Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


RETURNING, WE HEAR THE LARKS by ISAAC ROSENBERG

Poet Analysis

First Line: SOMBRE THE NIGHT IS
Last Line: OR HER KISSES WHERE A SERPENT HIDES.
Subject(s): BIRDS; LARKS; SOLDIERS' WRITINGS; WORLD WAR I; SKYLARKS; FIRST WORLD WAR;

Sombre the night is.
And though we have our lives, we know
What sinister threat lurks there.

Dragging these anguished limbs, we only know
This poison-blasted track opens on our camp --
On a little safe sleep.

But hark! joy -- joy -- strange joy.
Lo! heights of night ringing with unseen larks.
Music showering our upturned list'ning faces.

Death could drop from the dark
As easily as song --
But song only dropped,
Like a blind man's dreams on the sand
By dangerous tides,
Like a girl's dark hair for she dreams no ruin lies there,
Or her kisses where a serpent hides.




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