As I lie roofed in, screened in,
From the pattering rain,
The summer rain
As I lie
Snug and dry,
And hear the birds complain:
Oh, billow on billow,
Oh, roar on roar,
Over me wash
The seas of war.
Over medowndown
Lunges and plunges
The huge gun with its one blind eye,
The armored train,
And, swooping out of the sky,
The aeroplane.
Downdown
The army proudly swinging
Under gay flags,
The glorious dead heaped up like rags,
A church with bronze bells ringing,
A city all towers,
Gardens of lovers and flowers,
The round world swinging
In the light of the sun:
All broken, undone,
All downunder
Black surges of thunder
Oh, billow on billow
Oh, roar on roar,
Over me wash
The seas of war
As I lie roofed in, screened in,
From the pattering rain,
The summer rain
As I lie
Snug and dry,
And hear the birds complain.
