Memory, 1 February 1918 by Siegfried Sassoon
*Major Mike Dillon-Lee
When I was young my heart and head were light,
And I was gay and feckless as a colt
Out in the fields, with morning in the may,
Wind on the grass, wings in the orchard bloom.
O thrilling sweet, my joy, when life was free
And all the paths led on from hawthorn-time
Across the carolling meadows into June.
But now my heart is heavy-laden. I sit
Burning my dreams away beside the fire:
For death has made me wise and bitter and strong;
And I am rich in all that I have lost.
O starshine on the fields of long-ago,
Bring me the darkness and the nightingale;
Dim wealds of vanished summer, peace of home,
and silence; and the faces of my friends.
Memory, 1 February 1918 by Siegfried Sassoon
*Major Michael Dillon-Lee – 32nd Heavy Regiment, Royal Artillery. Shot at his home, Dortmund, West Germany on June 2, 1990; aged 34.
Categories: Scuttlebut
