ARMADA OF THE PROUD AND THE VAIN • by dj barber

O Come!

You there! — by the fires, Come!
The Dawning draws close
and at the Dawn we must fly!
Come! Harken to me now.

Ye men of the coasts
and also of the islands;
We go to War!
So Come quickly.

The king awaits,
down by the sea he waits;
with all his mighty men
of the coasts and the islands.

So why do ye tarry?
Rise up now and Come!
Achilles! Cast away your doubts
and draw your mighty sword.

For the king awaits;
by the sea with a thousand ships!
O Diomedes of the Great War Cry!
Tarry not; for the time is nigh!

So gird up your loins,
O Great Diomedes;
And also you,
Mighty Achilles.

Great Beauty was stolen away!
Beauty to make the gods themselves quake.
For every man’s eye a Beauty so fair –
Nay, fairer — than even Dawn’s early light!

So come, ye men of War!
Mighty and Brave.
For this purpose launch a thousand ships!
Sailing into the rising sun,

For Honor and Beauty and King.

dj barber writes stories of whatever comes to mind.

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ARMADA OF THE PROUD AND THE VAIN • by dj barber, 4.1 out of 5 based on 15 ratings
Posted on March 17, 2009 in Poems
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9 Responses to “ARMADA OF THE PROUD AND THE VAIN • by dj barber”


  1. Paul Says:
    March 17th, 2009 at 2:25 am

    Wow! That woke me up.

    A great address to the troops; or are you an army recruiter?

    Either way, can I come and fight, too? I’ve never been to Turkey!

    Anyhow, a 5 from me. Not sure about the ‘nay’ and ‘gird up your loins’, though. A bit hackneyed.

  2. Amy Corbin Says:
    March 17th, 2009 at 5:17 am

    That was fun! A great one for St. Patrick’s Day.

  3. Roberta SchulbergGoro Says:
    March 17th, 2009 at 5:56 am

    Is this a translation? (A translator of poetry is justly in the ranks of poet.) Just asking.

    A fine read. It seems at first horrible that for some “beauty” war is declared, putting all the warriors and the people at risk, but if you think of it as “one of our citizens was captured and we are duty bound to rescue her and to teach the enemy a lesson,” it sounds better than justly declared and perfectly right. That the “citizen” is beautiful merely emphasizes “ours.”

  4. dj barber Says:
    March 17th, 2009 at 7:55 am

    Thanks, Paul, Amy, and Roberta,

    I had fun writing this.

    –dj

  5. Oonah V Joslin Says:
    March 17th, 2009 at 8:25 am

    I love a bit of loin girding, swashing, buckling, hailing and honouring :) It’s well done. TO BATTLE! – Ooops got carried away ;)

  6. K.C. Says:
    March 17th, 2009 at 8:44 am

    Cool beans, D.J. That gets the blood pounding, for sure.

  7. Sharon Says:
    March 17th, 2009 at 11:19 am

    Oh, my! Nothing but praise from me. I was *there*.

  8. Robin Herrnfeld Says:
    March 19th, 2009 at 6:42 am

    I enjoyed this trip back in time. The scary thing is that even in this day and age, war is still fought for such stupid reasons.

  9. dj barber Says:
    March 19th, 2009 at 12:35 pm

    Thanks, Oonah, KC, Robin, and Sharon.

    –and you’re right, Robin, wars are and have always been, fought for some stupid reasons.

    –dj

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