s: And he makes a sweet concert with them and his chains!


s: He drowns care in sack, while his thoughts are opprest,


s: And he makes his heart float like a cork in his breast.


s: Then since we are slaves, and all islanders be,


s: And our land a large prison enclosed by the sea,


s: We'll drink off the ocean, and set ourselves free,


s: Let tyrants wear purple, deep-dy'd in the blood


s: Of those they have slain, their scepters to sway,


s: If our conscience be clear, and our title be good,


s: With the rags that hang on us we are richer than they;


s: We'll drink down at night what we beg or can borrow,


s: And sleep without plotting for more the next morrow.


s: Let the usurer watch o'er his bags and his house,


s: To keep that from robbers he rak'd from his debtors,


s: Which at midnight cries thieves at the noise of a mouse,


s: And he looks if his trunks are fast bound to their fetters;


s: When once he's grown rich enough for a State's plot,


s: But in one hour plunders what threescore years got.


s: Come, drawer, fill each man a peck of old sherry,


s: This brimmer shall bid all our senses good-night;


s: When old Aristotle was frolic and merry,


s: By the juice of the grape, he stagger'd out-right;


s: Copernicus once, in a drunken fit, found


s: By the course of's brains that the world did turn round.


s: 'Tis sack makes our faces like comets to shine,


s: And gives tincture beyond a complexion mask.


s: That when 'twas all out he dwelt in the cask,


s: He, dying, requested a tub for his tomb.


s: Let him never so privately muster his gold,


s: How closely they're prest in their canvas hold,


s: And they want the State-souldier to set them all free:


s: Let them pine and be hanged, we'll merrily sing,


s: Who hath nothing to lose, may cry, God bless the King.


s: We'll not bind our hands with drayman's bands,


s: When he bears the sway, his subjects they


s: Who hates ale and beer, shall be welcome here


s: the sollid grief and sorrow of all his loving subjects.


s: From vol. i. of the Roxburgh Ballads in Brit. Mus.


s: Four Dukes, I, and Prince George by name,


s: That like great Charles, our King and friend,


s: To gracious James, for Charles his sake;


s: An elogy on the death of his sacred Majesty King Charles II., of


s: From the King's Pamphlets, British Museum.


s: Unwelcome news!  Whitehall its sable wears,


s: And each good subject lies dissolved in tears!


s: Justly indeed; for Charles is dead, the great,


s: (Who can so much as such great griefs repeat?)


s: King Charles the good, in whom that day there fell


s: Ah! cruel Death! we find thy fatal sting


s: A King so wise, so just, and he'd great part


s: In Solomon's wisdom and in David's heart;


s: Sprung from the loyns of Charles of blessed fame,


s: A worthy son of his great father's name,


s: His parent's and his grandsire's virtues he,


s: As h' did their crown, enjoy'd EX TRADUCE,


s: Of th' best and greatest of Kings the epitome.


s: His justice such as him none could affright


s: From doing t'all to God and subjects right.


s: Punish he could, but, like Heaven's Majesty,


s: Would that a traitor should repent, not die.


s: His prudence to the laws due vigour gave,


s: His valour and his courage, write who can?


s: Wrestling with sorrows in a land unknown,


s: Whilst Herod did usurp his royal throne,


s: Like Moses, at the brink of death he lay.


s: But that storm's over, and blest be that hand


s: That gave him conduct to his peaceful land;


s: Where this great King the Gordian knot unties,


s: Of Heaven's, the kingdom's, and his enemies;


s: Not with the sword, but with his grace and love,


s: Giving to those their lives that for his strove:


s: Since our blest Saviour's and his father's death.


s: In fine, his actions may our pattern be,


s: But now he's dead, alas! our David's gone,


s: Is fall'n asleep; that glorious star's no more


s: That English wise men led unto the shore


s: Cherished within our pious mother's breast,


s: And with protection of such Kings still blest;


s: Blest with his piety and the nation too,


s: Happy in's reign, with milk and honey flew;


s: Yea, blest so much with peace and nature's store


s: Heaven could scarce give or we desire he more;


s: But yet, alas! he's dead!  Mourn, England, mourn,


s: And all your scarlet into black cloth turn;


s: Let dust and ashes with your tears comply.


s: And let your love to Charles be shown hereby


s: In rendering James your prayers and loyalty.


s: Long may Great James these kingdoms' sceptre sway,


s: Whilst with joint comfort all agree to sing,


s: Heaven bless these kingdoms and "God save the King!"


s: What means, honest shepherd, this cloud on thy brow?


s: Say, where is thy mirth and thy melody now?


s: Thy pipe thrown aside, and thy looks full of thought,


s: As silent and sad as a bird newly caught.


s: Some lamb been betray'd by the craft of the fox;


s: Or murrain, more fatal, just seized on thy herd;


s: Or has thy dear Phyllis let slip a cross word?


s: The season indeed may to musing incline,


s: Now that grey-bearded Winter makes Autumn resign;


s: The hills all around us their russet put on,


s: And the skies seem in mourning for loss of the sun.


s: The winds make the tree, where thou sitt'st, shake its head;


s: Yet tho' with dry leaves mother earth's lap is spread,


s: Her bosom, to cheer it, is verdant with wheat,


s: And the woods can supply us with pastime and meat.


s: Oh! no, says the shepherd, I mourn none of these,


s: Content with such changes as Heaven shall please;


s: Tho' now we have got the wrong side of the year,


s: 'Twill turn up again, and fresh beauties appear:


s: But the loss that I grieve for no time can restore;


s: Our master that lov'd us so well is no more;


s: That oak which we hop'd wou'd long shelter us all,


s: Is fallen; then well may we shake at its fall.


s: Where find we a pastor so kind and so good,


s: So careful to feed us with wholesomest food,


s: To watch for our safety, and drive far away


s: The sly prouling fox that would make us his prey?


s: To shame those hard shepherds who, mindful of gain,


s: Only look at their sheep with an eye to the fleece,


s: And watch 'em but so as the fox watch'd the geese.


s: Whom now shall I choose for the theme of my song?


s: Or must my poor pipe on the willow be hung?


s: No more to commend that good nature and sense,


s: Which always cou'd please, but ne'er once gave offence.


s: Yet would not his judgment on others intrude;


s: Still ready to help with his service and vote,


s: But ne'er to thrust oar in another man's boat.


s: No more, honest shepherd, these sorrows resound,


s: The virtues thou praisest, so hard to be found,


s: Are yet not all fled, for the swain who succeeds


s: To his fields and his herds is true heir to his deeds;


s: His pattern he'll follow, his gentleness use,


s: Take care of the shepherds and cherish the muse:


s: Then cease for the dead thy impertinent care,


s: Rejoice, he survives in his brother and heir.


s: On his exaltation on the throne of England.


s: To the tune of "Hark! the Thundering Cannons roar."


s: Great James subdued the boisterous crowd,


s: In a flowery mead, when each lovely maid


s: Huzza! they cried; Huzza! they all replied,


s: To the Queen, quothiwell; Drink it off, says Nell,


s: And the prince, says Hugh; That's right, says Sue;


s: Name your dance, quoth John; Bid him, says Anne,


s: Play, The King shall enjoy his own again.


s: (1)  This stanza is omitted in most collections.  Walker was a


s: colonel in the parliamentary army; and afterwards a member of the


s: (2)  The Directory for the Public Worship of God, ordered by the


s: Assembly of Divines at Westminster in 1644, to supersede the Book


s: (4)  The Excise, first introduced by the Long Parliament, was


s: particularly obnoxious to the Tory party.  Dr Johnson more than a


s: and in his Dictionary defined it to be "a hateful tax levied upon


s: (7)  Sir John Ogle, one of the Royalist commanders, who was


s: intrusted with the defence of Winchester Castle, which he


s: (8)  Wren, bishop of Ely, was committed to the Tower in 1641,


s: accused with high "misdemeanours" in his diocese.


s: (9)  David Jenkins, a Welsh Judge, who had been made prisoner at


s: the taking of Hereford, and committed first to Newgate and


s: afterwards to the Tower.  He refused to acknowledge the authority


s: (10)  Sir Francis Wortley, Bart., was made a prisoner in 1644, at


s: (11)  Sir Edward Hales, Bart., of Woodchurch, in Kent, had been


s: member for Queenborough in the Isle of Sheppey.  He was not a


s: taken at the surrender of Sherborne Castle.


s: (14)  The horrible barbarities committed by the Irish rebels had


s: (15)  Sir John Hewet, of Huntingdonshire, was committed to the


s: violence and barbarities which he and his troop were said to have


s: (17)  Sir William Lewis, one of the eleven members who had been


s: Parliament, and was one of those who attended Charles's "Mongrel"


s: (19)  Sir Lewis Dives, an active Royalist, was governor of


s: Sherborne Castle for the King, and had been made a prisoner by


s: (21)  King was a Royalist general, in the north, who was slain


s: (22)  Sir William Morton, of Gloucestershire, committed to the


s: Tower on the 17th August, 1644.  Cardinal Morton, Archbishop of


s: committed to the Tower in November, 1642, for reading the King's


s: (24)  Sir Wingfield Bodenham, of the county of Rutland, committed


s: (26)  Lilburn was, as has been observed, in the Tower for his


s: (27)  Mr Thomas Violet, of London, goldsmith, committed to the


s: and Ashburnham had been his sole attendants in his flight from


s: (30)  Glynn was one of the eleven members impeached by the army.


s: (31)  It was believed at this time that Fairfax was favourable to


s: (33) The copy in the "Rump Songs" has "Smee and his tub."


s: obsolete.  In 1598, a Welshman, or borderer, writes to Lord


s: Burghley for leave "to drive the devill and his dam" from the


s: castle of Skenfrith, where they were said to watch over hidden


s: treasure:  "The voyce of the countrey goeth there is a dyvell and


s: Devil, or devil's dam, I'll conjure thee:


s: Blood will I draw on thee, thou art a witch."


s: (35)  The prediction was not QUITE so speedily verified.


s: (36)  Colonel Hewson, originally a shoemaker.


s: especially as a land of witches.  This fame appears to have


s: Tower, in the forest of Pendle.  In 1613 was published an account


s: Arraignment and Triall of nineteene notorious Witches, at the


s: Assizes and general Goale Deliverie, holden in the Castle of


s: Lancaster, on Monday, the seventeenth of August last, 1612.


s: chap-book up to the beginning of the nineteenth century. - T.


s: (44)  Cromwell's two sons, Richard and Henry.


s: (46)  Col. Pride, originally a brewer's drayman.


s: (47)  Walter Strickland, M.P. for a Cornish borough.


s: (48)  Monk was with his troops in Scotland, but had declared


s: himself an approver of the proceedings of the Parliament.


s: inclination to Presbyterianism, but early in the war he embraced


s: clerk of the Council of Officers at Wallingford House.


s: (51)  Col. Robert Tichbourne was also an alderman, and had been


s: Lord Mayor in 1658.  He was an enthusiast in religion of the


s: period, entitled, "A Cluster of Canaan's Grapes.  Being severall


s: Presbyterian party, Ireton and Tichbourne were committed to the


s: Museum two satirical tracts relating to their imprisonment:  1.


s: "The Apology of Robert Tichborn and John Ireton.  Being a serious


s: light-heeled apprentices and head-strong masters of this wincing


s: (54)  On the tenth of February Monk, by order of the Parliament,


s: that he was now gone back to Whitehall.  The city look mighty


s: blank, and cannot tell what in the world to do."  The next day he


s: (56)  Pepys gives the following description of the rejoicings in


s: was everywhere to be seen!  The number of bonfires! there being


s: butchers at the May Pole in the Strand rang a peal with their


s: knives when they were going to sacrifice their rump.  On Ludgate


s: the greatness and the suddenness of it.  At one end of the street


s: (57)  In a satirical tract, entitled "Free Parliament Quaeries,"


s: angry, and Billing, standing by the door, took him by the arm and


s: (58)  Haselrigge was accused of having been a dupe to Monck's


s: did not omit to show their hostility against the presenter of the


s: Private Debates, etc., of the Rump," 4to, April 2, 1660, we read,


s: herring faces as myself, and the devil himself is in 'um for


s: Corbet, and that was work enough for one day."  And, in a fourth,


s: (61)  William Lord Monson, Viscount Castlemaine, was member for


s: tracts of the day, that he was chiefly famous for being beaten by


s: deliciae populi, ein Hanswurst, Pickelhering."  The term was


s: applied as a soubriquet to any man who played the fool to serve


s: (63)  An allusion to James Harrington's "Oceana."


s: Commonwealth; once proposed and debated in brief, and to be again


s: (65)  William Prynne, the lawyer, who had been so active a member


s: basket-hilt sword on, and had a great many shouts upon his going


s: (66)  John Wilde was one of the members for Worcestershire in the


s: Droitwich, and was made by the Protector "Lord Chief Baron of the


s: (70)  Lambert, with his army, was in the North, and amid the


s: (72)  Lambert and "his bears" are frequently mentioned in the


s: (74)  Harry Marten, member for Berkshire, a man of equivocal


s: private character.  In the heat of the civil wars he had been


s: committed to the Tower for a short time by the Parliament, for


s: speaking too openly against the person of the King.  When he


s: attempted to speak against the violent dissolution of the Long


s: Parliament by Cromwell, the latter reproached him with the


s: (75)  William Lord Monson, Viscount Castlemaine, was member for


s: from the Tower to Tyburn, and back again, and to be imprisoned


s: there for life.  It appears, by the satirical tracts of the day,


s: that he was chiefly famous for being beaten by his wife. - T. W.


s: (76)  Sir Arthur Haselrigge, member for Leicestershire.


s: (78)  Dr John Hewit, an episcopal clergyman, executed for high


s: (80)  Sir Edmund Prideaux, Bart., member for Lyme Regis.  He was


s: (82)  John Wilde, one of the members for Worcestershire.  In


s: Cromwell's last Parliament he represented Droitwich, and was made


s: (83)  Sir Henry Slingsby and Dr Hewet were executed for treason


s: against the government of Oliver Cromwell in 1658.  Colonel John


s: Gerard was brought to the block at the beginning of the


s: Protectorate, in 1654, for being engaged in a plot to assassinate


s: member of Cromwell's "other House," and held the office of Lord


s: Commissioner of the Great Seal.  He was president of the High


s: Courts of Justice which tried Gerard, Slingsby, and Hewet.


s: accused of cowardice in surrendering Bristol (of which he was


s: (86)  John Lord Glynn, member of Cromwell's "other House," was


s: (87)  Henry Nevil, member for Abingdon.  In Cromwell's last


s: Parliament he represented Reading.  In a satirical tract, he is


s: spoken of as "religious Harry Nevill;" and we find in Burton's


s: (88)  In the satirical tract entitled "England's Confusion," this


s: appears to have risen from a low station, and is characterized in


s: (89)  Major Salwey was an officer in the Parliamentary array.  On


s: "The tobacco-man Salway, with a heart tall of gall


s: Puffs down bells, steeples, priests, churches and all,


s: A third ballad, alluding to his attitude in the House, couples


s: And the meditations of Salloway biting his thumbs." - T. W.


s: (90)  Roger Hill was member for Bridport, in Dorsetshire.  He


s: (91)  With the revival of the Long Parliament, the old Republican


s: turning against the patriots, lifted up his pen against it, and


s: published "The Republicans and others spurious Good old Cause


s: briefly and truly Anatomized," 4to, May 13, 1659.


s: (92)  Robert Cecil, Esq., was one of the members of the Old Long


s: Parliament who were now brought together to form the Rump.  He


s: (93)  Luke Robinson, of Pickering Lyth, in Yorkshire, was member


s: for Scarborough.  An old ballad says of him,


s: Yet a high shoe with his hand in his poke


s: (96)  Hugh Peters, the celebrated fanatic.  In the margin of the


s: original, opposite to the words "the Devil's fees," is the


s: following note - "His numps and his kidneys." - T. W.


s: (97)  To save his tithe pig:  - probably the origin of the well


s: valuable collection of ballads in the possession of Mr Thorpe of


s: (101)  "October 13th.  I went out to Charing Cross to see Major-


s: General Harrison hanged, drawn, and quartered, which was done


s: there, he looking as cheerful as any man could do in that


s: condition." - Pepys.  Thomas Harrison was the son of a butcher at


s: Whitehall to his trial, and afterwards sat as one of the judges.


s: (102)  "October 15th.  This morning Mr Carew was hanged and


s: quartered at Charing Cross; but his quarters, by a great favour,


s: are not to be hanged up." - Pepys.  Colonel John Carew, like


s: Harrison, was one of the Fifth-monarchy men, a violent and


s: (103)  Hugh Peters, for his zeal in encouraging the Commonwealth


s: Scrope, were charged with sitting in the High Court of Justice


s: which tried the King.  Scott was further charged with having,


s: during the sitting of the Rump Parliament, expressed his


s: approbation of the sentence against the King.  Colonel Scrope,


s: (105)  "October 19th.  This morning Hacker and Axtell were hanged


s: (107)  The Earl of Norwich was George Lord Goring, who, with his


s: (108)  John Mordaunt, son of the Earl of Peterborough, celebrated


s: distinguished Royalist officer.  Thomas Wentworth, Earl of


s: Cleveland, who had suffered much for his loyalty to Charles I.,


s: headed a body of three hundred noblemen and gentlemen in the


s: triumphal procession of Charles II. into London.


s: (109)  Charles Stuart, a gallant Royalist officer, who had been


s: created Earl of Litchfield by Charles I. in 1645, and who


s: the Earl of Derby who was beheaded after the battle of Worcester,


s: (110)  The Nursery Rhyme, "The Man in the Moon drinks claret."


s: (112)  William Kiffin was a celebrated preacher of this time, and


s: title, "The Life and Approaching Death of William Kiffin.


s: Extracted out of the Visitation Book by a Church Member."  4to,


s: Cromwell, who made him a lieutenant-colonel.  He appears to have


s: (113)  Fox and Naylor were the founders of the sect of Quakers.


s: Naylor, in particular, was celebrated as an enthusiast.  Jacob


s: Boehmen, or Behmen, was a celebrated German visionary and


s: (114)  There was a story that Charles II. was really married to


s: Lucy Walters, the mother of the Duke of Monmouth, and that the


s: contract of marriage was in existence in a "black box," in the


s: custody of the Bishop of Durham, suggested apparently by the


s: (115)  Titus Oates, the inventor of the Popish plot.


s: Stood at his galley's prow, and let the foam


s: Blow through his crisp brown curls unconsciously,


s: And holding wave and wind in boy's despite


s: Peered from his dripping seat across the wet and stormy night.


s: Till with the dawn he saw a burnished spear


s: Like a thin thread of gold against the sky,


s: And hoisted sail, and strained the creaking gear,


s: Against the nor'west gale, and all day long


s: Held on his way, and marked the rowers' time with measured song.


s: And when the faint Corinthian hills were red


s: And with fresh boughs of olive crowned his head,


s: And brushed from cheek and throat the hoary spray,


s: And washed his limbs with oil, and from the hold


s: Brought out his linen tunic and his sandals brazen-soled,


s: And a rich robe stained with the fishers' juice


s: Which of some swarthy trader he had bought


s: And was with Tyrian broideries inwrought,


s: And by the questioning merchants made his way


s: Up through the soft and silver woods, and when the labouring day


s: Had spun its tangled web of crimson cloud,


s: Clomb the high hill, and with swift silent feet


s: Crept to the fane unnoticed by the crowd


s: Of busy priests, and from some dark retreat


s: Watched the young swains his frolic playmates bring


s: The firstling of their little flock, and the shy shepherd fling


s: The crackling salt upon the flame, or hang


s: His studded crook against the temple wall


s: Of the base wolf from homestead and from stall;


s: And then the clear-voiced maidens 'gan to sing,


s: And to the altar each man brought some goodly offering,


s: A fair cloth wrought with cunning imagery


s: Dripping with oozy gold which scarce the bee


s: Had ceased from building, a black skin of oil


s: Meet for the wrestlers, a great boar the fierce and white-tusked


s: Of a tall stag who in some mountain glade


s: Had met the shaft; and then the herald cried,


s: And from the pillared precinct one by one


s: Went the glad Greeks well pleased that they their simple vows had


s: And the old priest put out the waning fires


s: Save that one lamp whose restless ruby glowed


s: For ever in the cell, and the shrill lyres


s: Came fainter on the wind, as down the road


s: In joyous dance these country folk did pass,


s: Long time he lay and hardly dared to breathe,


s: And heard the cadenced drip of spilt-out wine,


s: And the rose-petals falling from the wreath


s: As the night breezes wandered through the shrine,


s: And seemed to be in some entranced swoon


s: Till through the open roof above the full and brimming moon


s: Flooded with sheeny waves the marble floor,


s: When from his nook up leapt the venturous lad,


s: And armed for battle! the gaunt Griffin glared


s: From the huge helm, and the long lance of wreck and ruin flared


s: Like a red rod of flame, stony and steeled


s: The Gorgon's head its leaden eyeballs rolled,


s: And writhed its snaky horrors through the shield,


s: And gaped aghast with bloodless lips and cold


s: In passion impotent, while with blind gaze


s: The blinking owl between the feet hooted in shrill amaze.


s: The lonely fisher as he trimmed his lamp


s: The net for tunnies, heard a brazen tramp


s: Of horses smite the waves, and a wild blast


s: Divide the folded curtains of the night,


s: And knelt upon the little poop, and prayed in holy fright.


s: Forgat a little while their stolen sweets,


s: Deeming they heard dread Dian's bitter cry;


s: And the grim watchmen on their lofty seats


s: Ran to their shields in haste precipitate,


s: Or strained black-bearded throats across the dusky parapet.


s: For round the temple rolled the clang of arms,


s: And the twelve Gods leapt up in marble fear,


s: And the air quaked with dissonant alarums


s: Till huge Poseidon shook his mighty spear,


s: And on the frieze the prancing horses neighed,


s: And the low tread of hurrying feet rang from the cavalcade.


s: Ready for death with parted lips he stood,


s: That calm wide brow, that terrible maidenhood,


s: Ah! well content indeed, for never wight


s: Since Troy's young shepherd prince had seen so wonderful a sight.


s: Ready for death he stood, but lo! the air


s: Grew silent, and the horses ceased to neigh,


s: And off his brow he tossed the clustering hair,


s: And from his limbs he throw the cloak away;


s: For whom would not such love make desperate?


