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March for their Lives

Anthem for Doomed Youth

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
— Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,—
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

************

Wilfred Owen
1917

Margaret Soltan, March 25, 2018 10:12AM
Posted in: guns, STUDENTS

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6 Responses to “March for their Lives”

  1. john Says:

    we have had boys fighting, and dying, for almost two decades. and with our current leadership, it will continue.
    damn it.

  2. dmf Says:

    live by the AR15…

  3. Margaret Soltan Says:

    Yes, john – everyone’s keeping a desperate eye on John Bolton.

  4. john Says:

    we should have been more wary of gwb and obama on this front.

  5. theprofessor Says:

    A colleague over in the History department taught a whole freshman seminar on WW I using poems of Owen and others as the entry point and returning to them over the course of the semester.

  6. Margaret Soltan Says:

    tp: Of course as an English prof I’d say this, but excellent move.

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