Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SPOILS OF WAR, by ROBERT UNDERWOOD JOHNSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SPOILS OF WAR, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What does our soldier bring from war?
Last Line: Could knightly soldier bring from war?
Subject(s): Army - United States; World War I; First World War


What does our soldier bring from war?
So much we cannot covet more:
Acclaim of victor, both by those
His victor-comrades, and his foes;
A sword with bay and myrtle wreathed,
In honor drawn, in honor sheathed;
The love of children who intone
His country's anthem with their own;
The gratitude of many a land
Whose tongue he ne'er shall understand;
The prayers of alien knees that bend
In faiths he cannot comprehend;
And benedictions that shall be
Bequeathed to far posterity
By those who feel, but do not know,
What they to the Great Rescue owe.
These are the spoils he bears: what more
Could knightly soldier bring from war?





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