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 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
Dryads
When meadows are grey with the mornIn the dusk of the woods it is night:The oak and the birch and the pineWar with the glimmer of light.Dryads brown..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Slumber-Song
Sleep; and my song shall build about your bedA paradise of dimness. You shall feelThe folding of tired wings; and peace will dwellThroned in your..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Their Frailty
He's got a Blighty wound. He’s safe; and thenWar’s fine and bold and bright.She can forget the doomed and prisoned menWho agonize and fight.He’s back..
© Siegfried Sassoon
The Tombstone-Maker
He primmed his loose red mouth and leaned his headAgainst a sorrowing angel’s breast, and said:‘You’d think so much bereavement would have..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Stand-To: Good Friday Morning
I’d been on duty from two till four.I went and stared at the dug-out door.Down in the frowst I heard them snore.‘Stand to!’ Somebody grunted and..
© Siegfried Sassoon
To Victory
Return to greet me, colours that were my joy,Not in the woeful crimson of men slain,But shining as a garden; come with the streamingBanners of dawn..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Wisdom
When Wisdom tells me that the world’s a speckLost on the shoreless blue of God’s To-Day...I smile, and think, ‘For every man his way:The world’s my..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Idyll
In the grey summer garden I shall find youWith day-break and the morning hills behind you.There will be rain-wet roses; stir of wings;And down the..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Morning Express
Along the wind-swept platform, pinched and white,The travellers stand in pools of wintry light,Offering themselves to morn’s long, slanting..
© Siegfried Sassoon
The Fathers
Snug at the club two fathers sat,Gross, goggle-eyed, and full of chat.One of them said: ‘My eldest ladWrites cheery letters from Bagdad.But Arthur’s..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Vision
I love all things that pass: their briefness isMusic that fades on transient silences.Winds, birds, and glittering leaves that flare and fall—They..
© Siegfried Sassoon
The Dark House
Dusk in the rain-soaked garden,And dark the house within.A door creaked: someone was earlyTo watch the dawn begin.But he stole away like a thiefIn..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Miracles
I dreamt I saw a huge grey boat in silence steamingDown a canal; it drew the dizzy landscape after;The solemn world was sucked along with it—a..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Middle-Ages
I heard a clash, and a cry,And a horseman fleeing the wood.The moon hid in a cloud.Deep in shadow I stood.‘Ugly work!’ thought I,Holding my..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Before Day
Come in this hour to set my spirit freeWhen earth is no more mine though night goes out,And stretching forth these arms I cannot beLord of winged..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Night-Piece
Ye hooded witches, baleful shapes that moan,Quench your fantastic lanterns and be still;For now the moon through heaven sails alone,Shedding her..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Falling Asleep
Voices moving about in the quiet house:Thud of feet and a muffled shutting of doors:Everyone yawning. Only the clocks are alert.Out in the night..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Noah
When old Noah stared across the floods,Sky and water melted into oneLooking-glass of shifting tides and sun.Mountain-tops were few: the ship was..
© Siegfried Sassoon
The Dreamers
Soldiers are citizens of death's gray land,Drawing no dividend from time's to-morrows.In the great hour of destiny they stand,Each with his feuds..
© Siegfried Sassoon
'In The Pink'
So Davies wrote: ' This leaves me in the pink. 'Then scrawled his name: ' Your loving sweetheart Willie 'With crosses for a hug. He'd had a drinkOf..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Wind In The Beechwood
The glorying forest shakes and swings with glancingOf boughs that dip and strain; young, slanting spraysBeckon and shift like lissom creatures..
© Siegfried Sassoon
The Troops
Dim, gradual thinning of the shapeless gloomShudders to drizzling daybreak that revealsDisconsolate men who stamp their sodden bootsAnd turn dulled..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Prelude To An Unwritten Masterpiece
You like my bird-sung gardens: wings and flowers;Calm landscapes for emotion; star-lit lawns;And Youth against the sun-rise ... ‘Not profound;‘But..
© Siegfried Sassoon