War and Death?

Body:

The exams are coming AGAIN way too soon. I haven't started studying! Yet I waste my time reading novels. Oh, and yeah. I've just started reading The Reader's Digest now when it have been rotting in the cupboard for years. I'm writing this post is because I feel like I need and want to. I've just finished reading The Reader's Digest ..(book section)...for 2 hours and 30 minutes. Yes, I admit. I'm a book lover. A person who loves great writing and literature. Well, I've been reading a book entitled ' We Shall Not Sleep' by Anne Perry which gives a certain picture about World War One ....one of the greatest wars in History FYI. To find more info about it, pls visit: www.wikipedia.com . Umm, if you don't know what is World War One. I guess you are really living in a small shell. Everyone should know about it! It is one of the greatest wars which includes most of the world's greatest powers!!!! It is really fascinating and scary at the same time. The ugly truth about war. Yet, I admire the soldiers who have fought for their country. Boys were forced to be soldiers (13-18 of age) at such a young age all in the name of country. Willing to fight for what they love most. Here: A poem (its long...so pls take ur time readin...) 1915: The Trenches by: Conrad Aiken (1889-1973) I All night long, it has seemed for many years, We have heard the terrible sound of guns, All night long we have lain and watched the calm stars. We cannot sleep, though we are tired, The sound of guns is in our ears, We are growing old and grey, We have forgotten many simple things. Is this you? Is this I? Will the word come to charge today?... All night long, all night long, We listen and cannot close our eyes, We see the ring of violet flashes Endlessly darting against the skies, We feel the firm earth shake beneath us, And all the world we have walked upon Crumbles to nothing, crumbles to chaos, Crumbles to incoherent dust; Till it seems we can never walk again, That it is foolish to have feet, foolish to be men, Foolish to think, foolish to have such brains, And useless to remember The world we came from, The world we never shall see again ... All night long we lie this way, We cannot talk, I look to see what you are thinking, And you, and you,-- We are all thinking, 'Will it come to-day?' Get your bayonets ready, then-- See that they are sharp and bright, See that they h ave thirsty edges, Remember that we are savage men, Motherless men who have no past ... Nothing of beauty to call to mind, No tenderness to stay our hands ... ... We are tired, we have thought all this before, We have seen it all and thought it all, Our thumbs are calloused with feeling the bayonet's edge, We have known it all and felt it all Till we can know no more. II All night long we lie Stupidly watching the smoke puff over the sky, Stupidly watching the interminable stars Come out again, peaceful and cold and high, Swim into the smoke again, or melt in a flare of red ... All night long, all night long, Hearing the terrible battle of guns, We think we shall soon be dead, We sleep for a second, and wake again, We dream we are filling pans and baking bread, Or hoeing the witch-grass out of the wheat, We dream we are turning lathes, Or open our shops, in the early morning, And look for a moment along the quiet street ... And we do not laugh, though it is strange In a harrowing second of time To traverse so many worlds, so many ages, And come to this chaos again, This vast symphonic dance of death, This incoherent dust. III We are growing old, we are older than the stars: You whom I knew a moment ago Have walked through ages of silence since then, Memory is forsaking me, I no longer know If we are one or two or the blades of grass ... All night long, lying together, We think in caverns of dreadful sound, We grope among falling boulders, We are overtaken and crushed, we rise once more, Performing, wearily, The senseless things we have performed so often before. Yesterday is coming again, Yesterday and the day before, And a million others, all alike, one by one, Sulphurous clouds and a red sun, Sulphurous clouds and a yellow moon, And a cold drizzle of endless rain Driving across them, wetting the barrels of guns, Dripping, soaking, pattering, slipping, Chilling our hands, numbing our feet, Glistening on our chins. And then, all over again, after grey ages, Sulphurous clouds and a red sun, Sulphurous clouds and a yellow moon ... I had my childhood once, now I have children, A boy who is learning to read, a girl who is learning to sew, And my wife has brown hair and blue eyes ... Our parapet is blown away, Blown away by a gust of sound, Dust is falling upon us, blood is dripping upon us, We are standing somewhere between earth and stars, Not knowing if we are alive or dead ... All night long it is so, All night long we hear the guns, and do not know If the word will come to charge to-day. IV It will be like that other charge-- We will climb out and run Yelling like madmen in the sun Running stiffly on the scorched dust Hardly hearing our voices Running after the man who points with his hand At a certain shattered tree, Running through sheets of fire like idiots, Sometimes falling, sometimes rising. I will not remember, then, How I walked by a hedge of wild roses, And shook the dew off, with my sleeve, I will not remember The shape of my sweetheart's mouth, but with other things Ringing like anvils in my brain I will run, I will die, I will forget. I will hear nothing, and forget ... I will remember that we are savage men, Motherless men who have no past, Nothing of beauty to call to mind No tenderness to stay our hands ... V We are tired, we have thought all this before, We have seen it all, and thought it all. We have tried to forget, we have tried to change, We have struggled to climb an invisible wall, But if we should climb it, could we ever return? We have known it all, and felt it all Till we can know no more ... Let us climb out and end it, then, Lest it become immortal. Let us climb out and end it, then, Just for the change ... This is the same night, still, and you, and I, Struggling to keep our feet in a chaos of sound. And the same puff of smoke Passes, to leave the same stars in the sky. VI Out there, in the moonlight, How still in the grass they lie, Those who panted beside us, or stumbled before us, Those who yelled like madmen and ran at the sun, Flinging their guns before them. One of them stares all day at the sky As if he had seen some strange thing there, One of them tightly holds his gun As if he dreaded a danger there, One of them stoops above his friend, By moon and sun we see him there. One of them saw white cottage walls With purple clematis flowers and leaves, And heard through trees his waterfalls And whistled under the eaves; One of them walked on yellow sand And watched a young girl gathering shells-- Once, a white wave caught her hand ... One of them heard how certain bells Chimed in a valley, mellow and slow, Just as he turned to go ... VII All night long, all night long, We see them and do not remember them, We hear the terrible sounds of guns, We see the white rays darting and darting, We are beaten down and crawl to our feet, We wipe the dirt from mouths and eyes, Dust-coloured animals creeping in dust, Animals stupefied by sound; We are beaten down, and some of us rise, And some become a part of the ground, But what do we care? We never knew them, Or if we did it was long ago ... Night will end in a year or so, We look at each other as if to say, Across the void of time between us, 'Will the word come to-day?' ...tats all... kat=)