Edward Thomas’s watch

stopped at 7.36 a.m.
Easter Monday 9th April 1917.
And suddenly coming into focus is
England: the softly dipping meadows,
that moment when the noonday heat
defrauds the lilies of their dew,
old grey hop poles,
the serenity of poppies,
a lane of larches that he loved:
all suddenly stopped in time.

David Broadbridge