Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FORGOTTEN, by BABETTE DEUTSCH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FORGOTTEN, by                 Poet Analysis    
First Line: I have forgotten pharoah and the caesars
Last Line: Cruel, condign, the cancer men call war.
Alternate Author Name(s): Yarmolinsky, Avrahm, Mrs.
Subject(s): War


I have forgotten Pharoah and the Caesars
And the black battles that they blundered through,
Where men gasped out their lives, with stiffened eyelids,
As men died three years ago, forgotten too.

I have forgotten ancient martial musics
That summoned youth to blunted faceless years:
Galloping drums, proud horns and sounding bugles
Drowning the guns, trench-smells, before-dawn fears.

I have forgotten in this tree-filled valley,
Loud with the rush of wind like surf on shore,
How it grows now, rooted in our oblivion,
Cruel, condign, the cancer men call war.





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