Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


LAST POEMS: SONNET 8 by ALAN SEEGER

First Line: OH, LOVE OF WOMAN, YOU ARE KNOWN TO BE
Last Line: LOVE ONLY TELLS IT WHAT TRUE TORTURE IS.
Subject(s): LOVE; SOLDIERS' WRITINGS; WORLD WAR I; FIRST WORLD WAR;

Oh, love of woman, you are known to be
A passion sent to plague the hearts of men;
For every one you bring felicity
Bringing rebuffs and wretchedness to ten.
I have been oft where human life sold cheap
And seen men's brains spilled out about their ears
And yet that never cost me any sleep;
I lived untroubled and I shed no tears.
Fools prate how war is an atrocious thing;
I always knew that nothing it implied
Equalled the agony of suffering
Of him who loves and loves unsatisfied.
War is a refuge to a heart like this;
Love only tells it what true torture is.





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