Bench on Linden Lane

What are you dreaming, Soldier,
What is it you see?
A tall grey Gothic tower,
And a linden tree.
You speak so sadly, Soldier,
Sad and wistfully—
I cannot hear the tower bell
In the swirling sea.
What meaning has it, Soldier,
A tower bell, and tree?
Nothing, nothing—only once
It meant my life to me.

Thomas Heath