A Month with Yeats: Day Twenty-four

November 24, 2017

Today’s quote is from ‘Easter, 1916’.

‘We know their dream; enough
To know they dreamed and are dead; ‘ —W.B. Yeats ‘

How do we remember the men we’ve lost?
In our dreams we tossed and tossed
How can we tell them they’re still being missed?
Combined lyricism with technical skill like Liszt
That every day, especially on this crisp autumn day
We think of them and start to pray
Their memories still linger and they’re not forgotten
And our witness the moon and the sun
That what they’ve done are truly appreciated
We won’t be here had they not spilled blood
Would wearing poppies and lighting candles do?
Would that be enough for what they’ve gone through?
Men of valour and courage going to war
From a distance a tune from a guitar
Every generation, there are some reasons
Some privates, sergeants and captains
Of why men waged wars against each other
We send them there, some still boys and girls
Not knowing whether they’d still come back
The experience they’ve got, we don’t really know
And when they come back, are they still whole?
Our heroes, our loved ones, their sacrifices