|
|
|
|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE GOLD STAR, by NAOMI CLARKE First Line: He was just a kid Last Line: And think it'll make me feel proud ... Subject(s): Death; War; Dead, The | |||
He was just a kid And cried when they drafted him -- To send him across: He who had never been further away From home in all his life Than the county seat Twenty miles away. Blind with tears, he stumbled aboard The train that took him away While the Widow Price watched... Killed in action! Bud, who couldn't bear to see a chicken's neck wrung! Stony-eyed, she watched the other women With their letters from the War Department And their Gold Stars. Not for her. They dragged him to his death, she said, And he jest a young'un not knowing what it was all about, And he died jest like a rat in a trap, Jest as your own boys died. But now that they've dun it They ain't a-goin' to come to Me And try to make it right By giving me any Gold Star And think it'll make me feel proud ... | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A FRIEND KILLED IN THE WAR by ANTHONY HECHT FOR JAMES MERRILL: AN ADIEU by ANTHONY HECHT TARANTULA: OR THE DANCE OF DEATH by ANTHONY HECHT CHAMPS D?ÇÖHONNEUR by ERNEST HEMINGWAY NOTE TO REALITY by TONY HOAGLAND SEVEN TWILIGHTS: 7 by CONRAD AIKEN |
| |