Anthem for Doomed Youth [by Wilfred Owen 1893 – 1918]

Anthem for Doomed Youth [by Wilfred Owen 1893 – 1918]

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

Comments

[jim c]

"the holy glimmers of good-byes" is one of the saddest lines ever written.

[Kyril Alexander Calsoyas]

Blood lust inevitably requires sacrifice, particularly in the absurd world of engineered cataclysms.

"Death and sorrow will be the companions of our journey; hardship our garment; constancy and valor our only shield. We must be united, we must be undaunted, we must be inflexible."

Winston Churchill