Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WAR, by ETHEL GODFREY LOUD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WAR, by                    
First Line: We changed our route to visit it again
Last Line: That's war!
Subject(s): Guests; Seashore; War; Visiting; Beach; Coast; Shore


We changed our route to visit it again,
The lovely lakeside town where once we'd stayed.
The porter called out, "Torbol-e!" yet then
I did not trust my eyes, but looked dismayed
Upon a place I'd never seen before.
I said, "This is not where I want to go."
The porter smiled, "But yes, this bit of shore
Was torn to pieces by the guns, you know.
You'll never find the town you're hunting for.
It wears a different face now -- Such is war!"

We went to see a widowed English friend.
Her boy we'd met the spring before the war
-- A gallant youth on whom she could depend,
With steady eyes, gay lips and firm-cut jaw.
She welcomed us with customary grace.
"I think you've met my son before," she said.
The man beside her bowed with stranger's face.
The sad eyes studied us with shrinking dread.
--Later, we learned that all his face and jaw
Were reconstructed from a -- wreck!
That's War!





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