A letter from “The East” it came today,
And all the house is lightened of its gloom:
A sun-browned desert wind through every room
Eddies, and bring strange scents of old bazaare;
Of orange-groves beneath the dreaming stars
O’er far Jerusalem. Through these ordered rooms
Where poppies glow and pale narcissi blooms
Nod in tall vases, sings the desert breeze
Telling of brown battalion overseas.
Khaki-clad soldiers, singing as they go
Along the road to Gaza, and we know
The very breath of freedom’s in the air
With their gay boast, “Australia will be there”
Mateship and courage, loyalty and truth
The very essence of Australian youth!
We have no fears! serene in faith we pray
For those dear gallant lads so far away.
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very well written. Honorable words. I praise these words... "We have no fears! serene in faith we pray for those dear gallant lads so far away." Good write. Very nice.
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Love this poem and the comments solicited.
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The positive attitude of Aussies shows through. They went away to fight a war they knew little about in a country they knew nothing about. A great many are still over there, some came back, forever changed, like my Dad.
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Nostalgic and full of faith.
Recalling patriotic gallantry
of lads who, gaily, went abroad to see
another land, to fight another war,
who seeing, fighting, then came home no more,
do we at home, perhaps with tearful eye,
still think of those gay lads who went to die?
Hugh Wyles, August 14th. 2006. -
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Alice Guerin Crist
Hugh I'm so pleases that you too have fallen under the spell of this lady. All of the poems posted to date I was able to type from a book of hers I bought not knowing who she was or anything about her. Then her Great Granddaughter found Oldpoetry which led to the amazing biography written by Alice's Granddaughter. What a coup!
there is one more book of Alice's' I have yet to find. I will eventually.
Von
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This is cool, a piece of Australian history in oldpoetry, don't see that often..it's nice to see. I love her use of language and incorporation of more than just the visual sense to describe her poetry.
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