The Lark Above The Trenches
All day the guns had worked their hellish will,
And all night long
With sobbing breath men gasped their lives away,
Or shivered restless on the ice-cold clay,
Till morn broke pale and chill
With sudden song.
Above the sterile furrows war had ploughed
With deep-trenched seams,
Wherein this year such bitter seed is sown,
Wherein this year no fruitful grain is strown,
A lark poured from the cloud
Its throbbing dreams.
It sang - and pain and death were passing shows -
So glad and strong;
Life soared triumphant, through a myriad men
Were swept like leaves beyong the living's ken,
That wounded hope arose
To greet that song.
By: Muriel E Graham
