| Louis Untermeyer, ed. (1885–1977). Modern British Poetry. 1920. |
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| Osbert Sitwell. 1892– |
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| 169. The Blind Pedlar |
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| I STAND alone through each long day | |
| Upon these pavers; cannot see | |
| The wares spread out upon this tray | |
| —For God has taken sight from me! | |
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| Many a time I've cursed the night | 5 |
| When I was born. My peering eyes | |
| Have sought for but one ray of light | |
| To pierce the darkness. When the skies | |
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| Rain down their first sweet April showers | |
| On budding branches; when the morn | 10 |
| Is sweet with breath of spring and flowers, | |
| I've cursed the night when I was born. | |
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| But now I thank God, and am glad | |
| For what I cannot see this day | |
| —The young men cripples, old, and sad, | 15 |
| With faces burnt and torn away; | |
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| Or those who, growing rich and old, | |
| Have battened on the slaughter, | |
| Whose faces, gorged with blood and gold, | |
| Are creased in purple laughter! | 20 |
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