'And all her silken flanks with garlands drest' -
But we are coming to the sacrifice.
Must those flowers who are not yet gone West?
May those flowers who live with death and lice?
This must be the floweriest place
That earth allows; the queenly face
Of the proud mansion borrows grace for grace
Spite of those brute guns lowing at the skies.
Bold great daisies' golden lights,
Bubbling roses' pinks and whites -
Such a gay carpet! poppies by the million;
Such damask! such vermilion!
But if you ask me, mate, the choice of colour
Is scarcely right; this red should have been duller.
Notes
(written in July 1917)
The first line is an excerpt from "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by Keats
The final line is a soldier's collaquialism referring to the fact that poppies were in fact a brighter red than blood!
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Comments
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This poem opens with a quotation from Keat's 'Ode to a Grecian Urn' describing a sacrificial scene depicted on a Vase/Urn, which draws the readers attention to the sacrifice of men in battle as a parallel.
'the red should have been duller' I feel means dried blood.
Edited on Dec 21, 7:59 because ''.
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