s: "This was a work for us, and now, my Son,


s: It is a work for me. But, lay one Stone--


s: Here, lay it for me, Luke, with thine own hands.


s: I for the purpose brought thee to this place."


s: Nay, Boy, be of good hope:--we both may live


s: I still am strong and stout;--do thou thy part,


s: With many tasks that were resign'd to thee;


s: Up to the heights, and in among the storms,


s: Before I knew thy face.--Heaven bless thee, Boy!


s: Thy heart these two weeks has been beating fast


s: With many hopes--it should be so--yes--yes--


s: I knew that thou could'st never have a wish


s: To leave me, Luke, thou hast been bound to me


s: Only by links of love, when thou art gone


s: When thou art gone away, should evil men


s: Be thy companions, let this Sheep-fold be


s: Thy anchor and thy shield; amid all fear


s: An emblem of the life thy Fathers liv'd,


s: Bestir them in good deeds. Now, fare thee well--


s: When thou return'st, thou in this place wilt see


s: Befall thee, I shall love thee to the last,


s: And bear thy memory with me to the grave.


s: The Shepherd ended here; and Luke stoop'd down,


s: The first stone of the Sheep-fold; at the sight


s: The Old Man's grief broke from him, to his heart


s: He press'd his Son, he kissed him and wept;


s: And to the House together they return'd.


s: Next morning, as had been resolv'd, the Boy


s: Began his journey, and when he had reach'd


s: And all the Neighbours as he pass'd their doors


s: Came forth, with wishes and with farewell pray'rs,


s: That follow'd him 'till he was out of sight.


s: A good report did from their Kinsman come,


s: Wrote loving letters, full of wond'rous news,


s: Which, as the House-wife phrased it, were throughout


s: The prettiest letters that were ever seen.


s: Both parents read them with rejoicing hearts.


s: So, many months pass'd on: and once again


s: With confident and cheerful thoughts; and now


s: Sometimes when he could find a leisure hour


s: He to that valley took his way, and there


s: Wrought at the Sheep-fold. Meantime Luke began


s: Fell on him, so that he was driven at last


s: There is a comfort in the strength of love;


s: 'Twill make a thing endurable, which else


s: Would break the heart:--Old Michael found it so.


s: I have convers'd with more than one who well


s: Years after he had heard this heavy news.


s: His bodily frame had been from youth to age


s: He went, and still look'd up upon the sun.


s: Perform'd all kinds of labour for his Sheep,


s: And to that hollow Dell from time to time


s: Did he repair, to build the Fold of which


s: His flock had need. 'Tis not forgotten yet


s: For the Old Man--ands 'tis believ'd by all


s: That many and many a day he thither went,


s: There, by the Sheep-fold, sometimes was he seen


s: Sitting alone, with that his faithful Dog,


s: Then old, beside him, lying at his feet.


s: The length of full seven years from time to time


s: He at the building of this Sheep-fold wrought,


s: And left the work unfinished when he died.


s: Three years, or little more, did Isabel,


s: Survive her Husband: at her death the estate


s: Was sold, and went into a Stranger's hand.


s: The Cottage which was nam'd The Evening Star


s: Is gone, the ploughshare has been through the ground


s: On which it stood; great changes have been wrought


s: In all the neighbourhood, yet the Oak is left


s: That grew beside their Door; and the remains


s: Of the unfinished Sheep-fold may be seen


s: Beside the boisterous brook of Green-head Gill.


s: Page 29--line 5 "The thought of death sits easy on the man," &c.


