…KEITH DOUGLAS (La A, Mid B 31-38), the finest Old Blue poet of the twentieth century¹, died in action in Normandy. He was 24.
And all my endeavours are unlucky explorersThis photo - taken during his service in the North African desert, recorded in his classic memoir Alamein to Zem Zem - is said to be the best ever taken of him, portraying his face and expression exactly.
come back, abandoning the expedition;
the specimens, the lilies of ambition
still spring in their climate, still unpicked:
but time, time is all I lacked
to find them, as the great collectors before me.
¹Personal opinion; no disrespect implied to his friend and mentor Edmund Blunden (Col A 1909-15, Senior Grecian) or any of the other candidates.
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