Sunday War Poets....

Walter  John de la Mare

1873 - 1958

Happy England

Now each man's mind all Europe is;

Courage and fear in dread array

Daze each true heart; O grave and wise,

Abide in hope the judgement day.

This war of millions in arms

In myriad replica we wage;

Unmoved, then, soul by earth's alarms

The dangers of the dark engage.

Remember happy England: keep

For her bright cause thy latest breath.

Her peace that long hath lulled to sleep

May now exact the sleep of death

Her woods and wilds, her loveliness

With harvest now are richly at rest;

Safe in her isled securities

Thy children's heaven is her breast;

O what a deep, contented night

The sun from out her eastern seas

Would bring the dust which in her sight

Had given its all for these!

First published in The Times Literary Supplement

27 August 1914

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Sir Walter de la Mare was born in Charlton, Kent, in the south of England, of well-to-do parents. His father, James Edward Delamare, was an official of the Bank of England. His mother, Lucy Sophia (Browning) Delamare, was related to the poet Robert Browning. Walter de la Mare is best remembered for his works for children and for his poem The Listeners.

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