MARLBORO' and Waterloo and Trafalgar, Tuileries, Talavera, Valenciennes, Were strange names all, and all familiar; For down their streets I went, early and late (Is there a street where I have never been Of all those hundreds, narrow, skyless, straight?)— Early and late, they were my woods and meadows; The rain upon their dust my summer smell; Their scant herb and brown sparrows and harsh shadows Were all my spring. Was there another spring? I knew their noisy desolation well, Drinking it up as a child drinks everything, Knowing no other world than brick and stone, With one rich memory of the earth all bright. Now all is fallen into oblivion— All that I was, in years of school and play, Things that I hated, things that were delight, Are all forgotten, or shut all away Behind a creaking door that opens slow. But there's a child that walks those streets of war, Hearing his running footsteps as they go Echoed from house to house, and wondering At Marlboro', Waterloo and Trafalgar; And at night, when the yellow gas lamps fling Unsteady shadows, singing for company; Yet loving the lighted dark, and any star Caught by sharp roofs in a narrow net of sky. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE DISPUTE OF THE HEART AND BODY OF FRANCOIS VILLON by FRANCOIS VILLON TO A GARDEN IN APRIL by WALTER CONRAD ARENSBERG ON THE DEATH OF MR. WOODWARD, AT EDINBURGH by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD THE RING AND THE BOOK: BOOK 2. HALF-ROME by ROBERT BROWNING THE BACKGROUND GROUP by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON AT BEETHOVEN'S FUNERAL by IGNAZ FRANZ CASTELLI MCDONOGH DAY IN NEW ORLEANS by MARCUS B. CHRISTIAN TO A PRIMROSE by EDNA S. CODDINGTON TO THE AUTHOR OF POEMS PUBLISHED ANONYMOUSLY (JOSEPH COTTLE) by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE |