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  • The Volunteer
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The Volunteer

E. Alan Mackintosh

I took my heart from the fire of love,
Molten and warm not yet shaped clear,
And tempered it to steel of proof
Upon the anvil block of fear.

With steady hammer-strokes I made
A weapon ready for the fight,
And fashioned like a dagger-blade
Narrow and pitiless and bright.

Cleanly and tearlessly it slew,
But as the heavy days went on
The fire that once had warmed it grew
Duller, and presently was gone.

Oh, innocence and lost desire,
I strive to kindle it in vain,
Dead embers of a greying fire.
I cannot melt my heart again.

1914-1916


E. Alan Mackintosh

A Highland Regiment (London: John Lane, the Bodley Head, 1917)

Tags:

fear innocence loss masculinity Poetry By Heart Scotland post-1914 trauma World War I
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E. Alan Mackintosh1893 - 1917

The war poems of E. Alan Mackintosh are imbued with a sense of duty to his fellow soldiers and a deep sympathy for the sufferings of all the men at the Front.
More about E. Alan Mackintosh

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