Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori

by **Neil** 11th November 2011, 01:44

I do not wish to step on the other Remembrance Day thread with my opinions, as I do have respect for those who have died in wars. Wars that they were con-scribed into whether they agreed or not, and wars that they volunteered for whether it be fed by the propaganda of the state, by necessity to provide for themselves and their families or in some rare cases to fulfil a personal lust for death and blood.

Here is a poem by Wilfred Owens, a WW1 soldier...

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned out backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!--An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin,
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs
Bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

People seem to take a lot of time and energy pointing out those who don't wear poppies and posting 'lest we forget' all over social networks (mainly here to associate themselves with unionist and/or protestant culture). We tend to not forget those poor young men and women who died for the wrong reasons, maybe we should remember them for the individuals they once were before they were forced into often illegal or unnecessary wars by the state, through laws, propaganda or poor social conditions placed on them. Maybe instead of sitting behind a computer and casually posting 'Lest we Forget' or linking to the last post, they should be actively stopping the current illegal wars which innocent people are still being slaughtered in on a daily basis.

I had a much more detailed post but Chrome decided to refresh Doh!

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