Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967). The Old Huntsman and Other Poems. 1918.

5. France

SHE triumphs, in the vivid green

Where sun and quivering foliage meet;

And in each soldier’s heart serene;

When death stood near them they have seen

The radiant forests where her feet

Move on a breeze of silver sheen.

And they are fortunate, who fight

For gleaming landscapes swept and shafted

And crowned by cloud pavilions white;

Hearing such harmonies as might

Only from Heaven be downward wafted—

Voices of victory and delight.