the meaning of a poetry in simple words?

[Mahiya]

The Things That Make a Soldier Great ~ Edgar Albert Guest (1918)

The things that make a soldier great and send him out to die,
To face the flaming cannon's mouth, nor ever question why,
Are lilacs by a little porch, the row of tulips red,
The peonies and pansies, too, the old petunia bed,
The grass plot where his children play, the roses on the wall:
'Tis these that make a soldier great. He's fighting for them all.


can someone summarize this stanza for me in simple English?! I know what it means, but I'm afraid my teacher will find flaws in my explanation. So I need someone's help. I wanted to say that, according to Edgar Guest, a soldier fights to keep some flowers flourishing always; to save his children from evil and keep them playing all the time. Would that be right?