Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE HELL GATE OF SOISSONS, by HERBERT KAUFMAN Poet's Biography First Line: My name is darino, the poet. You have heard? Last Line: By the valor of twelve english martyrs, the hell-gate of soissons is won! Subject(s): World War I; First World War | ||||||||
MY name is Darino, the poet. You have heard? Oui, Comédie Française. Perchance it has happened, mon ami, you know of my unworthy lays. Ah, then you must guess how my fingers are itching to talk to a pen; For I was at Soissons, and saw it, the death of the twelve Englishmen. My leg, malheureusement, I left it behind on the banks of the Aisne. Regret? I would pay with the other to witness their valor again. A trifle, indeed, I assure you, to give for the honor to tell How that handful of British, undaunted, went into the Gateway of Hell. Let me draw you a plan of the battle. Here we French and your Engineers stood; Over there a detachment of German sharpshooters lay hid in a wood. A mitrailleuse battery planted on top of this well-chosen ridge Held the road for the Prussians and covered the direct approach to the bridge. It was madness to dare the dense murder that spewed from those ghastly machines. (Only those who have danced to its music can know what the mitrailleuse means.) But the bridge on the Aisne was a menace; our safety demanded its fall: "Engineers,volunteers!" In a body, the Royals stood out at the call. Death at best was the fate of that missionto their glory not one was dismayed. A party was chosenand seven survived till the powder was laid. And they died with their fuses unlighted. Another detachment! Again A sortie is madeall too vainly. The bridge still commanded the Aisne. We were fighting two foesTime and Prussiathe moments were worth more than troops. We must blow up the bridge. A lone soldier darts out from the Royals and swoops For the fuse! Fate seems with us. We cheer him; he answersour hopes are reborn! A ball rips his visorhis khaki shows red where another has torn. Will he livewill he lastwill he make it? Hélas! And so near to the goal! A second, he dies! then a third one! A fourth! Still the Germans take toll! A fifth, magnifique! It is magic! How does he escape them? He may ... Yes, he does! See, the match flares! A rifle rings out from the wood and says "Nay!" Six, seven, eight, nine take their places, six, seven, eight, nine brave their hail; Six, seven, eight, ninehow we count them! But the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth fail! A tenth! Sacré nom! But these English are soldiersthey know how to try; (He fumbles the place where his jaw was)they show, too, how heroes can die. Ten we countten who ventured unquailingten there wereand ten are no more! Yet another salutes and superbly essays where the ten failed before. God of Battles, look down and protect him! Lord, his heart is as Thinelet him live! But the mitrailleuse splutters and stutters, and riddles him into a sieve. Then I thought of my sins, and sat waiting the charge that we could not withstand. And I thought of my beautiful Paris, and gave a last look at the land, At France, my belle France, in her glory of blue sky and green field and wood. Death with honor, but never surrender. And to die with such menit was good. They are formingthe bugles are blaringthey will cross in a moment and then ... When out of the line of the Royals (your island, mon ami, breeds men) Burst a private, a tawny-haired giantit was hopeless, but, ciel! how he ran! Bon Dieu please remember the pattern, and make many more on his plan! No cheers from our ranks, and the Germans, they halted in wonderment too; See, he reaches the bridge; ah! he lights it! I am dreaming, it cannot be true. Screams of rage! Fusillade! They have killed him! Too late though, the good work is done. By the valor of twelve English martyrs, the Hell-Gate of Soissons is won! | 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 |
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