Poem
Katherine Gallagher
UNKNOWN SOLDIER
UNKNOWN SOLDIER
UNKNOWN SOLDIER
We have covered him with real flowersand taken him from country to country.
It’s always the same journey —
people standing in the streets
silently saluting
as we carry him by.
And our hands tremble
under his weight,
our eyes are shocked
by the riddle of tongues
presenting the same paradox
in every country —
the whole human voice as background
shrilled to fever
about keeping the guns at bay.
© 1985, Katherine Gallagher
From: Passengers to the City
Publisher: Hale & Iremonger, Sydney
From: Passengers to the City
Publisher: Hale & Iremonger, Sydney
Poems
Poems of Katherine Gallagher
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UNKNOWN SOLDIER
We have covered him with real flowersand taken him from country to country.
It’s always the same journey —
people standing in the streets
silently saluting
as we carry him by.
And our hands tremble
under his weight,
our eyes are shocked
by the riddle of tongues
presenting the same paradox
in every country —
the whole human voice as background
shrilled to fever
about keeping the guns at bay.
From: Passengers to the City
UNKNOWN SOLDIER
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