ANTHEM FOR DOOMED YOUTH
By
Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their nasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,-
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling them from the sad shires.
What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.
Wilfred Owen was killed in action in the First World War on the 4th of November 1918. Just one week before the war ended.