s: Chapel; and is on the right hand side of the road leading from


s: Page 217--line 4 "--had design'd to build a sheep-fold." etc. It


s: may be proper to inform some readers, that a sheep-fold in these


s: mountains is an unroofed building of stone walls, with different


s: divisions. It is generally placed by the side of a brook, for the


s: Dans la trêve desolée de cette matinée, ces hommes


s: qui avaient été tenaillés par la fatigue, fouettés par


s: la pluie, bouleversés par toute une nuit de tonnerre,


s: ces rescapés des volcans et de l'inondation entrevoyaient


s: à quel point la guerre, aussi hideuse au moral


s: qu'au physique, non seulement viole le bon sens, avilit


s: les grandes idées, commande tous les crimes--mais ils


s: se rappelaient combien elle avait développé en eux et


s: autour d'eux tous les mauvais instincts sans en excepter


s: un seul; la méchanceté jusqu'au sadisme,


s: l'égoisme jusqu'à la férocité, le besoin de jouir jusqu'à


s: In appearance he is tall, big-boned, loosely built. He


s: is clean-shaven, pale or with a flush; has a heavy jaw,


s: wide mouth with the upper lip slightly protruding and


s: the curve of it very pronounced like that of a shrivelled


s: leaf (as I have noticed is common in many poets).


s: His nose is aquiline, the nostrils being wide and heavily


s: arched. This characteristic and the fullness, depth and


s: heat of his dark eyes give him the air of a sullen


s: falcon. He speaks slowly, enunciating the words as if


s: they pained him, in a voice that has something of the


s: troubled thickness apparent in the voices of those who


s: emerge from a deep grief. As he speaks, his large


s: hands, roughened by trench toil and by riding, wander


s: aimlessly until some emotion grips him when the


s: knuckles harden and he clutches at his knees or at the


s: edge of the table. And all the while he will be breathing


s: hard like a man who has swum a distance. When


s: he reads his poems he chants and one would think


s: that he communed with himself save that, at the


s: pauses, he shoots a powerful glance at the listener.


s: Between the poems he is still but moves his lips...


s: He likes best to speak of hunting (he will shout of it!),


s: of open air mornings when the gorse alone flames


s: brighter than the sky, of country quiet, of his mother,


s: Thornycroft, sister of the sculptor of that name.]


s: of poetry--usually Shelley, Masefield and Thomas


s: Hardy--and last and chiefly--but always with a rapid,


s: tumbling enunciation and a much-irked desperate air


s: filled with pain--of soldiers. For the incubus of war


s: is on him so that his days are shot with anguish and


s: He is twenty-eight years old; was educated at


s: Marlborough and Christchurch, Oxford; was a master of


s: fox-hounds and is a captain in the Royal Welsh


s: Fusiliers. Thrice he has fought in France and once in


s: Palestine. Behind his name are set the letters M.C.


s: since he has won the Military Cross for an act of


s: valour which went near to securing him a higher


s: The poetry of Siegfried Sassoon divides itself into


s: two rough classes--the idyllic and the satiric. War


s: has defiled one to produce the other. At heart


s: Before the war he had hardly published a line. He


s: spent his summers in the company of books, at the


s: piano, on expeditions, and in playing tennis. During


s: winter he hunted. Hunting was a greater passion with


s: him than poetry. Much of his poetry celebrated the


s: loveliness of the field as seen by the huntsman in the


s: early morning light. But few probably guessed that


s: the youth known to excel in field sports excelled also


s: in poetry. For, in its way, this early poetry does excel.


s: It was characteristic of him that nearly every little


s: book he then wrote was privately printed. Poetry was


s: for him just something for private and particular


s: enjoyment--like a ride alone before breakfast.  Among


s: these privately printed books are Twelve Sonnets


s: (all 1912). The names are significant. He was occupied


s: with natural beauty and with music.  In 1913 he


s: publishes in a limited and obscure edition Apollo in


s: Doelyrium, wherein it seems that he is beginning to


s: find a certain want of body and basis in his poems


s: made of beautiful words about beautiful objects.


s: Later in the same year, with Masefield's Everlasting


s: Daffodil Fields (1913) before him, he starts to write a


s: parody of these uncouth intrusions of the sorrows of


s: obscure persons into his paradise but half way through


s: the poem adopts the Masefield manner in earnest


s: and finishes by unsuccessfully endeavouring to rival his


s: master. In 1914 the War breaks out. Home on leave


s: in 1915 he privately prints Discoveries, a little book


s: which contains some of the loveliest of his 'paradise'


s: poems. In 1916 the change has come. He can hardly


s: believe it himself. 'Morning Glory' (privately printed)


s: includes four war poems. He has not definitely


s: turned to his later style but he hovers on the brink.


