Related quotes: Greyer and older, still they...

War's End Armistice Day 1935

Greyer and older, still they stand
Wearier, quieter, still they pray;
Men who had offered their all to a land.
And their thoughts run back to an olden day
When Youth sailed gallantly, gaily forth
Romance for King, and faith to the fore
To the older, bitterer lands of the north,
To battle, that men might end all war.

Ageing Diggers, grown wiser now,
Again they are dreaming before their shrine
Of the long-gone day when they made the vow
With hearts uplifted, and eyes a-shine.
And thro' their dreaming there drifts to-day
A newer note and a sad refrain,
As their thoughts return to that bitter fray:
'Was it all in vain? Was it all in vain?'

Soberer, sterner, still they hear
Endless thunder of vengeful guns
Echoing out of a long dead year.
And, 'God,' they pray, 'must these our sons
Learn over again all we'd fain forget?
Buy over again their need of peace
Live over again worse madness yet?
Is earth's grim agony never to cease?'

Ageing Diggers before their shrine:
'Is there never a respite, no release?
We who have suffered look for a sign.
Is there never a hope for a lasting peace?
We who have known it all before:
The madness, agony, needless pain
We who once battled to end all war
Was it all in vain? Was it all in vain?'

poem by Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis
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Related quotes

Love In Vain

Long night, too long and lonely
Laying there asking myself
Hey, what's going on with you and me
How could I be so unaware
So blind I could not see
Knowing you'd be there
And always would be
Is anyone to blame but me
I've been so concerned with myself
Now I need you desperately
If you've fallen for another
Let's be honest with each other
Is there still a chance
And maybe hope to save our romance
We can't be strangers
You mean too much to me
I won't let this be a love in vain
Don't want the loneliness
Of just a memory
I don't want a love in vain
Just one more night, I want to spend with you
We'll let our hearts do the talking
Like we used to do
We'll make our first kiss last forever
Put the pieces back together
'Cause there's still a chance
There may be hope to save our romance
We can't be strangers
You mean to much to me
I won't let this be a love in vain, don't want a love in vain
I don't want the loneliness
Of just a memory
Don't want a love in vain
Oh, woman look what you've done to me
I'll show you how this love should be
Don't let it be a love in vain
Please don't, don't you know
You got my heart on a string
Don't let go
Don't let this love be a love in vain
We can't be strangers
It's not our destiny
I won't let this be a love in vain, don't want a love in vain
Don't want the loneliness
Of just a memory
Don't let this be a love in vain

song performed by by Foreigner
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Diggers

The diggers are digging, and digging deep,
They’re digging and singing,
And I’m asleep.
They’re digging and singing and swiftly they’re swinging
The flying earth as it falls in a heap.
And some of it scatters and falls on my head;
But the diggers dig on. They can only dig.
They can only sing and their eyes are big,
Their eyes are big and heavy as lead.
They dig and they sing and they think I’m dead

The diggers are digging, and filling the hole.
They’re sighing and singing.
They pray for my soul.
I hear what they say, and from where I am lying,
I hear a new corporal calling the roll.
But the diggers dig on and fill in my bed,
They diggers dig on, and they sweat and they sweat.
They sigh and they sign, and their wyes are wet.
The brown earth clatters and covers my head;
Then I laugh and I laugh, for they think that I’m dead.

poem by Leon Gellert
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A Christmas Prayer (from the trenches)

Not yet for us may Christmas bring
Good-will to men, and peace;
In our dark sky no angels sing,
Not yet the great release
For men, when war shall cease.

So must the guns our carols make,
Our gifts must bullets be,
For us no Christmas bells shall wake;
These ruined homes shall see
No Christmas revelry.

In hardened hearts we fain would greet
The Babe at Christmas born,
But lo, He comes with pierced feet,
Wearing a crown of thorn,-
His side a spear has torn.

For tired eyes are all too dim,
Our hearts too full of pain,
Our ears too deaf to hear the hymn
Which angels sing in vain,
'The Christ is born again.'

O Jesus, pitiful, draw near,
That even we may see
The Little Child who knew not fear;
Thus would we picture Thee
Unmarred by agony.

O'er death and pain triumphant yet
Bid Thou Thy harpers play,
That we may hear them, and forget
Sorrow and all dismay,
And welcome Thee to stay
With us on Christmas Day.

poem by Cyril Winterbotham
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A Love In Vain

Long night, too long and lonely
Laying there asking myself
Hey, whats going on with you and me
How could I be so unaware
So blind I could not see
Knowing youd be there
And always would be
Is anyone to blame but me
Ive been so concerned with myself
Now I need you desperately
If youve fallen for another
Lets be honest with each other
Is there still a chance
And maybe hope to save our romance
We cant be strangers
You mean too much to me
I wont let this be a love in vain
Dont want the loneliness
Of just a memory
I dont want a love in vain
Just one more night, I want to spend with you
Well let our hearts do the talking
Like we used to do
Well make our first kiss last forever
Put the pieces back together
cause theres still a chance
There may be hope to save our romance
We cant be strangers
You mean to much to me
I wont let this be a love in vain, dont want a love in vain
I dont want the loneliness
Of just a memory
Dont want a love in vain
Oh, woman look what youve done to me
Ill show you how this love should be
Dont let it be a love in vain
Please dont, dont you know
You got my heart on a string
Dont let go
Dont let this love be a love in vain
We cant be strangers
Its not our destiny
I wont let this be a love in vain, dont want a love in vain
Dont want the loneliness
Of just a memory
Dont let this be a love in vain

song performed by by Foreigner
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Despair

Beneath this gloomy shade,
By Nature only for my sorrows made,
I'll spend this voyce in crys,
In tears I'll waste these eyes

By Love so vainly fed;
So Lust of old the Deluge punished.
Ah wretched youth! said I,
'Ah, wretched youth!' twice did I sadly cry:
'Ah, wretched youth!' the fields and floods reply.

When thoughts of Love I entertain,
I meet no words but 'Never,' and 'In vain.'
'Never' alas that dreadful name
Which fuels the infernal flame:

'Never,' My time to come must waste;
'In vain,' torments the present and the past.
'In vain, in vain!' said I;
'In vain, in vain!' twice did I sadly cry;
'In vain, in vain!' the fields and floods reply.

No more shall fields or floods do so;
For I to shades more dark and silent go:
All this world's noise appears to me
A dull ill-acted comedy:

No comfort to my wounded sight,
In the suns busy and imperti'nent Light.
Then down I laid my head;
Down on cold earth; and for a while was dead,
And my freed soul to a strange somewhere fled.

'Ah, sottish Soul' said I,
When back to its cage again I saw it fly;
'Fool to resume her broken chain!
And row her galley here again!'

'Fool, to that body to return
Where it condemn'd and destin'd is to burn!
Once dead, how can it be,
Death should a thing so pleasant seem to thee,
That thou should'st come to live it o're again in me?'

poem by Abraham Cowley
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In Vain

The stars in the sky
In vain
The tragedy of Hamlet
In vain
The key in the lock
In vain
The sleeping mother
In vain
The lamp in the corner
In vain
The lamp in the corner unlit
In vain
Abraham Lincoln
In vain
The Aztec empire
In vain
The writing hand: in vain
(The shoetrees in the shoes
In vain
The windowshade string upon
the hand bible
In vain—
The glitter of the greenglass
ashtray
In vain
The bear in the woods
In vain
The Life of Buddha
In vain)

poem by Jack Kerouac
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In a School Chapel

THE clear young voices rise and soar: 'Oh, pray
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they
Shall prosper that love thee.' Yet each boy's heart
Harbors the hope that he may have a part
In war- the roar of guns, the roll of drums
Before this anthemed peace he prays for comes.
But in the quiet gallery above
Where eyes grown dim look down on those they love
The prayer for peace rings true; although in truth
Worse things than death can come to eager youth.
But nothing worse can come to age than knowing
That it is safe, and boys are going, going,
Are going forth to war till all wars cease:
The old, so safe and lonely, pray for peace.

poem by Alice Duer Miller
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Cries In Vain

Your cries in vain,
When you look in my eyes what do you see,
My deep sorrows within,
My cries in vain,
Can’t you see how much you hurt me,
You made me cry for you,
Cries in vain that won’t go away,
Take it all away,
I see you looking,
I see that you are fading,
You are a mere ghost to me,
My sorrows within my tears that you cause me to shed,
I waited too long to cry again and again,
I sit back and hold on tight that I won’t cry ever again,
But when I see you,
I cry,
Can’t you see cries are in vain,
WAKE UP,
And now look at me and tell me what do you see,
All you ever will see is me cry in vain.

poem by Jennifer Rondeau
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Wait In Vain

you're a lover of convenience
who took away my heart ala pirate
hope you return for better experince
cos i'm hurt but can't feel irate
please help me not to wait in vain
i'm sitting here wishing for that day
when you appear from the woods or sea
i wonder what to you i would ever say
if i'll ever see that day i foresee
i hope i won't have to wait in vain
i think i'm about to let go
of all the thoughts of you i kept
from days in scool to long ago
days we laughed and days we wept
it's so sad i had to wait in vain

poem by Ray Anyasi
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Solvitur acris Hiems

Youth, that went, is come again,
Youth, for which we all were fain;
With soft pleasure and sweet pain
In each nerve and every vein,
Circling through the heart and brain,
Whence and wherefore come again?
Eva, tell me!

Dead and buried when we thought him,
Who the magic spell hath taught him?
Who the strong elixir brought him?
Dead and buried as we thought,
Lo! unasked for and unsought
Comes he, shall it be for nought?
Eva, tell me!

Youth that lifeless long had lain,
Youth that long we longed in vain for,
Used to grumble and complain for,
Thought at last to entertain
A decorous cool disdain for,
On a sudden see again
Comes, but will not long remain,
Comes, with whom too in his train,
Comes, and shall it be in vain?
Eva, tell me!

poem by Arthur Hugh Clough
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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The Captains

The Captains sailed from all the World—from all the world and Spain;
And each one for his country’s ease, her glory and her gain;
The Captains sailed to Southern Seas, and sailed the Spanish Main;
And some sailed out beyond the World, and some sailed home again.
And each one for his daily bread, and bitter bread it was,
Because of things they’d left at home—or for some other cause.
Their wives and daughters made the lace to deck the Lady’s gown,
Where sailors’ wives sew dungarees by many a seaport town.

The Captains sailed in rotten ships, with often rotten crews,
Because their lands were ignorant and meaner than the ooze;
With money furnished them by Greed, or by ambition mean,
When they had crawled to some pig-faced, pig-hearted king or queen.

And when a storm was on the coast, and spray leaped o’er the quays,
Then little Joan or Dorothy, or Inez or Louise,
Would kneel her down on such a night beside her mother’s knees,
And fold her little hands and pray for those beyond the seas.
With the touching faith of little girls—the faith by love embalmed—
They’d pray for men beyond the seas who might have been becalmed.

For some will pray at CHRIST His feet, and some at MARY’S shrine;
And some to Heathen goddesses, as I have prayed to mine;
To Mecca or to Bethlehem, to Fire, or Joss, or Sol,
And one will pray to sticks or stones, and one to her rag doll.
But we are stubborn men and vain, and though we rise or fall,
Our children’s prayers or women’s prayers, GOD knows we need them all!
And no one fights the bitter gale, or strives in combat grim,
But, somewhere in the world, a child is praying hard for him.

The Captains sailed to India, to China and Japan.
They met the Strangers’ Welcome and the Friendliness of Man;
The Captains sailed to Southern Seas, and “wondrous sights” they saw—
The Rights of Man in savage lands, and law without a law.
They learnt the truth from savages, and wisdom from the wild,
And learned to walk in unknown ways, and trust them like a child.
(The sailors told of monstrous things that be where sailors roam . . .
But none had seen more monstrous things than they had seen at home.)

They found new worlds for crowded folk in cities old and worn,
And huts of hunger, fog and smoke in lands by Faction torn.
(They found the great and empty lands where Nations might be born.)
They found new foods, they found new wealth, and newer ways to live,
Where sons might grow in strength and health, with all that God would give.
They tracked their ways through unknown seas where Danger still remains,
And sailed back poor and broken men, and some sailed back in chains.
But, bound or free, or ill or well, where’er their sails were furled,
They brought to weary, worn-out lands glad tidings from the World.

The Seasons saw our fathers come, their flocks and herds increase;
They saw the old lands waste in War, the new lands waste in Peace;
The Seasons saw new gardens made, they saw the old lands bleed,
And into new lands introduced the curse of Class and Creed.
They saw the birth of Politics, and all was ripe for Greed.
And Mammon came and built his towers, and Mammon held the fort:
Till one new land went dollar-mad, and one went mad for Sport.

Where men for love of Science sailed in rotten tubs for years,
To hang or starve, while nought availed a wife or daughter’s tears—
Where men made life-long sacrifice for some blind Northern Power,
Now Science sinks a thousand souls, and sinks them in an hour.
You would be rich and great too soon—have all that mortal craves;
The day may come ere you have lived when you’ll be poor and slaves.
You heeded not the warning voice, for Self and Sport prevailed;
You yet might wish, in dust and dread, those Captains had not sailed.

poem by Henry Lawson
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By Rugged Ways

By rugged ways and thro' the night
We struggle blindly toward the light;
And groping, stumbling, ever pray
For sight of long delaying day.
The cruel thorns beside the road
Stretch eager points our steps to goad,
And from the thickets all about
Detaining hands reach threatening out.

'Deliver us, oh, Lord,' we cry,
Our hands uplifted to the sky.
No answer save the thunder's peal,
And onward, onward, still we reel.
'Oh, give us now thy guiding light;'
Our sole reply, the lightning's blight.
'Vain, vain,' cries one, 'in vain we call;'
But faith serene is over all.

Beside our way the streams are dried,
And famine mates us side by side.
Discouraged and reproachful eyes
Seek once again the frowning skies.
Yet shall there come, spite storm and shock,
A Moses who shall smite the rock,
Call manna from the Giver's hand,
And lead us to the promised land!

The way is dark and cold and steep,
And shapes of horror murder sleep,
And hard the unrelenting years;
But 'twixt our sighs and moans and tears,
We still can smile, we still can sing,
Despite the arduous journeying.
For faith and hope their courage lend,
And rest and light are at the end.

poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar
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Peace

Peace (it's what I prayer for)
Peace (oh my)
Peace
Peace (all around the world)
Peace (it's what I pray for)
Peace (oh my)
Peace
Peace (hurry)
Come on in this house children
The war has started
Light the candles right now
It's about to be darkness, oh yeah
There's no telling when the sun will shine again, no
When it's over there's a question asked
Who wins? Who wins?
Spirit (ooh)
Through the land (ooh)
Spirit of peace (ooh)
Oh yeah (ooh)
Spirit move (ooh)
Oh move (ooh)
Oh yeah (ooh)
Heaven send down (ooh)
Peace (it's what I prayer for)
Peace (oh my)
Peace
Peace (all around the world)
Peace (it's what I pray for)
Peace (oh my)
Peace
Peace (hurry)
Turn your head, close your eyes
There's people out there dying, oh
With so much wealth in the land
Why is this thing staving? Oh
As I look over this place
There's so much hatred
If I could I'd pack my bags
And hitch hike to heaven, yeah
Spirit move (ooh)
Oh move (ooh)
Spirit move (ooh)
All through the land (ooh)
Won't you move (ooh)
Oh move, oh move, oh move (ooh)
Oh move, yeah (ooh)
This is what I prayer for (ooh)
Peace (for peace)
Peace (all around the world)
Peace (whoa)
Peace (I pray for peace)
Peace (oh peace)
Peace (oh peace)
Peace (heaven shine your light)
Peace
Shine your light on me
Shine your light on me (let it shine)
Shine your light on me (oh)
Shine your light on me (shine your light)
Shine your light on me (on me)
Shine your light on me (for the World)
Shine your light on me (to see) (pray for me...)
Shine your light on me (let it shine)
Shine your light on me (real bright)
Shine your light on me (through the day)
Shine your light on me (through the night)
Shine your light on me (and send us your peace)
Peace (that's what I pray for)
Peace (oh my)
Peace (oh)
Peace (all around the World)
Peace (it's what I pray for)
Peace (peace)
Peace (peace)
Peace (all around the World)
Peace (peace for the children)
Peace (peace for the land)
Peace (peace for all women)
Peace (and peace for all men)
Peace (put peace in our hearts)
Peace (let us know you care)
Peace (take the storm away)
Peace (send your peace everywhere) (shine your light on me)
Peace (in the valleys) (shine your light on me)
Peace (on the land) (shine your light on me)
Peace (in the homes) (shine your light on me)
Peace (oh yeah) (shine your light on me)
Peace (in Somalia) (shine your light on me)
Peace (Liberia) (shine your light on me)
Peace (Etheopia) (shine your light on me)
Peace (all of Africa) (shine your light on me)
Peace (our soldiers) (shine your light on me)
Peace (the prisons) (shine your light on me)
Peace (the nations) (shine your light on me)
Peace (religion) (shine your light on me)
Peace (the churches) (shine your light on me)
Peace (the community) (shine your light on me)
Peace (justice) (shine your light on me) (send your peace)
Peace (peace) (shine your light on me) (oh heaven, send it down to me)
Peace (then ourselves) (shine your light on me)
Peace (peace for wars) (shine your light on me) (send your peace)
Peace (peace in relationships) (shine your light on me) (oh heaven, send it down to me)
Peace (peace in the brother hood) (shine your light on me) (send your peace)
Peace (oh peace) (shine your light on me) (oh heaven, send it down to me)
Peace (oh peace) (shine your light on me)
Peace (oh peace) (shine your light on me) (send your peace) (oh heaven, send it down to me)
Peace (oh peace) (shine your light on me)
Peace (oh peace) (shine your light on me) (for heavens)
Peace (oh peace) (shine your light on me)
Peace (oh peace) (shine your light on me) (send your peace) (oh heaven, send it down to me)
Shine your light on me (oh heaven) (send your peace, send it down to me)
Shine your light on me (your peace)
Shine your light on me (oh heaven) (send your peace, send it down to me)
Shine your light on me (your peace)
Shine your light on me (your peace)
Shine your light on me (oh heaven)
Shine your light on me (oh heaven) (send your peace, send it down to me)

song performed by by R. Kelly
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Those All Are Vain

Those all are only vain
The quarrel and the sworn enemy
Those all are vain
The anger and the envy
Those are for vain
The greed and the arrogance
All are vain
The stubbornness and the hatred
Vain
The fear and the power
Just only vain
The pride and the hypocrite

poem by Maria Sudibyo
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Sonnet CI: The One Hope

When vain desire at last and vain regret
Go hand in hand to death, and all is vain,
What shall assuage the unforgotten pain
And teach the unforgetful to forget?
Shall Peace be still a sunk stream long unmet,—
Or may the soul at once in a green plain
Stoop through the spray of some sweet life-fountain
And cull the dew-drenched flowering amulet?
Ah! when the wan soul in that golden air
Between the scriptured petals softly blown
Peers breathless for the gift of grace unknown,—
Ah! let none other alien spell soe'er
But only the one Hope's one name be there,—
Not less nor more, but even that word alone.

poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
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Dead Man's Morrice

There came a crowder to the Mermaid Inn,
One dark May night,
Fiddling a tune that quelled our motley din,
With quaint delight,
It haunts me yet, as old lost airs will do,
A phantom strain:
_Look for me once, lest I should look for you,
And look in vain._

In that old wood, where ghosts of lovers walk,
At fall of day,
Gleaning such fragments of their ancient talk
As poor ghosts may,
From leaves that brushed their faces, wet with dew,
Or tears, or rain,...
_Look for me once, lest I should look for you,
And look in vain._

Have we not seen them--pale forgotten shades
That do return,
Groping for those dim paths, those fragrant glades,
Those nooks of fern,
Only to find that, of the may they knew,
No wraiths remain;
_Yet they still look, as I should look for you,
And look in vain._

They see those happier ghosts that waned away--
Whither, who knows?--
Ghosts that come back with music and the may,
And Spring's first rose,
Lover and lass, to sing the old burden through,
Stave and refrain:
_Look for me once, lest I should look for you,
And look in vain._

So, after death, if in that starless deep,
I lose your eyes,
I'll haunt familiar places. I'll not keep
Tryst in the skies.
I'll haunt the whispering elms that found us true,
The old grass-grown lane.
_Look for me there, lest I should look for you,
And look in vain._

There, as of old, under the dreaming moon,
A phantom throng
Floats through the fern, to a ghostly morrice tune,
A thin sweet song,
Hands link with hands, eyes drown in eyes anew,
Lips meet again....
_Look for me, once, lest I should look for you,
And look in vain._

poem by Alfred Noyes
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It’s already in vain

I know that thunder at times fall from the sky,
I know that ants crawl when their nest breaks,
swarming ready to bite
but it’s already in vain.

I do not care when the sun shine
and it rains in broad daylight
if I get wet or not, if you get wet or not
but it’s already in vain.

I smell the fresh tea that you are brewing
see how the wind is blowing the curtains
as if it’s crying over a lost soul
but it’s already in vain.

Will you come along when I dance in the rain?
I know that there’s something indispensable
to dance when the sun shines and thunder is falling
but it’s already in vain.

When Gert Strydom is caught in rain at church,
some old men are thinking about the sacrifice of God,
there’s a impact when a pretty women is wet
but it’s already in vain.

poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Mangroves

These black bush-waters, heavy with crusted boughs
Like plumes above dead captains, wake the mind....
Uncounted kissing, unremembered vows,
Nights long forgotten, moons too dark to find,
Or stars too cold...all quick things that have fled
Whilst these old bubbles uprise in older stone,
Return like pale dead faces of children dead,
Staring unfelt through doors for ever unknown.

O silent ones that drink these timeless pools,
Eternal brothers, bending so deeply over,
Your branches tremble above my tears again...
And even my songs are stolen from some old lover
Who cried beneath your leaves like other fools,
While still they whisper "in vain...in vain...in vain..."

poem by Kenneth Slessor
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Glory To The Brave

Snow is falling down on this glorious land
Colours fading, turning into white again
To fallen heroes angels sing, they cry their winter tears
Endless mourning days will turn to years
So this is goodbye, I take leave of you and
Spread your wings and you will fly away now, fly away
Now
Nothing on earth stays forever
But none of your deeds were in vain
Deep in our hearts you will live again
Youre gone to the home of the brave
Every solemn moment I will treasure inside
Even though its hard to understand
T hat a silent wind can blow the candle out
Taking everything leaving the pain far behind
You call out my name, but your voice is fading
Into the wind, embraced, youll fly away now, fly away
Now
Nothing on earth stays forever
But none of your deeds were in vain
Deep in our hearts you will live again
Youre gone to the home of the brave
My eyes are closed I feel youre faraway ( so close )
Far beyond that shining star
I know youll find what youve been fighting for
Far beyond that shining star
Down on bended knee I pray, bring courage to these souls
Makeem live forever in the heart of the bold
So I say farewell my friends, I hope well meet again
When time has come to fall from grace
So this is goodbye, I take leave of you and
Spread your wings and you will fly away now, fly away
Now
Nothing on earth stays forever
But none of your deeds were in vain
Deep in our hearts you will live again
Youre gone to the home of the brave

song performed by by Hammerfall
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Exile

At dead of night about the dying fire
They told a story how the dead appear;
And men, grown still with fear,
Forgot their old desire
For those who once were dear,
And shook and trembled lest their dead be near.

Alas, poor dead who were so sweet and human!
How are you grown a menace and a blight
A thing to shun, a thing of evil omen,
Stealing unwelcome through the halls of night?,
Who knows? perhaps yourselves are much affrighted,
And struggle back, remote and bodiless,
Fearful of sounds unheard, visions unsighted,
Black echoes, and the bitter loneliness.

But for me, in my heart is no dread
Of the coming again of the dead,
But a terror of life, without one
Who made life to be life - and is gone.

Yes, at these tales of how the dead return,
Hope stirs within my spirit more than fear.
So strange, so strange it seems, you are not here,
And so unnatural to me 'tis to learn
The trick of life without you, year by year,

That not so strange could any specter be
Or fall of footsteps on the empty stair,
Or shapes discerned upon the shadowy air,
As is this haunting sense of vacancy,
And your persisting absence everywhere.

Ah, could I see, as in the tranquil past,
The form I long for - always and in vain, -
Should I not cry, like one released from pain:
'Dear and long absent, you return at last,
And life its natural aspect wears again!'