Richard Aldington

Living Sepulchres (1919)

One frosty night when the guns were still
I leaned against the trench
Making for myself hokku
Of the moon and flowers and of the snow.

But the ghostly scurrying of huge rats
Swollen with feeding upon men’s flesh
Filled me with shrinking dread.

For an overview of Aldington’s Japanese interests see Richard Aldington and Japan in the Bibliography. ‘Living Sepulchres’ (BB9b) appeared in Aldington’s Images of War (BB9).

For a note about Aldington’s work in print see Penultimate Poetry.