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Poetry Magnum Opus

Timor Mortis Non Conturbat Me


dedalus

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... tears by bards or heroes shed

Alike immortalize the dead.

 

When I travel in dreams to 1916,

to the barricades of Dublin, to the angry cannonades

by the streams of the Ancre above the Somme,

I can see their tired individual faces

squinting east into the sun.

 

Curiosity rather than fear now traces

the look in their eyes, hands clasped loosely on rifle or gun,

their look of wonder married to mild surprise,

the morning roll-ups drooping on young dry lips.

 

This thing we have been waiting for all our lives,

this event from boyhood only half-imagined,

is about to begin. What will it be like?

Edited by dedalus

Drown your sorrows in drink, by all means, but the real sorrows can swim

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The epigraph sets the stage and is, in its own right, quite moving. The lyric is compact -- like a cannon ball.

 

I can see their tired individual faces

squinting east into the sun ....

Even with rudimentary knowledge of history and geography, the reader can surmise why they're squinting east.

 

This thing we have been waiting for all our lives,

this event from boyhood only half-imagined,

is about to begin. What will it be like?

I don't think I want to find out. Prolly won't be toy soldiers.

 

Tony

Here is a link to an index of my works on this site: tonyv's Member Archive topic

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