Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE CHILD ALONE: 8. ARMIES IN THE FIRE, by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE CHILD ALONE: 8. ARMIES IN THE FIRE, by             Poet's Biography
First Line: The lamps now glitter down the street
Last Line: That crumbles in your furnaces!
Alternate Author Name(s): Stevenson, Robert Lewis Balfour


The lamps now glitter down the street;
Faintly sound the falling feet;
And the blue even slowly falls
About the garden trees and walls.

Now in the falling of the gloom
The red fire paints the empty room:
And warmly on the roof it looks,
And flickers on the back of books.

Armies march by tower and spire
Of cities blazing, in the fire;--
Till as I gaze with staring eyes,
The armies fall, the lustre dies.

Then once again the glow returns;
Again the phantom city burns;
And down the red-hot valley, lo!
The phantom armies marching go!

Blinking embers, tell me true
Where are those armies marching to,
And what the burning city is
That crumbles in your furnaces!






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