ANZAC Day

[labellementeuse]

"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old;
age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the mornign
We shall remember them."
- from For the Fallen, by Laurence Binyon.

In a slightly different mood:

The Next War

Out there, we've walked quite friendly up to Death;
Sat down an eaten with him, cool and bland, -
Pardoned his spilling mess-tins in our hand.
We've sniffed the green thick odour of his breath, -
Our eyes wept, but our courage didn't writhe.
He's spat at us with bullets and he's coughed
Shrapnel. We chorused when he sang aloft;
We whistled while he shaved us with his scythe.

Oh, Death was never enemy of ours!
We laughed at him, we leagued with him, old chum.
No soldier's paid to kick against his powers.
We laughed, knowing that better men would come,
And greater wars; when each proud fighter brags
He wars on Death - for lives; not men - for flags.
- Wilfred Owen

This is the kind of stuff that makes me wonder if George Bush has any idea what he's doing; if he's read any Wilfred Owen or Seigfreid Sassoon... May he and everyone else quickly discover them.

ANZAC Day: Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, World War One and Two.

Lest we forget.

EDIT: I forgot. The second poem ought to be prefecd by this, which Sassoon wrote to Owen:

"War's a joke for me and you
While we know such dreams are true.