Here: and There

September, 1914

Here

Soft benediction of September sun;

Voices of children, laughing as they run;

Green English lawns, bright flowers and butterflies;

And over all the blue embracing skies.

There

Tumult and roaring of the incessant gun;

Dead men and dying, trenches lost and won;

Blood, mud, and havoc, bugles, shoutings, cries;

And over all the blue embracing skies.

-- F. W. Bourdillon.

Media: <html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">Here: and There</h1><h1 align="center" class="head"><em>September, 1914</em></h1><div class="stanza"><p class="subhead">Here</p><p class="line"><span class="smallcaps">Soft</span> benediction of September sun;</p><p class="line">Voices of children, laughing as they run;</p><p class="line">Green English lawns, bright flowers and butterflies;</p><p class="line">And over all the blue embracing skies.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="subhead">There</p><p class="line">Tumult and roaring of the incessant gun;</p><p class="line">Dead men and dying, trenches lost and won;</p><p class="line">Blood, mud, and havoc, bugles, shoutings, cries;</p><p class="line">And over all the blue embracing skies.</p></div><p class="byline">-- F. W. Bourdillon.</p></body></html>