poem problems

May 16, 2005 21:27

I never thiought that a poem could mess with me so much. I have always liked poetry but i never was effected by it. For those of you who are not in Mr. Birches class, it is a little poem called Dulce et Decorum Est. That means "it is sweet and honorable to die for one's country." It goes a little something like this:

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

It made me think of my future. Most likely, I will go to war. My life will be war. I could see the man dieing of the gass. I could hear his screams. My grandfather landed on Normandy on D-Day and n3ver talkd about it untill he died. I nkow that it saverly messed with him. I am glad that i read the poem though. I need another perspecive. This is my life now, this is what i chose. The differince between the guy in the poemd and me is that he was draffted. It is my responsibility to fingt and i do beleive that it is honorable to die defending what you believe. I believe in my country.
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