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spidge · 19-07-2007, 06:05 AM

What about another by Magee?

Per Ardua

by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

They that have climbed the white mists of the morning,
They that have soared, before the world's awake,
To herald up their foemen to them, scorning
The thin dawn's rest their weary folk might take.

Some that have left other mouths to tell the story
Of high blue battle — quite young limbs that bled;
How they had thundered up the clouds to glory,
Or fallen to an English field stained red.

Because my faltering feet would fail I find them
Laughing beside me, steadying the hand
That seeks their deadly courage — yet behind them
The cold light dies on that once brilliant land...

Do these, who help the quickened pulse run slowly,
Whose stern remembered image cools the brow —
Till the far dawn of Victory know only
Night's darkness, and Valhalla's silence now?

19-07-2007, 06:05 AM	#2 (permalink)
spidge Legendary Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 8,186	What about another by Magee? Per Ardua by John Gillespie Magee, Jr. They that have climbed the white mists of the morning, They that have soared, before the world's awake, To herald up their foemen to them, scorning The thin dawn's rest their weary folk might take. Some that have left other mouths to tell the story Of high blue battle — quite young limbs that bled; How they had thundered up the clouds to glory, Or fallen to an English field stained red. Because my faltering feet would fail I find them Laughing beside me, steadying the hand That seeks their deadly courage — yet behind them The cold light dies on that once brilliant land... Do these, who help the quickened pulse run slowly, Whose stern remembered image cools the brow — Till the far dawn of Victory know only Night's darkness, and Valhalla's silence now? __________________ Spidge, ------------------------------------------------------- My Avatar is the memorial to the 22 Commonwealth Coastwatchers at the Temakin Cemetery on Betio (Tarawa Atoll) who were beheaded by the Japanese on 15th October 1942. http://www.dva.gov.au/media/publicat...mem_beito.html "You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war." (Winston Churchill made this prophetic pronouncement in a House of Commons speech in 1938, just after Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich agreement with Hitler. Chamberlain returned from Germany with the signed agreement in hand, proclaiming that "peace in our time" had been achieved. Churchill attacked Chamberlain's "politics of appeasement" in this and many other speeches.) What did the Australians do in ww2 and other conflicts? Check out this site: http://www.diggerhistory.info/00-pag...ster-index.htm Last edited by spidge; 19-07-2007 at 08:55 AM.