Letters to the Otherworld
I write letters to you though you’re in the Otherworld I type your name in the search box of the browser I know, you’ve left this sick demented world But I keep writing till I am tired, till I get drowsy I know there’ll be no response from you, because there can’t be any I […]
The Triumph by Siegfried Sassoon
When life was a cobweb of stars for Beauty who came In the whisper of leaves or a bird’s lone cry in the glen, On dawn-lit hills and horizons girdled with flame I sought for the triumph that troubles the faces of men. With death in the terrible flickering gloom of the fight I was […]
The Road To Ruin by Siegfried Sassoon
My hopes, my messengers I sent Across the ten years continent Of Time. In dream I saw them go– And thought, ‘When they come back I’ll show To what far place I lead my friends Where this disastrous decade ends.’ Like one in purgatory, I learned The loss of hope. For none returned, And long […]
The Portrait by Siegfried Sassoon
I watch you, gazing at me from the wall, And wonder how you’d match your dreams with mine, If, mastering time’s illusion, I could call You back to share this quiet candle-shine. For you were young, three hundred years ago; And by your looks I guess that you were wise… Come, whisper soft, and Death […]
Sporting Acquaintances by Siegfried Sassoon
I watched old squatting Chimpanzee: he traced His painful patterns in the dirt: I saw Red-haired Ourang-utang, whimsical-faced, Chewing a sportsman’s meditative straw: I’d met them years ago, and half-forgotten They’d come to grief (but how, I’d never heard, Poor beggars!); still, it seemed so rude and rotten To stand and gape at them with […]
The Triumph by Siegfried Sassoon
When life was a cobweb of stars for Beauty who came In the whisper of leaves or a bird’s lone cry in the glen, On dawn-lit hills and horizons girdled with flame I sought for the triumph that troubles the faces of men. With death in the terrible flickering gloom of the fight I was […]
The Road To Ruin by Siegfried Sassoon
My hopes, my messengers I sent Across the ten years continent Of Time. In dream I saw them go– And thought, ‘When they come back I’ll show To what far place I lead my friends Where this disastrous decade ends.’ Like one in purgatory, I learned The loss of hope. For none returned, And long […]
Sassoon’s Public Statement Of Defiance by Siegfried Sassoon
“I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority, because I believe the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it. I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers. I believe that this war, upon which I entered as […]
The Portrait by Siegfried Sassoon
I watch you, gazing at me from the wall, And wonder how you’d match your dreams with mine, If, mastering time’s illusion, I could call You back to share this quiet candle-shine. For you were young, three hundred years ago; And by your looks I guess that you were wise… Come, whisper soft, and Death […]
Sporting Acquaintances by Siegfried Sassoon
I watched old squatting Chimpanzee: he traced His painful patterns in the dirt: I saw Red-haired Ourang-utang, whimsical-faced, Chewing a sportsman’s meditative straw: I’d met them years ago, and half-forgotten They’d come to grief (but how, I’d never heard, Poor beggars!); still, it seemed so rude and rotten To stand and gape at them with […]
The Road To Ruin by Siegfried Sassoon
My hopes, my messengers I sent Across the ten years continent Of Time. In dream I saw them go– And thought, ‘When they come back I’ll show To what far place I lead my friends Where this disastrous decade ends.’ Like one in purgatory, I learned The loss of hope. For none returned, And long […]
Solar Eclipse by Siegfried Sassoon
Observe these blue solemnities of sky Offering for the academes of after-ages A mythologic welkin freaked with white! Listen : one tiny tinkling rivulet Accentuates the super-sultry stillness That drones on ripening landscapes which imply Serene Parnassus plagued with amorous goats. * * * * Far down the vale Apollo has pursued The noon-bedazzled nymph […]
Return Of The Heroes by Siegfried Sassoon
A lady watches from the crowd, Enthusiastic, flushed, and proud._ “Oh! there’s Sir Henry Dudster! Such a splendid leader! How pleased he looks! What rows of ribbons on his tunic! Such dignity…. Saluting…. (Wave your flag… now, Freda!)… Yes, dear, I saw a Prussian General once,-at Munich. “Here’s the next carriage!… Jack was once in […]
Return Of The Heroes by Siegfried Sassoon
A lady watches from the crowd, Enthusiastic, flushed, and proud._ “Oh! there’s Sir Henry Dudster! Such a splendid leader! How pleased he looks! What rows of ribbons on his tunic! Such dignity…. Saluting…. (Wave your flag… now, Freda!)… Yes, dear, I saw a Prussian General once,-at Munich. “Here’s the next carriage!… Jack was once in […]
