Coucy

Alan Seeger

The rooks aclamor when one enters here

Startle the empty towers far overhead;

Through gaping walls the summer fields appear,

Green, tan, or, poppy-mingled, tinged with red.

The courts where revel rang deep grass and moss

Cover, and tangled vines have overgrown

The gate where banners blazoned with a cross

Rolled forth to toss round Tyre and Ascalon.

Decay consumes it. The old causes fade.

And fretting for the contest many a heart

Waits their Tyrtaeus to chant on the new.

Oh, pass him by who, in this haunted shade

Musing enthralled, has only this much art,

To love the things the birds and flowers love too.