A Letter From the Front
Sir Henry Newbolt 1862 (Bilston, Staffordshire) – 1938 (Kensington, London)
I was out early to-day, spying about
From the top of a haystack -- such a lovely morning --
And when I mounted again to canter back
I saw across a field in the broad sunlight
A young Gunner Subaltern, stalking along
With a rook-rifle held at the read, and -- would you believe it? --
A domestic cat, soberly marching beside him.
So I laughed, and felt quite well disposed to the youngster,
And shouted out "the top of the morning" to him,
And wished him "Good sport!" -- and then I remembered
My rank, and his, and what I ought to be doing:
And I rode nearer, and added, "I can only suppose
You have not seen the Commander-in-Chief's order
Forbidding English officers to annoy their Allies
By hunting and shooting."
But he stood and saluted
And said earnestly, "I beg your pardon, Sir,
I was only going out to shoot a sparrow
To feed my cat with."
So there was the whole picture,
The lovely early morning, the occasional shell
Screeching and scattering past us, the empty landscape, --
Empty, except for the young Gunner saluting,
And the cat, anxiously watching his every movement.
I may be wrong, or I may have told it badly,
But it struck me as being extremely ludicrous.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 10, 2023
- 1:05 min read
- 143 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XAXXXXB CBXAXCXAXCXXCXXAX XX |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,182 |
Words | 221 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 17, 2 |
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"A Letter From the Front" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/35109/a-letter-from-the-front>.
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