Prelude: The Troops by Siegfried Sassoon
Dim, gradual thinning of the shapeless gloom Shudders to drizzling daybreak that reveals Disconsolate men who stamp their sodden boots And turn dulled, sunken faces to the sky Haggard and hopeless. They, who have beaten down The stale despair of night, must now renew Their desolation in the truce of dawn, Murdering the livid hours […]
The Road To Ruin by Siegfried Sassoon
My hopes, my messengers I sent Across the ten years continent Of Time. In dream I saw them go– And thought, ‘When they come back I’ll show To what far place I lead my friends Where this disastrous decade ends.’ Like one in purgatory, I learned The loss of hope. For none returned, And long […]
On Passing The New Menin Gate by Siegfried Sassoon
Who will remember, passing through this Gate, the unheroic dead who fed the guns? Who shall absolve the foulness of their fate,- Those doomed, conscripted, unvictorious ones? Crudely renewed, the Salient holds its own. Paid are its dim defenders by this pomp; Paid, with a pile of peace-complacent stone, The armies who endured that sullen […]
Return Of The Heroes by Siegfried Sassoon
A lady watches from the crowd, Enthusiastic, flushed, and proud._ “Oh! there’s Sir Henry Dudster! Such a splendid leader! How pleased he looks! What rows of ribbons on his tunic! Such dignity…. Saluting…. (Wave your flag… now, Freda!)… Yes, dear, I saw a Prussian General once,-at Munich. “Here’s the next carriage!… Jack was once in […]
In An Underground Dressing Station by Siegfried Sassoon
Quietly they set their burden down: he tried To grin; moaned; moved his head from side to side. He gripped the stretcher; stiffened; glared; and screamed, “O put my leg down, doctor, do!” (He’d got A bullet in his ankle; and he’d been shot Horribly through the guts.) The surgeon seemed So kind and gentle, […]
Return Of The Heroes by Siegfried Sassoon
A lady watches from the crowd, Enthusiastic, flushed, and proud._ “Oh! there’s Sir Henry Dudster! Such a splendid leader! How pleased he looks! What rows of ribbons on his tunic! Such dignity…. Saluting…. (Wave your flag… now, Freda!)… Yes, dear, I saw a Prussian General once,-at Munich. “Here’s the next carriage!… Jack was once in […]
Grandeur Of Ghosts by Siegfried Sassoon
When I have heard small talk about great men I climb to bed; light my two candles; then Consider what was said; and put aside What Such-a-one remarked and Someone-else replied. They have spoken lightly of my deathless friends, (Lamps for my gloom, hands guiding where I stumble,) Quoting, for shallow conversational ends, What Shelley […]
Prelude: The Troops by Siegfried Sassoon
Dim, gradual thinning of the shapeless gloom Shudders to drizzling daybreak that reveals Disconsolate men who stamp their sodden boots And turn dulled, sunken faces to the sky Haggard and hopeless. They, who have beaten down The stale despair of night, must now renew Their desolation in the truce of dawn, Murdering the livid hours […]
On Passing The New Menin Gate by Siegfried Sassoon
Who will remember, passing through this Gate, the unheroic dead who fed the guns? Who shall absolve the foulness of their fate,- Those doomed, conscripted, unvictorious ones? Crudely renewed, the Salient holds its own. Paid are its dim defenders by this pomp; Paid, with a pile of peace-complacent stone, The armies who endured that sullen […]
In An Underground Dressing Station by Siegfried Sassoon
Quietly they set their burden down: he tried To grin; moaned; moved his head from side to side. He gripped the stretcher; stiffened; glared; and screamed, “O put my leg down, doctor, do!” (He’d got A bullet in his ankle; and he’d been shot Horribly through the guts.) The surgeon seemed So kind and gentle, […]
Grandeur Of Ghosts by Siegfried Sassoon
When I have heard small talk about great men I climb to bed; light my two candles; then Consider what was said; and put aside What Such-a-one remarked and Someone-else replied. They have spoken lightly of my deathless friends, (Lamps for my gloom, hands guiding where I stumble,) Quoting, for shallow conversational ends, What Shelley […]
‘Blighters’ by Siegfried Sassoon
The House is crammed: tier beyond tier they grin And cackle at the Show, while prancing ranks Of harlots shrill the chorus, drunk with din; ‘We’re sure the Kaiser loves our dear old Tanks!’ I’d like to see a Tank come down the stalls, Lurching to rag-time tunes, or ‘Home, sweet Home’, And there’d be […]
At The Cenotaph by Siegfried Sassoon
