Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, GERMAN PRISONERS, by JOSEPH LEE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

GERMAN PRISONERS, by                    
First Line: When first I saw you in the curious street
Last Line: "and could have grasped your hand and cried, ""my brother!"
Subject(s): Brotherhood; Prisoners Of War; Religion; Soldiers' Writings; World War I; Theology; First World War


When first I saw you in the curious street
Like some platoon of soldier ghosts in grey,
My mad impulse was all to smite and slay,
To spit upon you—tread you 'neath my feet.
But when I saw how each sad soul did greet
My gaze with no sign of defiant frown,
How from tired eyes looked spirits broken down,
How each face showed the pale flag of defeat,
And doubt, despair and disillusionment,
And how were grievous wounds on many a head,
And on your garb red-faced was other red;
And how you stooped as men whose strength was spent,
I knew that we had suffered each as other,
And could have grasped your hand and cried, "My brother!"





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