Quotations and Literature Forum

Hi I've just joined this community/forum. For a long time I have been trying to find a poem I heard on radio 4's poetry please
a year or more ago.

I have a feeling the poem is about the 1st W W.

I don't know the title (obviously) but some of the words are as follows

" How many miles to Babylon?
One hundred miles and more sir,
Will we be there before it's light ????
Yes and ???? more sir"

I'm not even sure if these word are accurate but I would be grateful if anyone could perhaps work out the poem I am looking for from this scant information.
Lauramac

How Many Miles to Babylon? (nursery rhyme)

How many miles to Babylon?
Three score and ten.
Can I get there by candlelight?
Aye, and back again.
If your feet are nimble and light,
You'll get there by candlelight.

There's also this song:

http://lyricstime.com/final/lyrics/3455 ... bylon.html

Thank You Phaedrus for the information on the poem I am trying to find, the nursery rhyme is very similar.
I think the poem I am looking for must have been based on that rhyme though it's not the poem.

The poem was many verses long and I'm sure it was about one of the world wars the repeat lines all through the poem were

" How many miles to Babylon, etc.
It's a good start in my search thanks again for your help.

Lauramac

I tried but couldn't find the version you are looking for....

Song
http://lyricstime.com/final/lyrics/3455 ... bylon.html
Another song
http://www.cumberlandtrio.com/lyrics/babylon.htm
Variations
http://www.crossovers.net/underhill/babylon.html
http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jan1982/ ... oetry1.htm
How many miles to Babylon?
ten, Sir
Yes, and back again, Sir!
http://www.mudcat.org/kids/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=2713

A SONG FOR TWO CHILDREN.
"Make a song, father, a new little song,
All for Jenny and Nancy."
Balow lalow or Hey derry down,
Or else what might you fancy?
Is there any song sweet enough
For Nancy and for Jenny?
Said Simple Simon to the pieman,
"Indeed I know not any."
"I've counted the miles to Babylon,
I've flown the earth like a bird,
I've ridden cock-horse to Banbury Cross,
But no such song have I heard."
"Some speak of Alexander,
And some of Hercules,
But where are there any like Nancy and Jenny,
Where are there any like these?"
~ from COUNTRY SENTIMENT by Robert Graves
http://authorsdirectory.com/b/csent10.htm

Through the midnight streets of Babylon
between the steel towers of their arsenals,
between the torture castles with no windows,
we race by barefoot, holding tight
our candles, trying to shield
the shivering flames, crying
"Sleepers Awake!"
hoping
the rhyme’s promise was true,
that we may return
from this place of terror
home to a calm dawn and
the work we had just begun.
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/ ... eatwar.htm

Thanks thenostromo for your suggestions and the links you gave , I went through them and found a piece that is very similar to the poem. It is called "Babylon Variations" I thought it may have been it, the way the refrain links the verses it is done in the poem the same way. As it was wrote in 2002 it is too modern but thank you.

I am going to look through the radio 4 website a bit more thoroughly and see if they have a Link that could take me to the poem or where I may find it.

I went through their site before and it took a long time to visit all the different links but got nowhere but maybe I missed something.