Hello!
Today I'm going to talk about Edmund Blunden's master piece "The Midnight Skaters".

Below is Edmund Blunden's poem:

The hop-poles stand in cones,
The icy pond lurks under,
The pole-tops steeple to the thrones
Of stars, sound gulfs of wonder;
But not the tallest there, 'tis said,
Could fathom to this pond's black bed.
Then is not death at watch
Within those secret waters?
What wants he but to catch
Earth's heedless sons and daughters?
With but a crystal parapet
Between, he has his engines set.

Then on, blood shouts, on, on,
Twirl, wheel and whip above him,
Dance on this ball-floor thin and wan,
Use him as though you love him;
Court him, elude him, reel and pass,
And let him hate you through the glass.

The meaning of this poem is about how we come close to death throughout our lives.

Here I am going to explain the meanings of some of the verses.

The hop-poles stand in cones,(hop poles are the poles that the hop plant [the plant the use to brew beer] is trained to grow upon)
The icy pond lurks under, (the meaning of this verse is that the pond is frozen over)
The pole-tops steeple to the thrones (the meaning of steeple is that it is a pointed roof or surface)
Of stars, sound gulfs of wonder;
But not the tallest there, 'tis said,
Could fathom to this pond's black bed.(these two verses mean that the tallest person there would not be able to the bottom of the pond)
Then is not death at watch
Within those secret waters?
What wants he but to catch
Earth's heedless sons and daughters? (these verses mean that the ice is thin and that the water below the ice is so cold that it could easily kill a person)
With but a crystal parapet
Between, he has his engines set.

Then on, blood shouts, on, on,
Twirl, wheel and whip above him,
Dance on this ball-floor thin and wan,
Use him as though you love him;
Court him, elude him, reel and pass,
And let him hate you through the glass.(this part means that those who are skating on the ice are courting with death)

That's it for me, but click here if you want to find out more about Edmund Blunden.
See ya later!!!