Soldier Poems
Mandalay
by Rudyard Kipling
By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin' eastward to the sea,
There's a Burma girl a-settin', and I know she thinks o' me;
For the wind is in the palm-trees, and the temple-bells they say:
"Come you back, you British soldier; come you back to Mandalay!"
Come you back to Mandalay,
Where the old Flotilla lay:
Can't you 'ear their paddles chunkin' from Rangoon to Mandalay?
On the road to Mandalay,
Where the flyin'-fishes play,
An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay!
......
Carry On
by Robert William Service
It's easy to fight when everything's right,
And you're mad with the thrill and the glory;
It's easy to cheer when victory's near,
And wallow in fields that are gory.
It's a different song when everything's wrong,
When you're feeling infernally mortal;
When it's ten against one, and hope there is none,
Buck up, little soldier, and chortle:
Carry on! Carry on!
......
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,
......
For A New Citizen Of These United States
by Li-Young Lee
Forgive me for thinking I saw
the irregular postage stamp of death;
a black moth the size of my left
thumbnail is all I've trapped in the damask.
There is no need for alarm. And
there is no need for sadness, if
the rain at the window now reminds you
of nothing; not even of that
parlor, long like a nave, where cloud-shadow,
......
War Photograph
by Kate Daniels
A naked child is running
along the path toward us,
her arms stretched out,
her mouth open,
the world turned to trash
behind her.
She is running from the smoke
and the soldiers, from the bodies
of her mother and little sister
......
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.
......
