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57561: Happiness

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posted on 2024-04-19, 17:45 authored by First World War Poetry Digital Archive Project Team

Ever again to breathe pure happiness,
So happy that we gave away our toy?
We smiled at nothings, needing no caress?
Have we not laughed too often since with Joy?
Have we not stolen too strange and sorrowful wrongs
For her hands' pardoning? The sun may cleanse,
And time, and starlight. Life will sing great songs,
And gods will show us pleasures more than men's.
Yet heaven looks smaller than the old doll's-home,
No nestling place is left in bluebell bloom,
And the wide arms of trees have lost their scope.
The former happiness is unreturning:
Boys' griefs are not so grievous as youth's yearning,
Boys have no sadness sadder than our hope.

History

Identifier

3320.txt

Creator

Owen, Wilfred (1893-1918)

Date

1983

Date Created

01/01/1983

Temporal Date

31/12/1983

Type

Poem

Rights

The Estate of Wilfred Owen. The Complete Poems and Fragments of Wilfred Owen edited by Jon Stallworthy first published by Chatto & Windus, 1983. Preliminaries, introductory, editorial matter, manuscripts and fragments omitted.

Repository Name

ProQuest

Publisher

The First World War Poetry Digital Archive

Usage metrics

    The Wilfred Owen Collection

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