Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE DAY, by HENRY CHAPPELL First Line: You boasted the day, and you toasted the day Last Line: What can you say to god? Subject(s): Emotions; Vengeance | ||||||||
YOU boasted the Day, and you toasted the Day, And now the Day has come. Blasphemer, braggart and coward all, Little you reck of the numbing ball, The blasting shell, or the "white arm's" fall, As they speed poor humans home. You spied for the Day, you lied for the Day, And woke the Day's red spleen. Monster, who asked God's aid Divine, Then strewed His seas with the ghastly mine; Not all the waters of the Rhine Can wash your foul hands clean. You dreamed for the Day, you schemed for the Day; Watch how the Day will go! Slayer of age and youth and prime (Defenceless slain for never a crime) You are steeped in blood as a hog in slime, False friend and cowardly foe. You have sown for the Day, you have grown for the Day; Yours is the harvest red. Can you hear the groans and the awful cries? Can you see the heap of slain that lies, And sightless turned to the flame-split skies The glassy eyes of the dead? You have wronged for the Day, you have longed for the Day That lit the awful flame, 'Tis nothing to you that hill and plain Yield sheaves of dead men amid the grain; That widows mourn for their loved ones slain, And mothers curse your name. But after the Day there's a price to pay For the sleepers under the sod, And He you have mocked for many a day Listen, and hear what He has to say: "Vengeance is mine, I will repay." What can you say to God? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AT THE FALL OF AN AGE by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE STORY OF URIAH by RUDYARD KIPLING THE FAMINE YEAR by JANE FRANCESCA WILDE THE MAID'S TRAGEDY by FRANCIS BEAUMONT PRAYER FOR STRENGTH by MARGARET E. BRUNER VENGEANCE IS MINE by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON WARNEFORD, V.C. by HENRY CHAPPELL |
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