“the black queen chants a funeral march/cracked brass bells will ring/to summon back the fire witch”

[larryhammer]

For Poetry Monday:

War Is Kind, Stephen Crane

Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind.
Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky
And the affrighted steed ran on alone,
Do not weep.
War is kind.

    Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment,
    Little souls who thirst for fight,
    These men were born to drill and die.
    The unexplained glory flies above them,
    Great is the battle-god, great, and his kingdom—
    A field where a thousand corpses lie.

Do not weep, babe, for war is kind.
Because your father tumbled in the yellow trenches,
Raged at his breast, gulped and died,
Do not weep.
War is kind.

    Swift, blazing flag of the regiment,
    Eagle with crest of red and gold,
    These men were born to drill and die.
    Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
    Make plain to them the excellence of killing
    And a field where a thousand corpses lie.

Mother whose heart hung humble as a button
On the bright splendid shroud of your son,
Do not weep.
War is kind.


Crane knew how to write creepy af.

---L.

Subject quote from The Court of the Crimson King, King Crimson.

Comments

[cmcmck]

Ouch!

[larryhammer]

Which is pretty much exactly his point.

[pauraque]

Your Crane posts are making me curious about The Red Badge of Courage. Have you ever read that one?

[larryhammer]

Assigned in high school, so yeah. I didn't get as much out of it as I might have a few years later. Even later, though, I probably would have rolled my eyes at it as kinda obvious, though it would have been a Seinfeld is unfunny situation as a trope codifier for War Is Hell.