Procopius

Actors Waiting in the Wings of Europe

By Captain Keith Douglas, Sherwood Foresters Yeomanry (1920-D+3 1944)

Actors waiting in the wings of Europe 
we already watch the lights on the stage 
and listen to the colossal overture begin. 
For us entering at the height of the din 
it will be hard to hear our thoughts, hard to gauge 
how much our conduct owes to fear or fury.

Everyone, I suppose, will use these minutes 
to look back, to hear music and recall 
what we were doing and saying that year 
during our last few months as people, near 
the sucking mouth of the day that swallowed us all 
into the stomach of a war. Now we are in it

and no more people, just little pieces of food 
swirling in an uncomfortable digestive journey, 
what we said and did then has a slightly 
fairytale quality. There is an excitement 
in seeing our ghosts wandering…