Edward Thomas

Sometimes—a moment’s stop—lingers in our memory forever.

Here’s a poem by Philip Edward Thomas (March 3, 1878 – April 9. 1917), British writer of poetry and prose who was killed in action during the Battle of Arras in World War I.

Adlestrop

Yes. I remember Adlestrop—
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.

The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.
No one left and no one came
On the bare platform. What I saw
Was Adlestrop—only the name

And willows, willow-herb, and grass,
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,
No whit less still and lonely fair
Than the high cloudlets in the sky.

And for that minute a blackbird sang
Close by, and round him, mistier,
Farther and farther, all the birds
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.

--Edward Thomas