1     Move him into the sun--
2     Gently its touch awoke him once,
3     At home, whispering of fields unsown.
4     Always it awoke him, even in France,
5     Until this morning and this snow.
6     If anything might rouse him now
7     The kind old sun will know.

8     Think how it wakes the seeds--
9     Woke, once, the clays of a cold star.
10   Are limbs so dear-achieved, are sides
11   Full-nerved,--still warm,--too hard to stir?
12   Was it for this the clay grew tall?
13   --O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
14   To break earth's sleep at all?

• Other poems by Owen ...
• The poet's life and works ...

Composition Date:

1917-18.

Form:

sonnet (ababccc dedefff).