POETRY: A Magazine of Verse
POEMS
THE LACEMAKER OF YPRES
"Most of the houses in the Grande Place are in ruins. The town is uninhabited. Only the dead are left. But the enemy keeps on bombarding—apparently to pass the time."
She passed the hours
In a friendly solitude;
Heard the voices, wrangling shrewd,
In the market-place of flowers;
Clatter of cart-wheel; sounds that drifted—
From open window, saw uplifted
Her cathedral towers.
While passed the hours,
Her thoughts would find some little song,
Loved for many a year and long
In the market-place of flowers;
When days of summer drifted, drifted—
And in the peaceful sky were lifted
Ypres' cathedral towers.
To pass the hours,
Since her last scream was choked in dust,
Shot and shrapnel spend their lust
In the market-place of flowers;
Smoke is drifted, drifted, drifted—
Lonely in the sky are lifted
Christ's cathedral towers.
[236]
