There's an appeal out from Edinburgh University for anyone who has copies of
some issues of the magazine that Owen and Sasson co-edited at Craiglockhart
as they're missing a few.
Archivewise (!)
Best
Dave
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ken Wolman" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 2:45 PM
Subject: Re: thought for the day: be careful what you write
Just remembered: Wilfred Owen also soldiered, for the British, and died
under fire a week before the Armistice. Siegfried Sassoon, who survived
the Somme--albeit he followed it with a public protest against the war
and a resulting trip to an insane asylum at Craiglockhart--must've seen
Hell on earth. He met Owen at the hospital, and formed a friendship
with Dr. Rivers, who was the central character in Pat Barker's sequence
of World War I novels.
This was another poem I read in high school. It chilled me then and
chills me now, and the heat is on in the office.
Does it Matter?
Does it matter?-losing your legs?...
For people will always be kind,
And you need not show that you mind
When the others come in after hunting
To gobble their muffins and eggs.
Does it matter ?-losing your sight?...
There's such splendid work for the blind;
And people will always be kind,
As you sit on the terrace remembering
And turning your face to the light.
Do they matter?-those dreams from the pit?...
You can drink and forget and be glad,
And people won't say that you're mad;
For they'll know you've fought for your country
And no one will worry a bit.
That one is a bit too apropos given the high-tech bionic cripples coming
home from Iraq.
Ken
-----------------------------
Ken Wolman
Miercom
www.mier.com
609-490-0200, ext. *8-14
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