Aug 6, 2026 · 1 hr 35 min · 10 segments
"Selected Poems" by Siegfried Sassoon offers a powerful glimpse into the emotional landscape of a soldier's experience during World War I. Through poignant verses, Sassoon explores themes of bravery…
selected poems before day come in this hour to set my spirit free when earth is no more mine though night goes out and stretching forth these arms i cannot be lord of winged sunrise and dim arcady when fieldward boys far off with clack and shout from orchards scare the birds in sudden rout come ere my heart grows cold and full of doubt in the still summer dawns that waken me when the first lark goes up to look for day and morning glimmers out of dreams come then out of the songless valleys over gray wide misty lands to bring me on my way for i am lone a dweller among men hungered for what my heart shall never say nineteen o nine End of poem.
This recording is in the public domain.
where have you been south wind this may-day morning with larks aloft or skimming with the swallow or with blackbirds in a green sun-glinted thicket oh i heard you like a tyrant in the valley your ruffian haste shook the young blossoming orchards you clapped rude hands hallooing round the chimney and white your pennons streamed along the river You have robbed the bee-south wind in your adventure, blustering with gentle flowers, but I forgave you when you stole to me shyly with scent of hawthorn.
1914 Morning Land by Siegfried Sassoon old english songs you bring to me a simple sweetness somewhat kin to birds that through the mystery of earliest morn make tuneful din while hamlet's steeples sleepily at cock-crow chime out three and four till maids get up betime and go with faces like the red sun low clattering about the dairy floor nineteen o eight a child's prayer by siegfried sassoun for morn my dome of blue for meadows green and gay and birds who love the twilight of the leaves let jesus keep me joyful when i pray for the big bees that hum and hide in bells of flowers for the winding roads that come to evening's holy door may jesus bring me grateful to his arms and guard my innocence for evermore 1914. when meadows are gray with the morn in the dusk of the woods it is night the oak and the beech and the pine war with the glimmer of light dryads brown as the leaf move in the gloom of the glade when meadows are gray with the morn dim night in the wood has delayed The cocks that crow to the land are faint and hollow and shrill.
Dryads brown as the leaf whisper and hide and are still.
1910 Noah by Siegfried Sassoon read for LibriVox.org when old noah stared across the floods sky and water melted into one looking-glass of shifting tides and sun mountain tops were few the ship was foul all the morn old noah marveled greatly at this weltering world that shone so stately drowning deep the rivers and the plains Through the stillness came a rippling breeze.
Noah sighed, remembering the green trees.
Clear along the morning stooped a bird, lit beside him with a blossomed sprig.
Earth was saved, and Noah danced a jig.
1915 Daybreak in a Garden by Siegfried Sassoon, read for LibriVox.org. i heard the farm-cocks crowing loud and faint and thin when hooded night was going and one clear planet winked i heard shrill notes begin down the spired wood distinct when cloudy shoals were chinked and gilt with fires of day white misted was the weald the lawns were silver gray the lark his lonely field for heaven had forsaken and the wind upon its way whispered the boughs of may and touched the nodding peony flowers to bid them waken nineteen fifteen End of poem.
This recording is in the public domain.
ye hooded witches baleful shapes that moan quench your fantastic lanterns and be still for now the moon through heaven sails alone shedding her peaceful rays from hill to hill the faun from out his dim and secret place draws nigh the darkling pool and from his dream half wakens seeing there his sylvan face reflected and the wistful eyes that gleam to his cold lips he sets the pipe to blow some drowsy note that charms the listening air the dryads from their trees come down and creep near to his side monotonous and low he plays and plays till all the woodside there stirs to the voice of everlasting sleep nineteen eleven End of poem.
