Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE SPECTRAL ARMY, by GRETCHEN OSGOOD WARREN First Line: I dream that on far heaven's steep Last Line: They left the reckoning to god. Subject(s): Death; World War I; Dead, The; First World War | ||||||||
I DREAM that on far heaven's steep To-night Christ lets me stand by Him To see the many million ghosts Tramp up Death's highway, wide and dim. The young are older than the old, Their eyes are strained, their faces gray With horror's twilight dropped too soon Upon a scarcely opened day. The guns move light as carven mist, The weary footsteps make no sound, As up the never-ending hill They come on their last death-march bound. Their heads are lifted. As they pass They look at Christ's red wounds, and smile In gallant comradeship: they know Golgotha's terrible defile. They too have drained a bitter gall, Heart's Calvary they know full well, And every man, or old or young, Has stared into the deeps of Hell. Yet brave and gay that spectral host Goes by. Like Christ, on bloody sod They gladly paid a price, like Him They left the Reckoning to God. | 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 THE UNCHANGEABLE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN FULFILLMENT by GRETCHEN OSGOOD WARREN |
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