Millstone Education:
World Literature

What follows is a poem by Humbert Wolfe published in 1916. I first heard the first half of this poem(I listen to recorded books) in Corelli's Mandolin, by Louis de Bernieres, a fictional and historical novel set in World War II during the Italian occupation of a small Greek island which becomes the German occupation of that same small Greek island. This is a powerful poem about war and the first half is the epigraph to the novel.

Regards,

Mr. Draeger

The Soldier

Down some cold field in a world unspoken
the young men are walking together, slim and tall,
and though they laugh to one another, silence is not broken;
there is no sound however clear they call.
They are speaking together of what they loved in vain here,
but the air is too thin to carry the thing they say.
They were young and golden, but they came on pain here,
and their youth is age now, their gold is grey.
Yet their hearts are not changed, and they cry to one another,
"What have they done with the lives we laid aside?
Are they young with our youth, gold with our gold, my brother?
Do they smile in the face of death, because we died?"
Down some cold field in a world uncharted
the young seek each other with questioning eyes.
They question each other, the young, the golden-hearted,
of the world they were robbed of in their quiet paradise.

[Here’s the rest of the poem, which Bernieres does not quote]

I do not ask God's purpose. He gave me the sword,
and though merely to wield it is itself the lie
against the light, at the bidding of my Lord,
where all the rest bear witness, I'll deny.
And I remember Peter's high reward,
and say of soldiers, when I hear cocks cry,
"As your dear lives ('twas all you might afford)
you laid aside, I lay my sainthood by."
There are in heaven other archangels,
bright friends of God, who build where Michael destroys,
in music, or in beauty, lute players.
I wield the sword; and though I ask nought else
of God, I pray to Him: "But these were boys,
and died. Be gentle, God, to soldiers."

sources:

Bernieres, Louis de, Corelli’s Mandolin, read by Stephen Lang, Random House Audio Books by Random House Inc., 1994.

http://www.ahg.com/kidsite/wolfe.htm The entire poem is on this web page.

Millstone Education:World Literature

The Soldier A Humbert Wolfe Poem

The Soldier

Millstone Education:
World Literature

The Soldier
A Humbert Wolfe Poem