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
March 25th, 2018 at 12:28PM
we have had boys fighting, and dying, for almost two decades. and with our current leadership, it will continue.
damn it.
March 25th, 2018 at 2:05PM
live by the AR15…
March 25th, 2018 at 2:44PM
Yes, john – everyone’s keeping a desperate eye on John Bolton.
March 25th, 2018 at 3:05PM
we should have been more wary of gwb and obama on this front.
March 29th, 2018 at 8:18AM
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.
March 29th, 2018 at 10:47AM
tp: Of course as an English prof I’d say this, but excellent move.