Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO THE 'REFUGEES' OF THE BOSTON AUTHORS CLUB, by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS Poet's Biography First Line: Right welcome, adventurers all! Last Line: We are glad you are home again! Subject(s): Authors And Authorship; World War I; First World War | ||||||||
Right welcome, adventurers all! We rejoice in your happy release From war's overpowering thrall To our country of modified peace. You have harrowing stories to tell, Of loss, and vexation, and worse; And that I may harrow as well, I give you a welcome in verse. You left from cares to get free, They came in a double flood; You left on a watery sea, You return on a sea of blood. You went as lions gallant, But your leonine glory shrunk; Far better the elephant, With his non-detachable trunk! You thought, as you went aboard, That ink was the solvent of men; You found there are times when the sword Is mightier far than the pen. Henceforth when the wandering fit Is upon you ready to burst, You will think the better of it, And see America first. You went to delve in the lore Of the best that all ages have found; But the books were spattered with gore, The libraries burned to the ground. You went to revel in art, In Time's most majestic remains; You found, with a bleeding heart, Vast heaps of smouldering fanes. You went to learn in the school Of government's rational source; But you found a world in the rule Of brutal, tyrannical force. What journeyings ever were kenned That closed in more desolate moans? You went to the rainbow's end And found there a pot of bones. But ah, the books you will write As you muse on these horrible scenes; And the poems you all will indite And send to the magazines! A new "Utopia, or The Country where Combats Cease"; A new Inferno of war, And an Iliad of peace! But most of all you will praise This land of the brave and the free, With a President mild in his ways, And a thousand leagues of sea! Now far may your thoughts expand, And firm be your fountain pen! And here is a welcoming hand: We are glad you are home again! | 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 A BATTLE SONG (WRITTEN IN THE WORLD WAR) by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS |
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