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 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
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