Charing Cross
Charing Cross
Original Text
The Collected Poems of T. W. H. Crosland (London: Martin
Secker, 1917): 43. PR 4518 C686A17
2The April dawn glimmers along the beds,
3There is a lifting up of weary heads
4From weary pillows. Our old citadel
5Hath still held out, and while the miracle
6Of morning is unbared again, and spreads
7All the young East with greens and blues and reds
8Each of us wakes to his particular hell.
11We kindle for the ending of the dark:
13The little bandaged boy in Number Six
Notes
1] Crosland wrote this poem during a long recovery in Charing Cross Hospital, London (W. Sorley Brown, The Life and Genius of T. W. H. Crosland [London: Cecil Palmer, 1928]: 255). Back to Line
9] Styx: one of the rivers of classical Hades, over which the infernal ferryman Charon ferried the souls of the dead into the underworld. Back to Line
10] schism: breach, reft, separation on account of religious disagreement. Back to Line
12] Aneurism: aneurysm, abnormally enlarged blood vessel. Back to Line
14] An unlocated hymn based on Jesus' warning "I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins" (John 8:24). Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1912
Publication Notes
Sonnets (London: John Richmond, 1912).
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2002
Rhyme
Form