This recording is in the public domain.
when in your sober mood my body ye have laid in sight and sound of things beloved woodland and stream and the green turf has hidden the poor bones ye deem no more a close companion with those rhymes we made then if some bird should pipe or breezes stir the glade thinking them for the while my voice so let them seem a fading message from the misty shores of dream or wheresoever following death my feet have strayed nineteen o eight End of poem This recording is in the public domain.
in this meadow starred with spring shepherds kneel before their king mary throned with dreaming eyes gowned in blue like rain-washed skies lifts her tiny son that he may behold their courtesy and green-smocked children odd and good bring him blossoms from the wood clear the sunlit steeple's chime mary's coronation time loud the happy children choir to the golden-windowed morn while the lord of their desire sleeps below the crimson thorn A Poplar and the Moon by Siegfried Sassoon.
Read for LibriVox.org. there stood a poplar tall and straight the fair round moon uprisen late made the long shadow on the grass a ghostly bridge twixt heaven and me but may with slumberous nights must pass and blustering winds will strip the tree and i've no magic to express the moment of that loveliness so from these words you'll never guess the stars and lilies i could see wind in the beech wood by siegfried read for the glorying forest shakes and swings with glancing of boughs that dip and strain young slanting sprays beckon and shift like lissom creatures dancing while the blown beech-wood streams with drifting rays rooted in steadfast calm gray stems are seen like weather-beaten masts the wood unfurled seems as a ship with crowding sails of green that sweeps across the lonely billowing world all luminous and lovely let your flowers your ageless squadroned wings your surge and gleam drown me in quivering brightness let me fade in the warm rustling music of the hours that guard your ancient wisdom till my dream moves with the chant and whisper of the glade Nimrod in September by Siegfried Sassoon when half the drowsy world's abed and misty morning rises red with jollity of horn and lusty cheer young nimrod urges on his dwindling rout along the yellowing coverts we can hear his horse's hoofs thud hither and about in mulberry coat he rides and makes huge clamour in the psaltery breaks 1913.
Wisdom by Siegfried Sassoon when wisdom tells me that the world's a speck lost on the shoreless blue of god's to-day i smile and think for every man his way the world's my ship and i'm alone on deck and when he tells me that the world's a spark lit in the whistling gloom of god's to-night i look within me to the edge of dark and dream the world's my field and i'm the lark alone with upward song alone with light nineteen fifteen End of poem.
This recording is in the public domain.
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selected poems before day come in this hour to set my spirit free when earth is no more mine though night goes out and stretching forth these arms i cannot be lord of winged sunrise and dim arcady when fieldward boys far off with clack and shout from orchards scare the birds in sudden rout come ere my heart grows cold and full of doubt in the still summer dawns that waken me when the first lark goes up to look for day and morning glimmers out of dreams come then out of the songless valleys over gray wide misty lands to bring me on my way for i am lone a dweller among men hungered for what my heart shall never say nineteen o nine End of poem.
This recording is in the public domain.
where have you been south wind this may-day morning with larks aloft or skimming with the swallow or with blackbirds in a green sun-glinted thicket oh i heard you like a tyrant in the valley your ruffian haste shook the young blossoming orchards you clapped rude hands hallooing round the chimney and white your pennons streamed along the river You have robbed the bee-south wind in your adventure, blustering with gentle flowers, but I forgave you when you stole to me shyly with scent of hawthorn.
1914 Morning Land by Siegfried Sassoon old english songs you bring to me a simple sweetness somewhat kin to birds that through the mystery of earliest morn make tuneful din while hamlet's steeples sleepily at cock-crow chime out three and four till maids get up betime and go with faces like the red sun low clattering about the dairy floor nineteen o eight a child's prayer by siegfried sassoun for morn my dome of blue for meadows green and gay and birds who love the twilight of the leaves let jesus keep me joyful when i pray for the big bees that hum and hide in bells of flowers for the winding roads that come to evening's holy door may jesus bring me grateful to his arms and guard my innocence for evermore 1914. when meadows are gray with the morn in the dusk of the woods it is night the oak and the beech and the pine war with the glimmer of light dryads brown as the leaf move in the gloom of the glade when meadows are gray with the morn dim night in the wood has delayed The cocks that crow to the land are faint and hollow and shrill.
