"My dreams are of a field afar" by A. E. Housman

My dreams are of a field afar
And blood and smoke and shot
There in their graves my comerades are,
In my grave I am not.


I too was taught the trade of man
And spelt the lesson plain
But they, when I forgot and ran,
Remembered and remain.


--A. E. Housman

More Housman poetry

I had honestly forgotten this poem was in my planner. It wasn't one of the poems I visited or reread often - possibly because it  was written in scratchy handwriting and it's difficult to make out casually.

It's in the beginning of my planner, so this was pre-mission, pre-Mom-dying, pre-life, basically. Why did this strike me? I think I wanted to be a hero, and I was/am a little afraid it isn't in me. Housman seemed to feel the same way.

Alternately, I kept a copy of this poem because of a book and a movie. The book was Rilla of Ingleside, which covers the life of Anne's daughter Marilla during World War I. Her brother dies on Flander's Field, and this was my first real introduction to the death toll of the world wars. Walter would be one of those who remembered and remained.

The other was my favorite movie my freshman year of college: Legends of the Fall. Oh my stars, I probably saw that five times in the theatre. I still like it - it's pleasantly dramatic and it inspired the Brad Pitt Wall - the wall in our apartment covered with pictures of him. World War I plays a part in the movie as well, and Tristan, the main character, spends a bunch of his life filled with guilt that his brother died and he didn't.

Or maybe it is just a beautiful poem, and that struck me. It still does. Housman is a great poet.