by Wilfred Owen (1893 - 1918)
The end
Language: English
After the blast of lightning from the East, The flourish of loud clouds, the Chariot Throne; After the drums of time have rolled and ceased, And by the bronze west long retreat is blown, Shall life renew these bodies? Of a truth All death will He annul, all tears assuage? - [Or fill these void veins full again with youth]1, And wash, with an immortal water, Age? When I do ask white Age he saith not so: "My head hangs weighed with snow." And when I hearken to the Earth, she saith: "My fiery heart shrinks, aching. It is death. Mine ancient scars shalls not be glorified, Nor my titanic tears, the sea, be dried."
View original text (without footnotes)
This text (or a part of it) is used in a work
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
First published in the Saturday Westminster Gazette, 1919.
1 Britten: "Fill the void veins of Life again with youth"Authorship:
- by Wilfred Owen (1893 - 1918), "The end" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Elaine Hugh-Jones (b. 1927), "The end" [tenor or baritone and piano or orchestra], from Songs of War, no. 4. [text not verified]
This text (or a part of it) is used in a work
- by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Sanctus", op. 66 no. 4, published 1961 [soprano, tenor, baritone, satb chorus, boys' chorus, orchestra, chamber orchestra, organ], from the collection War Requiem, no. 4..
Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , title 1: "La fin", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-01-08
Line count: 14
Word count: 115