The Look

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! - Am 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.


Wilfred Owen

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.

Plato.

Shuffle

The Genius of Everyday Things

A new exhibition opened this week at one of my favourite places when I was a child - the Science Museum in London. It focuses on the 'hidden heroes' in our culture, the forgotten achievements in engineering and development that we take for granted today. Revealing clever design behind mundane objects such as the paperclip, or the tea bag (for which I am forever grateful), for me this exhibition acts as a reminder of what we as a race can and have achieved, with even the smaller breakthroughs contributing to everyday life.

Visitors have the opportunity to look at original drawings by the inventors, and random facts and tales that are behind some of the products. (Did you know that Napoleon played a part in the development of the tin can? No, me neither.)


'At a time when celebrity is king, it gives all of us at the Science Museum enormous satisfaction to celebrate the truly uncelebrated and shine a light on a group of outstanding inventions and inventors, revealing the supposedly mundane to be nothing short of remarkable.' (Dr Susan Mossman, materials science specialist at the Science Museum.)


I couldn't have put it better myself (which is probably why they've put it on their website). The exhibition is open till the beginning of June (you can book tickets here), and £6 entry is a bargain to have a rare opportunity to celebrate human success. For those unable to get themselves down to the best museum in town, the Hidden Heroes website has most of the exhibition material and products for all to browse.

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