War Poetry

This touching poem was written by an internee held by the Germans in Grand Caserne, St. Denis, in 1942. It comes from a small, privately-published book of verses by internees, many of whom had already been imprisoned for eighteen months. To Maia - in England by James E. Thomas Let us be still awhile and dream of days When you and I went roving happily; How like a misty curtain hung the haze Veiling the dappled splendour of the sky. Dear God, how sweet to us was life that May, The sun, the sky, the earth, the grey-green sea Were ours, and we like children deemed the day Too short to drink our fill of ecstasy. But now I seek in vain that long-lost joy, How could I once have found the earth so fair! Alone have I the thought of you to buoy Me in the swirling water of despair. Dear heart, how little shall I count the cost If I regain the beauty I have lost!