Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO AN OXFORD FRIEND KILLED IN ACTION; AFTER READING POEM BY W.M. LETTS, by EDWARD BLISS REED


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO AN OXFORD FRIEND KILLED IN ACTION; AFTER READING POEM BY W.M. LETTS, by                    
First Line: I saw you last beside the stream
Last Line: Or counts her gain in trade.)
Subject(s): Death; Friendship; Letts, Winifred Mary (1882-1971); Soldiers; World War I - Casualties; Dead, The


I saw you last beside the stream
That flows near Oxford town.
We moored the punt and on the bank
At ease we flung us down,
And talked until the twilight shades
Turned the green meadows brown.

Pleasant the bells, that afternoon,
Sounding from distant spires;
Pleasant the notes of larks unseen,
As songs of heavenly choirs;
Pleasant to talk of all life brings
And what the heart desires.

You left the meadows for that field
Where men by Death are tried.
Dauntless your hopes, your life you threw
Down in the battle's tide;
And now you live with all brave soul
Who fought the fight and died.

The pleasant fields near Oxford town
Lie in a deeper shade,
I think of all her splendid youths
Who met Death, unafraid.
(God help a land that idly dreams,
Or counts her gain in trade.)





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net