Classic and Contemporary Poetry
CHRISTMAS IN WARTIME: 1917: THE LAST LAP, by ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Poet's Biography First Line: We seldom were quick off the mark Last Line: Be your victorious christmas-tide. Subject(s): Christmas; England; Hope; Patience; Victory; War; World War I; Nativity, The; English; Optimism; First World War | ||||||||
We seldom were quick off the mark, And sprinting was never our game; But when it's insistence and hold-for-the-distance, We've never been beat at that same. The first lap was all to the Hun, At the second we still saw his back; But we knew how to wait and to spurt down the straight, Till we left him dead-beat on the track. He's a bluffer for all he is worth, But he's winded and done to the core, So the last lap is here, with the tape very near, And the old colours well to the fore. Not merry! Nothe words would grate, With gaps at every table-side, But chastened, thankful, calm, sedate, Be your victorious Christmas-tide. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...D'ANNUNZIO by ERNEST HEMINGWAY 1915: THE TRENCHES by CONRAD AIKEN TO OUR PRESIDENT by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE HORSES by KATHARINE LEE BATES CHILDREN OF THE WAR by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE U-BOAT CREWS by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE RED CROSS NURSE by KATHARINE LEE BATES WAR PROFITS by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE UNCHANGEABLE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN THE SONG OF THE BOW, FR. THE WHITE COMPANY by ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE |
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