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The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.

Old Blog Import

Of the 535 members of Congress, only ONE (Sen. Johnson of South Dakota) has an enlisted son or daughter in the armed forces! Michael Moore

The following poem was written by Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) and published in 1921. It describes a Mustard Gas attack during World War I.

DULCE ET DECORUM EST

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



Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!&#8212; An ecstasy of fumbling,<br /> Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;<br /> But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,<br /> And flound&#8217;ring like a man in fire or lime &#8230;<br /> Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,<br /> As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.



In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,<br /> He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.<br /> If in sonic smothering dreams you too could pace<br /> Behind the wagon that we flung him in,<br /> And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,<br /> His hanging face, like a devil&#8217;s sick of sin;<br /> If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood<br /> Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,<br /> Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud<br /> Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,&#8212;<br /> My friend, you would not talk with such high zest<br /> To children ardent for some desperate glory,<br /> The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est<br /> Pro patria mori. </blockquote> 


  The last line translates as &#8220;It is sweet and meet to die for one&#8217;s country.&#8221;



  I thought about sending it out after reading an article by <a href="http://slate.msn.com/id/2080074/" onclick="_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http://slate.msn.com/id/2080074/', 'Robert Pinsky']);" >Robert Pinsky</a> in Slate:



  You can read more about the poem <a href="http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/sept97/mika.htm" onclick="_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/sept97/mika.htm', 'here']);" >here</a>



  Please visit <a href="http://www.nowarwikki.org/" onclick="_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http://www.nowarwikki.org/', 'nowarwikki.org']);" >nowarwikki.org</a>!!!


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