REPRESSION OF WAR EXPERIENCE

Now light the candles; one; two; there’s a moth;
What silly beggars they are to blunder in
And scorch their wings with glory, liquid flame—­
No, no, not that,—­it’s bad to think of war,
When thoughts you’ve gagged all day come back to scare you;
And it’s been proved that soldiers don’t go mad
Unless they lose control of ugly thoughts
That drive them out to jabber among the trees.

Now light your pipe; look, what a steady hand. 
Draw a deep breath; stop thinking; count fifteen,
And you’re as right as rain....  Why won’t it rain?... 
I wish there’d be a thunder-storm to-night,
With bucketsful of water to sluice the dark,
And make the roses hang their dripping heads.

Books; what a jolly company they are,
Standing so quiet and patient on their shelves,
Dressed in dim brown, and black, and white, and green
And every kind of colour.  Which will you read? 
Come on; O do read something; they’re so wise. 
I tell you all the wisdom of the world
Is waiting for you on those shelves; and yet
You sit and gnaw your nails, and let your pipe out,
And listen to the silence:  on the ceiling
There’s one big, dizzy moth that bumps and flutters;
And in the breathless air outside the house
The garden waits for something that delays. 
There must be crowds of ghosts among the trees,—­
Not people killed in battle,—­they’re in France,—­
But horrible shapes in shrouds—­old men who died
Slow, natural deaths,—­old men with ugly souls,
Who wore their bodies out with nasty sins.

* * * * *

You’re quiet and peaceful, summering safe at home;
You’d never think there was a bloody war on!... 
O yes, you would ... why, you can hear the guns. 
Hark!  Thud, thud, thud,—­quite soft ... they never cease—­
Those whispering guns—­O Christ, I want to go out
And screech at them to stop—­I’m going crazy;
I’m going stark, staring mad because of the guns.

TOGETHER

Splashing along the boggy woods all day,
And over brambled hedge and holding clay,
I shall not think of him: 
But when the watery fields grow brown and dim,
And hounds have lost their fox, and horses tire,
I know that he’ll be with me on my way
Home through the darkness to the evening fire.

He’s jumped each stile along the glistening lanes;
His hand will be upon the mud-soaked reins;
Hearing the saddle creak,
He’ll wonder if the frost will come next week. 
I shall forget him in the morning light;
And while we gallop on he will not speak: 
But at the stable-door he’ll say good-night.

THE HAWTHORN TREE

Not much to me is yonder lane
  Where I go every day;
But when there’s been a shower of rain
  And hedge-birds whistle gay,
I know my lad that’s out in France
  With fearsome things to see
Would give his eyes for just one glance
  At our white hawthorn tree.