War knows no Power?

20 Apr 2022 | Our Father | 0 comments

Dear! Of all happy in the hour, most blest

He who has found our hid security,

Assured in the dark tides of the world that rest,

And heard our word, ‘Who is so safe as we?’

 

We have found safety with all things undying,

The winds, and morning, tears of men and mirth,

The deep night, and birds singing, and clouds flying,

And sleep, and freedom, and the autumnal earth.

 

We have built a house that is not for Time’s throwing.

We have gained a peace unshaken by pain for ever.

War knows no power.

Safe shall be my going,

Secretly armed against all death’s endeavour;

Safe though all safety’s lost; safe where men fall;

And if these poor limbs die, safest of all.

 

Rupert Brooke (1887-1915), Safety (1914).

Notes from the Compiler

Five war sonnets were published in 1915 and brought Rupert Brooke recognition early in the First World War (1914-18), before he died as a Commissioned Officer in 1915 on the way to the Dardanelles where he is buried. 'Few writers have provoked as much excessive praise and scornful condemnation as English poet Rupert Brooke. Handsome, charming, and talented, Brooke was a national hero even before his death in 1915 at the age of 27. His poetry, with its unabashed patriotism and graceful lyricism, was revered in a country that was yet to feel the devastating effects of two world wars.'

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