The Soldiers Came by John Agard
The soldiers came
and dropped their bombs.
The soldiers didn't take long
to bring the forest down.
With the forest gone
the birds are gone
With the birds gone
who will sing their song?
But the soldiers forgot
to take the forest
out of the people's hearts.
The soldiers forgot
to take the birds
out of the people's dreams.
And in the people's dreams
the birds still sing their song.
Now the children
are planting seedlings
to help the forest grow again.
They eat a simple meal of soft rice
wrapped in banana leaf.
And the land welcomes their smiling
like a shower of rain.
Now, THIS is poetry.
The description of soldiers simply arriving and destroying a forest is self-explanatory. There is no particular syllable pattern, nor is there any rhyme to the verse. It simply conveys one single thought: soldiers brought bombs with them and destroyed a forest. The facts are conveyed simply as facts, without any kind of emotion entering the verse. Even the first line and the title — The Soldiers Came — doesn’t explain why or from where the soldiers came, or even who they are — just that they are soldiers, and they are there.
At face value, the poem is a little strange; — it implies that destroying the forest was the intention of the soldiers. Perhaps the “forest” is a home, or the “bomb” is a metaphor for warfare in general, destroying the planet slowly and in no great amount of time. Whatever the intended, deeper meaning of the verse, it is easy to see that the narrator is observing a destructive war that has, very quickly, caused significant damage to something very important.
The second verse follows the same path as the first, dropping unhappy facts in quick and abrupt fashion, but letting the reader draw their own conclusions. There is little adherence to the rules of poetry, but the narrator explains the consequences of the soldiers’ actions. The forest is gone which means the birds are gone, having been deprived of their habitat. Without birds, of course, there can be no birdsongs, and this is portrayed as a loss of great significance. Some may not care about birdsong but as an abstract concept, the idea of an innocent creature with the capacity to sing is a strong metaphor for peace and in this context, the loss of the birdsong explains what is brutally destroyed in times of war.
The narrator then says that although the forest is destroyed, the memory of the forest remains with the surviving generation. “The soldiers forgot” is a repeated theme of the third verse. A soldier can destroy a forest, but cannot destroy a memory. This is an important element of the poem that explains that physical destruction and emotional damage, while linked, are not the same thing. Losing the forest is an act of blind destruction that can be recovered from. Forests can be replanted, That idea of a silver lining is a welcome addition to this verse that sets it apart from the previous two. In dreams and in hearts, there is still a forest, and there is still a song. This speaks to the idea that even war cannot destroy the beauty of life that it opposes.
Now, as the first line of the final verse suggests, the soldiers are gone, and the forest is being regrown from seed. The image associated with this verse, of children smiling and planting trees, is a heartwarming image of significant contrast to the initial “The soldiers came / and dropped their bombs.” These children are described as welcoming simplicity and working hard to return beauty to life.
One theme that resonates strongly throughout is the idea of looking forward. The positive imagery that persists through the latter half of the poem excludes the idea of vengeance or anger being created by the destruction of the forest. The people who survived its destruction work towards its repair instead of seeking further destruction elsewhere. They are happy with their simple means, and find birdsongs in their fondest dreams and in the smiles of their children. They adapt and rebuild. The idea that the aftermath of war does not have to be bitter, brutal, and enraging is a difficult one for most people to accept but it is portrayed here with touching simplicity and stunning beauty, as something to aspire to, and, perhaps most importantly of all, as something that is possible itself.