The BBC asked Carol Ann Duffy , the Poet laureate , to write a poem to mark the deaths of Allingham and Harry Patch ( who died one week after Allingham on 25 July 2009 ) . The BBC commissioned Carol Ann Duffy , the Poet Laureate , to write a poem to mark the deaths of Allingham and Harry Patch , who died one week after Allingham on 25 July 2009 .