A poem by Alan Dugan
Because of the unaccountable spirit of the troops
oh we were marched as we were never marched before
and flanked them off from home. Stupid Meade
was after them, head on to tail, but we convinced
him, finally, to flank, flank, cut off their head.
He finally understood, the idiot, and got a fort
named after him, for wisdom. He probably thought
Lee would conquer Washington from Appomattox
if he, Meade, should march his infantry behind
him, Lee. Ah well, the unaccountable spirit of the troops
triumphed, Meade got his fort, Grant got his presidency,
Sherman got his motto, what was it? War is heck?, Lee got a military school
for the education of young Southern gentlemen, and the Union
Army was taken over by Southern noncommissioned officers
in the wars against the Indians to the west. I know all
about this, I know who won, I served under them
for three hundred and fifty years in World War II,
just long enough not to be called a rookie but a veteran,
and realized the rank and order of my enemies:
first, the West Point officers; second, the red-neck sergeants;
third, the Nazis and perhaps the Japanese. I won
all of these wars as a private soldier, for a while,
and am happy to have done so: without me
Hitler and Hirohito would he ruling the world
instead of America and Russia, but I still will not
drive through Georgia with New York license plates.
A few random poems:
- Spring poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- The Happy Lunatic by William Somervile
- Lullaby by William Butler Yeats
- The Gardener X: Let Your Work Be, Bride by Rabindranath Tagore
- Myself by Robert Creeley
- Stacking The Straw poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- On The Sea poem – John Keats poems
- Years of the Modern. by Walt Whitman
- Epigrams against the Earl of Galloway by Robert Burns
- Ale by William Henry Davies
- Hesperus The Bringer by Sappho
- The Dreadful Has Already Happened by Mark Strand
- ‘Blighters’ by Siegfried Sassoon
- Cleared by Rudyard Kipling
- Get together by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- On Going Unnoticed by Robert Frost
- On a Tree Fallen Across the Road by Robert Frost
- October by Robert Frost
- Now Close the Windows by Robert Frost
- Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost
- Not To Keep by Robert Frost
- New Hampshire by Robert Frost
- Never Again Would Bird’s Song Be The Same by Robert Frost
- Neither Out Far Nor In Deep by Robert Frost
- My November Guest by Robert Frost
- My Butterfly by Robert Frost
- Mowing by Robert Frost
- Misgiving by Robert Frost
- Meeting and Passing by Robert Frost
- Maple by Robert Frost
- Looking For a Sunset Bird in Winter by Robert Frost
- Lodged by Robert Frost
- Locked Out by Robert Frost
- Leaves Compared With Flowers by Robert Frost
- Into My Own by Robert Frost
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Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works

Alan Dugan (1923 – 2003) an American poet, a contemporary classic of American poetry.