For the Fallen

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,

England mourns for her dead across the sea.

Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,

Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal

Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,

There is music in the midst of desolation

And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,

Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;

They sit no more at familiar tables of home;

They have no lot in the labour of the day-time;

They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,

Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,

To the innermost heart of their own land they are known

As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust

Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,

As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,

To the end, to the end, they remain.

Wonderful piece of war poetry by Laurence binyon...This i quote from the blog http://war-poets.blogspot.com/.

This is the first time that I read a war poetry...well not the one by binyon's but one about the Old Lie...Drastic is a euphemism...and the one quote above will seem romatic when compared to that one ..."Dulce et Decorum", I felt this as and when I read about Wilfred Owen, Wasn't he in a similar predicament as faced by arjuna in kurukshetra...But Lord Krishna and his Bhagvad Gita are not things out there ...tangible stuff.but they are in here! While I felt ...have no words ...how to describe what it might be at the front line..and even now what it is like at other warfronts.But For me.I felt ashamed...If an oppurtunity cost is calculated for every oppurtunity given to me...which I either did not recognize or was too lazy or distracted or just indifferent to pay heed to....it would be very high...I hope I now make no further addition to it!!