Geoffrey Hill(b. 1932)
The Distant Fury of Battle
Grass resurrects to mask, to strangle
Words glossed on stone, lopped stone-angel;
But the dead maintain their ground—
That there's no getting r o u n d —
W h o in places vitally rest,
Named, anonymous; w h o test
Alike the endurance of yews
Laurels, m o o n s h i n e , stone, all tissues;
With w h o m , under licence and duress,
There are pacts made, if not peace.
Union with the stone-wearing dead
Claims the born leader, the prepared
Leader, the devourers and all lean men.
Some, finally, learn to begin.
S o m e keep to the arrangement of love
(Or similar trust) under w h o s e auspices move
Most subjects, toward the profits of this
Combine of doves and witnesses.
Some, dug out of hot-beds, are brought bare,
N o t past conceiving but past care.
1959