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Sara Teasdale - Love And Death
Shall we, too, rise forgetful from our sleep,
And shall my soul that lies within your hand
Remember nothing, as the blowing sand
Forgets the palm where long blue shadows creep
When winds along the darkened desert sweep?
Or would it still remember, tho' it spanned
A thousand heavens, while the planets fanned
The vacant ether with their voices deep?
Soul of my soul, no word shall be forgot,
Nor yet alone, beloved, shall we see
The desolation of extinguished suns,
Nor fear the void wherethro' our planet runs,
For still together shall we go and not
Fare forth alone to front eternity.
Edwin Arlington Robinson - The Wise Brothers
FIRST VOICE
So long adrift, so fast aground,
What foam and ruin have we found-
We, the Wise Brothers?
Could heaven and earth be framed amiss,
That we should land in fine like this-
We, and no others?
SECOND VOICE
Convoyed by what accursèd thing
Made we this evil reckoning-
We, the Wise Brothers?
And if the failure be complete,
Why look we forward from defeat-
We, and what others?
THIRD VOICE
Blown far from harbors once in sight,
May we not, going far, go right,-
We, the Wise Brothers?
Companioned by the whirling spheres,
Have we no more than what appears-
We, and all others?
Siegfried Sassoon - Absolution
The anguish of the earth absolves our eyes
Till beauty shines in all that we can see.
War is our scourge; yet war has made us wise,
And, fighting for our freedom, we are free.
Horror of wounds and anger at the foe,
And loss of things desired; all these must pass.
We are the happy legion, for we know
Time's but a golden wind that shakes the grass.
There was an hour when we were loth to part
From life we longed to share no less than others.
Now, having claimed this heritage of heart,
What need we more, my comrades and my brothers?
Shall we, too, rise forgetful from our sleep,
And shall my soul that lies within your hand
Remember nothing, as the blowing sand
Forgets the palm where long blue shadows creep
When winds along the darkened desert sweep?
Or would it still remember, tho' it spanned
A thousand heavens, while the planets fanned
The vacant ether with their voices deep?
Soul of my soul, no word shall be forgot,
Nor yet alone, beloved, shall we see
The desolation of extinguished suns,
Nor fear the void wherethro' our planet runs,
For still together shall we go and not
Fare forth alone to front eternity.
Edwin Arlington Robinson - The Wise Brothers
FIRST VOICE
So long adrift, so fast aground,
What foam and ruin have we found-
We, the Wise Brothers?
Could heaven and earth be framed amiss,
That we should land in fine like this-
We, and no others?
SECOND VOICE
Convoyed by what accursèd thing
Made we this evil reckoning-
We, the Wise Brothers?
And if the failure be complete,
Why look we forward from defeat-
We, and what others?
THIRD VOICE
Blown far from harbors once in sight,
May we not, going far, go right,-
We, the Wise Brothers?
Companioned by the whirling spheres,
Have we no more than what appears-
We, and all others?
Siegfried Sassoon - Absolution
The anguish of the earth absolves our eyes
Till beauty shines in all that we can see.
War is our scourge; yet war has made us wise,
And, fighting for our freedom, we are free.
Horror of wounds and anger at the foe,
And loss of things desired; all these must pass.
We are the happy legion, for we know
Time's but a golden wind that shakes the grass.
There was an hour when we were loth to part
From life we longed to share no less than others.
Now, having claimed this heritage of heart,
What need we more, my comrades and my brothers?