Michael Snider wrote:
>
> Mesopotamia
>
> 1917
>
> They shall not return to us, the resolute, the young,
> The eager and whole-hearted whom we gave:
> But the men who left them thriftily to die in their own dung,
> Shall they come with years and honour to the grave?
>
> They shall not return to us; the strong men coldly slain
> In sight of help denied from day to day:
> But the men who edged their agonies and chid them in their pain,
> Are they too strong and wise to put away?
>
> Our dead shall not return to us while Day and Night divide--
> Never while the bars of sunset hold.
> But the idle-minded overlings who quibbled while they died,
> Shall they thrust for high employments as of old?
>
> Shall we only threaten and be angry for an hour:
> When the storm is ended shall we find
> How softly but how swiftly they have sidled back to power
> By the favour and contrivance of their kind?
>
> Even while they soothe us, while they promise large amends,
> Even while they make a show of fear,
> Do they call upon their debtors, and take counsel with their friends,
> To conform and re-establish each career?
>
> Their lives cannot repay us--their death could not undo--
> The shame that they have laid upon our race.
> But the slothfulness that wasted and the arrogance that slew,
> Shell we leave it unabated in its place?
Thanks for this - I just forwarded it to my students with a note that it
may prove all too relevant in days to come.
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