Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LIGHT AFTER DARKNESS, by EDWARD WYNDHAM TENNANT



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LIGHT AFTER DARKNESS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Once more the night, like some great dark drop-scene
Last Line: The broken heralds of a doleful day.
Subject(s): Soldiers' Writings; World War I; First World War


ONCE more the Night like some great dark drop-scene
Eclipsing horrors for a brief entr'acte
Descends, lead-weighty. Now the space between,
Fringed with the eager eyes of men, is racked
By spark-tailed lights, curvetting far and high
Swift smoke-flecked coursers, raking the black sky.

And as each sinks in ashes grey, one more
Rises to fall, and so through all the hours
They strive like petty empires by the score,
Each confident of its success and powers,
And hovering at its zenith each will show
Pale rigid faces, lying dead, below.

There shall they lie, tainting the innocent air,
Until the Dawn, deep veiled in mournful grey,
Sadly and quietly shall lay them bare,
The broken heralds of a doleful day.





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