The Project Gutenberg eBook, Fairies and Fusiliers, by Robert Graves

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Title: Fairies and Fusiliers

Author: Robert Graves

Release Date: November 18, 2003 [eBook #10122]

Language: English

Chatacter set encoding: US-ASCII

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FAIRIES AND FUSILIERS

BY

ROBERT GRAVES

1918

TO

THE ROYAL WELCH FUSILIERS

_I have to thank Mr. Harold Monro, of The
Poetry Book Shop, for permission to include
in this volume certain poems of which he
possesses the copyright; also the editor of the
"Nation" for a similar courtesy._

R.G.

CONTENTS

TO AN UNGENTLE CRITIC
AN OLD TWENTY-THIRD MAN
TO LUCASTA ON GOING TO THE WAR--FOR THE FOURTH TIME
TWO FUSILIERS
TO ROBERT NICHOLS
DEAD COW FARM
GOLIATH AND DAVID
BABYLON
MR. PHILOSOPHER
THE CRUEL MOON
FINLAND
A PINCH OF SALT
THE CATERPILLAR
SORLEY'S WEATHER
THE COTTAGE
THE LAST POST
WHEN I'M KILLED
LETTER TO S.S. FROM MAMETZ WOOD
A DEAD BOCHE
FAUN
THE SPOILSPORT
THE SHIVERING BEGGAR
JONAH
JOHN SKELTON
I WONDER WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE DROWNED?
DOUBLE RED DAISIES
CAREERS
I'D LOVE TO BE A FAIRY'S CHILD
THE NEXT WAR
STRONG BEER
MARIGOLDS
THE LADY VISITOR IN THE PAUPER WARD
LOVE AND BLACK MAGIC
SMOKE-RINGS
A CHILD'S NIGHTMARE
ESCAPE
THE BOUGH OF NONSENSE
NOT DEAD
A BOY IN CHURCH
CORPORAL STARE
THE ASSAULT HEROIC
THE POET IN THE NURSERY
IN THE WILDERNESS
CHERRY-TIME
1915
FREE VERSE

TO AN UNGENTLE CRITIC

_The great sun sinks behind the town
Through a red mist of Volnay wine...._
But what's the use of setting down
That glorious blaze behind the town?
You'll only skip the page, you'll look
For newer pictures in this book;
You've read of sunsets rich as mine.

_A fresh wind fills the evening air
With horrid crying of night birds...._
But what reads new or curious there
When cold winds fly across the air?
You'll only frown; you'll turn the page,
But find no glimpse of your "New Age
Of Poetry" in my worn-out words.

Must winds that cut like blades of steel
And sunsets swimming in Volnay,
The holi