Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori*
It is never sweet to die.
Death ends all. There
is no sweetness in dying.
Sweetness is only for
the living. Is there a
Heaven? Was there
ever a Heaven? Or,
is this all a make-
believe by those who
seek the ultimate gift
from mankind, their
lives, to perpetrate
hate and profits?
Motherland. Which
part of Earth is not
Motherland that
it can be laid waste by
the impact of weapons?
Polluted by bombs
that kill nurture, nature,
man, woman, children,
cattle, cats, dogs,
insects and more.
Does war not destroy
nature? Add to the
woes of climate
change?
It is sweet to live,
to give, to love and
to breathe, to smell
the grass after rain,
to revel in sunshine,
embrace the night,
wish on the stars that
rush through the sky.
There is sweetness
in living, longing and
loving. There is
sweetness in loving.
It is sweet to live.
Dulce est vivere.
*Lines from Horace used by Wilfred Owen in his famous poem, Dulce et Decorum Est. Translated it stands: “It is sweet and fitting to die for the homeland.” Dulce est vivere, on the contrary, means it is sweet to live.
Mitali Chakravarty writes for love and harmony and in that spirit has founded the Borderless Journal.
