Dive Copse British Cemetery in Sailly-le-Sec, France.

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Monday, November 4, 1918

"Anthem for Doomed Youth

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 hasty 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 for them from 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."

Quotation Context

Anthem for Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owen, Second Lieutenant, Manchester Regiment, killed in action November 4, 1918, leading his men in attempting to cross the Sambre Canal. Owen was posthumously awarded the Military Cross for his actions on October 1, 1918 near the village of Joncourt.

Source

The Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen by Wilfred Owen, page 44, copyright © Chatto & Windus Ltd, 1963, publisher: New Directions, publication date: 1963

Tags

1918-11-04, 1918, November, Dive Copse