Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SOLDIER GENERATION, by WILLIAM ALEXANDER PERCY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SOLDIER GENERATION, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: We are the sons of disaster
Last Line: Will yield of our strivings, god.
Subject(s): Faith; Grief; Lies; Soldiers; Truth; Belief; Creed; Sorrow; Sadness


We are the sons of disaster,
Deserted by gods that are named,
Thrust in a world with no master,
Our altars prepared but unclaimed;
Wreathed with the blood-purple aster,
Victims, foredoomed, but untamed.

Behold, without faith we were fashioned,
Bereft the assuaging of lies;
Thirsty for dreams we have passioned,
Yet more for truth that denies;
Aware that no powers compassioned,
We have turned to our hearts and grown wise.

Leisure we loved and laughter;
Our portion is labor and pain;
For home we are given a rafter
Of wind and a lintel of rain,
And all that our hearts followed after
Is taken and naught doth remain.

Yet never a new generation
But shall live by the battle we fight,
And prosper of our immolation
And reap of our anguish, delight.
Accepting the great abnegation
We are fathers, not children, of light.

Bruised with the scourges of sorrow,
Broke with the terrible rod,
Bidden for respite to borrow
A poppy-red swathe of the sod,
Yet this is our hope -- that to-morrow
Will yield of our strivings, God.





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