Ancient History by Siegfried Sassoon
Adam, a brown old vulture in the rain, Shivered below his wind-whipped olive-trees; 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 […]
Ancestors by Siegfried Sassoon
Behold these jewelled, merchant Ancestors, Foregathered in some chancellery of death; Calm, provident, discreet, they stroke their beards And move their faces slowly in the gloom, And barter monstrous wealth with speech subdued, Lustreless eyes and acquiescent lids. And oft in pauses of their conference, They listen to the measured breath of night’s Hushed sweep […]
An Old French Poet by Siegfried Sassoon
When in your sober mood my body have ye laid In sight and sound of things beloved, woodland and stream, And the green turf has hidden the poor bones ye deem No more a close companion with those rhymes we made; Then, if some bird should pipe, or breezes stir the glade, Thinking them for […]
Alone by Siegfried Sassoon
I’ve listened: and all the sounds I heard Were music,—wind, and stream, and bird. With youth who sang from hill to hill I’ve listened: my heart is hungry still. I’ve looked: the morning world was green; Bright roofs and towers of town I’ve seen; And stars, wheeling through wingless night. I’ve looked: and my soul […]
Aftermath by Siegfried Sassoon
Have you forgotten yet?… For the world’s events have rumbled on since those gagged days, Like traffic checked while at the crossing of city-ways: And the haunted gap in your mind has filled with thoughts that flow Like clouds in the lit heaven of life; and you’re a man reprieved to go, Taking your peaceful […]
Absolution by Siegfried Sassoon
The anguish of the earth absolves our eyes Till beauty shines in all that we can see. War is our scourge; yet war has made us wise, And, fighting for our freedom, we are free. Horror of wounds and anger at the foe, And loss of things desired; all these must pass. We are the […]
A Working Party by Siegfried Sassoon
Three hours ago he blundered up the trench, Sliding and poising, groping with his boots; Sometimes he tripped and lurched against the walls With 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 feet Stepping along barred trench boards, […]
A Whispered Tale by Siegfried Sassoon
I’d heard fool-heroes brag of where they’d been, With stories of the glories that they’d seen. But you, good simple soldier, seasoned well In woods and posts and crater-lines of hell, Who dodge remembered ‘crumps’ with wry grimace, Endured experience in your queer, kind face, Fatigues and vigils haunting nerve-strained eyes, And both your brothers […]
A Wanderer by Siegfried Sassoon
When Watkin shifts the burden of his cares And all that irked him in his bound employ, Once more become a vagrom-hearted boy, He moves to roundelays and jocund airs; Loitering with dusty harvestmen, he shares Old ale and sunshine; or, with maids half-coy, Pays court to shadows; fools himself with joy, Shaking a leg […]
A Subaltern by Siegfried Sassoon
He turned to me with his kind, sleepy gaze And fresh face slowly brightening to the grin That sets my memory back to summer days, With twenty runs to make, and last man in. He told me he’d been having a bloody time In trenches, crouching for the crumps to burst, While squeaking rats scampered […]
A Poplar and the Moon by Siegfried Sassoon
There stood a Poplar, tall and straight; The fair, round Moon, uprisen late, Made the long shadow on the grass A ghostly bridge ’twixt heaven and me. But May, with slumbrous nights, must pass; And blustering winds will strip the tree. And I’ve no magic to express The moment of that loveliness; So from these […]
A Mystic As Soldier by Siegfried Sassoon
I lived my days apart, Dreaming fair songs for God; By the glory in my heart Covered and crowned and shod. Now God is in the strife, And I must seek Him there, Where death outnumbers life, And fury smites the air. I walk the secret way With anger in my brain. O music through […]
A Letter Home by Siegfried Sassoon
(To Robert Graves) I Here I’m sitting in the gloom Of my quiet attic room. France goes rolling all around, Fledged with forest May has crowned. And I puff my pipe, calm-hearted, Thinking how the fighting started, Wondering when we’ll ever end it, Back to hell with Kaiser sent it, Gag the noise, pack up […]
