I smile, and think, ‘For every man his way:
The world’s my ship, and I’m alone on deck!’
And when he tells me that the world’s a spark
Lit in the whistling gloom of God’s To-Night…
I look within me to the edge of dark,
And dream, ‘The world’s my field, and I’m the lark,
Alone with upward song, alone with light!’
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Shaken from sleep, and numbed and scarce awake,
I blunder through the splashing mirk; and thenHear the gruff muttering voices of the menCrouching in cabins candle-chinked with light.Hark! There’s the big bombardment on our rightRumbling and bumping; and the dark’s a glareOf flickering horror in the sectors whereWe raid the Boche; men waiting, stiff and chilled,Or crawling on their bellies through the wire.‘What?…
Three hours ago he blundered up the trench,
Sometimes he tripped and lurched against the wallsWith hands that pawed the sodden bags of chalk.He couldn’t see the man who walked in front;Only he heard the drum and rattle of feetStepping along barred trench boards, often splashingWretchedly where the sludge was ankle-deep.Voices would grunt `Keep to your right — make way!’When squeezing past some…
The rank stench of those bodies haunts me still
For now we’ve marched to a green, trenchless landTwelve miles from battering guns: along the grassBrown lines of tents are hives for snoring men;Wide, radiant water sways the floating skyBelow dark, shivering trees. And living-cleanComes back with thoughts of home and hours of sleep.To-night I smell the battle; miles awayGun-thunder leaps and thuds along the…
GOD with a Roll of Honour in His hand
While sorrowless angels ranked on either sideStand easy in Elysium’s meadow-land.Then you come shyly through the garden gate,Wearing a blood-soaked bandage on your head;And God says something kind because you’re dead,And homesick, discontented with your fate.If I were there we’d snowball Death with skulls;Or ride away to hunt in Devil’s WoodWith ghosts of puppies that…
Adam, a brown old vulture in the rain,
Huddling sharp chin on scarred and scraggy knees,He moaned and mumbled to his darkening brain;‘He was the grandest of them all was Cain!‘A lion laired in the hills, that none could tire:‘Swift as a stag: a stallion of the plain,‘Hungry and fierce with deeds of huge desire.’Grimly he thought of Abel, soft and fairA lover…
‘Pass it along, the wiring party’s going out’—
Unravelling; twisting; hammering stakes with muffled thud,They toil with stealthy haste and anger in their blood.The Boche sends up a flare. Black forms stand rigid there,Stock-still like posts; then darkness, and the clumsy ghostsStride hither and thither, whispering, tripped by clutching snareOf snags and tangles.Ghastly dawn with vaporous coastsGleams desolate along the sky, night’s misery…