Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

OLD SOLDIER by PADRAIC COLUM

Poet Analysis

First Line: WE WANDER NOW WHO MARCHED BEFORE
Last Line: SO IT IS TO BE AN OLD SOLDIER.
Subject(s): SOLDIERS;
We wander now who marched before,
Hawking our bran from door to door,
While other men from the mill take their flour:
So it is to be an old soldier.
Old, bare and sore, we look on the hound
Turning upon the stiff frozen ground,
Nosing the mould, with the night around:
So it is to be an old soldier.
And we who once rang out like a bell,
Have nothing now to show to to sell;
Old bones to carry, old stories to tell:
So it is to be an old soldier.


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