Page:Poems of the Great War - Cunliffe.djvu/209

 On London fell a clearer light ;

Caressing pencils of the sun Defined the distances, the white

Houses transfigured one by one. The *' long, unlovely street" im pearled. O what a sky has walked the world !

IMost happy year ! And out of town The hay was prosperous, and the wheat ;

The silken harvest climbed the down ; ]\Ioon after moon was heavenly sweet,

Stroking the bread within the sheaves.

Looking twixt apples and their leaves.

And while this rose made round her cup, The armies died convulsed ; and when

This chaste young silver sun went up Softly, a thousand shattered men.

One wet corruption, heaped the plain,

After a league-long throb of pain.

Flower following tender flower, and birds, And berries ; and benignant skies

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