s: The war is beginning to pain him. The poems 'To


s: Victory' and 'The Dragon and the Undying' show him


s: turning toward his paradise to see if its beauty can save


s: him ... The year 1917 witnesses the publication of


s: This book secured instantaneous success.


s: became one of the leading young poets of England.


s: The book begins with the long monologue of a retired


s: huntsman, a piece of remarkable characterisation.


s: It continues with all the best of the 'paradise'


s: poems, including the loveliest in 'Discoveries' and


s: 'Morning Glory.' There are also the 'bridge' poems


s: between his old manner and his new such as the 'To


s: Victory' mentioned above. But interspersed among


s: the paradise poems are the first poems in his final war


s: style. He tells the story of the change in a characteristic


s: manner--Conscripts (page 51, 'The Old Huntsman').


s: For like nearly every one of the young English poets,


s: he is to some extent a humourist. His humour is not,


s: however, even through 'The Old Huntsman' all


s: of such a wise and gentle tenor. He breaks out into


s: lively bitterness in such poems as 'They,'


s: "Fall in, that awkward squad, and strike no more


s: "Attractive attitudes!  Dress by the right!


s: "The luminous rich colours that you wore


s: "Have changed to hueless khaki in the night.


s: "Magic? What's magic got to do with you?


s: "There's no such thing! Blood's red and skies are blue."


s: They gasped and sweated, marching up and down.


s: I drilled them till they cursed my raucous shout.


s: Love chucked his lute away and dropped his crown.


s: Rhyme got sore heels and wanted to fall out.


s: "Left, right! Press on your butts!" They looked at me


s: Reproachful; how I longed to set them free!


s: I gave them lectures on Defence, Attack;


s: They fidgeted and shuffled, yawned and sighed,


s: And boggled at my questions. Joy was slack,


s: And Wisdom gnawed his fingers, gloomy-eyed.


s: Young Fancy--how I loved him all the while--


s: Stared at his note-book with a rueful smile.


s: Their training done, I shipped them all to France.


s: Where most of those I'd loved too well got killed.


s: Rapture and pale Enchantment and Romance,


s: And many a sickly, slender lord who'd filled


s: My soul long since with litanies of sin.


s: Went home, because they couldn't stand the din.


s: But the kind, common ones that I despised,


s: (Hardly a man of them I'd count as friend),


s: What stubborn-hearted virtues they disguised!


s: They stood and played the hero to the end,


s: Won gold and silver medals bright with bars,


s: And marched resplendent home with crowns and stars.


s: This book (in consequence almost wholly of these


s: bitter poems) enjoyed a remarkable success with the


s: soldiers fighting in France. One met it everywhere.


s: "Hello, you know Siegfried Sassoon then, do you?


s: Well, tell him from me that the more he lays it on thick


s: to those who don't realize the war the better. That's


s: the stuff we want. We're fed up with the old men's


s: death-or-glory stunt." In 1918 appeared 'Countermans'


s: Attack': here there is hardly a trace of the 'paradise'


s: feeling. You can't even think of paradise when you're


s: in hell. For Sassoon was now well along the way of


s: thorns. How many lives had he not seen spilled apparently


s: to no purpose? Did not the fact of war arch


s: him in like a dirty blood-red sky? He breaks out,


s: almost like a mad man, into imprecations, into


s: vehement tirades, into sarcasms, ironies, the hellish


s: laughters that arise from a heart that is not broken


s: once for all but that is newly broken every day while


s: the Monster that devours the lives of the young


s: continues its ravages. Take, for instance, the magnificent


s: 'To Any Dead Officer', written just before America


s: entered the war. Many reading this poem would think


s: Great Britain was going to cease fighting. But nothing


s: of the sort. One must always remember that bitter


s: as these imprecations are against those who mismanaged


s: certain episodes in the war, the ultimate foe


s: is not they but the German Junkers who planned this


s: war for forty years, who have given the lovely earth


s: over to hideous defilement and the youths of all nations


s: Sometimes in this book Sassoon fails to express himself


s: properly. This fact is, I think, a tribute to his


s: sincerity. For his earlier work very clearly displays


s: his technical proficiency. But here what can he do?