A Child’s Prayer by Siegfried Sassoon
For Morn, my dome of blue, For Meadows, green and gay, And Birds who love the twilight of the leaves, Let Jesus keep me joyful when I pray. For the big Bees that hum And hide in bells of flowers; For the winding roads that come To Evening’s holy door, May Jesus bring me grateful […]
The Pleasures Of Friendship by Stevie Smith
The Pleasures Of Friendship by Stevie Smith The pleasures of friendship are exquisite, How pleasant to go to a friend on a visit! I go to my friend, we walk on the grass, And the hours and moments like minutes pass. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems […]
The Jungle Husband by Stevie Smith
The Jungle Husband by Stevie Smith Dearest Evelyn, I often think of you Out with the guns in the jungle stew Yesterday I hittapotamus I put the measurements down for you but they got lost in the fuss It’s not a good thing to drink out here You know, I’ve practically given it up dear. […]
Tenuous And Precarious by Stevie Smith
Tenuous And Precarious by Stevie Smith Tenuous and Precarious Were my guardians, Precarious and Tenuous, Two Romans. My father was Hazardous, Hazardous Dear old man, Three Romans. There was my brother Spurious, Spurious Posthumous, Spurious was Spurious, Was four Romans. My husband was Perfidious, He was Perfidious Five Romans. Surreptitious, our son, Was Surreptitious, He […]
Sunt Leones by Stevie Smith
Sunt Leones by Stevie Smith The lions who ate the Christians on the sands of the arena By indulging native appetites played was now been seen a Not entirely negligible part In consolidating at the very start The position of the Early Christian Church. Initiatory rights are always bloody In the lions, it appears From […]
Pad, Pad by Stevie Smith
Pad, Pad by Stevie Smith I always remember your beautiful flowers And the beautiful kimono you wore When you sat on the couch With that tigerish crouch And told me you loved me no more. What I cannot remember is how I felt when you were unkind All I know is, if you were unkind […]
Our Bog Is Dood by Stevie Smith
Our Bog Is Dood by Stevie Smith Our Bog is dood, our Bog is dood, They lisped in accents mild, But when I asked them to explain They grew a little wild. How do you know your Bog is dood My darling little child? We know because we wish it so That is enough, they […]
Not Waving But Drowning by Stevie Smith
Not Waving But Drowning by Stevie Smith Nobody heard him, the dead man, But still he lay moaning: I was much further out than you thought And not waving but drowning. Poor chap, he always loved larking And now he’s dead It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way, They said. […]
Nor We Of Her To Him by Stevie Smith
Nor We Of Her To Him by Stevie Smith He said no word of her to us Nor we of her to him, But oh it saddened us to see How wan he grew and thin. We said: she eats him day and night And draws the blood from him, We did not know but […]
Never Again by Stevie Smith
Never Again by Stevie Smith Never again will I weep And wring my hands And beat my head against the wall Because Me nolentem fata trahunt But When I have had enough I will arise And go unto my Father And I will say to Him: Father, I have had enough. ————— The End And […]
My Heart Was Full by Stevie Smith
My Heart Was Full by Stevie Smith My heart was full of softening showers, I used to swing like this for hours, I did not care for war or death, I was glad to draw my breath. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. […]
My Heart Goes Out by Stevie Smith
My Heart Goes Out by Stevie Smith My heart goes out to my Creator in love Who gave me Death, as end and remedy. All living creatures come to quiet Death For him to eat up their activity And give them nothing, which is what they want although When they are living they do not […]
Mother, Among The Dustbins by Stevie Smith
Mother, Among The Dustbins by Stevie Smith Mother, among the dustbins and the manure I feel the measure of my humanity, an allure As of the presence of God, I am sure In the dustbins, in the manure, in the cat at play, Is the presence of God, in a sure way He moves there. […]
Infelice by Stevie Smith
