Poem by Edmund Charles Blunden

The Midnight Skaters

The hop-poles stand in cones,
 The icy pond lurks under,
The pole-tops steeple to the thrones
 Of stars, sound gulfs of wonder;
But not the tallest thee, 'tis said,
Could fathom to this pond's black bed.
Then is not death at watch
 Within those secret waters?
What wants he but to catch
 Earth's heedless sons and daughters?
With but a crystal parapet
Between, he has his engines set.

Then on, blood shouts, on, on,
 Twirl, wheel and whip above him,
Dance on this ball-floor thin and wan,
 Use him as though you love him;
Court him, elude him, reel and pass,
And let him hate you through the glass.

1. The Time Is Gone
2. The Festubert Shrine
3. The Scythe
4. Forefathers
5. Thiepval Wood

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