Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE ONGOING, by MARY SIEGRIST



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE ONGOING, by                    
First Line: He will not come, the gallant flying boy
Last Line: To unpathed fields where his great comrades wait.
Subject(s): Aviation & Aviators; Roosevelt, Quentin (1897-1919)


He will not come, the gallant flying boy,
Back to his field. Somewhere he wings his way
Where the Immortals keep; where Homer now
Has back his sight, David his little lad;
Where all those are we dully call the dead,
Who have gone greatly on some shining quest,
He takes his way. That which he quested for,
That larger freedom of a larger birth,
Captains him, flying into fields of dawn.

He has gone on where now the soldier-slain
Arise in light. Somewhere he takes his place
And leads his comrades in untrodden fields.
For never can these rest until our earth
Has ceased from travail—never can these take
Their fill of sleep until the Scourge is slain.
And so they keep them sometimes near old ways
In the accustomed fields—now flying low,
Invisible, they cheer the gallant host,
Bidding them be, as they, invincible.

Still he leads on, the gallant flying boy:
Among the "great good" dead he steers his course.

Always the vision of his faring on
To unpathed fields where his great comrades wait.





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