Margaret Cole

Overview

Margaret Postgate Cole born Cambridge, England May 6, 1893 (d. 1980). British pacifist poet; leading Fabian Socialist; feminist. Opposed World War I; promoted conscientious objection.

Quotations

Today, as I rode by,
I saw the brown leaves dropping from their tree
In a still afternoon,
When no wind whirled them whistling to the sky,
But thickly, silently,
They fell, like snowflakes wiping out the noon;
And wandered slowly thence
For thinking of a gallant multitude
Which now all withering lay,
Slain by no wind of age or pestilence,
But in their beauty strewed
Like snowflakes falling on the Flemish clay.

(“The Falling Leaves”, Nov. 1915; photo Spartacus)