by John Collings Squire, Sir (1884 - 1958)
The march
Language: English
I heard a voice that cried, "Make way for those who died!" And all the coloured crowd like ghosts at morning fled ; And down the waiting road, rank after rank there strode, In mute and measured march a hundred thousand dead. A hundred thousand dead, with firm and noiseless tread, All shadowy-grey yet solid, with faces grey and ghast, And by the house they went, and all their brows were bent Straight forward ; and they passed, and passed, and passed, and passed. But O there came a place, and O there came a face, That clenched my heart to see it, and sudden turned my way ; And in the Face that turned I saw two eyes that burned, Never-forgotten eyes, and they had things to say. Like desolate stars they shone one moment, and were gone, And I sank down and put my arms across my head, And felt them moving past, nor looked to see the last, In steady silent march, our hundred thousand dead.
Authorship:
- by John Collings Squire, Sir (1884 - 1958), "The march", appears in Twelve Poems, first published 1916 [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 Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir (1868 - 1946), "The march", published 1919 [ male voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-01-22
Line count: 16
Word count: 169