War Poetry

      Welcome to our war poetry section.  For those who fought (the WWI, WWII, Vietnam generations)  and those who sat at the veteran's feet as children, these poems are perhaps familiar.  However, for rest of us, these poetic works, most by soldiers themselves, provide an irreplaceable insight into the minds and spirits of the brotherhood of arms, the men (and women) who fought in the battles that made this world what it is today.  Read, enjoy, and contribute your own comments through our message boards.  

(note: to the final stanzas of "Gratitude", see below)

Good Links:  

-- Short Summary of WWI, WWII,  Vietnam (click here)

    --Marine Corps Poetry:  (click here)

--WWI War Poetry (click here)

Selected Poets:

-John McCrae

-Rene Arcos

Poetry Index

Vietnam Related Websites from http://www.illyria.com/owenant.html  :
Women in Vietnam ~ Not only nurses served . . .
 Dusty's Home Page ~ Poetry and prose by a woman who was a nurse in Vietnam
 Emily's Poetry ~ By a Red Cross Donut Dolly
 Battle Dressing ~ The Journey of a Nurse in Vietnam
 Tim O'Brien's Home Page ~ National Book Award Winner and Americal Vet
 Shrapnel in the Heart ~ The most moving book you will read on Vietnam
 The Irish on the Wall ~ An effort to locate the Irish who died in Vietnam
 Project Hearts and Minds ~ Help put Viet Nam back together
 All About Vietnam   ~ An annotated bibliography of books about Vietnam for sale thru Amazon Worldwide!
 Photos from a Holts' Military History Tour ~ My trip to Vietnam, February 1998
 Illinois Vietnam Women's Memorial ~ Honoring all the Illinois women who served

My Other Websites:
 Chicago Theatre Z - A ~ This is the best theater town in the country!
 Writers Theatre of Chicago ~ And this is the best theater in town
 Literature of the Korean War ~ Don't let the literature be forgotten
 Poetry of the First World War ~ Owen, Hardy and others
 Samuel Pepys ~ One of my favorite authors
 Gil Thorp ~ THE Coach
 Maybe Later . . . ~ My Creative Nonfiction
 Chi-COW-go ~ Cowz plus Commentary (this used to be a cow town)
 Graham Fulton, Scottish Poet ~ Charles Manson Auditions for the Monkees
 Soccer Literature ~ I'm a fan and I read
O'Leary Lantern ~ Fire! Fire! Fire!

Other Important Websites:
 PreviewPort.com ~ Connecting Authors and Writers Worldwide 

 

GRATITUDE ...to the timeless "Band of Brothers"

In one simple word
Can all life be known
All problems solved
And no secret hid

Love binds us
Fear stalks us
But only in battle can we be known

Rejoice
At the existence
Of Brotherhood


Thankyou dear Band
For this temple wrought
In the bloodstreams of men
Who from time old even
Before our grandfathers were born
Have given honour to that lofty Truth
Whose dear name we spell

We gather here as if by campfires
To tell
Of deeds great and small
Of comrades
Who fell
And thus made real
The oaths we pledge
Were not empty words or flowery phrase
But bittersweet beauty
In God's terrain
Chiselled on Eternity's own dark granite

Thankyou dear Band
For every offering
Free or forced
Great, small
Mean or generous

But greater still is my reverence felt
For those who know not
Their duty
Their orders
Themselves
But give
And know not
To what merry band they belong

"That which is most sacred surrounds the concept of Brotherhood"
("Brotherhood", Helena Roerich, 1937)

Yours sincerely

Jeremy Traylen

North Shore City
New Zealand

_____________________________

 

To Send Him with a Smile

 

by Jeanne Oldfield Potter

He went away smiling, in Khaki and kit,

As proud as a laddie could be;

He waved his hand gaily, I waved in reply-

But it wasn't so easy for me.

 

I watched his head bobbing far, far down the street,

I'd like to forget for a while-

But when he "goes over" I know I'll be glad

To remember I waved with a smile.

 

 

___________________

Submitted by Don Munger 10-7-2001

Untitled

Drinking from the canteen that you hath passed so many years before my life began

 I have looked at your hellish past have learned from your loss and misfortune 

it is to you we all owe our freedom to you we owe our thanks. 

From those who rode the horses to those who drove tanks 

Thank you for all you did and continue to give 

Thank you for the right to live.

_______________________________

 

Edward Thomas

In Memoriam (Easter 1915) 

The flowers left thick at nightfall in the wood

This Eastertide call into mind the men,

Now far from home, who, with their sweethearts, should

Have gathered them and will do never again

______________________________

 

 

 

 

 

 John McCrae

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders Fields, poem by John McCrae
... John McCrae's (picture) "In Flanders Fields" remains to this day one of the most
memorable war poems ever written. It is a lasting legacy of the terrible ...
www.iaehv.nl/users/robr/poppies.html - 8k - Cached - Similar pages

In Flanders Fields, poem by John McCrae
... to return to 'The Heritage' John McCrae's (picture left) "In Flanders Fields" remains
to this day one of the most memorable war poems ever written. It is a ...
www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/8054/poppies.html - 9k - Cached - Similar pages

John McCrae: In Flanders Fields
John McCrae: In Flanders Fields (1915). Canadian
poet John McCrae was a medical officer in ...
www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/ mccrae.html - 4k - Cached - Similar pages

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.