Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.
A Breton NightErnest Rhys
T
Three women sit beside the fire
Silent, and watch their shadows sprawl
Like sombre wolfhounds on the floor.
Pities the young wife great with child,
Whose mate lies drowned beneath the sea.
She cannot tell how to bear it all,
When she need not fear the quick and dead,
That every nightfall step the stair,
Awaiting the Nativity.
To look out through the leaden panes
Between the wall-bed and the hearth;
And hear the wind like sea-waves there.
The dark blind seed doth hear the wind,
And think of death, and dream of birth,
As the window sends the firelight forth.