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

6. To Victory

RETURN to greet me, colours that were my joy,

Not in the woeful crimson of men slain,

But shining as a garden; come with the streaming

Banners of dawn and sundown after rain.

I want to fill my gaze with blue and silver,

Radiance through living roses, spires of green

Rising in young-limbed copse and lovely wood

Where the hueless wind passes and cries unseen.

I am not sad; only I long for lustre.

I am tired of the greys and browns and the leafless ash.

I would have hours that move like a glitter of dancers

Far from the angry guns that boom and flash.

Return, musical, gay with blossom and fleetness,

Days when my sight shall be clear and my heart rejoice;

Come from the sea with breadth of approaching brightness,

When the blithe wind laughs on the hills with uplifted voice.