War and Love/"Ivy and Violet, What Do Ye Here …?"

by Richard Aldington

 

"IVY AND VIOLET, WHAT DO YE HERE …?"

Sometimes in bitter mood I mock myself:
"Half ape, half ass, servant and slave,
Where are your dreams gone now,
Where your fierce pride?
Whither goes your youth?
And how will you dare touch again
Dear slender women with those disfigured hands?
Or bare your long dishonoured body
To the contemptuous sun?
How live after this shame?"

And all my answer:
"So that hate poison not my days,
And I still love the earth,
Flowers and all living things,
And my song still be keen and clear,
I can endure."