Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER MEDITATES, by JEAN EVANS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER MEDITATES, by                    
First Line: Here rests in honored glory'
Last Line: Or that my grave were where I could forget.
Subject(s): Soldiers


"Here rests in honored glory" --
War has its glories, I had quite forgot:
The swing of short brisk marches and the thrill
Of homesickness and death and peace that comes
When "Taps" is blown for those who've quit the fight.
There's the shrill screech of shells, the sudden joy
Of knowing you're alive when silence comes
And there's a hole where the red clay had been --
And sunset turning a white tomb to gold.

"An American soldier" --
American -- how I longed to bear that name!
When I went "over there," I was a Wop;
"Tony the Wop" they called me, and they liked
My broken foreign talk that made them laugh,
And all the sunny songs of Napoli
I sang, in a damp trench on a cold night.
But I died fighting for their flag,
And in my death was one with them at last.

"Known but to God" --
But am I known to Him?
Sometimes for days I cannot hear His voice.
The marble is a hard and glittering case
That shatters raindrops with a glassy crash
And walls me from the sun's warm groping rays.
So when the soldier paces back and forth,
Stamping the awful memories in my heart,
I wish that I were mortal and could weep,
Or that my grave were where I could forget.





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