As I lie roofed in, screened in, <br />From the pattering rain, <br />The summer rain— <br />As I lie <br />Snug and dry, <br />And hear the birds complain: <br /> <br />Oh, billow on billow, <br />Oh, roar on roar, <br />Over me wash <br />The seas of war. <br />Over me—down—down— <br />Lunges and plunges <br />The huge gun with its one blind eye, <br />The armored train, <br />And, swooping out of the sky, <br />The aeroplane. <br />Down—down— <br />The army proudly swinging <br />Under gay flags, <br />The glorious dead heaped up like rags, <br />A church with bronze bells ringing, <br />A city all towers, <br />Gardens of lovers and flowers, <br />The round world swinging <br />In the light of the sun: <br />All broken, undone, <br />All down—under <br />Black surges of thunder … <br /> <br />Oh, billow on billow <br />Oh, roar on roar, <br />Over me wash <br />The seas of war … <br /> <br />As I lie roofed in, screened in, <br />From the pattering rain, <br />The summer rain— <br />As I lie <br />Snug and dry, <br />And hear the birds complain.<br /><br />Harriet Monroe<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/on-the-porch-2/