s: And nigher came, and touched her throat, and with hands violate


s: And bared the breasts of polished ivory,


s: Till from the waist the peplos falling down


s: The grand cool flanks, the crescent thighs, the bossy hills of


s: Those who have never known a lover's sin


s: To their dull ears so musicless and thin


s: That they will have no joy of it, but ye


s: To whose wan cheeks now creeps the lingering smile,


s: Ye who have learned who Eros is, - O listen yet awhile.


s: Rest on the burnished image, till mere sight


s: Half swooned for surfeit of such luxuries,


s: Fed on her lips, and round the towered neck


s: He flung his arms, nor cared at all his passion's will to check.


s: For all night long he murmured honeyed word,


s: And saw her sweet unravished limbs, and kissed


s: And paddled with the polished throat, and pressed


s: His hot and beating heart upon her chill and icy breast.


s: Pierced through and through his wild and whirling brain,


s: And his nerves thrilled like throbbing violins


s: Was such sweet anguish that he never drew


s: His lips from hers till overhead the lark of warning flew.


s: They who have never seen the daylight peer


s: Into a darkened room, and drawn the curtain,


s: And with dull eyes and wearied from some dear


s: And worshipped body risen, they for certain


s: How long the last kiss was, how fond and late his lingering.


s: The moon was girdled with a crystal rim,


s: Of wrath in heaven, the wan stars were dim,


s: And the low lightening east was tremulous


s: With the faint fluttering wings of flying dawn,


s: Ere from the silent sombre shrine his lover had withdrawn.


s: Down the steep rock with hurried feet and fast


s: Clomb the brave lad, and reached the cave of Pan,


s: And heard the goat-foot snoring as he passed,


s: Which in a shady valley by the well-built city stood;


s: And sought a little stream, which well he knew,


s: For oftentimes with boyish careless shout


s: The green and crested grebe he would pursue,


s: Panting in breathless sweet affright, and waited for the day.


s: On the green bank he lay, and let one hand


s: And soon the breath of morning came and fanned


s: His hot flushed cheeks, or lifted wantonly


s: The tangled curls from off his forehead, while


s: He on the running water gazed with strange and secret smile.


s: And soon the shepherd in rough woollen cloak


s: With his long crook undid the wattled cotes,


s: And from the stack a thin blue wreath of smoke


s: Curled through the air across the ripening oats,


s: And on the hill the yellow house-dog bayed


s: As through the crisp and rustling fern the heavy cattle strayed.


s: And when the light-foot mower went afield


s: Across the meadows laced with threaded dew,


s: And the sheep bleated on the misty weald,


s: And from its nest the waking corncrake flew,


s: Some woodmen saw him lying by the stream


s: And marvelled much that any lad so beautiful could seem,


s: Nor deemed him born of mortals, and one said,


s: Those are the fond and crimson lips no woman can allure.'


s: And when they nearer came a third one cried,


s: His spear and fawnskin by the river side


s: They live not long who on the gods immortal come to spy.'


s: So turned they back, and feared to look behind,


s: And told the timid swain how they had seen


s: Amid the reeds some woodland god reclined,


s: And no man dared to cross the open green,


s: And on that day no olive-tree was slain,


s: Nor rushes cut, but all deserted was the fair domain,


s: Save when the neat-herd's lad, his empty pail


s: Well slung upon his back, with leap and bound


s: Raced on the other side, and stopped to hail,


s: Hoping that he some comrade new had found,


s: Passed on his simple way, or down the still and silent glade


s: A little girl ran laughing from the farm,


s: Not thinking of love's secret mysteries,


s: And when she saw the white and gleaming arm


s: And all his manlihood, with longing eyes


s: Whose passion mocked her sweet virginity


s: Watched him awhile, and then stole back sadly and wearily.


s: Far off he heard the city's hum and noise,


s: And now and then the shriller laughter where


s: The passionate purity of brown-limbed boys


s: Wrestled or raced in the clear healthful air,


s: As the shorn wether led the sheep down to the mossy well.


s: Through the grey willows danced the fretful gnat,


s: The grasshopper chirped idly from the tree,


s: Made for the wild-duck's nest, from bough to bough


s: Hopped the shy finch, and the huge tortoise crept across the


s: On the faint wind floated the silky seeds


s: As the bright scythe swept through the waving grass,


s: The ouzel-cock splashed circles in the reeds


s: And flecked with silver whorls the forest's glass,


s: Which scarce had caught again its imagery


s: Ere from its bed the dusky tench leapt at the dragon-fly.


s: Though up and down the beech the squirrel played,


s: And from the copse the linnet 'gan to sing


s: To its brown mate its sweetest serenade;


s: The breasts of Pallas and the naked wonder of the Queen.


s: But when the herdsman called his straggling goats


s: With whistling pipe across the rocky road,


s: And the shard-beetle with its trumpet-notes


s: Boomed through the darkening woods, and seemed to bode


s: Passed homeward like a shadow, and the dull big drops of rain


s: Fell on the pattering fig-leaves, up he rose,


s: Past sombre homestead and wet orchard-close,


s: And called his mates aboard, and took his seat


s: On the high poop, and pushed from land, and loosed the dripping


s: And steered across the bay, and when nine suns


s: Passed down the long and laddered way of gold,


s: And nine pale moons had breathed their orisons


s: To the chaste stars their confessors, or told


s: That will not fly at noonday, through the foam and surging froth


s: Came a great owl with yellow sulphurous eyes


s: And lit upon the ship, whose timbers creaked


s: Were in the hold, and flapped its wings and shrieked,


s: And darkness straightway stole across the deep,


s: Of drifting cloud, and from the ocean's marge


s: Rose the red plume, the huge and horned casque,


s: The seven-cubit spear, the brazen targe!


s: And clad in bright and burnished panoply


s: Athena strode across the stretch of sick and shivering sea!


s: To the dull sailors' sight her loosened looks


s: Seemed like the jagged storm-rack, and her feet


s: Only the spume that floats on hidden rocks,


s: Against the rolling ship, the pilot cried


s: To the young helmsman at the stern to luff to windward side


s: When he beheld those grand relentless eyes


s: Laughed loud for joy, and crying out 'I come'


s: Leapt from the lofty poop into the chill and churning foam.


s: Then fell from the high heaven one bright star,


s: And back to Athens on her clattering car


s: Pale Pallas swept with shrill and steely clank,


s: And a few gurgling bubbles rose where her boy lover sank.


s: And the mast shuddered as the gaunt owl flew


s: With mocking hoots after the wrathful Queen,


s: And the old pilot bade the trembling crew


s: Hoist the big sail, and told how he had seen


s: Close to the stern a dim and giant form,


s: Deeming that he some evil thing had wrought,


s: And when they reached the strait Symplegades


s: They beached their galley on the shore, and sought


s: And in the market showed their brown and pictured pottery.


s: But some good Triton-god had ruth, and bare


s: The boy's drowned body back to Grecian land,


s: And mermaids combed his dank and dripping hair


s: And smoothed his brow, and loosed his clenching hand;


s: Some brought sweet spices from far Araby,


s: And others bade the halcyon sing her softest lullaby.


s: And when he neared his old Athenian home,


s: Swept landward, like a white-maned steed upon a venturous quest!


s: There lies a long and level stretch of lawn;


s: The rabbit knows it, and the mountain bee


s: Is not afraid, for never through the day


s: Comes a cry ruder than the shout of shepherd lads at play.


s: And tangled branches of the circling wood


s: Hurling the polished disk, and draws his hood


s: Nor dares to wind his horn, or - else at the first break of day


s: The Dryads come and throw the leathern ball


s: Some goat-eared Pan to be their seneschal


s: And loose their girdles, with shy timorous eyes,


s: Lest from the surf his azure arms and purple beard should rise.


s: Hung with the yellow-belled laburnum, stands


s: Smooth is the beach, save where some ebbing wave


s: Leaves its faint outline etched upon the sands,


s: As though it feared to be too soon forgot


s: By the green rush, its playfellow, - and yet, it is a spot


s: Could steal the hoarded money from each flower


s: To land and pluck a garland for his galley's painted prow,


s: Would almost leave the little meadow bare,


s: For it knows nothing of great pageantry,


s: Dotting the unmown grass with silver stars,


s: And here and there a daffodil waves tiny scimitars.


s: Hither the billow brought him, and was glad


s: Of such dear servitude, and where the land


s: To kiss those pallid limbs which once with intense fire burned,


s: Ere the wet seas had quenched that holocaust,


s: That self-fed flame, that passionate lustihead,


s: Ere grisly death with chill and nipping frost


s: Had withered up those lilies white and red


s: Which, while the boy would through the forest range,


s: Answered each other in a sweet antiphonal counter-change.


s: And when at dawn the wood-nymphs, hand-in-hand,


s: Threaded the bosky dell, their satyr spied


s: The boy's pale body stretched upon the sand,


s: And feared Poseidon's treachery, and cried,


s: And like bright sunbeams flitting through a glade


s: Each startled Dryad sought some safe and leafy ambuscade.


s: Save one white girl, who deemed it would not be


s: So dread a thing to feel a sea-god's arms


s: Crushing her breasts in amorous tyranny,


s: And longed to listen to those subtle charms


s: Insidious lovers weave when they would win


s: Some fenced fortress, and stole back again, nor thought it sin


s: And lay beside him, thirsty with love's drouth,


s: Called him soft names, played with his tangled hair,


s: And with hot lips made havoc of his mouth


s: Afraid he might not wake, and then afraid


s: Lest he might wake too soon, fled back, and then, fond renegade,


s: Returned to fresh assault, and all day long


s: Sat at his side, and laughed at her new toy,


s: And held his hand, and sang her sweetest song,


s: Then frowned to see how froward was the boy


s: Who would not with her maidenhood entwine,


s: Nor knew that three days since his eyes had looked on Proserpine;


s: Nor knew what sacrilege his lips had done,


s: But said, 'He will awake, I know him well,


s: Hangs his red shield on Corinth's citadel;


s: To make me love him more, and in some cavern of the sea


s: Deeper than ever falls the fisher's line


s: And weaves a garland from the crystalline


s: For sphered in foaming silver, and with coral crowned head,


s: And at our feet the water-snakes will curl


s: The mullets swimming by the mast of some storm-foundered bark,


s: Vermilion-finned with eyes of bossy gold


s: Like flakes of crimson light, and the great deep


s: His glassy-portaled chamber will unfold,


s: And we will see the painted dolphins sleep


s: Cradled by murmuring halcyons on the rocks


s: Where Proteus in quaint suit of green pastures his monstrous


s: Will wave their purple fringes where we tread


s: Of fishes flecked with tawny scales will thread


s: The drifting cordage of the shattered wreck,


s: And honey-coloured amber beads our twining limbs will deck.'


s: But when that baffled Lord of War the Sun


s: Across the field of heaven, ah! then indeed


s: She feared his lips upon her lips would never care to feed,


s: And cried, 'Awake, already the pale moon


s: Washes the trees with silver, and the wave


s: Creeps grey and chilly up this sandy dune,


s: The croaking frogs are out, and from the cave


s: The nightjar shrieks, the fluttering bats repass,


s: And the brown stoat with hollow flanks creeps through the dusky


s: Nay, though thou art a god, be not so coy,


s: For in yon stream there is a little reed


s: Spread wings of rustling gold and soared aloft into the sun.


s: Be not so coy, the laurel trembles still


s: Whose clustering sisters fringe the seaward hill


s: The mocking eyes of Hermes through the poplar's silvery sheen.


