Have You Seen The Elephant?

Have you seen the elephant . . . Was first coined long ago . . . The Elephant was used as a metaphor for death or being at deaths door. It was said that those returning from The Great American War of Aggression, had seen The Elephant.

Somehow war changes everyone and everything involved . . . Families noticed their sulking demeanor. Neighbor’s noticed their quietness, so did their friends. Some became homeless, others ran and hid as hermits. Everyone was changed, crutches poking into the soil, dragging air where a limb should have been and holding their mangled bodies as straight as they could. Fathers, brothers, uncles no longer saw life the same. Brothers had fought brothers, families were splintered. And they were haunted, by what they did, by what they saw . . .


The Charge of the Light Brigade
By Sir Alfred, Lord Tennyson

1.
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
“Charge for the guns!” he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the Six hundred.

2.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Someone had blunder’d:
Their’s not to make reply
Their’s not to reason why,
Their’s but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

3.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

4.
Flash’d all their sabers bare,
Flash’d as they turn’d in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder’d:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro’ the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel’d from the saber stroke
Shatter’d and sunder’d.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.

5.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro’ the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them
Left of six hundred.

6.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.

Dan Hanosh
. . . Brave Men Never Die
They Live in the Hearts
and minds of others.


tags: Dan HanoshPoetry


My Poetry . . .