Explore "Whitechapel" by Richard Aldington on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Noise; / Iron hoofs, iron wheels, iron din / Of drays and trams and feet passing; / Iron / Beaten to a vast mad cacophony.
_In vain the shrill, far cry_ / _Of swallows sweeping by;_ / _In vain the silence and green_ / _Of meadows Apriline;_ / _In vain the clear white rain--_
Soot; mud; / A nation maddened with labour; / Interminable collision of energies-- / Iron beating upon iron; / Smoke whirling upwards, / Speechless, impotent.
_In vain the shrill, far cry_ / _Of kittiwakes that fly_ / _Where the sea waves leap green._ / _The meadows Apriline--_
Noise, iron, smoke; / Iron, iron, iron.