Today, I have seen Mute ghosts of men, Shaking, Forever shaking; Heard grown men's tongues A children's Babel making; Felt the cold sweat On trembling giant hands, As to my own they clung; Have looked into eyes, Glazed as cold pottery, Eyes, dim as lanterns In a garden strung, Their lights most flickered out, Yet, swaying, Forever swaying. I have seen smiles Burn on a hollow cheek Down to a dry aped grin; Tears, welling from Great monster dams Built doggedly within. I have seen men, Not blind, Yet, searching, Forever searching For something they can not find; Men who have done big things, Alas, content, To go the useless way Their feet are sent. These are the mothers' sons Who fought "To make the world Safe for Democracy," These are the men Who, silent, tread The stony road To Calvary. Go look at them, I say, To you, and you, and you! The truth is known By, oh, so few! These are the boys We sent to War. God's challengers Asking, Forever asking, What did we do it for? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO F - (MRS. FRANCES SARGENT OSGOOD) by EDGAR ALLAN POE VENUS AND ADONIS by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE CASSANDRA SOUTHWICK; 1658 by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE REV. GILBERT WAKEFIELD by LUCY AIKEN DUNCTON HILL by HILAIRE BELLOC AT HARVEST TIME by OLIVA WARD BUSH |