The Slapton Sands desaster took place in April 1944 on Slapton Sands in Devon.
[…]
so many – stumbling, falling, multiplied
till bodies lay as ground to walk on –
[…]
„If Christ and the apostles died in vain,
I’ll die in vain with them“
against this way of victory.
That forest of white crosses!
My eyes won’t close to it.
[…]
They fought the enemy,
we fight fat living and self-pity.
Shine, o shine,
unfalsifying sun, on this sick scene.(Marianne Moore, Keeping Their World Large)
Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end;
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forward do contend.Nativity, once in the main of light,
Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown’d,
Crooked eclipses ‚gainst his glory fight,
And Time that gave, does now his gift confound.Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth
And delves the parallels in beauty’s brow,
Feeds on the rarities of nature’s truth,
And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow.And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,
Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.(William Shakespeare, Sonnet 60)