Religion
The Volunteer
From War's Embers, and Other Verses (1919)
I would test God’s purposes:
I will go up and see
What fate He’ll give, what destiny
His hand holds for me.
For God is very secret,
Slow-smiles, but does not say
A word that will foreshadow
Shape of the coming day.
Curious am I, curious ...
And since He will not tell
I’ll prove Him, go up against
The naked mouth of Hell.
And what hereafter--Heaven?
Or Blighty? O if it were ...
Mere agony, mere pain the price
Of the returning there.
Or--nothing! Days in mud
And slush, then other days ...
Aie me! “Are they not all
The seas of God”; God’s Ways?
Codex Note
A soldier decides to go up against 'the naked mouth of Hell' simply to learn what God has in store for him, since God 'will not tell'. It ends with the Psalmist's question whether all this is not 'God's Ways'.
Cite this poem
MLA
Gurney, Ivor. “The Volunteer.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/gurney/0/.
Chicago
Gurney, Ivor. “The Volunteer.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/gurney/0/.
Read this poem with the Codex →