Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, GOD'S CHALLENGERS; A SOLDIERS' HOSPITAL, by MARION PERHAM GALE



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

GOD'S CHALLENGERS; A SOLDIERS' HOSPITAL, by                    
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?





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