Friday, July 10, 2009

War, and the pity of War

Move him into the sun -
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields unsown.
Always it woke him, even in France,
Until this morning and this snow.
If anything might rouse him now
The kind old sun will know.

Think how it wakes the seeds, -
Woke, once, the clays of a cold star.
Are limbs, so dear-achieved, are sides,
Full-nerved,- still warm,- too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
- O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth's sleep at all?

I know Blackadder made a crack about the “the suffering, the horror, the endless poetry” but I have a soft spot for Wilfred Owen.

Poor bastard died a week before the war ended.

In life, as in poetry, timing is everything.

10 comments:

Lewd Bob said...

Another related quote from Blackadder:

Captain Blackadder: You see, Baldrick, in order to prevent war in Europe, two superblocs developed: us, the French and the Russians on one side, and the Germans and Austro-Hungary on the other. The idea was to have two vast opposing armies, each acting as the other's deterrent. That way there could never be a war.

Private Baldrick: But, this is a sort of a war, isn't it, sir?

Blackadder: Yes, that's right. You see, there was a tiny flaw in the plan.

Baldrick: What was that, sir?

Blackadder: It was bollocks.

Ramon Insertnamehere said...

Baldrick: "I heard the war started because a man called Archie Duke shot an ostrich because he was hungry."

catlick said...

I couldn't drink cappuccino for years after that series.

Lewd Bob said...

A war poem by Baldrick:

Hear the words I sing,
War's a horrid thing.
But still I sing, sing, sing
Ding a ling a ling.

And who could forget this classic entitled The German Guns:

Boom, boom, boom, boom,
Boom, boom, boom,
Boom, boom, boom, boom,
Boom, boom, boom

squib said...

Another good one. I think you're on a roll, Ramon

Lewd Bob said...

While watching the cricket, I was flicking around between overs and saw Baldrick - well, Tony Robinson - attempting to re-discover the Glenrowan Inn, the place of Ned Kelly's last stand. I'm sure it was fascinating, but was a little hard to follow in 30 second grabs.

Ramon Insertnamehere said...

I'm begining to run out of poems, Squib.

squib said...

How can that be?!

Ramon Insertnamehere said...

I'm a lazy, lazy man Squib.

Unknown said...

I'm sure it was fascinating, but was a little hard to follow in 30 second grabs.

It wasn't that fascinating. You didn't miss much.