The United States Marine Corps logo; the eagle, globe and fouled anchor, is illustrated using the full text of the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Own, a soldier who died fighting in World War One. The entirety of the poem, translated by Faez Sultan, is written exactly once throughout the piece. The text for the piece was chosen by an active duty US Marine who commissioned the original piece while serving in the Middle East.
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 tired, outstripped Five-Nines 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 flound’ring 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.
Dimensions: 50 by 50cm
Year: 2017
Medium: Original is Ink on unbleached pergamanta paper. Limited Edition Giclee Print of 50 on 300gsm paper also available.
Limited edition prints of 50 are available Here and can be shipped worldwide.
You can see a list of original artworks available on Saatchi
