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 Triumph
When life was a cobweb of stars for Beauty who cameIn the whisper of leaves or a bird's lone cry in the glen,On dawn-lit hills and horizons girdled..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Because We Are Going
Because we are going from our wonted placesTo be task-ridden by one shattering Aim,And terror hides in all our laughing facesThat had no will to die..
© 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
Today
This is To-day, a child in white and blueRunning to meet me out of Night who stilledThe ghost of Yester-eve; this is fair MornThe mother of..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Prelude: The Troops
Dim, gradual thinning of the shapeless gloomShudders to drizzling daybreak that revealsDisconsolate men who stamp their sodden bootsAnd turn dulled..
© Siegfried Sassoon
To Leonide Massine In ‘cleopatra’
O beauty doomed and perfect for an hour,Leaping along the verge of death and night,You show me dauntless Youth that went to fightFour long years..
© Siegfried Sassoon
The Goldsmith
This job’s the best I’ve done.’ He bent his headOver the golden vessel that he’d wrought.A bird was singing. But the craftsman’s thoughtIs a..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Microcosmos
I am that fantasy which race has wroughtOf mundane chance-material. I am timePaeaned by the senses five like bells that chime.I am that cramped and..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Grandeur Of Ghosts
When I have heard small talk about great menI climb to bed; light my two candles; thenConsider what was said; and put asideWhat Such-a-one remarked..
© Siegfried Sassoon
The Road To Ruin
My hopes, my messengers I sentAcross the ten years continentOf Time. In dream I saw them go--And thought, 'When they come back I'll showTo what far..
© Siegfried Sassoon
What The Captain Said At The Point-To-Point
I’ve had a good bump round; my little horseRefused the brook first time,Then jumped it prime;And ran out at the double,But of courseThere’s always..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Villon
They threw me from the gates: my matted hairWas dank with dungeon wetness; my spent frameO’erlaid with marish agues: everywhereTortured by leaping..
© Siegfried Sassoon
South Wind
Where have you been, South Wind, this May-day morning,—With larks aloft, or skimming with the swallow,Or with blackbirds in a green, sun-glinted..
© Siegfried Sassoon
Invocation
Come down from heaven to meet me when my breathChokes, and through drumming shafts of stifling deathI stumble toward escape, to find the doorOpening..
© Siegfried Sassoon
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