Before An Altar

E. J. Pratt

(After Gueudecourt)

Break we the bread once more,
  The cup we pass around—
No, rather let us pour
  This wine upon the ground;

And on the salver lay
  The bread—there to remain.
Perhaps, some other day,
  Shrovetide will come again.

Blurred is the rubric now,
  And shadowy the token,
When blood is on the brow,
  And the frail body broken.

Next 10 Poems

• E. J. Pratt : Come Not The Seasons Here
• E. J. Pratt : Defensive Measures
• E. J. Pratt : Inventory Of Hades
• E. J. Pratt : Newfoundland
• E. J. Pratt : Other Ingredients
• E. J. Pratt : Overheard By A Stream
• E. J. Pratt : Sea-gulls
• E. J. Pratt : The Big Fellow
• E. J. Pratt : The Charge Of The Swordfish
• E. J. Pratt : The Drowning

Previous 10 Poems

• E. J. Pratt : An Hour Later
• Ezra Pound : Villonaud For This Yule
• Ezra Pound : Villanelle: The Psychological Hour
• Ezra Pound : Ts'ai Chi'h
• Ezra Pound : To The Raphaelite Latinists
• Ezra Pound : These Fought In Any Case
• Ezra Pound : The Tree
• Ezra Pound : The Summons
• Ezra Pound : The Seeing Eye
• Ezra Pound : The Seafarer