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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A HOUSE IN FESTUBERT by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN

Poet Analysis

First Line: WITH BLIND EYES MEETING THE MIST AND MOON
Last Line: -- COULD SUMMER BETRAY YOU?
Subject(s): WORLD WAR I; FIRST WORLD WAR;

WITH blind eyes meeting the mist and moon
And yet with blossoming trees robed round,
With gashes black, nay, one great wound,
Amazing still it stands its ground;
Sad soul, here stay you.

It held, one time, such happy hours,
Its tables shone with smiles and filled
The hungry -- Home! 'twas theirs, is ours,
We house it here and laugh unkilled.
Hoarse gun, now, pray you --

It knew the hand and voice of Sleep,
Sleep was its friend and nightly came,
And still the bony laths would keep
One friendship, but poor Sleep's gone lame.
O poisoner, Mahu!

A hermit might have built a cell
Among those evergreens, beside
That mellow wall: they serve as well
For four lean guns. Soft, hermits, hide,
Lest pride display you.

It hived the bird's call, the bee's hum,
The sunbeams crossing the garden's shade --
So fond of summer! still they come,
But steel-born bees, birds, beams invade.
-- Could summer betray you?



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