Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WAR DEAD, by HELEN BRYAN


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WAR DEAD, by                    
First Line: When all our wars are done, and laid away
Last Line: When wars are done -- when weary wars are done.
Subject(s): War


When all our wars are done, and laid away
Like broken toys beneath the mould of years,
And centuries have laid their dreaming dust
Above our fields of agony and tears --
When earth's dark gashes close, and crimson buds
No more must bleed to hide a deeper red,
And all the mad machinery of hate
Lies with the deep oblivion of the dead --
Then may some minstrel, mourning on the past,
Bewildered by our terror and our fate,
Cry out to stab those tranquil days aghast
On how you quenched your young and ardent breath
At altars built for dark and drear-eyed gods
Who took your strong and shining years away,
And gave you for your love the kiss of clods
And for your songs the mummery of death.
His voice shall waken memory and tears,
And like a bugle blowing through the dawn
Shall echo faintly down those brighter years
When wars are done -- when weary wars are done.





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