Armistice/Veteran's Day
"Anthem for Doomed Youth", Wilfred Owen, from Poems, published 1920
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 good-byes.
- 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.
----
My thanks to all those who served in the military to defend our country.
---
I wish I could've gotten my World War I story published in a Veteran's Day issue -- it's the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day today. It would've been as good a tribute as I can offer the brave.
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 good-byes.
- 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.
----
My thanks to all those who served in the military to defend our country.
---
I wish I could've gotten my World War I story published in a Veteran's Day issue -- it's the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day today. It would've been as good a tribute as I can offer the brave.