[708] Five Songs - II

Guest poem sent in by L. Archer <LArcher@>

That night when joy began
Our narrowest veins to flush,
We waited for the flash
Of morning's levelled gun.
But morning let us pass,
And day by day relief
Outgrows his nervous laugh,
Grown credulous of peace,
As mile by mile is seen
No trespasser's reproach,
And love's best glasses reach
No fields but are his own.

	-- W. H. Auden

	(November 1931)

I don't think a person has to have been through the experience of a soldier
to appreciate this one.

To me, this poem encapsulates the feeling of apprehension which so often is
just groundless worry over little or nothing.  Often, when the situation has
passed, you wonder why you were so concerned.

My fave line is "As mile by mile is seen, No trespasser's reproach."  How
many of us wait for the hammer to fall, only to find it never does?

Good link:  http://www.audensociety.org/

From: amitc <amitc@>

Really beautiful and marvellously done with precise 
word choice. But what I don't get is, whence the title?

--Amit