Lihons French National Cemetery
Historical Information (Source: CWGC)
It was begun (as the Cimetiere des Pommiers) in January, 1915, and enlarged after the Armistice by concentrations from the battlefields and from other Military Cemeteries.
It contains the graves of 4,200 French soldiers (many of whom fell in August, 1914), and those of five soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from Canada who fell in March and August, 1918. Two of the British graves are unnamed.
Served in
- Canadian (1)
- United Kingdom (3)
Served with
- Army (4)
Alan Seeger, young American volunteered in the Foreign Legion, killed on July 1, 1916, who had written the poem "I have a rendez-vous with death". Buried in Belloy-en-Santerre, his grave was destroyed during subsequent bombardments and his body could never be subsequently identified with certainty. massagraf No1
I Have a Rendezvous with Death
BY ALAN SEEGER
I have a rendezvous with Death
At some disputed barricade,
When Spring comes back with rustling shade
And apple-blossoms fill the air—
I have a rendezvous with Death
When Spring brings back blue days and fair.
It may be he shall take my hand
And lead me into his dark land
And close my eyes and quench my breath—
It may be I shall pass him still.
I have a rendezvous with Death
On some scarred slope of battered hill,
When Spring comes round again this year
And the first meadow-flowers appear.
God knows 'twere better to be deep
Pillowed in silk and scented down,
Where Love throbs out in blissful sleep,
Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath,
Where hushed awakenings are dear ...
But I've a rendezvous with Death
At midnight in some flaming town,
When Spring trips north again this year,
And I to my pledged word am true,
I shall not fail that rendezvous.
Source: A Treasury of War Poetry (1917)
