But These Things Also

Item

Title

But These Things Also

Description

But these things also are Spring's---
On banks by the roadside the grass
Long-dead that is greyer now
Than all the Winter it was;
The shell of a little snail bleached
In the grass; chip of flint, and mite
Of chalk; and the small birds' dung
In splashes of purest white:
All the white things a man mistakes
For earliest violets
Who seeks through Winter's ruins
Something to pay Winter's debts,
While the North blows, and starling flocks
By chattering on and on
Keep their spirits up in the mist,
And Spring's here, Winter's not gone.

Identifier

2870.txt

Creator

Thomas, Edward (1878-1917)

Date

1979

Date Created

1979-01-01

Temporal Coverage

1979-12-31

Type

Poem

Publisher

The First World War Poetry Digital Archive

Other Media