Heirs of Eternal Silence
I wrote this poem about the young men and boys of various countries who fought in the first world war . Forever Remembered.
Heirs of Eternal Silence
Prismatic fragments of glass unmoved,
Laid strewn across the barren
School-room floors, a wall of blackness
Mirrors my emptied mind,
All faculties’ departed each memory
Of chalk, of dust erased, wide-eyed
And frayed a harlequin of dreams
Dispatched, hurled as if satchels
In a heap, Crestfallen a world
In pieces weep, sworn to heel,
A babe to arms, beauty choked.
Tender the breast offered to the world,
A son, dispensed the feathered quill
No inkling of an infant remains
The screaming playground of my doom
Without meddle, memories flawless sleep,
Below the parapet steeped; gulls sprawled;
Unmeasured in poppy fields they lay.
A rainbow of colour swayed
In ceaseless prayer, virgins of fallen men,
Young heirs of eternal silence cursed?
As seasons wilt the flowering of neophytes in bloom
Clinging, strangled the golden chalice vine
Sprawling, sacrificial love sipped from the
Cusp of suckled time; relentless, the restless spades.
Hope murdered; in lawful play?
Imposed by blind spectators,
Crushed, victims of cruel pleasures
A pendulum of breathless waves.
A wholesome sacrifice cried " Mother "
Shallow a grave , a name unknown in disquiet rest
Empyrean shroud, lacquered dull brilliant grey;
To kiss blindly the hand of God;
That blew from the Skeptic air eternal love.
As the eyes of Judgment downwards cast
Favour without voice or conscience served.
Adorned no saviours head of Laurels found
Reflections sombre, wrapped in tears ,
Discovered ghosts of pleasures past ,
Embodied, claret drained from each soul bled
And kissed farewell; above a world unknown
Turning tides; full circle, life breathes in you?
Heirs of Eternal Silence rest.
Young heirs of eternal silence blessed?
Copyright ©
Daniel Caplin
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