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:1745 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.
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.
#18. To: Deasy, Brian S, Christine, Jethro Tull, FormerLurker, Diana, All (#0)
Patton's life is well worth studying - from reasonably objective sources.
He's one of the few Generals who deserves the title of "Hero." I'm convinced that was the reason he had a fatal accident. After the successes of Hitler, heros could easily be the worst of problems, second to martyrs.
In the American culture, the public mindset has been most cleverly 're- educated' to the extreme of unknowingly substituting celebrities, for the primal need for heros. AND - what do we eventually do with those celebrities? Ask Britney, et al.
Instead, we get the likes of Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman - victims, without an actual record of combat bravery. At least Jessica lived to tell her story and repudiate her own medals, as political imagery. There's a different form of heroism; I'll salute her for that.
Speaking of which, Memorial Day is upon us - don't forget.
Speaking of which, Memorial Day is upon us - don't forget.
After all that I've learned in the past several years, I have mixed feelings about this chance to purchase discounted mattresses, furniture, vehicles, and whatever else is out there.
I guess that I'll try to remember the men of our Revolution and the guys from the South...after that, there is really nothing to celebrate, for me.
Tears may be shed for all those who have died for a lie.
#21. To: lodwick, Brian S, Christine, Jethro Tull, FormerLurker, Diana, All (#20)
Tears may be shed for all those who have died for a lie.
Coming from a Viet Nam veteran; we're left to honor what was in their hearts. The salutes & tears are for the unspeakable tragedy.
For the sincere, my advice is to view/review the movie, "We Were Soldiers Once; and Young." That movie says it all, minus the lies which put those soldiers in death's doorway, in the first place. Even dedicated civilians can see and feel the pain & tragedy of the Viet Nam War.
For emotional cowards, don't see it; you'll end up facing yourself. That's not criticism; just an aknowledgment of humanity, with a due & timely warning of a potentially brutal experience. It's a tough one for me to watch.
I haven't gotten up the wherewithal to watch "Born on the Fourth of July."
Coming home was the brutal experience for me. At some point, most of the vets got punished for going - and for surviving, ahead of the kid next door, who didn't. I got both barrels, myself.
As a personal 'test,' I've visited the Viet Nam Memorial Wall a couple of times. I don't want to see it again. Given the current combat nightmares in Afghanistan & Iraq, those 58,000 died a second death - nobody learned a fucking thing!
Coming from a Viet Nam veteran; we're left to honor what was in their hearts. The salutes & tears are for the unspeakable tragedy.
Given the current combat nightmares in Afghanistan & Iraq, those 58,000 died a second death - nobody learned a fucking thing!
Of course, we've not learned a freaking thing.
We never have, and I'm convinced that 'we' never will. It's not in the plan.
Back in '66, I told my WWI dough-boy grandfather that I'd been accepted into 'Army Intelligence' and he told me to always be prepared and ready to defend our country, but never volunteer to go over-seas to do so.
I believe that I did the right thing by following his counsel.
Back in '66, I told my WWI dough-boy grandfather that I'd been accepted into 'Army Intelligence' and he told me to always be prepared and ready to defend our country, but never volunteer to go over-seas to do so.
Old boys start to ask the all important question, "why?"