Infelice by Stevie Smith Walking swiftly with a dreadful duchess, He smiled too briefly, his face was pale as sand, He jumped into a taxi when he saw me coming, Leaving my alone with a private meaning, He loves me so much, my heart is singing. Later at the Club when I rang him in […]
In The Night by Stevie Smith
In The Night by Stevie Smith I longed for companionship rather, But my companions I always wished farther. And now in the desolate night I think only of the people i should like to bite. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster […]
I Remember by Stevie Smith
I Remember by Stevie Smith It was my bridal night I remember, An old man of seventy-three I lay with my young bride in my arms, A girl with t.b. It was wartime, and overhead The Germans were making a particularly heavy raid on Hampstead. What rendered the confusion worse, perversely Our bombers had chosen […]
I Do Not Speak by Stevie Smith
I Do Not Speak by Stevie Smith I do not ask for mercy for understanding for peace And in these heavy days I do not ask for release I do not ask that suffering shall cease. I do not pray to God to let me die To give an ear attentive to my cry To […]
Happiness by Stevie Smith
Happiness by Stevie Smith Happiness is silent, or speaks equivocally for friends, Grief is explicit and her song never ends, Happiness is like England, and will not state a case, Grief, like Guilt, rushes in and talks apace. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and […]
Freddy by Stevie Smith
Freddy by Stevie Smith Nobody knows what I feel about Freddy I cannot make anyone understand I love him sub specie aet ernitaties I love him out of hand. I don’t love him so much in the restaurants that’s a fact To get him hobnob with my old pub chums needs too much tact He […]
Exeat by Stevie Smith
Exeat by Stevie Smith I remember the Roman Emperor, one of the cruellest of them, Who used to visit for pleasure his poor prisoners cramped in dungeons, So then they would beg him for death, and then he would say: Oh no, oh no, we are not yet friends enough. He meant they were not […]
Edmonton, thy cemetery by Stevie Smith
Edmonton, thy cemetery by Stevie Smith Edmonton, thy cemetery In which I love to tread Has roused in me a dreary thought For all the countless dead, Ah me, the countless dead. Yet I believe that one is one And shall for ever be, And while I hold to this belief I walk, oh cemetery, […]
Drugs Made Pauline Vague by Stevie Smith
Drugs Made Pauline Vague by Stevie Smith Drugs made Pauline vague. She sat one day at the breakfast table Fingering in a baffled way The fronds of the maidenhair plant. Was it the salt you were looking for dear? said Dulcie, exchanging a glance with the Brigadier. Chuff chuff Pauline what’s the matter? Said the […]
Deeply Morbid by Stevie Smith
Deeply Morbid by Stevie Smith Deeply morbid deeply morbid was the girl who typed the letters Always out of office hours running with her social betters But when daylight and the darkness of the office closed about her Not for this ah not for this her office colleagues came to doubt her It was that […]
Conviction (iv) by Stevie Smith
Conviction (iv) by Stevie Smith I like to get off with people, I like to lie in their arms I like to be held and lightly kissed, Safe from all alarms. I like to laugh and be happy With a beautiful kiss, I tell you, in all the world There is no bliss like this. […]
Conviction (iii) by Stevie Smith
Conviction (iii) by Stevie Smith The shadow was so black, I thought it was a cat, But once in to it I knew it No more black Than a shadow’s back. Illusion is a freak Of mind; The cat’s to seek. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems […]
Conviction (ii) by Stevie Smith
Conviction (ii) by Stevie Smith I walked abroad in Easter Park, I heard the wild dog’s distant bark, I knew my Lord was risen again, – Wild dog, wild dog, you bark in vain. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster — […]
Conviction (i) by Stevie Smith
Conviction (i) by Stevie Smith Christ died for God and me Upon the crucifixion tree For God a spoken Word For me a Sword For God a hymn of praise For me eternal days For God an explanation For me salvation. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems […]