TO THE UNKNOWN WARRIOR
by G.K.Chesterton
You whom the kings saluted; who refused not
The one great pleasure of ignoble days,
Fame without name and glory without gossip,
Whom no biographer befouls with praise.
Who said of you “Defeated”? In the darkness
The dug-out where the limelight never comes,
Nor the big drum of Barnum’s show can shatter
That vibrant stillness after all the drums.
Though the time comes when every Yankee circus
Can use our soldiers for its sandwich-men,
When those that pay the piper call the tune,
You will not dance. You will not move again.
You will not march for Fatty Arbuckle,
Though he have yet a favourable press,
Tender as San Francisco to St. Francis
Or all the angels of Los Angeles.
They shall not storm the last unfallen fortress,
The lonely castle where uncowed and free,
Dwells the unknown and undefeated warrior
That did alone defeat Publicity.
Don, do you by chance have a story to go along with the photo of the young Marine and his grandfather(?)? They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but that one appears to be worth many more. I’d love to learn more.
Rick, here is a link to the story behind that moving picture:
http://anchoredbygrace.com/bp/valor.jpg
Thank you, Don. Perhaps even more touching that they were strangers.
Dear Lord of Hosts what a heartwrenching picture. And GK looks kinda hip his own self.