Poetry is for Fags

[einherjar]

I came across this poem in the book "On Killing" by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. The poem serves as the books Dedication, which has been my favorite part so far.

Not of the princes and prelates with periwigged charioteers
Riding triumphantly laurelled to lap the fat of the years,--
Rather the scorned -- the rejected -- the men hemmed in with the spears;

The men of the tattered battalion which fights till it dies,
Dazed with the dust of the battle, the din and the cries,
The men with the broken heads and the blood running into their eyes.

Not the be-medalled Commander, beloved of the throne,
Riding cock-horse to parade when the bugles are blown,
But the lads who carried the koppie and cannot be known.

Not the ruler for me, but the ranker, the tramp of the road,
The slave with the sack on his shoulders pricked on with the goad,
The man with too weighty a burden, too weary a load.

The sailor, the stoker of steamers, the man with the clout,
The chantyman bent at the halliards putting a tune to the shout,
The drowsy man at the wheel and the tired lookout.

Others may sing of the wine and the wealth and the mirth,
The portly presence of potentates goodly in girth;--
Mine be the dirt and the dross, the dust and scum of the earth!

THEIRs be the music, the colour, the glory, the gold;
Mine be a handful of ashes, a mouthful of mould.
Of the maimed, of the halt and the blind in the rain and the cold --
Of these shall my songs be fashioned, my tales be told.

AMEN.

A Consecration

John Masefield

I was trying do decide on which phrase or passage I liked best: It was a difficult decision, but I would have to say I like the last passage the best. Something about

"...a mouthful of mould..."

I think is really great.

[Assyrian]

"Do or do not... there is no try"

Yoda

[Razor]

Originally Posted by Assyrian

"Do or do not... there is no try"

Yoda

Good quote, but this thread is more about poetry.

[Richard]

I was born in Middle East
I left to escape terror
My family came to America
To make our lives better

Mom and Dad worked
I got an education
Joined the Army
to show my appreciation

Now the region suffers
Worse than when we lived there
An evil man is charge
The horror's too much to bear

Let's go free the people
Who live in those lands
We're their other hope
In Iraq and Iran

Put down your signs
Come join our team
You have been lied to
War is not what it seems

I know you want peace
But your ideals are misguided
The world is not safe
Your views are one-sided

Let me go fight
Let me go win
Let my people be free
Now tell me: Are you in?

Matthew Guilanians
CPT, U.S. Army

[Richard]

"War is hell," while not quite true,
Expresses how we feel;
And, yet, to war we go anew
To quell a threat that's real.

We relish not the death and pain,
The loss of our dear sons;
But when the tyrants' terrors reign:
"Arise, courageous ones!"

Arise, rush forward to the fight,
Lift up sweet freedom's call--
If no one stands for what is right,
Oppression conquers all.

So--to the battle-line and wreak
Destruction swift and sure.
It is not power that we seek,
But life--for all--secure.

Tabitha Szalapski

[Richard]

The time has come for thunderbolts
Of steel from the sky.
It is now right that murderers
Instead of children, die.
They have forged chains and thumbscrews while
We have made pleas and threats.
The portraits of the killer smile
But he must pay his debts.

A mountainside is split in two,
His coward legions fall.
His shackled cities fade from view
Beneath a smoky pall.
Armored treads sound in the street,
The tanks are not his own.
He has bid many to be slain.
He'll face his death alone.

Cineas told Pyrrhus that
'Rome has a thousand heads.'
And Rome was a republic, strong
After that king was dead.
The tyrant butchers live in fear
And we go on and on.
A century shall find us here
And every tyrant gone.

Our carriers loom off his coast.
Our bombers fill his skies.
And brave, skilled men with stealthy tread
Prepare his grim surprise.
Grant, and Sherman, Patton, Greene
Have taught us to make war.
We now pick up their legacy
And free the world once more.

Rob Rice