Anthem for Doomed Youth
by Wilfred Owen
First Published in 1921
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What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries for them; no prayers nor bells,
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,--
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds

Just last week I started my first Murakami novel; Sputnik Sweetheart, and was mightily impressed. So impressed I told Mrs Buddha, which was a mistake as she has since collared it. If you look in the bookshops of Cardiff you will find nothing, so I assumed little had been published in the UK, Cardiff is supposed to be a capital city after all. Had a look in Waterstones in Birmingham and there were at least 8 to choose from, economics means they will have to wait for another day.
Never mind, the Mrs will soon finish Sputnik Sweetheart and there is always this short story in The New Yorker.

Where is Raed?, a blog from Baghdad, supposedly.

Barney the Minesweeper

FMagazine is excellent, I recommend the Sicilian art and the article and songs on the jukebox by Z star.

This is a magazine