laststandonzombieisland

The war poet Rubert Brooke has always been a favorite of mine. So much that my daughter carries “Brooke” as her middle name.

He died  23 April 1915, while serving with the Royal Navy in the Aegean Sea, off the island of Skyros, age 27. His body was interred there and remains in a well tended grave.

Brooke’s brother– 2nd Lt. William Alfred Cotterill Brooke– was a member of the 8th Battalion London Regiment (Post Office Rifles) and was killed in action near Le Rutoire Farm on 14 June 1915 aged 24, just three weeks after he made it to the front.

Brooke’s poem, The Charm, as selected, below, courtesy of the Detroit Public Library.