Soldier Poems
1914 V: The Soldier
by Rupert Brooke
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
......
Love And War
by Ovid
Lovers all are soldiers, and Cupid has his campaigns:
I tell you, Atticus, lovers all are soldiers.
Youth is fit for war, and also fit for Venus.
Imagine an aged soldier, an elderly lover!
A general looks for spirit in his brave soldiery;
a pretty girl wants spirit in her companions.
Both stay up all night long, and each sleeps on the ground;
one guards his mistress's doorway, one his general's.
The soldier's lot requires far journeys; send his girl,
the zealous lover will follow her anywhere.
......
Town Eclogues: Saturday; The Small-Pox
by Lady Mary Wortle Montagu
FLAVIA.
THE wretched FLAVIA on her couch reclin'd,
Thus breath'd the anguish of a wounded mind ;
A glass revers'd in her right hand she bore,
For now she shun'd the face she sought before.
' How am I chang'd ! alas ! how am I grown
' A frightful spectre, to myself unknown !
' Where's my Complexion ? where the radiant Bloom,
' That promis'd happiness for Years to come ?
......
Heroes
by Kathleen Jessie Raine
This war's dead heroes, who has seen them?
They rise in smoke above the burning city,
Faint clouds, dissolving into sky —
And who sifting the Libyan sand can find
The tracery of a human hand,
The faint impression of an absent mind,
The fade-out of a soldier's day dream?
You'll know your love no more, nor his sweet kisses —
......
For The One Who Would Take Man's Life In His Hands
by Delmore Schwartz
Tiger Christ unsheathed his sword,
Threw it down, became a lamb.
Swift spat upon the species, but
Took two women to his heart.
Samson who was strong as death
Paid his strength to kiss a slut.
Othello that stiff warrior
Was broken by a woman's heart.
Troy burned for a sea-tax, also for
Possession of a charming whore.
......
Drumrolls
by Evelyn Judy Buehler
Samuel Woodruff was a very old man, who once drummed for the army;
That marched to his rhythmic music, along with all fifers, playing hearty.
That was a lifetime ago, in dawn days so pink, golden, and richly green;
Like petal strewn time moving backward, to the premiere, pivotal scene.
Samuel never stopped playing drums, like mulberry heartbeats of sunset,
And played them after his daily walks; like the love you will never forget.
His fast friend, Comet, followed him, through fields of fascination flowers;
......
Soldier 02
by Mario Odekerken
In the quiet of dawn,
a soldier stands,
the weight of duty
etched on his brow.
He carries the stories
of distant lands,
the echoes of sacrifice
in every heartbeat.
......
Soldier
by Mario Odekerken
In the quiet of dawn,
a soldier stands,
the weight of duty
etched on his brow.
He carries the stories
of distant lands,
the echoes of sacrifice
in every heartbeat.
......
The Soldier's Refrain
by Leon Moon
I awoke to my own corpse
And flowers my lover brought.
The war was fought
And not fought enough.
We had died dutifully
And followed orders perfectly.
The war was understood
But not understood enough.
......
God's Soldier
by Crystal Nelson
I can hear the echoing across the hills of heaven above,
Thousands searching for the ones they love.
Battling this end of life darkness as God as my shield.
For this darkness and evil could not be healed.
With God, the pain will soon be set free,
But even in death, death cannot destroy me.
Do not weep for me, For I will always be right here,
But leaving you all broken is what I fear.
I may not be here physically, so no longer will I be seen,
I'm fighting hard, but I'm left stuck somewhere in between.
......
