Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967). The Old Huntsman and Other Poems. 1918.

58. To-day

THIS is To-day, a child in white and blue

Running to meet me out of Night who stilled

The ghost of Yester-eve; this is fair Morn

The mother of To-morrow. And these clouds

That chase the sunshine over gleaming hills

Are thoughts, delighting in the golden change

And the ceremony of their drifting state.

This is To-day. To-morrow might bring death,—

And Life, the gleeful madrigal of birds,

Be drowned in glimmer of sleep. To-day I know

How sweet it is to spend these eyes, and boast

This bubble of vistaed memory and sense

Blown by my joy aloft the glittering airs

Of heavenly peace. Oh take me to yourselves,

Earth, sky, and spirit! Let me stand within

The circle of your transience, that my voice

May thrill the lonely silences with song.