Was there love once? I have forgotten her. Was there grief once? Grief yet is mine. Other loves I have, men rough, but men who stir More grief, more joy, than love of thee and thine. Faces cheerful, full of whimsical mirth, Lined by the wind, burned by the sun; Bodies enraptured by the abounding earth, As whose children we are brethren: one. And any moment may descend hot death To shatter limbs! Pulp, tear, blast Beloved soldiers who love rough life and breath Not less for dying faithful to the last. O the fading eyes, the grimed face turned bony, Oped mouth gushing, fallen head, Lessening pressure of a hand, shrunk, clammed and stony! O sudden spasm, release of the dead! Was there love once? I have forgotten her. Was there grief once? Grief yet is mine. O loved, living, dying, heroic soldier, All, all my joy, my grief, my love, are thine. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DARBY AND JOAN by FREDERIC EDWARD WEATHERLY CRY WOE, WOE, AND LET THE GOOD PREVAIL, FR. AGAMEMNON by AESCHYLUS THE LIGHT OF ASIA by EDWIN ARNOLD THESEUS, SELECTION by BACCHYLIDES THE MONEY DIGGERS by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD |