The Pity of War
"My subject is war and the Pity of war. The poetry is in the Pity". Wilfred Owen
From a short review of an inspiring event , held on Remembrance Sunday* 2015, that I wrote for our parish magazine.
From a short review of an inspiring event , held on Remembrance Sunday* 2015, that I wrote for our parish magazine.
How could so much beauty come out of so much horror? That was my over-riding thought on Sunday as we came to the end of a memorable evening. The singing, the violin music, the poetry and the reflections were all beautiful; and even the images from the trenches and the battlefields of the Great War were harrowingly so.
We are grateful to all who contributed: (names listed here)
Returning to what I said at the beginning, in my mind during the evening were the words of Edwin Muir's poem 'One Foot in Eden', with its theme of the intertwining of good and evil:
We are grateful to all who contributed: (names listed here)
Returning to what I said at the beginning, in my mind during the evening were the words of Edwin Muir's poem 'One Foot in Eden', with its theme of the intertwining of good and evil:
But famished field and blackened tree
Bear flowers in Eden never known. Blossoms of grief and charity* Bloom in these darkened fields alone. . Strange blessings never in Paradise Fall from these beclouded skies. * Agape, selfless love. |
* Always the Sunday before Armistice Day, which is on the eleventh of November each year.