Picture Show (Sassoon collection)/The Dark House

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For works with similar titles, see The Dark House.
4371358Picture Show — The Dark HouseSiegfried Sassoon

THE DARK HOUSE

Dusk in the rain-soaked garden,
And dark the house within.
A door creaked; someone was early
To watch the dawn begin.
But he stole away like a thief
In the chilly, star-bright air:
Though the house was shuttered for slumber,
He had left one wakeful there.

Nothing moved in the garden.
Never a bird would sing,
Nor shake and scatter the dew from the boughs
With shy and startled wing.
But when that lover had passed the gate
A quavering thrush began...
'Come back; come back!' he shrilled to the heart
Of the passion-plighted man.