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Waste


On this day any words by me seem trivial.

Instead I post the words of "Woodbine Willie", the Rev. G.A. Studdert Kennedy, a padre in the Great War. He published many poems, most of which were deeply influenced by his experiences on the Western Front. Some are profoundly anti-war. Some seem anti-church, or at least anti-the hypocrisy that seems endemic in churches.


But here's a short one for the day the guns fell silent... for a short while at least.


Waste of Muscle, waste of Brain,
Waste of Patience, waste of Pain,
Waste of Manhood, waste of Health,
Waste of Beauty, waste of Wealth,
Waste of blood, and waste of Tears,
Waste of Youth's most precious years,
Waste of ways the Saints have trod,
Waste of Glory, waste of God, -
War!

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