Siegfried Sassoon
Everyone suddenly burst out singing;
And I was filled with such delight
As prisoned birds must find in freedom,
Winging wildly across the white
Orchards and dark-green fields;
on--on--and out of sight.
Everyone's voice was suddenly lifted;
And beauty came like the setting sun:
My heart was shaken with tears; and horror
Drifted away ... O, but Everyone
Was a bird; and the song was wordless;
the singing will never be done.
1918
Everyone Sang
Thursday, 11 November 2010
If my memory serves me correctly, this poem commemorates Armistice Day, which Sassoon spent recovering from wounds in London. It is always interesting to compare Graves, Owen and Sassoon. I’ve always found the dark satire of the war years refreshing, but the elegiac tone of the prose and later poetry is also most attractive.