s: Woos me with apples and with locks of hair,


s: By all the gifts the gentle wood-nymphs love;


s: But yesterday he brought to me an iris-plumaged dove


s: With little crimson feet, which with its store


s: At daybreak, when her amorous comrade had


s: Which most they love; the fretful wasp, that earliest vintager


s: Of the blue grapes, hath not persistency


s: And laughing sunny eyes might well decoy


s: For very beautiful is he, his mouth was made to kiss;


s: Is crescent shaped, the hot and Tyrian noon


s: Leads from the myrtle-grove no goodlier spouse


s: Fringes his blushing cheeks, and his young limbs are strong and


s: And he is rich, and fat and fleecy herds


s: And many an earthen bowl of yellow curds


s: Is in his homestead for the thievish fly


s: To swim and drown in, the pink clover mead


s: Keeps its sweet store for him, and he can pipe on oaten reed.


s: I kept my love; I knew that thou would'st come


s: Thou fairest flower of the flowerless foam


s: Of ocean's azure heavens where the mirrored planets are!


s: I knew that thou would'st come, for when at first


s: The dry wood burgeoned, and the sap of spring


s: Swelled in my green and tender bark or burst


s: Which mocked the midnight with its mimic moons


s: That did not dread the dawn, and first the thrushes' rapturous


s: And cuckoo flowers fringed the narrow lane,


s: Through my young leaves a sensuous ecstasy


s: Crept like new wine, and every mossy vein


s: Throbbed with the fitful pulse of amorous blood,


s: And the wild winds of passion shook my slim stem's maidenhood.


s: The trooping fawns at evening came and laid


s: Their cool black noses on my lowest boughs,


s: And on my topmost branch the blackbird made


s: A little nest of grasses for his spouse,


s: And now and then a twittering wren would light


s: On a thin twig which hardly bare the weight of such delight.


s: I was the Attic shepherd's trysting place,


s: And round my trunk would laughing Daphnis chase


s: The timorous girl, till tired out with play


s: She felt his hot breath stir her tangled hair,


s: And turned, and looked, and fled no more from such delightful


s: Where clustering woodbine weaves a canopy


s: For amorous pleasaunce, and the rustling shade


s: The dearest rites of love; there in the cool


s: And green recesses of its farthest depth there is pool,


s: The ouzel's haunt, the wild bee's pasturage,


s: For round its rim great creamy lilies float


s: Through their flat leaves in verdant anchorage,


s: Each cup a white-sailed golden-laden boat


s: Steered by a dragon-fly, - be not afraid


s: For lovers such as we; the Cyprian Queen,


s: Strays often there at eve, and I have seen


s: For young Endymion's eyes; be not afraid,


s: The panther feet of Dian never tread that secret glade.


s: Nay if thou will'st, back to the beating brine,


s: Back to the boisterous billow let us go,


s: And watch the purple monsters of the deep


s: Sport in ungainly play, and from his lair keen Xiphias leap.


s: But lay her boar-spear down, and with austere


s: Relentless fingers string the cornel bow,


s: And draw the feathered notch against her breast,


s: And loose the arched cord; aye, even now upon the quest


s: I hear her hurrying feet, - awake, awake,


s: Thou laggard in love's battle! once at least


s: Let me drink deep of passion's wine, and slake


s: My parched being with the nectarous feast


s: Which even gods affect!  O come, Love, come,


s: Still we have time to reach the cavern of thine azure home.'


s: Scarce had she spoken when the shuddering trees


s: Shook, and the leaves divided, and the air


s: Grew conscious of a god, and the grey seas


s: Crawled backward, and a long and dismal blare


s: Blew from some tasselled horn, a sleuth-hound bayed,


s: And like a flame a barbed reed flew whizzing down the glade.


s: And where the little flowers of her breast


s: This murderous paramour, this unbidden guest,


s: Pierced and struck deep in horrid chambering,


s: And ploughed a bloody furrow with its dart,


s: And dug a long red road, and cleft with winged death her heart.


s: And raptures unenjoyed, and pleasures dead,


s: And the bright drops of crimson youth crept down her throbbing


s: Ere she had yielded up her sweets, or known


s: Which not to know is not to live at all,


s: And yet to know is to be held in death's most deadly thrall.


s: Was journeying Paphos-ward, high up afar


s: From mortal ken between the mountains and the morning star,


s: And when low down she spied the hapless pair,


s: And heard the Oread's faint despairing cry,


s: Whose cadence seemed to play upon the air


s: She bade her pigeons fold each straining plume,


s: To catch the last notes of the linnet, mows


s: With careless scythe too near some flower bed,


s: And with the flower's loosened loneliness


s: Strews the brown mould; or as some shepherd lad in wantonness


s: Treads down two daffodils, which side by aide


s: Have lured the lady-bird with yellow brede


s: And made the gaudy moth forget its pride,


s: Treads down their brimming golden chalices


s: Under light feet which were not made for such rude ravages;


s: Flings himself down upon the reedy grass


s: And plucks two water-lilies from the brook,


s: Then wearies of their sweets, and goes his way,


s: And lets the hot sun kill them, even go these lovers lay.


s: Whose bitter hand hath wrought this cruelty,


s: Or else that mightier maid whose care it is


s: To guard her strong and stainless majesty


s: That they who loved so well unloved into Death's house should


s: So with soft hands she laid the boy and girl


s: (Her white throat whiter than a moony pearl


s: Just threaded with a blue vein's tapestry


s: Had not yet ceased to throb, and still her breast


s: Swayed like a wind-stirred lily in ambiguous unrest)


s: And then each pigeon spread its milky van,


s: The bright car soared into the dawning sky,


s: Till the faint air was troubled with the song


s: From the wan mouths that call on bleeding Thammuz all night long.


s: But when the doves had reached their wonted goal


s: Where the wide stair of orbed marble dips


s: Its snows into the sea, her fluttering soul


s: Just shook the trembling petals of her lips


s: And passed into the void, and Venus knew


s: That one fair maid the less would walk amid her retinue,


s: And bade her servants carve a cedar chest


s: Within whose scented womb their limbs should rest


s: Where olive-trees make tender the blue sky


s: On the low hills of Paphos, and the Faun


s: Pipes in the noonday, and the nightingale sings on till dawn.


s: Nor failed they to obey her hest, and ere


s: With tiny fretful spear, or from its lair


s: The waking stag had leapt across the rill


s: And roused the ouzel, or the lizard crept


s: Athwart the sunny rock, beneath the grass their bodies slept.


s: And when day brake, within that silver shrine


s: Fed by the flames of cressets tremulous,


s: Queen Venus knelt and prayed to Proserpine


s: That she whose beauty made Death amorous


s: Should beg a guerdon from her pallid Lord,


s: And let Desire pass across dread Charon's icy ford.


s: Farm for the goodly earth and joyous day


s: Where no spring ever buds, nor ripening sun


s: Weighs down the apple trees, nor flowery May


s: Chequers with chestnut blooms the grassy floor,


s: Where thrushes never sing, and piping linnets mate no more,


s: He plucked the blossoms from the asphodel,


s: Strewed the dull waters of the dusky stream,


s: And through his brown hair's curly tangles scanned


s: His own wan face, a shadow seemed to pass


s: Brushed his pale cheeks, and breathed their secret forth into a


s: Then turned he round his weary eyes and saw,


s: And nigher ever did their young mouths draw


s: Until they seemed one perfect rose of flame,


s: And longing arms around her neck he cast,


s: And felt her throbbing bosom, and his breath came hot and fast,


s: And all his hoarded sweets were hers to kiss,


s: And limb to limb in long and rapturous bliss


s: Their passion waxed and waned, - O why essay


s: To pipe again of love, too venturous reed!


s: Enough, enough that Eros laughed upon that flowerless mead.


s: To pipe again of passion! fold thy wings


s: Sleep hidden in the lyre's silent strings


s: Till thou hast found the old Castalian rill,


s: Or from the Lesbian waters plucked drowned Sappho's golden quid!


s: Enough, enough that he whose life had been


s: Could in the loveless land of Hades glean


s: One scorching harvest from those fields of flame


s: Where passion walks with naked unshod feet


s: And is not wounded, - ah! enough that once their lips could meet


s: Which dies through its own sweetness and the stress


s: Had bade them serve her by the ebon throne


s: Of the pale God who in the fields of Enna loosed her zone.


s: Crowned with bright crowns of triple gold!


s: It is full winter now:  the trees are bare,


s: Save where the cattle huddle from the cold


s: Beneath the pine, for it doth never wear


s: Her jealous brother pilfers, but is true


s: To the green doublet; bitter is the wind, as though it blew


s: From Saturn's cave; a few thin wisps of hay


s: Lie on the sharp black hedges, where the wain


s: Dragged the sweet pillage of a summer's day


s: From the low meadows up the narrow lane;


s: Upon the half-thawed snow the bleating sheep


s: From the shut stable to the frozen stream


s: The bawling shepherds and the noisy team;


s: The cawing rooks whirl round the frosted stack,


s: Or crowd the dripping boughs; and in the fen the ice-pools crack


s: Where the gaunt bittern stalks among the reeds


s: And flaps his wings, and stretches back his neck,


s: And hoots to see the moon; across the meads


s: Limps the poor frightened hare, a little speck;


s: Flits like a sudden drift of snow against the dull grey sky.


s: Full winter:  and the lusty goodman brings


s: And stamps his feet upon the hearth, and flings


s: And laughs to see the sudden lightening scare


s: His children at their play, and yet, - the spring is in the air;


s: And soon yon blanched fields will bloom again


s: With nodding cowslips for some lad to mow,


s: For with the first warm kisses of the rain


s: The winter's icy sorrow breaks to tears,


s: From the dark warren where the fir-cones lie,


s: And treads one snowdrop under foot, and runs


s: Over the mossy knoll, and blackbirds fly


s: Across our path at evening, and the suns


s: Stay longer with us; ah! how good to see


s: Grass-girdled spring in all her joy of laughing greenery


s: Dance through the hedges till the early rose,


s: (That sweet repentance of the thorny briar!)


s: Burst from its sheathed emerald and disclose


s: The little quivering disk of golden fire


s: Which the bees know so well, for with it come


s: Pale boy's-love, sops-in-wine, and daffadillies all in bloom.


s: Then up and down the field the sower goes,


s: While close behind the laughing younker scares


s: With shrilly whoop the black and thievish crows,


s: And then the chestnut-tree its glory wears,


s: And on the grass the creamy blossom falls


s: In odorous excess, and faint half-whispered madrigals


s: Steal from the bluebells' nodding carillons


s: Each breezy morn, and then white jessamine,


s: That star of its own heaven, snap-dragons


s: With lolling crimson tongues, and eglantine


s: And woodland empery, and when the lingering rose hath shed


s: And pansies closed their purple-lidded eyes,


s: Unload their gaudy scentless merchandise,


s: From their shy nooks, and scarlet berries dot the leafless haw.


s: Soon will your queen in daisy-flowered smock


s: And crown of flower-de-luce trip down the lea,


s: Soon will the lazy shepherds drive their flock


s: Back to the pasture by the pool, and soon


s: Through the green leaves will float the hum of murmuring bees at


s: Soon will the glade be bright with bellamour,


s: The flower which wantons love, and those sweet nuns


s: Will tell their beaded pearls, and carnations


s: With mitred dusky leaves will scent the wind,


s: And straggling traveller's-joy each hedge with yellow stars will


s: Dear bride of Nature and most bounteous spring,


s: That canst give increase to the sweet-breath'd kine,


s: And to the kid its little horns, and bring


s: The soft and silky blossoms to the vine,


s: Where is that old nepenthe which of yore


s: Man got from poppy root and glossy-berried mandragore!


s: When all the strings of boyish life were stirred


s: To quick response or more melodious rhyme


s: Or rather doth some evil thing through thy fair pleasaunce range?


s: Nay, nay, thou art the same:  'tis I who seek


s: And because fruitless tears bedew my cheek


s: Would have thee weep with me in brotherhood;


s: Fool! shall each wronged and restless spirit dare


s: To taint such wine with the salt poison of own despair!


s: Thou art the same:  'tis I whose wretched soul


s: And gives its kingdom to the rude control


s: Of what should be its servitor, - for sure


s: Wisdom is somewhere, though the stormy sea


s: Contain it not, and the huge deep answer ''Tis not in me.'


s: To burn with one clear flame, to stand erect


s: Can teach me this? what herb Medea brewed


s: Will bring the unexultant peace of essence not subdued?


s: And for its answering brother waits in vain


s: Dies a swan's death; but I the heir of pain,


s: A silent Memnon with blank lidless eyes,


s: Wait for the light and music of those suns which never rise.


s: The quenched-out torch, the lonely cypress-gloom,


s: The little dust stored in the narrow urn,


s: Were not these better far than to return


s: Or spend my days within the voiceless cave of misery?


s: Nay! for perchance that poppy-crowned god


s: Who talks of sleep but gives it not; his rod


s: Hath lost its virtue, and, when all is said,


s: To solve one single secret in a life's philosophy.


s: And Love! that noble madness, whose august


s: The soul with honeyed drugs, - alas! I must


s: Forget the arched splendour of those brows Olympian


s: That all the chiding of more prudent Truth


s: Seemed the thin voice of jealousy, - O hence


s: Go seek some other quarry! for of thy too perilous bliss.


s: My lips have drunk enough, - no more, no more, -


s: Though Love himself should turn his gilded prow


s: Back to the troubled waters of this shore


s: Where I am wrecked and stranded, even now


s: The chariot wheels of passion sweep too near,


s: Hence!  Hence!  I pass unto a life more barren, more austere.


s: More barren - ay, those arms will never lean


s: Down through the trellised vines and draw my soul


s: In sweet reluctance through the tangled green;


s: Whose white and stainless bosom bears the sign Gorgonian.


s: And kiss his mouth, and toss his curly hair,


s: But me her fond and subtle-fashioned spell


s: Delights no more, though I could win her dearest citadel.


s: Ay, though I were that laughing shepherd boy


s: And knew the coming of the Queen, and bowed


s: Of a new Helen would I bid her hand the apple take.


s: At least my life:  was not thy glory hymned


s: By One who gave to thee his sword and lyre


s: And died to show that Milton's England still could bear a son!


s: Or nurture that wise calm which long ago


s: The grave Athenian master taught to men,


s: Self-poised, self-centred, and self-comforted,


s: To watch the world's vain phantasies go by with unbowed head.


s: Alas! that serene brow, those eloquent lips,


s: Is childless; in the night which she had made


s: For lofty secure flight Athena's owl itself hath strayed.


s: Nor much with Science do I care to climb,


s: She drew the moon from heaven:  the Muse Time


s: In the great epic of Polymnia's scroll I love to read


s: White-shielded, purple-crested, rode the Mede


s: Which men call Artemisium, till he saw Thermopylae


s: Its steep ravine spanned by a narrow wall,


s: And pitched his tent upon the reedy shore,


s: And stayed two days to wonder, and then crept at midnight o'er


s: Some unfrequented height, and coming down


s: What Sparta held most dear and was the crown


s: In the small bay at Salamis, - and yet, the page grows dim,


s: Its cadenced Greek delights me not, I feel


s: To love it much:  for like the Dial's wheel


s: That from its blinded darkness strikes the noon


s: Restlessly follow that which from my cheated vision flies.


s: To teach us what is Wisdom! speak ye hills


s: Of lone Helvellyn, for this note of strife


s: Shunned your untroubled crags and crystal rills,


s: Where is that Spirit which living blamelessly


s: Yet dared to kiss the smitten mouth of his own century!


s: Whose gentle head ye sheltered, that pure soul


s: Whose gracious days of uncrowned majesty


s: Through lowliest conduct touched the lofty goal


s: Where love and duty mingle!  Him at least


s: The most high Laws were glad of, he had sat at Wisdom's feast;


s: But we are Learning's changelings, know by rote


s: The clarion watchword of each Grecian school


s: And follow none, the flawless sword which smote


s: Which we ourselves have blunted, what man now


s: Shall scale the august ancient heights and to old Reverence bow?


s: And whose unrisen bones sleep peacefully,


s: O guard him, guard him well, my Giotto's tower,


s: Thou marble lily of the lily town! let not the lour


s: O'er-leap its marge, no mightier conqueror


s: Clomb the high Capitol in the days of old


s: Walked like a bride beside him, at which sight pale Mystery


s: Fled shrieking to her farthest sombrest cell


s: With an old man who grabbled rusty keys,


s: Fled shuddering, for that immemorial knell


s: Swept like a wounded eagle on the blast,


s: As to the holy heart of Rome the great triumvir passed.


s: He knew the holiest heart and heights of Rome,


s: He drave the base wolf from the lion's lair,


s: Breathe through thy melancholy pipe thy sweetest threnody!


s: Breathe through the tragic stops such melodies


s: That Joy's self may grow jealous, and the Nine


s: Mourning for him who on Rome's lordliest shrine


s: Lit for men's lives the light of Marathon,


s: And bare to sun-forgotten fields the fire of the sun!


s: O guard him, guard him well, my Giotto's tower!


s: Which the dim woods of Vallombrosa hide,


s: And deck the marble tomb wherein he lies


s: Whose soul is as some mighty orb unseen of mortal eyes;


s: Some mighty orb whose cycled wanderings,


s: Being tempest-driven to the farthest rim


s: Where Chaos meets Creation and the wings


s: Into a moonless void, - and yet, though he is dust and clay,


s: Forbid it, and the closing shears refrain.


s: Lift up your heads ye everlasting gates!


s: Ye argent clarions, sound a loftier strain


s: For the vile thing he hated lurks within


s: Its sombre house, alone with God and memories of sin.


s: Still what avails it that she sought her cave


s: That murderous mother of red harlotries?


s: The Grecian boys die smiling, but the seas


s: Not mirroring their beauty; so our lives grow colourless


s: Flame torch-like in the heavens the unjust


s: Swift daylight kills it, and no trump of war


s: Can wake to passionate voice the silent dust


s: For all her stony sorrows hath her sons; but Italy,


s: What Easter Day shall make her children rise,


s: Who were not Gods yet suffered? what sure feet


s: Shall find their grave-clothes folded? what clear eyes


s: To roll the stone from off the sepulchre


s: And kiss the bleeding roses of their wounds, in love of her,


s: Most blessed among nations and most sad,


s: For whose dear sake the young Calabrian fell


s: That in an age when God was bought and sold


s: One man could die for Liberty! but we, burnt out and cold,


s: See Honour smitten on the cheek and gyves


s: Creeps through our sunless lanes and with sharp knives


s: Cuts the warm throats of children stealthily,


s: And no word said:- O we are wretched men


s: Unworthy of our great inheritance! where is the pen


s: Of austere Milton? where the mighty sword


s: Which slew its master righteously? the years


s: Have lost their ancient leader, and no word


s: Breaks from the voiceless tripod on our ears:


s: Bears a base child and loathes it, so our best enthusiasm


s: That stings itself to anguish, Avarice whose palsied grasp


s: Is in its extent stiffened, moneyed Greed


s: Amid the whirr of wheels and are the seed


s: Of things which slay their sower, these each day


s: Sees rife in England, and the gentle feet


s: Of Beauty tread no more the stones of each unlovely street.


s: By weed and worm, left to the stormy play


s: By more destructful hands:  Time's worst decay


s: Will wreathe its ruins with some loveliness,


s: But these new Vandals can but make a rain-proof barrenness.


s: Where is that Art which bade the Angels sing


s: Through Lincoln's lofty choir, till the air


s: Seems from such marble harmonies to ring


s: With sweeter song than common lips can dare


s: To draw from actual reed? ah! where is now


s: The cunning hand which made the flowering hawthorn branches bow


s: For Southwell's arch, and carved the House of One


s: Who loved the lilies of the field with all


s: Our dearest English flowers? the same sun


s: Weave the same tapestry of green and grey:


s: And the Plague chambers with her:  in obscene


s: And bloody paths her treacherous feet are set;


s: Better the empty desert and a soul inviolate!


s: Of living in the healthful air, the swift


s: Clean beauty of strong limbs when men are free


s: And women chaste, these are the things which lift


s: Gaunt blinded Sibyl poring o'er the scroll of human woes,


s: White as her own sweet lily and as tall,


s: Or Mona Lisa smiling through her hair, -


s: The God that is within us!  The old Greek serenity


s: Which curbs the passion of that level line


s: Of marble youths, who with untroubled eyes


s: And chastened limbs ride round Athena's shrine


s: Between our mother's kisses and the grave


s: Might so inform our lives, that we could win


s: Temptation would grow hoarse, and pallid Sin


s: And Passion creep from out the House of Lust with startled eyes.


s: With all right things, till no thing live in vain


s: With every pulse of flesh and throb of brain


s: The soul in flawless essence high enthroned,


s: Against all outer vain attack invincibly bastioned,


s: The strife of things, and yet be comforted,


s: Is joy, or holier praise! ah! surely this were governance


s: Through which the rational intellect would find


s: In passion its expression, and mere sense,


s: More mystical than that which binds the stars planetary,


s: Strike from their several tones one octave chord


s: Whose cadence being measureless would fly


s: Through all the circling spheres, then to its Lord


s: Could we but reach it were to find the last, the perfect creed.


s: Ah! it was easy when the world was young


s: By our own hands our heads are desecrate,


s: Wanderers in drear exile, and dispossessed


s: Of what should be our own, we can but feed on wild unrest.


s: Somehow the grace, the bloom of things has flown,


s: Must live each other's lives and not our own


s: All that we lived for - it was otherwise


s: When soul and body seemed to blend in mystic symphonies.


s: But we have left those gentle haunts to pass


s: Learn what an awful phantom the red hand of man can raise.


s: O smitten mouth!  O forehead crowned with thorn!


s: Thou for our sakes that loved thee not hast borne


s: Being ourselves the sowers and the seeds,


s: The night that covers and the lights that fade,


s: The spear that pierces and the side that bleeds,


s: The lips betraying and the life betrayed;


s: The deep hath calm:  the moon hath rest:  but we


s: Lords of the natural world are yet our own dread enemy.


s: Is this the end of all that primal force


s: Which, in its changes being still the same,


s: From eyeless Chaos cleft its upward course,


s: Through ravenous seas and whirling rocks and flame,


s: Their cycles, and the morning stars sang, and the Word was Man!


s: Nay, nay, we are but crucified, and though


s: The bloody sweat falls from our brows like rain


s: Loosen the nails - we shall come down I know,


s: Staunch the red wounds - we shall be whole again,


s: That which is purely human, that is godlike, that is God.


s: Eagle of Austerlitz! where were thy wings


s: Fell the last scion of thy brood of Kings!


