NPM

I first discovered this poem on bookish, after last year's London subway bombing.

The night falls over London. City and sky
Blend slowly. All the crowded plain grows dark.
The last few loiterers leave the glooming park
To swell that mighty tide which still sweeps by,
Heedless save of its own humanity,
Down to the Circus, where the staring arc
Winks through the night, and every face shows stark
And every cheek betrays its painted lie.

But here through bending trees blows a great wind;
Through torn cloud-gaps the angry stars look down.
Here have I heard this night the wings of War,
His dark and frowning countenance I saw.
What dreadful menance hangs above our town?
Let all the great cities pray; for they have sinned.

-Geoffrey Faber