The Kind Ghosts

Wilfred Owen 1893 (Oswestry) – 1918 (Sambre–Oise Canal)



She sleeps on soft, last breaths; but no ghost looms
Out of the stillness of her palace wall,
Her wall of boys on boys and dooms on dooms.

She dreams of golden gardens and sweet glooms,
Not marvelling why her roses never fall
Nor what red mouths were torn to make their blooms.

The shades keep down which well might roam her hall.
Quiet their blood lies in her crimson rooms
And she is not afraid of their footfall.

They move not from her tapestries, their pall,
Nor pace her terraces, their hecatombs,
Lest aught she be disturbed, or grieved at all.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 16, 2023

31 sec read
144

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABA ABA BAB XAB
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 547
Words 104
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 3, 3, 3, 3

Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC was an English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the First World War. more…

All Wilfred Owen poems | Wilfred Owen Books

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