War Days in Brittany

by Elsie Deming Jarves

Of walled-in bed of carven oak,

Of polished flags upon the floor,

Neath heavy rafters black with smoke;

The song of the wheel as, cannily,

The wife spins her flax in Brittany.

V

The sabots clatter down the street,

The church bell sounds across the bay,

The brown sails of the fishing fleet

Grow black against the dying day;