Symphony no. 6 (A Symphony of War)

Symphony by Walter Gaze Cooper (b. 1895)

?. Anthem for Doomed Youth  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
  Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
  Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, --
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?
  Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
  The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

Text Authorship:

  • by Wilfred Owen (1893 - 1918), "Anthem for Doomed Youth", first published 1917

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Walter A. Aue) , "Hymne für verlorene Jugend", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • SPA Spanish (Español) (Dr. Anthony Krupp) (Clo Blanco) , "Himno para la juventud condenada", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Note: in Britten's War Requiem, this is sung by the tenor.


Researcher for this page: Jason Rico

?.

Language: English 
A leaf on the gray sand-path
 . . . . . . . . . .

— The rest of this text is not
currently in the database but will be
added as soon as we obtain it. —

Text Authorship:

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Total word count: 109