Скачать или смотреть Strange Meeting by Wilfred Owen | War Poem Read by Rob Goll

Wilfred Owen’s haunting poem, Strange Meeting, explores the horrors of war through a surreal encounter between two soldiers—one of whom killed the other in battle. The poem reflects on the futility of war, the loss of potential, and the shared humanity even between enemies.

Strange Meeting

It seemed that out of the battle I escaped
Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped
Through granites which titanic wars had groined.
Yet also there encumbered sleepers groaned,
Too fast in thought or death to be bestirred.
Then, as I probed them, one sprang up, and stared
With piteous recognition in fixed eyes,
Lifting distressful hands as if to bless.
And by his smile, I knew that sullen hall,
By his dead smile I knew we stood in Hell.
With a thousand pains that vision's face was grained;
Yet no blood reached there from the upper ground,
And no guns thumped, or down the flues made moan.
"Strange friend," I said, "here is no cause to mourn."
"None," said the other, "save the undone years,
The hopelessness. Whatever hope is yours,
Was my life also; I went hunting wild
After the wildest beauty in the world,
Which lies not calm in eyes, or braided hair,
But mocks the steady running of the hour,
And if it grieves, grieves richlier than here.
For by my glee might many men have laughed,
And of my weeping something had been left,
Which must die now. I mean the truth untold,
The pity of war, the pity war distilled.
Now men will go content with what we spoiled.
Or, discontent, boil bloody, and be spilled.
They will be swift with swiftness of the tigress,
None will break ranks, though nations trek from progress.
Courage was mine, and I had mystery,
Wisdom was mine, and I had mastery;
To miss the march of this retreating world
Into vain citadels that are not walled.
Then, when much blood had clogged their chariot-wheels
I would go up and wash them from sweet wells,
Even with truths that lie too deep for taint.
I would have poured my spirit without stint
But not through wounds; not on the cess of war.
Foreheads of men have bled where no wounds were.
I am the enemy you killed, my friend.
I knew you in this dark; for so you frowned
Yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed.
I parried; but my hands were loath and cold.
Let us sleep now...

🎙️ Read by Rob Goll
In Strange Meeting, Owen reveals the tragic irony of war—soldiers become both victims and aggressors, sharing more in their suffering than in any sense of victory. Through this powerful exchange between enemies, Owen speaks to the senselessness of conflict and the deep emotional toll it takes on those who fight.


#WilfredOwen #StrangeMeeting #WarPoetry #WWIPoetry #WilfredOwenPoems #ClassicPoetry #AntiWarPoem #RobGoll #WorldWarOne #FirstWorldWar #PoetryReading #ThePityOfWar #BritishPoetry