Normandy by Dennis Allen Lange

—

The waves, as ocean waves will do,
…Rolled toward the sandy beach.
Wave after wave rolled from the sea
…To stretch toward land and reach.

Once there, the sand resisted more,
…And waves died on its breast.
But wave and wave and wave rolled in
…Without a moment’s rest.

The sand stood firm in its defense
…And dunes and cliffs stood guard.
But still the waves in stubborn lines
…Rolled in, though it was hard.

And inch by costly inch was gained:
…The waves rolled farther in
And made the beach dark with the stain
…They left as dying men.

Still onward rolled the wondrous waves;
…Still higher rose the tide,
Until the land was o’ercome by
…What could not be denied.

——————————————————————

© Dennis Allen Lange, 2019.

Advertisement

Read Full Post »

God’s World by Edna St. Vincent Millay

O world, I cannot hold thee close enough!
…Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!
…Thy mists, that roll and rise!
Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag
And all but cry with colour! That gaunt crag
To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff!
World, World, I cannot get thee close enough!

Long have I known a glory in it all,
…But never knew I this:
…Here such a passion is
As stretcheth me apart, – Lord, I do fear
Thou’st made the world too beautiful this year;
My soul is all but out of me, – let fall
No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.

Read Full Post »

Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! – an ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime –
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin,
If you could hear, at every jolt the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs
Bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, –
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori. *

———————————————————-

*It is sweet and honorable to die for one’s country.

Read Full Post »

The War Gave Birth To War by Dennis Lange

……The War Gave Birth To War

The World War that we sadly now call One
Began with glee from those quite innocent,
The very ones that old men who are done
Send forth as babes to bear the bloody brunt.

The war was grand; it was a glorious thing
For men as knights to go forth and be bold.
And then, great honor due, the praise would ring,
Adorning men like jewels and precious gold.

The tempting siren, Glory, thus deceived,
And millions died, their final whispered cry,
And that of those who were of them bereaved,
Was agonized, a wailing “Why? Oh, WHY?”

And when a devil like a hateful horn
Rose out of that same reddened battleground,
Because of sanguine weight of war still borne,
They shuddered at the sudden saber sound.

The Great War was a wound within the mind –
A generation’s blood was yet to dry;
The hearts still grieved; the teeth would sometimes grind –
France and Great Britain, bitten, both were shy.

They ran away from war in full retreat:
Versailles, a cracker broken into crumbs.
At Munich, pen gave land as if defeat,
And Chamberlain declared, “We’ve stilled the drums.”

But Hitler swallowed Poland in a bite
And France was like a feather swept away.
The nations backed from war into the night,
And backed so far, they backed into its day.

——————————————————–

© Dennis Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2015.

Read Full Post »

Huswifery by Edward Taylor

…………………..Huswifery

Make me, O Lord, Thy spinning-wheel complete.
…Thy holy Word my distaff make for me;
Make mine affections Thy swift flyers neat;
…And make my soul Thy holy spool to be;
…My conversation make to be Thy reel,
…And reel the yarn thereon spun of Thy wheel.

Make me Thy loom then; knit therein this twine;
…And make Thy Holy Spirit, Lord, wind quills;
Then weave the web Thyself.  The yarn is fine.
…Thine ordinances make my fulling mills.
…Then dye the same in heavenly colors choice,
…All pinked with varnished flowers of paradise.

Then clothe therewith mine understanding, will,
…Affections, judgment, conscience, memory,
My words and actions, that their shine may fill
…My ways with glory and Thee glorify,
…Then mine apparel shall display before Ye
…That I am clothed in holy robes for glory.

Read Full Post »