Sombre the night is.
And though we have our lives, we know
What sinister threat lurks there.
Dragging these anguished limbs, we only know
This poison-blasted track opens on our camp-
On a little safe sleep.
But hark! joy-joy-strange joy.
Lo! heights of night ringing with unseen larks
Music showering on our upturned list’ning faces.
Death could drop from the dark
As easily as song –
But song only dropped,
Like a blind man’s dreams on the sand
By dangerous tides,
Like a girl’s dark hair for she dreams no ruin lies there,
Or her kisses where a serpent hides.

Readings

Returning, We Hear The Larks read by Alicia Vikander
Returning, We Hear the Larks read by Charles Dance
Returning, We Hear the Larks read by Hugh Dancy
Returning, We Hear the Larks read by Max Irons
Select reading
Returning, We Hear The Larks read by Alicia Vikander
Returning, We Hear the Larks read by Charles Dance
Returning, We Hear the Larks read by Hugh Dancy
Returning, We Hear the Larks read by Max Irons
© Copyright 2025 The Josephine Hart Poetry Foundation. A charity registered in England and Wales number 1145062.