Sunday War Poet...

Vlamertinghe: Passing the Château, July 1917

by

Edmund Charles Blunden

" AND all her silken flanks with garlands drest " — 

But we are coming to the sacrifice. 

Must those have flowers who are not yet gone West? 

May those have flowers who live with death and lice? 

This must be the floweriest place 

That earth allows; the queenly face 

Of the proud mansion borrows grace for grace 

Spite of those brute guns lowing at the skies.

Bold great daisies, golden lights, 

Bubbling roses' pinks and whites — 

Such a gay carpet! poppies by the million; 

Such damask! such vermilion! 

But if you ask me, mate, the choice of colour 

Is scarcely right; this red should have been much duller.

Edmund Charles Blunden

1896-1974

Edmund Charles Blunden was an English poet, author and critic. He was born in London in 1896, moving with his family to Kent shortly afterwards. He was educated at Christ's Hospital and Queen's College, Oxford. Blunden was commissioned into the Royal Sussex Regiment in 1915 and served in France and Belgium from 1916 to 1919, fighting on the Somme and at Ypres. He was awarded the Military Cross in 1917.

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