65. The Return by John Freeman. Clarke, George Herbert, ed. 1917. A Treasury of War Poetry

George Herbert Clarke, ed. (1873–1953). A Treasury of War Poetry. 1917.

65. The Return

By John Freeman


I HEARD the rumbling guns. I saw the smoke,
The unintelligible shock of hosts that still,
Far off, unseeing, strove and strove again;
And Beauty flying naked down the hill

From morn to eve: and the stern night cried Peace!	5
And shut the strife in darkness: all was still,
Then slowly crept a triumph on the dark—
And I heard Beauty singing up the hill.