Quiet Eyes Poem by Katharine Tynan
Quiet Eyes
The boys come home, come home from war,
With quiet eyes for quiet things --
A child, a lamb, a flower, a star,
A bird that softly sings.
Young faces war-worn and deep-lined,
The satin smoothness past recall;
Yet out of sight is out of mind
For the worst wrong of all.
As nightmare dreams that pass with sleep,
The horror and grief intolerable.
The unremembering young eyes keep
Their innocence. All is well!
The worldling's eyes are dusty dim,
The eyes of sin are weary and cold,
The fighting boy brings home with him
The unsullied eyes of old.
The war has furrowed the young face.
Oh, there's no all-heal, no wound-wort!
The soul looks from its hidden place
Unharmed, unflawed, unhurt.
The soldiers who return back alive from war carry with them their nightmarish past and if their eyes have some unsullied eyes of past, it should be because of man's yearning for peace and harmony.
The sadness and leaving and losing part of yourself War may not kill the participants but it surly scars them Great piece of writing.
'The soul looks from its hidden place Unharmed, unflawed, unhurt'.........So the soul remains untouched by worldly events! Vedic philosophy!
I'm glad this was selected POTD again- -I think she is a clever intelligent poet and I shall read more by her this time around.
This is my second visit to this poem that is selected as POD. for second time just after one year. Congratulations.
The last two lines of this poem being contrary to my understanding of what taking life does to a soul, I wonder if Tynan was being ironic, stating the opposite of what was true. Are not the nightmares and physical signs she notes evidence of what has happened to soldiers’ souls? -GK
That's what I was thinking too, Glen. She sounds too intelligent about the boys' homecoming to believe their soul untouched
A very sad poem indeed about kids returning from wars and their scars in heart and mind. Excellent.
'The soul looks from its hidden place' The sad ravages of war.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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12/6/2025 1:09:19 PM # 1.0.0
Extraordinary piece of writing. Recognizing PTSD so many years ago. I thought we'd only recently recognized this.