War's Embers, and Other Verses

By Ivor Gurney

"War's Embers, and Other Verses" is the second volume of Gurney's war poetry, following 'Severn and Somme,'. This collection of poems was released in May 1919 and contains the following poems: 'In a Ward,' 'Camps,' 'The Volunteer,' 'Ypres-Minsterworth,' 'Hospital Pictures,' and 'The Battalion Is Now On Rest' The two collections' titles are significant and prophetic. First, as evidenced by many of his war poems, his love of the Gloucestershire countryside and desire to return there after witnessing the devastation on the Western Front is unmistakable. Second, the war would have an ongoing impact on Gurney until his death, and he would refer to his experiences there in later poems.'

• Language: English
• Publisher: DigiCat
• Release date: Jul 21, 2022
• ISBN: 8596547096122

Book preview

Ivor Gurney

War's Embers, and Other Verses

EAN 8596547096122

DigiCat, 2022

Contact: [e-mail]

Table of Contents

WAR’S EMBERS

THE VOLUNTEER (To A. L. B.)

THE FARM (To Mrs. Harvey and Those Others)

OMENS (To E. H.)

ETERNAL TREASURE (To H. N. H.)

FIRE IN THE DUSK

TURMUT-HOEING

IN A WARD (To J. W. H.)

CAMPS

GIRL’S SONG

SOLACE OF MEN

DAY-BOYS AND CHORISTERS (To the Boys of King’s School, Gloucester, 1900-1905)

AT RESERVE DEPOT

TOASTS AND MEMORIES (To the Men of the 2/ 5 Gloucester Regiment)

FROM THE WINDOW

YPRES—MINSTERWORTH (To F. W. H.)

NEAR MIDSUMMER

TOUSSAINTS (To J. W. H.)

THE STONE-BREAKER (To Dorothy)

DRIFTING LEAVES

CONTRASTS

TO F. W. H.

THE IMMORTAL HOUR (To Winnie)

TO HIS LOVE

MIGRANTS (To Mrs. Taylor)

OLD MARTINMAS EVE

AFTER MUSIC

THE TARGET

TWIGWORTH VICARAGE (To A. H. C.)

HOSPITAL PICTURES (To the Nurses of Ward 24, Bangour War Hospital, near Edinburgh)

1. LADIES OF CHARITY

2. DUST

3. ABERDONIAN

4. COMPANION—NORTH-EAST DUGOUT

5. THE MINER

6. UPSTAIRS PIANO

HIDDEN TALES

RECOMPENSE (To the Men of the 2/ 5 Gloucester Regiment)

THE TRYST (To W. M. C.)

THE PLAIN

RUMOURS OF WARS (To Mrs. Voynich)

ON REST (To the Men of the 2/ 5 Gloucester Regiment)

DICKY (To his Memory)

THE DAY OF VICTORY (To my City)

PASSIONATE EARTH (To J. W. H.)

THE POPLAR (To Micky)

DOWN COMMERCIAL ROAD (GLOUCESTER) (To my Mother)

FROM OMIECOURT

LE COQ FRANÇAIS (To Ronald)

THE FISHERMAN OF NEWNHAM (To my Father)

THE LOCK-KEEPER (To the Memory of Edward Thomas)

THE REVELLERS

ANNIE LAURIE (To H. N. H.)

THE BATTALION IS NOW ON REST (To La Comtesse)

PHOTOGRAPHS (To Two Scots Lads)

THAT COUNTY

INTERVAL

DE PROFUNDIS

THE TOWER (To M. H.)

WAR’S EMBERS

THE VOLUNTEER

(

To A. L. B.

)

Table of Contents

I would

test God’s purposes:

I will go up and see

What fate He’ll give, what destiny

His hand holds for me.

For God is very secret,

Slow-smiles, but does not say

A word that will foreshadow

Shape of the coming day.

Curious am I, curious ...

And since He will not tell

I’ll prove Him, go up against

The naked mouth of Hell.

And what hereafter—Heaven?

Or Blighty? O if it were ...

Mere agony, mere pain the price

Of the returning there.

Or—nothing! Days in mud

And slush, then other days ...

Aie me! "Are they not all

The seas of God"; God’s Ways?

THE FARM

(

To Mrs. Harvey and Those Others

)

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A creeper-covered

house, an orchard near;

A farmyard with tall ricks upstanding clear

In golden sunlight of a late September.——