Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, UNIDENTIFIED, by MARIE LOUISE HERSEY


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

UNIDENTIFIED, by                    
First Line: They'll find me on my face and drag me / forth
Last Line: Vibrant with hidden footsteps but no sound.
Subject(s): Unknown Soldier


THEY'LL find me on my face and drag me forth
From a forgotten crevice in the wrack,
And turn me over. They will creep along,
Gathering in the precious stuff of war
That is not too far gone to fight again,
Will stop to count my unused cartridges
And jerk a well-kept gun from my stiff arm,
But never judge me worth the crowded space
Of one good stretcher in the ambulance!
What sign shall comfort her when my poor self,
Cherished and cherishing, shall fall away
In unrecoverable dust and dew
Or, shifting, change into the mist that hangs
Along the cloud-rim in a fringe of rain?
Stunned by no printed flash of certainty
And strolling lightly, she will turn to hear
Something the wind had not till yesterday,
By smoldering fence and rick feel the old path
Vibrant with hidden footsteps but no sound.





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