At a Calvary near the Ancre De Wilfred Owen et Stabat Mater

 

At a Calvary near the Ancre is a poem by Wilfred Owen. It deals with the atrocities of World War I.

 

The poem is among those set in the War Requiem of Benjamin Britten, being interleaved with the petitions of the Agnus Dei.

 

It is constructed of three verses of 4 lines each in an abab rhyming scheme:

One ever hangs where shelled roads part.

In this war He too lost a limb,

But His disciples hide apart;

And now the Soldiers bear with Him.

 

 

Near Golgotha strolls many a priest,

And in their faces there is pride

That they were flesh-marked by the Beast

By whom the gentle Christ's denied.

 

 

The scribes on all the people shove

And bawl allegiance to the state,

But they who love the greater love

Lay down their life; they do not hate.

 

 

The poem links the Crucifixion of Christ to the battlefield of the First World War.

 

 

Intégral : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_a_Calvary_near_the_Ancre