IV. THE LANDSCAPE

You said, that first winter,

That the landscape around Ypres

Reminded you of Chinese paintings:

The green plain, striped with trenches,

The few trees on the plain,

And the puffs of smoke sprinkled over the plain.

You said, when the war was over,

That you would record that green desolation

In flat colours and lines

As a Chinese artist would.

That is what you were going to do.

The plain is still there.