Known Unto God

[dedalus]

The tocsin bell will sound,

and there will be solemn ceremonies,

there will be reams of newsprint;

dozens of TV shows will abound

in search of a fresh approach,

some new outlook

which doesn’t really exist.

No human figure remains

who saw those days,

who wore the uniform;

yet still we live with the strains

of stillborn failing nations,

borderlines in the Middle East,

the second scourge of savagery.

In Flanders under the falling rain,

all along the Ancre and the Somme,

stand thousands of still white graves;

time may have eased the wrenchng pain

of a missing son or brother,

but the shadow of great loss persists,

stirring modern unease.

It is our accepted fashion

to blame the statesmen, the blockhead generals,

the ignorance, the emotions of the time;

but we do not understand the passion

that drove this black-and-white world

seen now only in jerky newsreels,

we cannot see the connections.

[dr_con]

A lament calling for peace, a fitting tribute to the loss and our increasing abstractions of that loss. Interesting how there is nothing settled in this poem- The tension between 'why do we do it?' and the almost nostalgia for a world view now 'lost' are skillfully played. There is an almost social constructivism making the message all the clearer.

 

Thanks Bren!

[Benjamin]

One can only hope that ignorance will be offset by the enlightenment of technology; though human nature seems to have a perverse tendency toward self destruction.

[dcmarti1]

but the shadow of great loss persists,

 

Sobering line. And you made me look up tocsin. :)

 

It is our accepted fashion

 

Juris is right, there is no conclusion or settlement.

[tonyv]

... but the shadow of great loss persists,

stirring modern unease ...

 

 

Makes it real by connecting that "black-and-white world" to the colorful one of today.

 

Tony