s: Indignation chokes and strangles him. He claws often


s: enough at unsatisfactory words, dislocates his


s: sentences, tumbles out his images as if he would pulp the


s: makers of war beneath them. Very rarely does he


s: attain to the poignant simplicity of 'The Hawthorn


s: Tree' or the detached irony of 'Does it Matter?'


s: Can he then see nothing else in war? I remember


s: him once turning to me and saying suddenly apropos


s: of certain exalté poems in my 'Ardours and


s: Endurances': 'Yes, I see all that and I agree with


s: you, Robert. War has made me. I think I am a man now


s: as well as a poet. You have said the things well


s: enough. Now let us nevermore say another word of


s: whatever little may be good in war for the individual


s: I remember I nodded, for further acquaintance with


s: 'Let no one ever,' he continued, 'from henceforth


s: say a word in any way countenancing war. It is dangerous


s: even to speak of how here and there the individual


s: may gain some hardship of soul by it. For war


s: is hell and those who institute it are criminals. Were


s: there anything to say for it, it should not be said for


s: its spiritual disasters far outweigh any of its advantages.'


s: For myself this is the truth. War doesn't ennoble:


s: it degrades. The words of Barbusse placed at the beginning


s: of this book should be engraved over the doors


s: of every war office of every State in the world.


s: While war is a possibility man is little better than


s: a savage and civilisation the mere moments of rest


s: between a succession of nightmares. It is to help to


s: end this horror that Siegfried Sassoon and the many


s: others who feel like him have continued to fight as


s: after the publication of this book he fought in Palestine


s: You civilized persons who read this book not only as


s: a poet but as a soldier I beg of you not to turn from it.


s: Read it again and again till its words become part of


s: your consciousness. It was written by a man for mankind's


s: sake, that 'that which is humane' might no more be an


s: empty phrase, that the words of Blake might blossom


s: Dim, gradual thinning of the shapeless gloom


s: Shudders to drizzling daybreak that reveals


s: Disconsolate men who stamp their sodden boots


s: And turn dulled, sunken faces to the sky


s: Haggard and hopeless. They, who have beaten down


s: The stale despair of night, must now renew


s: Murdering the livid hours that grope for peace.


s: Yet these, who cling to life with stubborn hands,


s: Can grin through storms of death and find a gap


s: In the clawed, cruel tangles of his defence.


s: They march from safety, and the bird-sung joy


s: Of grass-green thickets, to the land where all


s: Is ruin, and nothing blossoms but the sky


s: That hastens over them where they endure


s: Sad, smoking, flat horizons, reeking woods,


s: And foundered trench-lines volleying doom for doom.


s: O my brave brown companions, when your souls


s: Flock silently away, and the eyeless dead


s: Shame the wild beast of battle on the ridge,


s: Death will stand grieving in that field of war


s: Since your unvanquished hardihood is spent.


s: And through some mooned Valhalla there will pass


s: Battalions and battalions, scarred from hell;


s: The legions who have suffered and are dust.


s: We'd gained our first objective hours before


s: While dawn broke like a face with blinking eyes,


s: Pallid, unshaved and thirsty, blind with smoke.


s: Things seemed all right at first. We held their line,


s: With bombers posted, Lewis guns well placed,


s: And clink of shovels deepening the shallow trench.


s: The place was rotten with dead; green clumsy legs


s: High-booted, sprawled and grovelled along the saps;


s: And trunks, face downward, in the sucking mud,


s: Wallowed like trodden sand-bags loosely filled;


s: And naked sodden buttocks, mats of hair,


s: Bulged, clotted heads slept in the plastering slime.


