T H E O L D L I E
Text by First World War poet Wilfred Owen - "Dulce et Decorum Est"
O my love is like a red, red rose that's newly sprung in June. O my love is like the melody that’s sweetly played in tune. As fair art thou, my bonnie lass, so deep in love am I; and I will love thee still, my dear, ‘til all the seas go dry. And fare thee well, my only love, and fare thee well awhile; and I will come again, my love, though it were ten thousand mile.
(Robert Burns)
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 gas-shells dropping softly 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 flound’ring 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
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.
[It is sweet and right to die for your country.](Wilfred Owen)
Light eternal shines all around them, resting forever – finally at peace. Sleep now in Heaven; fly with the angels - flesh turned to dust and breath turned to Light. Sing Alleluia. Alleluia. When will the madness stop and we put an end to war? When will the world agree to live in peace forevermore?
(Jon Arterton)