Deceit In Ignorance (No Name)

Dedicated to Marianne :)

There is a grave on a hill,

Where a dead man lies,

A dead man of Gettysburg;

And in his grave he looks to the skies,

For God to be there still,

This dead soldier of Gettysburg.

 

His name, no one knows,

And what he made to be right,

This unknown man of Gettysburg;

Whether he ran, or stayed to fight,

And whether he loved or loathed his foes,

This unknown soldier of Gettysburg.

 

And if by chance one would know,

If he ran or if he fought,

The unknown man of Gettysburg;

Would you still engrave his name in sailor knots?

Or lay by his grave, your whitest rose,

If we knew the man of Gettysburg?

 

Oh, let ye foolish souls,

Be not loving to unknown things,

For both greed and want bring out woe,

And gold’s melody, God does not sing.

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

A very sad poem. Graves of unknown Soldiers are a sad and lonely place. There are many Soldiers laying alone and no-one know where there are and how they died. I enjoyed the purpose of the poem. Thank you for sharing the outstanding poem.
Coyote

[R.G. Bennet]

I love this poem. It conveys such a powerful message, and an all-too-true one at that. I love the way you build the importance of it with each stanza, capping it all off with my favourite line "And gold's melody, God does not sing."

Very well done. Thanks for sharing.

[Aianarie (INACTIVE)]

Another well-written poem, Bridget. Inspiring and thought-provoking. Many stories could be written about it.

Awesome job!

[Adabelle Davis]

I like how you wrote this for someone unknown. I mean, it could have been for someone famous, but you chose to focus on one of the soldiers no one remembers anymore. I, personally, really appreciate that because I find myself drawn to the ignored or forgotten.
Brilliant! Keep going!