Dead Musicians

 I

From you, Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, 
The substance of my dreams took fire. 
You built cathedrals in my heart, 
And lit my pinnacled desire. 
You were the ardour and the bright
Procession of my thoughts toward prayer. 
You were the wrath of storm, the light 
On distant citadels aflare. 

II

Great names, I cannot find you now 
In these loud years of youth that strives 
Through doom toward peace: upon my brow 
I wear a wreath of banished lives. 
You have no part with lads who fought 
And laughed and suffered at my side. 
Your fugues and symphonies have brought 
No memory of my friends who died. 

III

For when my brain is on their track, 
In slangy speech I call them back. 
With fox-trot tunes their ghosts I charm. 
‘Another little drink won’t do us any harm.’
I think of rag-time; a bit of rag-time; 
And see their faces crowding round 
To the sound of the syncopated beat. 
They’ve got such jolly things to tell, 
Home from hell with a Blighty wound so neat... 

. . . . 
And so the song breaks off; and I’m alone. 
They’re dead ... For God’s sake stop that gramophone.

Form: Elegy

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