A Lament

About

This short work sets a poem by one of lesser-known poets active at the time of the first World War. Wilfrid Gibson (1878-1962), was a close friend of Rupert Brooke, and worked for a time as a social worker in London's East End. He published his first verse in 1902, and had several poems included in various Georgian poetry collections prior to the war. After the outbreak of war, Gibson served as a private in the infantry on the Western Front. It was therefore from the perspective of the ordinary soldier that Gibson wrote his war poetry. His active service was brief, but his poetry belies his lack of experience. His later work tended to be eclipsed by the Modernist school of poetry.

A Lament was written for, and is dedicated to, Taupo Choral Society - a choir in which my mother sang in its earliest days, and which I had conducted in 2013.