s: Poor boy! thou shalt not flaunt thy cloak of red,


s: Or ride in state through Paris in the van


s: Shall on thy dead and crownless forehead place


s: The better laurels of a soldier's crown,


s: That not dishonoured should thy soul go down


s: That France hath kissed the mouth of Liberty,


s: And found it sweeter than his honied bees,


s: Breaks on the shores where Kings lay couched at ease.


s: False moon!  False moon!  O waning moon!


s: Thou hast the lips that should be kissed!


s: The dead leaves scatter, - hour by hour.


s: To drift with every passion till my soul


s: Is a stringed lute on which can winds can play,


s: Mine ancient wisdom and austere control?


s: Methinks my life is a twice-written scroll


s: Which do but mar the secret of the whole.


s: Surely there was a time I might have trod


s: The sunlit heights, and from life's dissonance


s: Struck one clear chord to reach the ears of God:


s: Is that time dead? lo! with a little rod


s: Milton!  I think thy spirit hath passed away


s: From these white cliffs and high-embattled towers;


s: This gorgeous fiery-coloured world of ours


s: Wherein we waste our else too-crowded hours:


s: For all our pomp and pageantry and powers


s: We are but fit to delve the common clay,


s: Seeing this little isle on which we stand,


s: Who love her not:  Dear God! is this the land


s: Christ, dost Thou live indeed? or are Thy bones


s: Still straitened in their rock-hewn sepulchre?


s: Whose love of Thee for all her sin atones?


s: For here the air is horrid with men's groans,


s: The priests who call upon Thy name are slain,


s: Dost Thou not hear the bitter wail of pain


s: From those whose children lie upon the stones?


s: Come down, O Son of God! incestuous gloom


s: Curtains the land, and through the starless night


s: If Thou in very truth didst burst the tomb


s: Come down, O Son of Man! and show Thy might


s: Lest Mahomet be crowned instead of Thee!


s: I wandered through Scoglietto's far retreat,


s: Burned as bright lamps of gold to shame the day;


s: Some startled bird with fluttering wings and fleet


s: Made snow of all the blossoms; at my feet


s: Like silver moons the pale narcissi lay:


s: And the curved waves that streaked the great green bay


s: Laughed i' the sun, and life seemed very sweet.


s: Outside the young boy-priest passed singing clear,


s: O come and fill His sepulchre with flowers.'


s: Ah, God!  Ah, God! those dear Hellenic hours


s: Had drowned all memory of Thy bitter pain,


s: Rome! what a scroll of History thine has been;


s: Ruled the whole world for many an age's span:


s: Then of the peoples wert thou royal Queen,


s: Till in thy streets the bearded Goth was seen;


s: (Ah, city crowned by God, discrowned by man!)


s: The hated flag of red and white and green.


s: When was thy glory! when in search for power


s: Thine eagles flew to greet the double sun,


s: And the wild nations shuddered at thy rod?


s: Nay, but thy glory tarried for this hour,


s: When pilgrims kneel before the Holy One,


s: The prisoned shepherd of the Church of God.


s: Come down, O Christ, and help me! reach Thy hand,


s: The wine of life is spilt upon the sand,


s: My heart is as some famine-murdered land


s: Whence all good things have perished utterly,


s: And well I know my soul in Hell must lie


s: If I this night before God's throne should stand.


s: 'He sleeps perchance, or rideth to the chase,


s: Like Baal, when his prophets howled that name


s: From morn to noon on Carmel's smitten height.'


s: Nay, peace, I shall behold, before the night,


s: The feet of brass, the robe more white than flame,


s: The wounded hands, the weary human face.


s: How steep the stairs within King's houses are


s: For exile-wearied feet as mine to tread,


s: Which falls from this Hound's table, - better far


s: Or that the gate of Florence bare my head,


s: Than to live thus, by all things comraded


s: Which seek the essence of my soul to mar.


s: 'Curse God and die:  what better hope than this?


s: Nay peace:  behind my prison's blinded bars


s: These are the letters which Endymion wrote


s: And now the brawlers of the auction mart


s: Bargain and bid for each poor blotted note,


s: Ay! for each separate pulse of passion quote


s: The merchant's price.  I think they love not art


s: That small and sickly eyes may glare and gloat.


s: In a far Eastern town, some soldiers ran


s: With torches through the midnight, and began


s: To wrangle for mean raiment, and to throw


s: Dice for the garments of a wretched man,


s: Not knowing the God's wonder, or His woe?


s: Frets with its restless whirls this meagre strand.


s: Hath Summer dug herself so deep a grave,


s: One silver blossom from keen Winter's hand.


s: But who is this who cometh by the shore?


s: (Nay, love, look up and wonder!)  Who is this


s: Who cometh in dyed garments from the South?


s: It is thy new-found Lord, and he shall kiss


s: And I shall weep and worship, as before.


s: Lines longer than 78 characters are broken and the continuation


s: Above all, this book is not concerned with Poetry.


s: The subject of it is War, and the pity of War.


s: Yet these elegies are not to this generation,


s: That is why the true Poets must be truthful.


s: If I thought the letter of this book would last,


s: I might have used proper names; but if the spirit of it survives


s: Note.--This Preface was found, in an unfinished condition,


s: It seemed that out of the battle I escaped


s: Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped


s: Through granites which Titanic wars had groined.


s: Yet also there encumbered sleepers groaned,


s: Too fast in thought or death to be bestirred.


s: Then, as I probed them, one sprang up, and stared


s: Lifting distressful hands as if to bless.


s: And by his smile, I knew that sullen hall;


s: With a thousand fears that vision's face was grained;


s: Yet no blood reached there from the upper ground,


s: And no guns thumped, or down the flues made moan.


s: "Strange, friend," I said, "Here is no cause to mourn."


s: "None," said the other, "Save the undone years,


s: The hopelessness.  Whatever hope is yours,


s: Which lies not calm in eyes, or braided hair,


s: But mocks the steady running of the hour,


s: And if it grieves, grieves richlier than here.


s: For by my glee might many men have laughed,


s: And of my weeping something has been left,


s: Which must die now.  I mean the truth untold,


s: The pity of war, the pity war distilled.


s: Now men will go content with what we spoiled.


s: Or, discontent, boil bloody, and be spilled.


s: They will be swift with swiftness of the tigress,


s: None will break ranks, though nations trek from progress.


s: To miss the march of this retreating world


s: Then, when much blood had clogged their chariot-wheels


s: I would go up and wash them from sweet wells,


s: Even with truths that lie too deep for taint.


s: I would have poured my spirit without stint


s: But not through wounds; not on the cess of war.


s: Foreheads of men have bled where no wounds were.


s: I knew you in this dark; for so you frowned


s: Yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed.


s: I parried; but my hands were loath and cold.


s: (This poem was found among the author's papers.


s: Earth's wheels run oiled with blood.  Forget we that.


s: Let us lie down and dig ourselves in thought.


s: We two will stay behind and keep our troth.


s: Let us forego men's minds that are brute's natures,


s: Let us not sup the blood which some say nurtures,


s: Be we not swift with swiftness of the tigress.


s: Let us break ranks from those who trek from progress.


s: Miss we the march of this retreating world


s: Then when their blood hath clogged the chariot wheels


s: We will go up and wash them from deep wells.


s: What though we sink from men as pitchers falling


s: Many shall raise us up to be their filling


s: Even from wells we sunk too deep for war


s: And filled by brows that bled where no wounds were.


s: Even as One who bled where no wounds were.


s: As the stained stones kissed by the English dead.


s: Trembles not exquisite like limbs knife-skewed,


s: Cramps them in death's extreme decrepitude.


s: Though even as wind murmuring through raftered loft,--


s: Now earth has stopped their piteous mouths that coughed.


s: Nor large, nor full like hearts made great with shot;


s: Weep, you may weep, for you may touch them not.


s: The mud that cracked on cheeks when wretches smiled.


s: War brought more glory to their eyes than blood,


s: And gave their laughs more glee than shakes a child.


s: Where death becomes absurd and life absurder.


s: For power was on us as we slashed bones bare


s: Not to feel sickness or remorse of murder.


s: And sailed my spirit surging, light and clear


s: Past the entanglement where hopes lay strewn;


s: Faces that used to curse me, scowl for scowl,


s: Shine and lift up with passion of oblation,


s: Seraphic for an hour; though they were foul.


s: For love is not the binding of fair lips


s: With the soft silk of eyes that look and long,


s: But wound with war's hard wire whose stakes are strong;


s: Bound with the bandage of the arm that drips;


s: In the hoarse oaths that kept our courage straight;


s: Found peace where shell-storms spouted reddest spate.


s: With them in hell the sorrowful dark of hell,


s: Whose world is but the trembling of a flare,


s: And heaven but as the highway for a shell,


s: You shall not come to think them well content


s: By any jest of mine.  These men are worth


s: Your tears:  You are not worth their merriment.


s: My soul looked down from a vague height with Death,


s: And saw a sad land, weak with sweats of dearth,


s: Gray, cratered like the moon with hollow woe,


s: And fitted with great pocks and scabs of plaques.


s: Across its beard, that horror of harsh wire,


s: There moved thin caterpillars, slowly uncoiled.


s: It seemed they pushed themselves to be as plugs


s: Of ditches, where they writhed and shrivelled, killed.


s: By them had slimy paths been trailed and scraped


s: Round myriad warts that might be little hills.


s: From gloom's last dregs these long-strung creatures crept,


s: And vanished out of dawn down hidden holes.


s: (And smell came up from those foul openings


s: As out of mouths, or deep wounds deepening.)


s: On dithering feet upgathered, more and more,


s: Brown strings towards strings of gray, with bristling spines,


s: All migrants from green fields, intent on mire.


s: Those that were gray, of more abundant spawns,


s: Ramped on the rest and ate them and were eaten.


s: I saw their bitten backs curve, loop, and straighten,


s: I watched those agonies curl, lift, and flatten.


s: Whereat, in terror what that sight might mean,


s: I reeled and shivered earthward like a feather.


s: And Death fell with me, like a deepening moan.


s: And He, picking a manner of worm, which half had hid


s: Its bruises in the earth, but crawled no further,


s: Showed me its feet, the feet of many men,


s: And the fresh-severed head of it, my head.


s: Who are these?  Why sit they here in twilight?


s: Wherefore rock they, purgatorial shadows,


s: Drooping tongues from jaws that slob their relish,


s: Baring teeth that leer like skulls' tongues wicked?


s: Stroke on stroke of pain,--but what slow panic,


s: Gouged these chasms round their fretted sockets?


s: Ever from their hair and through their hand palms


s: Misery swelters.  Surely we have perished


s: Sleeping, and walk hell; but who these hellish?


s: --These are men whose minds the Dead have ravished.


s: Memory fingers in their hair of murders,


s: Multitudinous murders they once witnessed.


s: Wading sloughs of flesh these helpless wander,


s: Treading blood from lungs that had loved laughter.


s: Always they must see these things and hear them,


s: Batter of guns and shatter of flying muscles,


s: Rucked too thick for these men's extrication.


s: Therefore still their eyeballs shrink tormented


s: Back into their brains, because on their sense


s: Sunlight seems a bloodsmear; night comes blood-black;


s: Dawn breaks open like a wound that bleeds afresh


s: --Thus their heads wear this hilarious, hideous,


s: --Thus their hands are plucking at each other;


s: Picking at the rope-knouts of their scourging;


s: Snatching after us who smote them, brother,


s: Pawing us who dealt them war and madness.