I saw the Prince of Darkness, with his Staff, Standing bare-headed by the Cenotaph: Unostentatious and respectful, there He stood, and offered up the following prayer. ‘Make them forget, O Lord, what this Memorial Means; their discredited ideas revive; Breed new belief that War is purgatorial Proof of the pride and power of being alive; […]
Wraiths by Siegfried Sassoon
They know not the green leaves; In whose earth-haunting dream Dimly the forest heaves, And voiceless goes the stream. Strangely they seek a place In love’s night-memoried hall; Peering from face to face, Until some heart shall call And keep them, for a breath, Half-mortal … (Hark to the rain!)… They are dead … (O […]
Wraiths by Siegfried Sassoon
They know not the green leaves; In whose earth-haunting dream Dimly the forest heaves, And voiceless goes the stream. Strangely they seek a place In love’s night-memoried hall; Peering from face to face, Until some heart shall call And keep them, for a breath, Half-mortal … (Hark to the rain!)… They are dead … (O […]
Wonderment by Siegfried Sassoon
Then a wind blew; And he who had forgot he moved Lonely amid the green and silver morning weather, Suddenly grew Aware of clouds and trees Gleaming and white and shafted, shaken together And blown to music by the ruffling breeze. Like flush of wings The moment passed: he stood Dazzled with blossom in the […]
Wisdom by Siegfried Sassoon
When Wisdom tells me that the world’s a speck Lost on the shoreless blue of God’s To-Day… I smile, and think, ‘For every man his way: The world’s my ship, and I’m alone on deck!’ And when he tells me that the world’s a spark Lit in the whistling gloom of God’s To-Night… I look […]
Wirers by Siegfried Sassoon
‘Pass it along, the wiring party’s going out’— And yawning sentries mumble, ‘Wirers going out.’ Unravelling; twisting; hammering stakes with muffled thud, They toil with stealthy haste and anger in their blood. The Boche sends up a flare. Black forms stand rigid there, Stock-still like posts; then darkness, and the clumsy ghosts Stride hither and […]
Wind in the Beechwood by Siegfried Sassoon
The glorying forest shakes and swings with glancing Of boughs that dip and strain; young, slanting sprays Beckon and shift like lissom creatures dancing, While the blown beechwood streams with drifting rays. Rooted in steadfast calm, grey stems are seen Like weather-beaten masts; the wood, unfurled, Seems as a ship with crowding sails of green […]
When I’m among a Blaze of Lights by Siegfried Sassoon
When I’m among a blaze of lights, With tawdry music and cigars And women dawdling through delights, And officers in cocktail bars, Sometimes I think of garden nights And elm trees nodding at the stars. I dream of a small firelit room With yellow candles burning straight, And glowing pictures in the gloom, And kindly […]
What the Captain Said at the Point-to-Point by Siegfried Sassoon
I’ve had a good bump round; my little horse Refused the brook first time, Then jumped it prime; And ran out at the double, But of course There’s always trouble at a double: And then—I don’t know how It was—he turned it up At that big, hairy fence before the plough; And some young silly […]
Vision by Siegfried Sassoon
I love all things that pass: their briefness is Music that fades on transient silences. Winds, birds, and glittering leaves that flare and fall— They fling delight across the world; they call To rhythmic-flashing limbs that rove and race… A moment in the dawn for Youth’s lit face; A moment’s passion, closing on the cry— […]
Villon by Siegfried Sassoon
They threw me from the gates: my matted hair Was dank with dungeon wetness; my spent frame O’erlaid with marish agues: everywhere Tortured by leaping pangs of frost and flame, So hideous was I that even Lazarus there In noisome rags arrayed and leprous shame, Beside me set had seemed full sweet and fair, And […]
Two Hundred Years After by Siegfried Sassoon
Trudging by Corbie Ridge one winter’s night, (Unless old hearsay memories tricked his sight) Along the pallid edge of the quiet sky He watched a nosing lorry grinding on, And straggling files of men; when these were gone, A double limber and six mules went by, Hauling the rations up through ruts and mud To […]
Twelve Months After by Siegfried Sassoon
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 correct.’ They’re standing in the sun, impassive and erect. Young Gibson with his grin; and Morgan, tired and white; Jordan, who’s out to win a D.C.M. some night; […]
Trench Duty by Siegfried Sassoon
Shaken from sleep, and numbed and scarce awake, Out in the trench with three hours’ watch to take, I blunder through the splashing mirk; and then Hear the gruff muttering voices of the men Crouching in cabins candle-chinked with light. Hark! There’s the big bombardment on our right Rumbling and bumping; and the dark’s a […]