Achievement must now be weighed In a new scale, For the tasks of heroes Have become the accomplishments Of adolescents. Tomorrow also, those who dare insanely Shall be called By a smiling name. The ski-jumper and aviator Must perform For a heavy-eyed future. But if the dimensions of pain Grow in proportion To the extended perfection of the body, We shall be lost. For who then will remember The journey of Orpheus, Or consider Hell More than an evil hour? In that generation Loss shall not be accompanied by music, Nor the suffering of one Give the sensation Of many bereavements. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GRIEF by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING RETURNING, WE HEAR THE LARKS by ISAAC ROSENBERG I AM THE PEOPLE, THE MOB by CARL SANDBURG SONG, FR. THE TWO GENTELEM OF VERONA by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE THE PRINCESS: [BUGLE] SONG by ALFRED TENNYSON LET US HAVE PEACE by NANCY BYRD TURNER TO THE RIGHT HON! WILLIAM EARL OF DARTMOUTH by PHILLIS WHEATLEY |