Half-remembered poem about the beauty of a sleeping man?

July 2, 2013 2:13 PM

Once I read a poem about admiring a man sleeping and seeing, in him, the icon of the war hero, the soldier, galloping horses...? That's pretty much all I remember. Soooo.... anyone know what poem it was? Thanks!
posted by pseudostrabismus to Writing & Language (5 answers total)

Perhaps it might be "Variation on the Word Sleep" by Margaret Atwood? (Although the allusions to heroes/soldiers are a bit oblique here, so perhaps not what you're looking for...)
posted by Dorinda at 2:23 PM on July 2, 2013

It's probably not "Le Dormeur du Val," but it could be.
posted by dizziest at 3:21 PM on July 2, 2013

How about the Artilleryman's Vision by Walt Whitman?

While my wife at my side lies slumbering, and the wars are over long,
And my head on the pillow rests at home, and the vacant midnight
passes, . . .

(The falling, dying, I heed not, the wounded dripping and red I heed
not, some to the rear are hobbling,)
Grime, heat, rush, aide-de-camps galloping by or on a full run,
With the patter of small arms, the warning s-s-t of the rifles,
(these in my vision I hear or see,)
And bombs bursting in air, and at night the vari-color'd rockets.

Another possiblity is Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night, but no galloping.
posted by Ironmouth at 3:30 PM on July 2, 2013

If I were you I'd look through all of Drum-Taps by Whitman. They are the most well-known American war poems, and of course beautiful.
posted by Ironmouth at 3:45 PM on July 2, 2013

Response by poster: Turns out I was remembering the lovely Hypnos, by Gwendolyn MacEwan.
Thanks for the suggestions, all- found some new poems I like among them.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 2:40 PM on August 15, 2013