in the Pacific
For the Fallen
For the Fallen
Now singing days are over; scattered, song
And singer lie
Silent, as silent as the crosses are
At Falamai.
Pohutukawa sprinkles blood to some
North Auckland beach,
Too distant now for these our homeless dead
Ever to reach.
No little thing is life, and brave the breath
That parts the lips.
Can more be given to the scales before
The balance tips?
Weigh this; the greater loss and death of all,
Should Queen Street see
The Bloody Sun displayed, and horror fall
On Lambton Quay.
Our stream of battle joins the sea of war.
Each silent lad
Is kin to those who held El Alamein
And Stalingrad.
The stranger palms shall shed no tenderness,
Nor softer sky
Be theirs; the more must we stand guard for those
At Falamai.
— Gordon Watson.