History & Politics
Soldier: Twentieth Century
From Poems (1922)
I love you, great new Titan!
Am I not you?
Napoleon and Cæsar
Out of you grew.
Out of unthinkable torture,
Eyes kissed by death,
Won back to the world again,
Lost and won in a breath,
Cruel men are made immortal.
Out of your pain born,
They have stolen the sun’s power
With their feet on your shoulders worn.
Let them shrink from your girth,
That has outgrown the pallid days
When you slept like Circe’s swine
Or a word in the brain’s ways.
Codex Note
A companion to the previous poem, spoken to the 'great new Titan' from whom Napoleon and Caesar 'out of you grew'.
Cite this poem
MLA
Rosenberg, Isaac. “Soldier: Twentieth Century.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/rosenberg/14/.
Chicago
Rosenberg, Isaac. “Soldier: Twentieth Century.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/rosenberg/14/.
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