Bit of Ivory

You thought the last one was bitter? Try this one. . .
(The final Latin line means, roughly, “It is sweet and meet to die for
one’s country.”)
Dulce et Decorum Est
Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)
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 [...]

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Here’s another war poem– a bit more satirical, this time:
All the Hills and Vales Along
by Charles Sorley (1895-1915)
ALL the hills and vales along Earth is bursting into song, And the
singers are the chaps Who are going to die perhaps.   O sing,
marching men,   Till the valleys ring again.   Give
your gladness to earth’s keeping,   So be glad, [...]

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Armistice Day
At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918,
an Armistice was signed, ending what had been the bloodiest war ever
fought. I’ve never paid much attention to World War I (or the Great
War, as it was then called– the people having no knowledge that
another such war was possible) before. The [...]

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