The Lay Of The Love And Death Of Cornet Christopher Rilke

"And they cannot part. They are friends of a sudden, brothers. Have more to confide in each other; for they already know so much each of the other. They linger. And there's haste and hoofbeat about them. Then the Marquis strips off his great right glove. He fetches out the little rose, takes a petal from it. As one would break a host.

'That will safeguard you. Fare well.'

Von Langenau is surprised. He gazes long after his Frenchman. Then he shoves the foreign petal under his tunic. And it rises and falls on the waves of his heat. Bugle-call. He rides to the army, the Junker. He smiles sadly: a woman he does not know is protecting him."