Classic and Contemporary Poetry
GOD'S CHALLENGERS; A SOLDIERS' HOSPITAL, by MARION PERHAM GALE First Line: Today, I have seen / mute ghosts of men Last Line: What did we do it for? Subject(s): Death; God; Soldiers; Tragedy; War; War Injuries; World War I; Dead, The; First World War | ||||||||
Today, I have seen Mute ghosts of men, Shaking, Forever shaking; Heard grown men's tongues A children's Babel making; Felt the cold sweat On trembling giant hands, As to my own they clung; Have looked into eyes, Glazed as cold pottery, Eyes, dim as lanterns In a garden strung, Their lights most flickered out, Yet, swaying, Forever swaying. I have seen smiles Burn on a hollow cheek Down to a dry aped grin; Tears, welling from Great monster dams Built doggedly within. I have seen men, Not blind, Yet, searching, Forever searching For something they can not find; Men who have done big things, Alas, content, To go the useless way Their feet are sent. These are the mothers' sons Who fought "To make the world Safe for Democracy," These are the men Who, silent, tread The stony road To Calvary. Go look at them, I say, To you, and you, and you! The truth is known By, oh, so few! These are the boys We sent to War. God's challengers Asking, Forever asking, What did we do it for? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...D'ANNUNZIO by ERNEST HEMINGWAY 1915: THE TRENCHES by CONRAD AIKEN TO OUR PRESIDENT by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE HORSES by KATHARINE LEE BATES CHILDREN OF THE WAR by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE U-BOAT CREWS by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE RED CROSS NURSE by KATHARINE LEE BATES WAR PROFITS by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE UNCHANGEABLE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN DESIRE MINTER by MARION PERHAM GALE |
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