Anthem for Doomed Youth (Stallworthy edition)

Anthem for Doomed Youth (1917)
by Wilfred Owen
773049Anthem for Doomed Youth1917Wilfred Owen
An original draft.

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 goodbyes.
      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.


This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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