LANCE CORPORAL EDWARD BODEL
6TH INNISKILLING DRAGOONS ATTD 1ST LIFE GUARDS
2ND JUNE 1915 AGE 28
BURIED: YPRES TOWN CEMETERY EXTENSION, BELGIUM
Edward Bodel's inscription quotes 'Life', a poem written by Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743-1825), or rather it nearly quotes it. I imagine there was no poetry book to hand and this is how the family remembered the lines. Barbauld was a very popular poet in the early years of the 19th century. In 'Life' she lightly questions what exactly life is:
Life! I know not what thou art,
But know that thou and I must part;
And when, or how we met,
I own to me's a secret yet.
Bodel's inscription comes from the final verse:
Life! we've been long together
Through pleasant and through cloudy weather;
'Tis hard to part when friends are dear;
Perhaps 'twill cost a sigh, a tear;
Then steal away, give little warning,
Choose thine own time;
Say not Good night, but in some brighter clime
Bid me Good morning.
Edward Bodel was born in Shankill, Co. Antrim and lived in Belfast. He joined the army in 1905 when he was 19 and in 1911 was serving with the 6th Dragoons in India.