
I saw you fooling often in the tents
With fair disheveled hair and laughing lips,
And frolic elf lights in your careless eyes,
As who had never known the taste of tears
Or the worlds sorrow. Then on march one night,
Halted beneath the stars I heard the sound
Of talk and laughter, and glanced back to see
If you were there. But you stood far apart
And silent, bowed upon your rifle butt
And gazed into the night as one who sees.
I marked the drooping lips and fathomless eyes
And knew you brooded on immortal things.
Glimpse- W.N.Hodgson
That’s lovely, Len. The one thing I take from the war poets is that it is not just “war poetry”, but good poetry. All that talent that was lost… And there must have been every bit as much German-language work, too, that we don’t know about.
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I have poetry from both sides German and English…..and all from poets who served in the trenches in WW1.
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Oh dear and now I’m crying and the suns barely up – what a beautiful beautiful poem -and a reminder of how lucky I am that my boys don’t have to go to war – yet anyway. Thanks for sharing Len.
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I’ve always considered myself very lucky that I have had the good fortune never to have fought in a war…..apart from growing up in East London…..now that was a battle ground.
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Very appropriate tribute on this day. Gave me chills.
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Thanks Annie. A great many wonderful would be poets died in WW1.
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What a profound poem, Len. This really struck at my heart with its sharp contrast between the laughing eyes of innocence and those who have seen far too much. We age our young beyond their years with our wars. A beautiful tribute and so sad. Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks Diana. May we never see physical wars again…..because of course…..their are always other wars of the non-physical kind.
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poignantly powerful, all war veterans eyes show the burden of the sights they’ve been forced to witness!
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Thanks Kate. I agree. Haunted by lived through events.
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the pain never leaves them, the damage is permanent … and still we send more 😦
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