Wilfred Owen
I dreamed kind Jesus fouled the big-gun gears; and caused a permanent stoppage in all bolts; and buckled with a smile Mausers and Colts; and rusted every bayonet with His tears.Collection: Jesus
Strange friend,' I said,'here is no cause to mourn.' 'None,'said the other,'save the undone years, The hopelessness.Whatever hope is yours Was my life also; I went hunting wild After the wildest beauty in the world.Collection: Hunting
As bronze may be much beautified by lying in the dark damp soil, so men who fade in dust of warfare fade fairer, and sorrow blooms their soul.Collection: Lying
The marvel is that we did not all die of cold. As a matter of fact, only one of my party actually froze to death before he could be got back, but I am not able to tell how many have ended up in hospital. We were marooned in a frozen desert. There was not a sign of life on the horizon and a thousand signs of death.Collection: War
Futility Move him into the sun - Gently its touch awoke him once, At home, whispering of fields unsown. Always it woke him, even in France, Until this morning and this snow. If anything might rouse him now The kind old sun will know. Think how it wakes the seeds, - Woke, once, the clays of a cold star. Are limbs, so dear-achieved, are sides, Full-nerved -still warm -too hard to stir? Was it for this the clay grew tall? -O what made fatuous sunbeams toil To break earth's sleep at all?Collection: Morning
Then, when much blood had clogged their chariot-wheels I would go up and wash them from sweet wells, Even with truths that lie too deep for taint. I would have poured my spirit without stint But not through wounds; not on the cess of war.Collection: Sweet
Flying is the only active profession I could ever continue with enthusiasm after the War.Collection: War
I find purer philosophy in a Poem than in a Conclusion of Geometry, a chemical analysis, or a physical lawCollection: Philosophy
Children are not meant to be studied, but enjoyed. Only by studying to be pleased do we understand them.Collection: Children
The old happiness is unreturning. Boy's griefs are not so grievous as youth's yearning. Boys have no sadness sadder than our hope.Collection: Hope
Was it for this the clay grew tall?Collection: Fighting
Was it for this the clay grew tall? O what made fatuous sunbeams toil To break earth's sleep at all?Collection: Sleep
Walking abroad, one is the admiration of all little boys, and meets an approving glance from every eye of elderly.Collection: War
It seemed that out of battle I escaped Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped Through granites which titanic wars had groined.Collection: War
The Young Soldier It is not death Without hereafter To one in dearth Of life and its laughter, Nor the sweet murder Dealt slow and even Unto the martyr Smiling at heaven: It is the smile Faint as a (waning) myth, Faint, and exceeding small On a boy's murdered mouth.Collection: Life
Escape? There is one unwatched way: your eyes. O Beauty! Keep me good that secret gate.Collection: Eye
When I begin to eliminate from the list all those professions which are impossible from a financial point of view and then those which I feel disinclined to-it leaves nothingCollection: Views
Numbers of the old people cannot read. Those who can seldom doCollection: Numbers
Whatever mourns when many leave these shores: Whatever shares The eternal reciprocity of tears.Collection: Tears