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Religion
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Title: Through a Glass, Darkly (Patton on the Cyclic Nature of War)
Source: Website of General George S. Patton, Jr.
URL Source: http://www.generalpatton.com/poem.html
Published: May 19, 2009
Author: George S. Patton, Jr.
Post Date: 2009-05-20 00:09:09 by Deasy
Ping List: *Up to the Sun*     Subscribe to *Up to the Sun*
Keywords: Asatru, Odin, Norse, Cyclic
Views: 1905
Comments: 69

THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY
by Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.

Through the travail of the ages,
Midst the pomp and toil of war,
Have I fought and strove and perished
Countless times upon this star.

In the form of many people
In all panoplies of time
Have I seen the luring vision
Of the Victory Maid, sublime.


I have battled for fresh mammoth,
I have warred for pastures new,
I have listed to the whispers
When the race trek instinct grew.

I have known the call to battle
In each changeless changing shape
From the high souled voice of conscience
To the beastly lust for rape.

I have sinned and I have suffered,
Played the hero and the knave;
Fought for belly, shame, or country,
And for each have found a grave.

I cannot name my battles
For the visions are not clear,
Yet, I see the twisted faces
And I feel the rending spear.

Perhaps I stabbed our Savior
In His sacred helpless side.
Yet, I've called His name in blessing
When after times I died.

In the dimness of the shadows
Where we hairy heathens warred,
I can taste in thought the lifeblood;
We used teeth before the sword.

While in later clearer vision
I can sense the coppery sweat,
Feel the pikes grow wet and slippery
When our Phalanx, Cyrus met.

Hear the rattle of the harness
Where the Persian darts bounced clear,
See their chariots wheel in panic
From the Hoplite's leveled spear.

See the goal grow monthly longer,
Reaching for the walls of Tyre.
Hear the crash of tons of granite,
Smell the quenchless eastern fire.

Still more clearly as a Roman,
Can I see the Legion close,
As our third rank moved in forward
And the short sword found our foes.

Once again I feel the anguish
Of that blistering treeless plain
When the Parthian showered death bolts,
And our discipline was in vain.

I remember all the suffering
Of those arrows in my neck.
Yet, I stabbed a grinning savage
As I died upon my back.

Once again I smell the heat sparks
When my Flemish plate gave way
And the lance ripped through my entrails
As on Crecy's field I lay.

In the windless, blinding stillness
Of the glittering tropic sea
I can see the bubbles rising
Where we set the captives free.

Midst the spume of half a tempest
I have heard the bulwarks go
When the crashing, point blank round shot
Sent destruction to our foe.

I have fought with gun and cutlass
On the red and slippery deck
With all Hell aflame within me
And a rope around my neck.

And still later as a General
Have I galloped with Murat
When we laughed at death and numbers
Trusting in the Emperor's Star.

Till at last our star faded,
And we shouted to our doom
Where the sunken road of Ohein
Closed us in it's quivering gloom.

So but now with Tanks a'clatter
Have I waddled on the foe
Belching death at twenty paces,
By the star shell's ghastly glow.

So as through a glass, and darkly
The age long strife I see
Where I fought in many guises,
Many names, but always me.

And I see not in my blindness
What the objects were I wrought,
But as God rules o'er our bickerings
It was through His will I fought.

So forever in the future,
Shall I battle as of yore,
Dying to be born a fighter,
But to die again, once more.


Poster Comment:


"A man must know his destiny. if he does not recognize it, then he is lost. By this I mean, once, twice, or at the very most, three times, fate will reach out and tap a man on the shoulder. if he has the imagination, he will turn around and fate will point out to him what fork in the road he should take, if he has the guts, he will take it."


* Some exerpts from recent Patton biographies regarding the General's feelings about reincarnation, including his poem "Through a Glass Darkly":

At dinner, say, after grandly intoning Rupert Brooke's "The Soldier" ("If I should die, think only this of me/There is some corner in a foreign field/That is forever England" [sic]), Georgie [Patton] might offer his fond prediction that he would die in a foreign land, since, as Napoleon said, the boundaries of an empire are marked by the graves of her soldiers. Beatrice [Patton's wife] would nod, the fire in the fireplace would crackle significantly, and the meal would resume as the girls furtively eyed their father in expectation of his next trick.

If discussing reincarnation (one of his favorite topics), he would offer up as evidence pertinent bits of The Bhagavad Gita ("For sure is the death of him that is born, and sure the birth of him that is dead"), and his old standby, Revelations 3:12: "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out." To these he added the fifth stanza of Papa's [Patton's father] favorite poem, Wordsworth's "Intimations" ode: "Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting,/The soul that rises with us, our life's Star,/Hath had elsewhere its setting/And cometh from afar." Clearly, Georgie said, Wordsworth shared his belief in reincarnation.

(Patton, The Pattons: A Portrait of an American Family, 198)

The best expression of his past lives appears in a lengthy poem written in 1922 . . . .Titled "Through a Glass Darkly," Patton demonstrates a powerful belief in God and alludes to earlier lives, the first of which may have been as a caveman. He even suggests that while Christ was on the cross

Perhaps I stabbed our Savior
In His sacred helpless side.
Yet I've called His name in blessing
When in after times I died.

(D'Este, Patton A Genius for War, 324)

More stanzas from this poem come from Patton, The Pattons: A Portrait of an American Family (the first and third stanzas reproduced here were quoted in the movie 1970 film Patton, starring George C. Scott):

Through the travail of the ages
Midst the pomp and toil of war
Have I fought and strove and perished
Countless times upon this star.

I have sinned and I have suffered
Played the hero and the knave
Fought for belly, shame or country
And for each have found a grave.

So as through a glass and darkly
The age long strife I see
Where I fought in many guises,
Many names -- but always me.

(198-199)

This most moving and complex of his poems concludes with the words:

So forever in the future
Shall I battle as of yore,
Dying to be born a fighter
But to die again once more.

(D'Este, Patton A Genius for War, 324)

http://net.lib.byu.edu/english/wwi/over/glass.html Subscribe to *Up to the Sun*

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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 17.

#15. To: Deasy, All (#0) (Edited)

No, I don't believe that Patton was insane either. His words have power and humility at the same time.

And I see not in my blindness
What the objects were I wrought,

Thoughtful humility is the mark of a sound mind.

Thank you Deasy, for the muscular and sparkling verses of Patton, and keep me on your list. Don't have a lot of time today to comment but to say thanks to all for the great posts and to Sam too for posting Washington's Farewell Address.

The comments and posts here are always stellar. When I come here to read and exchange opinions with you all here, I sometimes feel that I am speaking with the last Americans.

randge  posted on  2009-05-20   14:08:57 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#16. To: randge (#15)

When I come here to read and exchange opinions with you all here, I sometimes feel that I am speaking with the last Americans.

that's very nice, randge. thank you for that.

christine  posted on  2009-05-20   14:39:00 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#17. To: christine, randge, lodwick, Prefrontal Vortex, HOUNDDAWG, Cynicom, bluegrass (#16)

Christine, thank you for encouraging such open discussion here.

Deasy  posted on  2009-05-20   17:48:41 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 17.

#19. To: Deasy, all (#17)

I can think of nothing that is not 'fair game' here.

And unlike Muddog's Met's post, we WILL touch all the bases around the diamond.

Lod  posted on  2009-05-20 18:06:26 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


End Trace Mode for Comment # 17.

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