Dryads brown as the leaf whisper and hide and are still.
1910 Noah by Siegfried Sassoon read for LibriVox.org when old noah stared across the floods sky and water melted into one looking-glass of shifting tides and sun mountain tops were few the ship was foul all the morn old noah marveled greatly at this weltering world that shone so stately drowning deep the rivers and the plains Through the stillness came a rippling breeze.
Noah sighed, remembering the green trees.
Clear along the morning stooped a bird, lit beside him with a blossomed sprig.
Earth was saved, and Noah danced a jig.
1915 Daybreak in a Garden by Siegfried Sassoon, read for LibriVox.org. i heard the farm-cocks crowing loud and faint and thin when hooded night was going and one clear planet winked i heard shrill notes begin down the spired wood distinct when cloudy shoals were chinked and gilt with fires of day white misted was the weald the lawns were silver gray the lark his lonely field for heaven had forsaken and the wind upon its way whispered the boughs of may and touched the nodding peony flowers to bid them waken nineteen fifteen End of poem.
This recording is in the public domain.
ye hooded witches baleful shapes that moan quench your fantastic lanterns and be still for now the moon through heaven sails alone shedding her peaceful rays from hill to hill the faun from out his dim and secret place draws nigh the darkling pool and from his dream half wakens seeing there his sylvan face reflected and the wistful eyes that gleam to his cold lips he sets the pipe to blow some drowsy note that charms the listening air the dryads from their trees come down and creep near to his side monotonous and low he plays and plays till all the woodside there stirs to the voice of everlasting sleep nineteen eleven End of poem.
This recording is in the public domain.
when in your sober mood my body ye have laid in sight and sound of things beloved woodland and stream and the green turf has hidden the poor bones ye deem no more a close companion with those rhymes we made then if some bird should pipe or breezes stir the glade thinking them for the while my voice so let them seem a fading message from the misty shores of dream or wheresoever following death my feet have strayed nineteen o eight End of poem This recording is in the public domain.
in this meadow starred with spring shepherds kneel before their king mary throned with dreaming eyes gowned in blue like rain-washed skies lifts her tiny son that he may behold their courtesy and green-smocked children odd and good bring him blossoms from the wood clear the sunlit steeple's chime mary's coronation time loud the happy children choir to the golden-windowed morn while the lord of their desire sleeps below the crimson thorn A Poplar and the Moon by Siegfried Sassoon.
Read for LibriVox.org. there stood a poplar tall and straight the fair round moon uprisen late made the long shadow on the grass a ghostly bridge twixt heaven and me but may with slumberous nights must pass and blustering winds will strip the tree and i've no magic to express the moment of that loveliness so from these words you'll never guess the stars and lilies i could see wind in the beech wood by siegfried read for the glorying forest shakes and swings with glancing of boughs that dip and strain young slanting sprays beckon and shift like lissom creatures dancing while the blown beech-wood streams with drifting rays rooted in steadfast calm gray stems are seen like weather-beaten masts the wood unfurled seems as a ship with crowding sails of green that sweeps across the lonely billowing world all luminous and lovely let your flowers your ageless squadroned wings your surge and gleam drown me in quivering brightness let me fade in the warm rustling music of the hours that guard your ancient wisdom till my dream moves with the chant and whisper of the glade Nimrod in September by Siegfried Sassoon when half the drowsy world's abed and misty morning rises red with jollity of horn and lusty cheer young nimrod urges on his dwindling rout along the yellowing coverts we can hear his horse's hoofs thud hither and about in mulberry coat he rides and makes huge clamour in the psaltery breaks 1913.
Wisdom by Siegfried Sassoon when wisdom tells me that the world's a speck lost on the shoreless blue of god's to-day i smile and think for every man his way the world's my ship and i'm alone on deck and when he tells me that the world's a spark lit in the whistling gloom of god's to-night i look within me to the edge of dark and dream the world's my field and i'm the lark alone with upward song alone with light nineteen fifteen End of poem.
This recording is in the public domain.
