Writing towards the end of the first world war, the poet, novelist, journalist and suffragist Benson here dreams of a secure peace
Writing towards the end of the first world war, the poet, novelist, journalist and suffragist Benson here dreams of a secure peace
The Secret Day
My yesterday has gone, has gone and left me tired,
And now tomorrow comes and beats upon the door;
So I have built To-day, the day that I desired,
From an almost whimsical beginning, these verses on wishing to overcome mortality grow lyrical and deeply moving
A landscape of illusory peace is depicted just before the guns of battle reach it in the first world war
A journey through a visionary landscape, exceptionally bright in icy weather, conjures a surreal semi-mythical world
Words of stern moral advice to a besotted young man are delivered with a brisk and even sunny touch
A collective dash for shelter in the city takes on a spiritual, near-religious power
The moon becomes the witty image of an isolated and contemptuously neglected elderly relation
