[Editor: This poem, by Emily Bulcock, about Armistice Day (later known as Remembrance Day), was published in The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, NSW), 11 November 1930.]
Armistice Day.
We live again the day that brought release —
The marvellous day we agonised to greet!
The magic word was spoken — the longed-for “Peace” —
Sudden — the burst of joy — the hurrying feet;
Life, long repressed, breaking in blossom sweet.
Ah, ye who knew that hour, proud memory keep.
Long brooding anguish changed to frenzied mirth —
That upleap of the heart — that sudden sweep
Of angel wings across our war-racked earth —
The song of Peace that hailed the Bethlehem birth.
And, though ye have known sorrow since, and lost
Your zest in life, finding the years grown grey,
Bitter with disillusionment — storm-tossed;
Ye have known purest joy, one matchless day;
Let not its radiance lightly pass away.
Let us hush Life’s harsh clamour for a space,
Even as the peace bells stilled war’s clamour wild,
And vow ourselves to Peace — a saner race,
By war’s remembered horrors undefiled.
The dream come true — the world, love-reconciled.
EMILY BULCOCK.
Source:
The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, NSW), 11 November 1930 (Late Edition), p. 8
Also published in:
The Toowoomba Chronicle and Darling Downs Gazette (Toowoomba, Qld.), 11 November 1933, p. 6
Editor’s notes:
Bethlehem birth = a reference to the birth of Jesus Christ, in Bethlehem
ye = (archaic; dialectal) you (still in use in some places, e.g. in Cornwall, Ireland, Newfoundland, and Northern England; it can used as either the singular or plural form of “you”, although the plural form is the more common usage)
Leave a Reply