The Lounge - CodeProject

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys! — An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime...
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, —
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen

Rhys

"If you ever start taking things too seriously, just remember that we are talking monkeys on an organic spaceship flying through the Universe"

modified 11-Nov-12 7:29am.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

If you get an email telling you that you can catch Swine Flu from tinned pork then just delete it. It's Spam.

Just home from the War Memorial. they read out every name before the two minutes.

Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done.
Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H
OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre
I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer
Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett

In the same vein: The Green Fields of France - Eric Bogle[^]

You should add Wilf's name at the bottom. That post reads as if you are the author.

One of these days I'm going to think of a really clever signature.

Fair point, well presented and certainly not my intention

Rhys

"If you ever start taking things too seriously, just remember that we are talking monkeys on an organic spaceship flying through the Universe"

Rhys Gravell wrote:
not my intention

I'm sure it was not. But not everyone would recognise the words as quickly as those of us from the Commonwealth.

One of these days I'm going to think of a really clever signature.

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