s: So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,


s: And took the fire with him, and a knife.


s: And as they sojourned both of them together,


s: Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,


s: But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?


s: Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,


s: And builded parapets and trenches there,


s: And stretch\ed forth the knife to slay his son.


s: When lo! an angel called him out of heaven,


s: But the old man would not so, but slew his son. . . .


s: Let the boy try along this bayonet-blade


s: How cold steel is, and keen with hunger of blood;


s: Blue with all malice, like a madman's flash;


s: And thinly drawn with famishing for flesh.


s: Lend him to stroke these blind, blunt bullet-heads


s: Which long to muzzle in the hearts of lads.


s: Or give him cartridges of fine zinc teeth,


s: Sharp with the sharpness of grief and death.


s: For his teeth seem for laughing round an apple.


s: There lurk no claws behind his fingers supple;


s: And God will grow no talons at his heels,


s: Nor antlers through the thickness of his curls.


s: What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?


s: Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle


s: No mockeries for them; no prayers nor bells,


s: Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,--


s: The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;


s: And bugles calling for them from sad shires.


s: What candles may be held to speed them all?


s: Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes


s: Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.


s: The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;


s: Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,


s: And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.


s: Down the close, darkening lanes they sang their way


s: And lined the train with faces grimly gay.


s: Their breasts were stuck all white with wreath and spray


s: Dull porters watched them, and a casual tramp


s: Sorry to miss them from the upland camp.


s: Then, unmoved, signals nodded, and a lamp


s: So secretly, like wrongs hushed-up, they went.


s: We never heard to which front these were sent.


s: Nor there if they yet mock what women meant


s: Shall they return to beatings of great bells


s: A few, a few, too few for drums and yells,


s: May creep back, silent, to still village wells


s: Happy are men who yet before they are killed


s: Sore on the alleys cobbled with their brothers.


s: But they are troops who fade, not flowers


s: Comes simpler than the reckoning of their shilling.


s: They keep no check on Armies' decimation.


s: They have enough to carry with ammunition.


s: Their old wounds save with cold can not more ache.


s: Of the hurt of the colour of blood for ever.


s: Their senses in some scorching cautery of battle


s: Happy the soldier home, with not a notion


s: How somewhere, every dawn, some men attack,


s: Happy the lad whose mind was never trained:


s: His days are worth forgetting more than not.


s: Which we march taciturn, because of dusk,


s: But through his blunt and lashless eyes?


s: But cursed are dullards whom no cannon stuns,


s: Before the last sea and the hapless stars;


s: Whatever mourns when many leave these shores;


s: Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,


s: Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,


s: Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,


s: And towards our distant rest began to trudge.


s: Men marched asleep.  Many had lost their boots,


s: But limped on, blood-shod.  All went lame, all blind;


s: Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots


s: Gas!  GAS!  Quick, boys!--An ecstasy of fumbling


s: Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,


s: But someone still was yelling out and stumbling


s: And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime.--


s: Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,


s: As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.


s: In all my dreams before my helpless sight


s: He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.


s: If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace


s: And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,


s: His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin,


s: If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood


s: Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs


s: Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--


s: My friend, you would not tell with such high zest


s: To children ardent for some desperate glory,


s: We'd found an old Boche dug-out, and he knew,


s: And gave us hell, for shell on frantic shell


s: Hammered on top, but never quite burst through.


s: Rain, guttering down in waterfalls of slime


s: Kept slush waist high, that rising hour by hour,


s: Choked up the steps too thick with clay to climb.


s: What murk of air remained stank old, and sour


s: With fumes of whizz-bangs, and the smell of men


s: Who'd lived there years, and left their curse in the den,


s: Of whizz-bangs, but one found our door at last.


s: Buffeting eyes and breath, snuffing the candles.


s: And thud! flump! thud! down the steep steps came thumping


s: And splashing in the flood, deluging muck--


s: The sentry's body; then his rifle, handles


s: Of old Boche bombs, and mud in ruck on ruck.


s: We dredged him up, for killed, until he whined


s: "O sir, my eyes--I'm blind--I'm blind, I'm blind!"


s: Coaxing, I held a flame against his lids


s: And said if he could see the least blurred light


s: He was not blind; in time he'd get all right.


s: "I can't," he sobbed.  Eyeballs, huge-bulged like squids


s: Watch my dreams still; but I forgot him there


s: In posting next for duty, and sending a scout


s: To beg a stretcher somewhere, and floundering about


s: Those other wretches, how they bled and spewed,


s: And one who would have drowned himself for good,--


s: Let dread hark back for one word only:  how


s: Half-listening to that sentry's moans and jumps,


s: And the wild chattering of his broken teeth,


s: Pummelled the roof and slogged the air beneath--


s: Through the dense din, I say, we heard him shout


s: "I see your lights!"  But ours had long died out.


s: He dropped,--more sullenly than wearily,


s: And none of us could kick him to his feet;


s: Or see the blasted trench at which he stared.


s: "I'll do 'em in," he whined, "If this hand's spared,


s: "It's Blighty, p'raps, he sees; his pluck's all gone,


s: Dreaming of all the valiant, that AREN'T dead:


s: Maybe his brave young wife, getting her fun


s: It's not these stiffs have crazed him; nor the Hun."


s: We sent him down at last, out of the way.


s: Unwounded;--stout lad, too, before that strafe.


s: Malingering?  Stretcher-bearers winked, "Not half!"


s: Next day I heard the Doc.'s well-whiskied laugh:


s: "That scum you sent last night soon died.  Hooray!"


s: Low drooping flares confuse our memory of the salient . . .


s: Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous,


s: Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire.


s: Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles.


s: Northward incessantly, the flickering gunnery rumbles,


s: Far off, like a dull rumour of some other war.


s: The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow . . .


s: We only know war lasts, rain soaks, and clouds sag stormy.


s: Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army


s: Attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of gray,


s: Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence.


s: Less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow,


s: With sidelong flowing flakes that flock, pause and renew,


s: We watch them wandering up and down the wind's nonchalance,


s: Pale flakes with lingering stealth come feeling for our faces--


s: Littered with blossoms trickling where the blackbird fusses.


s: Slowly our ghosts drag home:  glimpsing the sunk fires glozed


s: For hours the innocent mice rejoice:  the house is theirs;


s: Shutters and doors all closed:  on us the doors are closed--


s: Since we believe not otherwise can kind fires burn;


s: Now ever suns smile true on child, or field, or fruit.


s: For God's invincible spring our love is made afraid;


s: Therefore, not loath, we lie out here; therefore were born,


s: To-night, His frost will fasten on this mud and us,


s: Shrivelling many hands and puckering foreheads crisp.


s: The burying-party, picks and shovels in their shaking grasp,


s: Pause over half-known faces.  All their eyes are ice,


s: Halted against the shade of a last hill,


s: And, finding comfortable chests and knees


s: Carelessly slept.  But many there stood still


s: To face the stark, blank sky beyond the ridge,


s: Knowing their feet had come to the end of the world.


s: Marvelling they stood, and watched the long grass swirled


s: By the May breeze, murmurous with wasp and midge,


s: For though the summer oozed into their veins


s: Like the injected drug for their bones' pains,


s: Sharp on their souls hung the imminent line of grass,


s: Fearfully flashed the sky's mysterious glass.


s: Hour after hour they ponder the warm field--


s: And the far valley behind, where the buttercups


s: Had blessed with gold their slow boots coming up,


s: Where even the little brambles would not yield,


s: But clutched and clung to them like sorrowing hands;


s: Till like a cold gust thrilled the little word


s: Of bugles, no high flags, no clamorous haste--


s: Only a lift and flare of eyes that faced


s: The sun, like a friend with whom their love is done.


s: O larger shone that smile against the sun,--


s: Mightier than his whose bounty these have spurned.


s: So, soon they topped the hill, and raced together


s: Over an open stretch of herb and heather


s: Exposed.  And instantly the whole sky burned


s: With fury against them; and soft sudden cups


s: Opened in thousands for their blood; and the green slopes


s: Chasmed and steepened sheer to infinite space.


s: Of them who running on that last high place


s: Leapt to swift unseen bullets, or went up


s: On the hot blast and fury of hell's upsurge,


s: Or plunged and fell away past this world's verge,


s: Some say God caught them even before they fell.


s: But what say such as from existence' brink


s: The few who rushed in the body to enter hell,


s: And there out-fiending all its fiends and flames


s: Long-famous glories, immemorial shames--


s: And crawling slowly back, have by degrees


s: Why speak they not of comrades that went under?


s: Us five got talking,--we was in the know,


s: "Over the top to-morrer; boys, we're for it,


s: First wave we are, first ruddy wave; that's tore it."


s: "Ah well," says Jimmy,--an' 'e's seen some scrappin'--


s: "There ain't more nor five things as can 'appen;


s: Ye get knocked out; else wounded--bad or cushy;


s: Scuppered; or nowt except yer feeling mushy."


s: One of us got the knock-out, blown to chops.


s: T'other was hurt, like, losin' both 'is props.


s: Now me, I wasn't scratched, praise God Almighty


s: (Though next time please I'll thank 'im for a blighty),


s: But poor young Jim, 'e's livin' an' 'e's not;


s: 'E reckoned 'e'd five chances, an' 'e's 'ad;


s: 'E's wounded, killed, and pris'ner, all the lot--


s: The ruddy lot all rolled in one.  Jim's mad.


s: And offer him consolation in his trouble,


s: For that man there has set his teeth to die,


s: Patting goodbye, doubtless they told the lad


s: He'd always show the Hun a brave man's face;


s: Father would sooner him dead than in disgrace,--


s: Was proud to see him going, aye, and glad.


s: Perhaps his Mother whimpered how she'd fret


s: Until he got a nice, safe wound to nurse.


s: Sisters would wish girls too could shoot, charge, curse, . . .


s: Brothers--would send his favourite cigarette,


s: Each week, month after month, they wrote the same,


s: Thinking him sheltered in some Y.M. Hut,


s: Where once an hour a bullet missed its aim


s: And misses teased the hunger of his brain.


s: His eyes grew old with wincing, and his hand


s: Reckless with ague.  Courage leaked, as sand


s: From the best sandbags after years of rain.


s: But never leave, wound, fever, trench-foot, shock,


s: Untrapped the wretch.  And death seemed still withheld


s: For torture of lying machinally shelled,


s: At the pleasure of this world's Powers who'd run amok.


s: He'd seen men shoot their hands, on night patrol,


s: Their people never knew.  Yet they were vile.


s: "Death sooner than dishonour, that's the style!"


s: Carried him.  This time, Death had not missed.


s: We could do nothing, but wipe his bleeding cough.


s: Could it be accident?--Rifles go off . . .


s: Not sniped?  No.  (Later they found the English ball.)


s: Against the fires that would not burn him whole


s: But kept him for death's perjury and scoff


s: And life's half-promising, and both their riling.


s: With him they buried the muzzle his teeth had kissed,


s: And truthfully wrote the Mother "Tim died smiling."


s: Full-nerved,--still warm,--too hard to stir?


s: Head to limp head, the sunk-eyed wounded scanned


s: Yesterday's Mail; the casualties (typed small)


s: And (large) Vast Booty from our Latest Haul.


s: Also, they read of Cheap Homes, not yet planned;


s: For, said the paper, "When this war is done


s: The men's first instinct will be making homes.


