"Through a Glass, Darkly" is a poem by American General George S. Patton, which explores Patton's strong beliefs in Christianity and reincarnation through stories of his previous lives and deaths in combat during historic battles. Patton questions whether he may have participated in the Crucifixion of Jesus, imagines previous lives as a hunter-gatherer in search of mammoth, and explores historic battles, including the Greco-Persian Wars (499–449 BC), Siege of Tyre (332 BC), Roman–Parthian Wars (54 BC – 217 AD), Battle of Crécy (1346), and Battle of Waterloo (1815). He concludes that he is an instrument of God eternally betrothed to combat. The title of the poem is the first words of 1 Corinthians 13:12.
The poem explicates Patton's theory that "one is reincarnated…with certain traits and tendencies invariable." In it, Patton includes three constants in his conception of reincarnation: he is always reborn as a male; he is always reborn as a fighter; and he retains some awareness of previous lives and incarnations.
Appearances
In Patton (1970), the first and the third from last stanzas of "Through a Glass, Darkly" are recited by George C. Scott, amid a recount of the Siege of Carthage in the Third Punic War.