Happy Warrior
By Catherine E. Berry
Back from the wars he came, a little tired,
His tin hat drooping from his tousled head,
With weary, dirt-streaked face and tattered coat,
Knowing that here were needed food and bed.
The shambles on the corner lot revealed
The enemy had made a gallant fight,
But peace was signed – or else an armistice
When they were faced with shadows of the night.
Now snug in bed and lost in some dream world,
The earth moves on beyond the battle’s din.
Relaxed in sleep, his energy renewed
For that bright dawn when other wars begin.
(1951)
A “happy warrior” who relaxes in sleep, “his energy renewed [f]or that bright dawn when other wars begin”? To me, this sounds unsettlingly close to the “old lie” that “dulce et decorum est pro patria mori”…
Yea, far more likely that he had PTSD and difficulty sleeping.
Interesting levels of meaning in this poem. On a single reading I would have interpreted it purely as a simple story about a little kid coming in from the corner lot after playing cowboys and Indians or the crusades, but its timing not long after the war does suggest other deeper themes as already suggested.
Amy, on further reflection, I think your interpretation is probably more accurate; “tin hat” and “corner lot” are such specific references. Now, I’m chuckling as I read it from what I’ll call a “Calvin & Hobbes point of view.”