Section: «Poems»
Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings:
artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.);
a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").
The Hawthorn Tree
Not much to me is yonder laneWhere I go every day;But when there’s been a shower of rainAnd hedge-birds whistle gay,I know my lad that’s out in..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Goblin Revel
In gold and grey, with fleering looks of sin,I watch them come; by two, by three, by four,Advancing slow, with loutings they beginTheir woven..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Thrushes
Tossed on the glittering air they soar and skim,Whose voices make the emptiness of lightA windy palace. Quavering from the brimOf dawn, and bold with..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Joy-Bells
Ring your sweet bells; but let them be farewellsTo the green-vista’d gladness of the pastThat changed us into soldiers; swing your bellsTo a joyful..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Twelve Months After
Hullo! here’s my platoon, the lot I had last year.‘The war’ll be over soon.’‘What ’opes?’‘No bloody fear!’Then, ‘Number Seven, ’shun! All present and..
© Siegfried Sassoon
The Heritage
Cry out on Time that he may take awayYour cold philosophies that give no hintOf spirit-quickened flesh; fall down and prayThat Death come never with..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Two Hundred Years After
Trudging by Corbie Ridge one winter's night,(Unless old hearsay memories tricked his sight)Along the pallid edge of the quiet skyHe watched a nosing..
© Siegfried Sassoon
The Working Party
Three hours ago he blundered up the trench,Sliding and poising, groping with his boots;Sometimes he tripped and lurched against the wallsWith hands..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Wraiths
They know not the green leaves;In whose earth-haunting dreamDimly the forest heaves,And voiceless goes the stream.Strangely they seek a placeIn..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Storm And Sunlight
IIn barns we crouch, and under stacks of straw,Harking the storm that rides a hurtling legionUp the arched sky, and speeds quick heels of panicWith..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Dream-Forest
Where sunshine flecks the green,Through towering woods my wayGoes winding all the day.Scant are the flowers that bloomBeneath the bosky screenAnd..
© Siegfried Sassoon
The Investiture
GOD with a Roll of Honour in His handSits welcoming the heroes who have died,While sorrowless angels ranked on either sideStand easy in Elysium’s..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Fancy Dress
Some Brave, awake in you to-night,Knocked at your heart: an eagle’s flightStirred in the feather on your head.Your wide-set Indian eyes, alightAbove..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Morning-Land
Old English songs, you bring to meA simple sweetness somewhat kinTo birds that through the mysteryOf earliest morn make tuneful din,While hamlet..
© Siegfried Sassoon
The Redeemer
Darkness: the rain sluiced down; the mire was deep;It was past twelve on a mid-winter night,When peaceful folk in beds lay snug asleep;There, with..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Editorial Impressions
He seemed so certain ‘all was going well’,As he discussed the glorious time he’d hadWhile visiting the trenches.‘One can tellYou’ve gathered big..
© Siegfried Sassoon
The Road
The road is thronged with women; soldiers passAnd halt, but never see them; yet they’re here—A patient crowd along the sodden grass,Silent, worn out..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Wonderment
Then a wind blew;And he who had forgot he movedLonely amid the green and silver morning weather,Suddenly grewAware of clouds and treesGleaming and..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Tree And Sky
Let my soul, a shining tree,Silver branches lift towards thee,Where on a hallowed winter’s nightThe clear-eyed angels may alight.And if there should..
© Siegfried Sassoon
To A Very Wise Man
IFires in the dark you build; tall quivering flamesIn the huge midnight forest of the unknown.Your soul is full of cities with dead names,And..
© Siegfried Sassoon
The Choral Union
He staggered in from night and frost and fogAnd lampless streets: he’d guzzled like a hogAnd drunk till he was dazed. And now he cameTo hear—he..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Nimrod In September
When half the drowsy world’s a-bedAnd misty morning rises red,With jollity of horn and lusty cheer,Young Nimrod urges on his dwindling rout;Along the..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Song-Books Of The War
In fifty years, when peace outshinesRemembrance of the battle lines,Adventurous lads will sigh and castProud looks upon the plundered past.On summer..
© Siegfried Sassoon
The Hero
'Jack fell as he'd have wished,' the mother said,And folded up the letter that she'd read.'The Colonel writes so nicely.' Something brokeIn the tired..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Night On The Convoy
(ALEXANDRIA-MARSEILLES)Out in the blustering darkness, on the deckA gleam of stars looks down. Long blurs of black,The lean Destroyers, level with..
© Siegfried Sassoon