October's bellowing anger breaks and cleaves
The bronzed battalions of the stricken wood
In whose lament I hear a voice that grieves
For battle's fruitless harvest, and the feud
Of outraged men. Their lives are like the leaves
Scattered in flocks of ruin, tossed and blown
Along the westering furnace flaring red.
O martyred youth and manhood overthrown,
The burden of your wrongs is on my head.
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Confirmed with Siegfried Sassoon, COUNTER-ATTACK and other poems, E.P .Dutton and company, New York, 1918, page 48
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Automne", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust
[Administrator] , Pierre Mathé
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website: 2008-10-19
Line count: 9
Word count: 67
La fureur hurlante d'octobre brise et sépare
Les bataillons bronzés du bois dévasté,
Dans sa lamentation j'entends une voix qui pleure
La vaine moisson de la bataille, et l'affrontement
Des hommes outragés. Leurs vies sont comme les feuilles
Dispersées en tas de ruines, jetées et soufflées
Au fourneau rougeoyant du couchant.
Ô jeunesse martyrisée et hommes vaincus,
Je porte sur ma tête le fardeau de vos erreurs.
