posted on 2024-05-02, 18:52authored byFirst World War Poetry Digital Archive Project Team
<p dir="ltr"> My eyes catch ruddy necks<br> Sturdily pressed back---<br> All a red brick moving glint.<br> Like flaming pendulums, hands<br> Swing across the khaki---<br> Mustard-coloured khaki---<br> To the automatic feet.<br> We husband the ancient glory<br> In these bared necks and hands.<br> Not broke is the forge of Mars;<br> But a subtler brain beats iron<br> To shoe the hoofs of death<br> (Who paws dynamic air now).<br> Blind fingers loose an iron cloud<br> To rain immortal darkness<br> On strong eyes.</p>
The Isaac Rosenberg Literary Estate. As published in Rosenberg, Isaac; Bottomley, Gordon [ed.]; Harding, Denys [ed.], The Collected Poems of Isaac Rosenberg. London: Chatto and Windus, 1977. Preliminaries and editorial matter omitted.