Edgehill Fight
Naked and grey the Cotswolds stand
Beneath the summer sun,
And the stubble fields on either hand
Where Sour and Avon run.
There is no change in the patient land
That has bred us every one.
She should have passed in cloud and fire
And saved us from this sin
Of war--red war--'twixt child and sire,
Household and kith and kin,
In the heart of a sleepy Midland shire,
With the harvest scarcely in.
But there is no change as we meet at last
On the brow-head or the plain,
And the raw astonished ranks stand fast
To slay or to be slain
By the men they knew in the kindly past
That shall never come again--
By the men they met at dance or chase,
In the tavern or the hall,
At the justice bench and the market place,
At the cudgel play or brawl--
Of their own blood and speech and race,
Comrades or neighbors all!
More bitter than death this day must prove
Whichever way it go,
For the brothers of the maids we love
Make ready to lay low
Their sisters' sweethearts, as we move
Against our dearest foe.
Thank Heaven! At last the trumpets peal
Before our strength gives way.
For King or for the Commonweal--
No matter which they say,
The first dry rattle of new-drawn steel
Changes the world today!
Rudyard Kipling
Vous avez aimé cette poésie ? faites la connaître !
D'autres poésies de Rudyard Kipling
"A Servant When He Reigneth"
Three things make earth unquiet
And four she cannot...
"Angutivaun Taina"
Our gloves are stiff with the frozen blood,
Our furs...
"As the Bell Clinks"
As I left the Halls at Lumley, rose the vision of a comely
"Back To The Army Again"
I'm 'ere in a ticky ulster an' a broken billycock 'at,
"Banquet Night"
"Once in so often," King Solomon said,
Watching his...
"Before a Midnight Breaks in Storm"
Before a midnight breaks in storm,
Or herded sea in...
"Birds Of Prey March"
March! The mud is cakin' good about our trousies.
Front!...
"Brown Bess"
In the days of lace-ruffles, perukes and brocade
Brown...
"By the Hoof of the Wild Goat"
By the Hoof of the Wild Goat uptossed
From the cliff...
"Cities and Thrones and Powers"
Cities and Thrones and Powers,
Stand in...
Précédentes poésies
Vita Nuova
I STOOD by the unvintageable sea
...
Urbs Sacra Æterna
ROME! what a scroll of History thine has been
...
Under The Balcony
O beautiful star with the crimson mouth!
O moon with the...
Tristitiae
O well for him who lives at ease
With garnered gold in...
To My Wife
With a Copy of My Poems
I can write no...
