Poetry in WWI

May Wedderburn Cannan
14 October 1893 Oxford-11 December 1973.
A daughter of a publisher, who enabled her sister and her to write their own collectanea: ”The Tripled Crown”.
In 1915, she was inspired after volunteering in a canteen provided for soldiers at a railway station, she composed the poem, “Rouen.”
“Rouen”
Early morning over Rouen, hopeful, high, courageous morning,
And the laughter of adventure, and the steepness of the stair,
And the dawn across the river, and the wind across the bridges,
And the empty littered station, and the tired people there.....
..... When the world slips slow to darkness, when the office fire burns lower,
My heart goes out to Rouen, Rouen all the world away;
When other men remember, I remember our Adventure
And the trains that go from Rouen at the ending of the day.
“August 1914”
The sun rose over the sweep of the hill
All bare for the gathered hay,
And a blackbird sang by the window-sill,
And a girl knelt down to pray:
‘Whom Thou hast kept through the night, O Lord,
Keep Thou safe through the day.’ .....
..... The sun sank slow by the shell-swept height,
The guns had prepared a way,
And a soldier turned to sleep that night
Who would not wake for the day,
And a blackbird flew from the window-sill,
When a girl knelt down to pray.
Source: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/may-wedderburn-cannan

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