s: Meanwhile their foremost need is aerodromes,


s: Peace would do wrong to our undying dead,--


s: The sons we offered might regret they died


s: If we got nothing lasting in their stead.


s: Though all be worthy Victory which all bought,


s: Would wrong our very selves if we forgot


s: The greatest glory will be theirs who fought,


s: Nation?--The half-limbed readers did not chafe


s: Like secret men who know their secret safe.


s: This is the thing they know and never speak,


s: That England one by one had fled to France


s: (Not many elsewhere now save under France).


s: Pictures of these broad smiles appear each week,


s: And people in whose voice real feeling rings


s: Say:  How they smile!  They're happy now, poor things.


s: His fingers wake, and flutter up the bed.


s: Helped by the yellow may-flowers by his head.


s: A blind-cord drawls across the window-sill . . .


s: How smooth the floor of the ward is! what a rug!


s: And who's that talking, somewhere out of sight?


s: Why are they laughing?  What's inside that jug?


s: "Nurse!  Doctor!"  "Yes; all right, all right."


s: There seems no time to want a drink of water.


s: Nurse looks so far away.  And everywhere


s: Music and roses burnt through crimson slaughter.


s: And there's no light to see the voices by--


s: No time to dream, and ask--he knows not what.


s: (Being the philosophy of many Soldiers.)


s: Sit on the bed; I'm blind, and three parts shell,


s: Be careful; can't shake hands now; never shall.


s: Both arms have mutinied against me--brutes.


s: This bandage feels like pennies on my eyes.


s: I have my medals?--Discs to make eyes close.


s: My glorious ribbons?--Ripped from my own back


s: In scarlet shreds.  (That's for your poetry book.)


s: We used to say we'd hate to live dead old,--


s: Yet now . . . I'd willingly be puffy, bald,


s: At least the jokes hurled at them.  I suppose


s: Little I'd ever teach a son, but hitting,


s: Shooting, war, hunting, all the arts of hurting.


s: Well, that's what I learnt,--that, and making money.


s: Your fifty years ahead seem none too many?


s: Tell me how long I've got?  God!  For one year


s: To help myself to nothing more than air!


s: One Spring!  Is one too good to spare, too long?


s: Spring wind would work its own way to my lung,


s: And grow me legs as quick as lilac-shoots.


s: My servant's lamed, but listen how he shouts!


s: When I'm lugged out, he'll still be good for that.


s: Here in this mummy-case, you know, I've thought


s: How well I might have swept his floors for ever,


s: I'd ask no night off when the bustle's over,


s: Against a grimed hand when his own's quite dust,


s: Less live than specks that in the sun-shafts turn,


s: Less warm than dust that mixes with arms' tan?


s: I'd love to be a sweep, now, black as Town,


s: O Life, Life, let me breathe,--a dug-out rat!


s: Not worse than ours the existences rats lead--


s: Nosing along at night down some safe vat,


s: They find a shell-proof home before they rot.


s: Dead men may envy living mites in cheese,


s: Or good germs even.  Microbes have their joys,


s: Certainly flowers have the easiest time on earth.


s: "I shall be one with nature, herb, and stone."


s: Shelley would tell me.  Shelley would be stunned;


s: "Pushing up daisies," is their creed, you know.


s: To grain, then, go my fat, to buds my sap,


s: For all the usefulness there is in soap.


s: D'you think the Boche will ever stew man-soup?


s: I shall be better off with plants that share


s: More peaceably the meadow and the shower.


s: Soft rains will touch me,--as they could touch once,


s: And nothing but the sun shall make me ware.


s: Your guns may crash around me.  I'll not hear;


s: Or, if I wince, I shall not know I wince.


s: Don't take my soul's poor comfort for your jest.


s: Soldiers may grow a soul when turned to fronds,


s: But here the thing's best left at home with friends.


s: My soul's a little grief, grappling your chest,


s: To climb your throat on sobs; easily chased


s: On other sighs and wiped by fresher winds.


s: To do without what blood remained these wounds.


s: My arms have mutinied against me--brutes!


s: My back's been stiff for hours, damned hours.


s: Death never gives his squad a Stand-at-ease.


s: I can't read.  There:  it's no use.  Take your book.


s: We said we'd hate to grow dead old.  But now,


s: Not to live old seems awful:  not to renew


s: My boyhood with my boys, and teach 'em hitting,


s: Shooting and hunting,--all the arts of hurting!


s: --Well, that's what I learnt.  That, and making money.


s: Your fifty years in store seem none too many;


s: But I've five minutes.  God!  For just two years


s: To help myself to this good air of yours!


s: One Spring!  Is one too hard to spare?  Too long?


s: Spring air would find its own way to my lung,


s: And grow me legs as quick as lilac-shoots.


s: Yes, there's the orderly.  He'll change the sheets


s: When I'm lugged out, oh, couldn't I do that?


s: Here in this coffin of a bed, I've thought


s: I'd like to kneel and sweep his floors for ever,--


s: And ask no nights off when the bustle's over,


s: For I'd enjoy the dirt; who's prejudiced


s: Against a grimed hand when his own's quite dust,--


s: Less live than specks that in the sun-shafts turn?


s: Dear dust,--in rooms, on roads, on faces' tan!


s: I'd love to be a sweep's boy, black as Town;


s: A flea would do.  If one chap wasn't bloody,


s: Or went stone-cold, I'd find another body.


s: Which I shan't manage now.  Unless it's yours.


s: I shall stay in you, friend, for some few hours.


s: You'll feel my heavy spirit chill your chest,


s: And climb your throat on sobs, until it's chased


s: On sighs, and wiped from off your lips by wind.


s: I think on your rich breathing, brother, I'll be weaned


s: To do without what blood remained me from my wound.


s: He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark,


s: And shivered in his ghastly suit of grey,


s: Legless, sewn short at elbow.  Through the park


s: Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn,


s: Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him.


s: About this time Town used to swing so gay


s: When glow-lamps budded in the light-blue trees


s: And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim,


s: --In the old times, before he threw away his knees.


s: Girls' waists are, or how warm their subtle hands,


s: All of them touch him like some queer disease.


s: For it was younger than his youth, last year.


s: Now he is old; his back will never brace;


s: He's lost his colour very far from here,


s: Poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry,


s: And half his lifetime lapsed in the hot race,


s: And leap of purple spurted from his thigh.


s: One time he liked a bloodsmear down his leg,


s: After the matches carried shoulder-high.


s: It was after football, when he'd drunk a peg,


s: He thought he'd better join.  He wonders why . . .


s: Someone had said he'd look a god in kilts.


s: That's why; and maybe, too, to please his Meg,


s: Aye, that was it, to please the giddy jilts,


s: He asked to join.  He didn't have to beg;


s: Smiling they wrote his lie; aged nineteen years.


s: Germans he scarcely thought of; and no fears


s: For daggers in plaid socks; of smart salutes;


s: And care of arms; and leave; and pay arrears;


s: Esprit de corps; and hints for young recruits.


s: And soon, he was drafted out with drums and cheers.


s: Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer Goal.


s: Only a solemn man who brought him fruits


s: Thanked him; and then inquired about his soul.


s: Now, he will spend a few sick years in Institutes,


s: And do what things the rules consider wise,


s: To-night he noticed how the women's eyes


s: Passed from him to the strong men that were whole.


s: How cold and late it is!  Why don't they come


s: And put him into bed?  Why don't they come?


s: After the blast of lightning from the east,


s: The flourish of loud clouds, the Chariot throne,


s: After the drums of time have rolled and ceased


s: And from the bronze west long retreat is blown,


s: Shall Life renew these bodies?  Of a truth


s: All death will he annul, all tears assuage?


s: Or fill these void veins full again with youth


s: When I do ask white Age, he saith not so,--


s: And when I hearken to the Earth she saith


s: My fiery heart sinks aching.  It is death.


s: Mine ancient scars shall not be glorified


s: Nor my titanic tears the seas be dried."


s: Lines longer than 78 characters are broken and the continuation


s: Several of the poems included in this book are reprinted


s: from American periodicals, as follows:  "The Gift of God",


s: Ben Jonson Entertains a Man from Stratford


s: The man Flammonde, from God knows where,


s: They made life awkward for their friends,


s: Would find him far from flags and shouts,


s: Would shine, if love could make him great,


s: Transmutes him with her faith and praise,


s: His fame, though vague, will not be small,


s: You'll praise him for the best of birds,


s: "Tell me what you're doing over here, John Gorham,


s: Sighing hard and seeming to be sorry when you're not;


s: Make me laugh or let me go now, for long faces in the moonlight


s: Are a sign for me to say again a word that you forgot."--


s: "I'm over here to tell you what the moon already


s: May have said or maybe shouted ever since a year ago;


s: I'm over here to tell you what you are, Jane Wayland,


s: And to make you rather sorry, I should say, for being so."--


s: "Tell me what you're saying to me now, John Gorham,


s: Or you'll never see as much of me as ribbons any more;


s: I'll vanish in as many ways as I have toes and fingers,


s: "I'm sorry now you never saw the flocks, Jane Wayland,


s: But you're the one to make of them as many as you need.


s: And then about the vanishing.  It's I who mean to vanish;


s: And when I'm here no longer you'll be done with me indeed."--


s: "That's a way to tell me what I am, John Gorham!


s: How am I to know myself until I make you smile?


s: Try to look as if the moon were making faces at you,


s: And a little more as if you meant to stay a little while."--


s: "You are what it is that over rose-blown gardens


s: Makes a pretty flutter for a season in the sun;


s: You are what it is that with a mouse, Jane Wayland,


s: Catches him and lets him go and eats him up for fun."--


s: "Sure I never took you for a mouse, John Gorham;


s: All you say is easy, but so far from being true


s: That I wish you wouldn't ever be again the one to think so;


s: For it isn't cats and butterflies that I would be to you."--


s: "All your little animals are in one picture--


s: One I've had before me since a year ago to-night;


s: And the picture where they live will be of you, Jane Wayland,


s: Till you find a way to kill them or to keep them out of sight."--


s: "Won't you ever see me as I am, John Gorham,


s: Leaving out the foolishness and all I never meant?


s: Somewhere in me there's a woman, if you know the way to find her.


s: "I doubt if I shall ever have the time, Jane Wayland;


s: And I dare say all this moonlight lying round us might as well


s: Fall for nothing on the shards of broken urns that are forgotten,


s: Once there was a cabin here, and once there was a man;


s: And something happened here before my memory began.


s: Time has made the two of them the fuel of one flame


s: And all we have of them is now a legend and a name.


s: All I have to say is what an old man said to me,


s: And that would seem to be as much as there will ever be.


s: "Fifty years ago it was we found it where it sat."--


s: And forty years ago it was old Archibald said that.


s: "An apple tree that's yet alive saw something, I suppose,


s: Of what it was that happened there, and what no mortal knows.


s: Some one on the mountain heard far off a master shriek,


s: And then there was a light that showed the way for men to seek.


s: "We found it in the morning with an iron bar behind,


s: And there were chains around it; but no search could ever find,


s: Either in the ashes that were left, or anywhere,


s: A sign to tell of who or what had been with Stafford there.


s: "Stafford was a likely man with ideas of his own--


s: Though I could never like the kind that likes to live alone;


s: And when you met, you found his eyes were always on your shoes,


s: As if they did the talking when he asked you for the news.


s: "That's all, my son.  Were I to talk for half a hundred years