Public-domain source text

Futility

by Wilfred Owen

From Standard Ebooks · standardebooks/wilfred-owen_poetry

Move him into the sun⁠— Gently its touch awoke him once, At home, whispering of fields unsown. Always it woke him, even in France, Until this morning and this snow. If anything might rouse him now The kind old sun will know.
Think how it wakes the seeds⁠— Woke, once, the clays of a cold star. Are limbs so dear-achieved, are sides Full-nerved⁠—still warm⁠—too hard to stir? Was it for this the clay grew tall? —O what made fatuous sunbeams toil To break earth’s sleep at all?

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This is a source transcription from Standard Ebooks, published in Past Poetry’s public-domain archive without line-by-line editorial notes. Public-domain source edition. Availability can vary by territory.

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