<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">The Fallen Spire.<br xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"/> (A Flemish Village).</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">THE spire is gone, that slept for centuries, </p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Mirrored among the lilies, calm and low:</p><p class="line">And now the water holds but empty skies,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Through which the rivers of the thunder flow.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The church lies broken near the fallen spire:</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">For here, among these old and human things,</p><p class="line">Death sweeps along the street with feet of fire,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">And goes upon his way with moaning wings.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">On pavements by the kneeling herdsmen worn</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The drifting fleeces of the shells are rolled</p><p class="line">Above the Saints a village Christ forlorn,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Wounded again, looks down upon his fold.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And silence follows fast: no evening peace,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">But leaden stillness, when the thunder wanes,</p><p class="line">Haunting the slender branches of the trees,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">And settling low upon the listless plains.</p></div></body></html> · Great War