• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry & songs
    • Recommended poetry
    • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
    • Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
    • Rock music and pop music [videos]
    • Early music [videos]
  • Slang
  • Timeline
    • Timeline of Australian history and culture
    • Calendar of Australian history and culture
    • Significant events and commemorative dates
  • Topics

The Aftermath [poem, 16 February 1918]

8 April 2014 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: A poem published in Aussie: The Australian Soldiers’ Magazine, no. 2, 16 February 1918.]

The Aftermath.

Seek now thy heart and question which shall be,
The deeper Hell of two which offer thee,
The Hell of War that honour could not shun,
Or that which goes with duty left undone.

Hell, though it be of fury, fire and pain:
The Hell of War thou suff’rest not in vain.
The dead shall live by memory through the years,
Their resting place bedewed by Angel’s tears.

And they that live, returning to their land,
Shall through the years to come, in honour stand
And of the joys of Peace in full partake,
As those who suffered much for duty’s sake.

But — they who stayed behind to count the cost,
To argue “this is gained” or “that is lost,”
And holding back, bethought them of some gain,
At cost of those who suffered fire and pain,

Shall not in future years in council stand
To legislate the future of their land —
Nor still in blissful peace their ways pursue
Because, whilst others died, this peace they knew.

And they shall live forever in that state
Of Hell, whose terrors never shall abate.
Tormented conscience and a tortured mind
That through eternity no peace shall find.

Pioneer.



Source:
Aussie: The Australian Soldiers’ Magazine, no. 2, 16 February 1918, page 8

Filed Under: poetry Tagged With: Aussie magazine issue 2, poem, publication Aussie: The Australian Soldiers’ Magazine, SourceIACLibrary, year1918

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Australian flag, Kangaroo, Wattle, 100hThe Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Search this site

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
A list of significant Australiana
Significant events and commemorative dates
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian literature
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Australian explorers
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • Boy soldiers: Cadets fine physique [29 March 1911]
  • Military: Notes for senior cadets [1 March 1911]
  • Compulsory military training [letter to the editor, from “Little Red Riding Hood”, 11 February 1911]
  • Compulsory military training [letter to the editor, from “Mary…”, 11 February 1911]
  • Compulsory military training [letter to the editor, from the Rev. William Shaw, 11 February 1911]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Taking His Chance [poem by Henry Lawson]
  • “The story of Australia”, by Martin Hambleton
  • Timeline of Australian history and culture
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Australian slang

Archives

Categories

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Recent Comments

  • IAC on Military: Notes for senior cadets [1 March 1911]
  • Raymond on Military: Notes for senior cadets [1 March 1911]
  • IAC on [Group of Australian soldiers, or soldier-cadets] [postcard, WW1 era (1914-1918)]
  • Raymond on [Group of Australian soldiers, or soldier-cadets] [postcard, WW1 era (1914-1918)]
  • IAC on Australia Shearing [postcard, 1907]

For Australia

Copyright © 2023 · Log in