Dulce Et Decorum Est
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!– An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.–
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,–
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Stephen Moore was born in Saint John, NB in 1969, the second of five children born to John & Eleanor Moore.
After completing high school in Saint John, Stephen entered undergraduate studies at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, NB, graduating with a BA in 1991.
Stephen's studies then took him to Queen's University in Kingston, ON, where he met his future wife, Susan, in the graduate English program. Stephen & Susan were married in 1995, and had a daughter, Emily, in the summer of 1996. Stephen received his PhD in English from Queen's in 1998, having written a thesis on medieval allegory
Since 1998, Stephen has taught at a number of different Canadian universities, including Queen's, Trent, and the Royal Military College in Kingston.
Since 2002, he has been teaching on contract at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, making his home in Regina with Susan and Emily.
An active community volunteer, Stephen has been involved in a number of efforts in Regina. He is an ESL tutor at the Regina Public Library, acts as the Chair for the Regina & Area Refugee Support Group, serves on the Board of Peace & Service at a local church, and represents his church at local KAIROS meetings on matters of the environment and social justice.
Stephen has also been active in the local environmental and peace movements, and is one of the regular supporters of the weekly Making Peace Vigil on the Scarth Street Mall.
