First World War Poetry Digital Archive

The Bridge

THE BRIDGE by EDWARD THOMAS I have come a long way today: On a strange bridge alone, Remembering friends, old friends, I rest, without smile or moan, As they remember me without smile or moan. All are behind, the kind And the unkind too, no more Tonight than a dream. The stream Runs softly yet drowns the Past, The dark-lit stream has drowned the Future and the Past. No traveller has rest more blest Than this moment brief between Two lives, when the Night's first lights And shades hide what has never been, Things goodlier, lovelier, dearer, than will be or have been.

Citation

“The Bridge,” by Thomas, Edward (1878-1917). Copyright Edward Thomas, 1979, reproduced under licence from Faber and Faber Ltd. via First World War Poetry Digital Archive, accessed April 18, 2024, http://ww1lit.nsms.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/collections/item/2860.

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