As I lie roofed in, screened in,
From the pattering rain,
The summer rain—
As I lie
Snug and dry,
And hear the birds complain:
Oh, billow on billow,
Oh, roar on roar,
Over me wash
The seas of war.
Over me—down—down—
Lunges and plunges
The huge gun with its one blind eye,
The armored train,
And, swooping out of the sky,
The aeroplane.
Down—down—
The army proudly swinging
Under gay flags,
The glorious dead heaped up like rags,
A church with bronze bells ringing,
A city all towers,
Gardens of lovers and flowers,
The round world swinging
In the light of the sun:
All broken, undone,
All down—under
Black surges of thunder …
Oh, billow on billow
Oh, roar on roar,
Over me wash
The seas of war …
As I lie roofed in, screened in,
From the pattering rain,
The summer rain—
As I lie
Snug and dry,
And hear the birds complain.
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Comments
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Remarkable poem
The contrast is stunning where she talks of her protected life inside this bubble and the world unfolding outside. The new thrust to the war with aeroplanes, armoured trains which threaten not only her little world but that of the earth itself. She gives this sense of watching through a telescope and the beauty of the cities and the earth itself under the sun come poring into her vision. It is like an Eden being besieged with dread and fear 'the seas of war' It is a visionary poem.
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