s: And then the rain began,--the jolly old rain!


s: A yawning soldier knelt against the bank,


s: Staring across the morning blear with fog;


s: He wondered when the Allemands would get busy;


s: And then, of course, they started with five-nines


s: Traversing, sure as fate, and never a dud.


s: Mute in the clamour of shells he watched them burst


s: Spouting dark earth and wire with gusts from hell,


s: While posturing giants dissolved in drifts of smoke.


s: He crouched and flinched, dizzy with galloping fear,


s: Sick for escape,--loathing the strangled horror


s: And butchered, frantic gestures of the dead.


s: An officer came blundering down the trench:


s: "Stand-to and man the fire-step!" On he went ...


s: Gasping and bawling, "Fire-step ... counter-attack!"


s: Then the haze lifted. Bombing on the right


s: Down the old sap: machine-guns on the left;


s: And stumbling figures looming out in front.


s: "O Christ, they're coming at us!" Bullets spat,


s: And he remembered his rifle ... rapid fire ...


s: And started blazing wildly ... then a bang


s: Crumpled and spun him sideways, knocked him out


s: To grunt and wriggle: none heeded him; he choked


s: And fought the flapping veils of smothering gloom,


s: Lost in a blurred confusion of yells and groans ...


s: Down, and down, and down, he sank and drowned,


s: Bleeding to death. The counter-attack had failed.


s: He winked his prying torch with patching glare


s: From side to side, and sniffed the unwholesome air.


s: Tins, boxes, bottles, shapes too vague to know,


s: A mirror smashed, the mattress from a bed;


s: Tripping, he grabbed the wall; saw some one lie


s: Humped at his feet, half-hidden by a rug,


s: And stooped to give the sleeper's arm a tug.


s: "I'm looking for headquarters." No reply.


s: "God blast your neck!" (For days he'd had no sleep.)


s: "Get up and guide me through this stinking place."


s: Savage, he kicked a soft, unanswering heap,


s: And flashed his beam across the livid face


s: Terribly glaring up, whose eyes yet wore


s: And fists of fingers clutched a blackening wound.


s: Dawn's ghost that filtered down a shafted stair


s: To the dazed, muttering creatures underground


s: Who hear the boom of shells in muffled sound.


s: At last, with sweat of horror in his hair,


s: He climbed through darkness to the twilight air,


s: "Pass it along, the wiring party's going out"--


s: And yawning sentries mumble, "Wirers going out,"


s: Unravelling; twisting; hammering stakes with muffled thud,


s: They toil with stealthy haste and anger in their blood.


s: The Boche sends up a flare. Black forms stand rigid there,


s: Stock-still like posts; then darkness, and the clumsy ghosts


s: Stride hither and thither, whispering, tripped by clutching snare


s: Gleams desolate along the sky, night's misery ended.


s: Young Hughes was badly hit; I heard him carried away,


s: Moaning at every lurch; no doubt he'll die to-day.


s: But _we_ can say the front-line wire's been safely mended.


s: At dawn the ridge emerges massed and dun


s: In the wild purple of the glowering sun,


s: Smouldering through spouts of drifting smoke that shroud


s: The menacing scarred slope; and, one by one,


s: Tanks creep and topple forward to the wire.


s: The barrage roars and lifts. Then, clumsily bowed


s: With bombs and guns and shovels and battle-gear,


s: Men jostle and climb to meet the bristling fire.


s: Lines of grey, muttering faces, masked with fear,


s: They leave their trenches, going over the top,


s: While time ticks blank and busy on their wrists,


s: And hope, with furtive eyes and grappling fists,


s: Soldiers are citizens of death's grey land,


s: Drawing no dividend from time's to-morrows.


s: In the great hour of destiny they stand,


s: Each with his feuds, and jealousies, and sorrows.


s: Soldiers are sworn to action; they must win


s: Some flaming, fatal climax with their lives.


s: Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns begin


s: They think of firelit homes, clean beds, and wives.


s: I see them in foul dug-outs, gnawed by rats,


s: And in the ruined trenches, lashed with rain,


s: Dreaming of things they did with balls and bats,


s: And mocked by hopeless longing to regain


s: Bank-holidays, and picture shows, and spats,


s: Hankering for wreaths and tombs and hearses.


s: But they've been taught the way to do it


s: And shuddering groans; but passing through it


s: "The effect of our bombardment was terrific.  One man


s: _"He'd never seen so many dead before."_


s: They sprawled in yellow daylight while he swore


s: And gasped and lugged his everlasting load


s: Of bombs along what once had been a road.


s: Who put that silly gag in some one's head?


s: The lilting words danced up and down his brain,


s: While corpses jumped and capered in the rain.


s: No, no; he wouldn't count them any more ...


s: They've choked; they can't come back to life again.


s: Flapping along the fire-step like a fish,


s: After the blazing crump had knocked him flat ...


s: _"How many dead? As many as ever you wish.


s: Who'll buy my nice fresh corpses, two a penny?"_


s: Hullo! here's my platoon, the lot I had last year.


s: Then, "Number Seven, 'shun! All present and correct."


s: They're standing in the sun, impassive and erect.


s: Young Gibson with his grin; and Morgan, tired and white;


s: Jordan, who's out to win a D.C.M. some night;


s: And Hughes that's keen on wiring; and Davies ('79),


s: Who always must be firing at the Boche front line.


s: "Old soldiers never die; they simply fide a-why!"


s: That's what they used to sing along the roads last spring;


s: That's what they used to say before the push began;


s: That's where they are to-day, knocked over to a man.


s: "Yes," wheezed the other, "that's the luck!


s: Still, if there's truth in what we hear,


s: I watched them toddle through the door--


s: If I were fierce, and bald, and short of breath,


s: I'd live with scarlet Majors at the Base,


s: And speed glum heroes up the line to death.


s: You'd see me with my puffy petulant face,


s: Reading the Roll of Honour. "Poor young chap,"


s: I'd say--"I used to know his father well;


s: Yes, we've lost heavily in this last scrap."


s: And when the war is done and youth stone dead,


s: "Good-morning; good-morning!" the General said


s: When we met him last week on our way to the line.


s: Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of 'em dead,


s: And we're cursing his staff for incompetent swine.


s: "He's a cheery old card," grunted Harry to Jack


s: As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack.


s: But he did for them both by his plan of attack.


s: I found him in the guard-room at the Base.


s: From the blind darkness I had heard his crying


s: And blundered in. With puzzled, patient face


s: A sergeant watched him; it was no good trying


s: To stop it; for he howled and beat his chest.


s: And, all because his brother had gone West,


s: Raved at the bleeding war; his rampant grief


s: Moaned, shouted, sobbed, and choked, while he was kneeling


s: Such men have lost all patriotic feeling.


s: There's such splendid work for the blind;


s: Do they matter?--those dreams from the pit? ...


s: For they'll know that you've fought for your country,


s: The boys came back. Bands played and flags were flying,


s: And Yellow-Pressmen thronged the sunlit street


s: To cheer the soldiers who'd refrained from dying,


s: "Of all the thrills and ardours War has brought,


s: This moment is the finest." (So they thought.)


s: Snapping their bayonets on to charge the mob,


s: Grim Fusiliers broke ranks with glint of steel.


s: I heard the Yellow-Pressmen grunt and squeal;


s: And with my trusty bombers turned and went


s: To clear those Junkers out of Parliament.


s: He seemed so certain "all was going well,"


s: As he discussed the glorious time he'd had


s: You've gathered big impressions!" grinned the lad


s: "Impressions? Yes, most vivid! I am writing


s: A little book called _Europe on the Rack_,


s: Based on notes made while witnessing the fighting.


s: I hope I've caught the feeling of 'the Line'


s: By Jove, those flying-chaps of ours are fine!


s: I watched one daring beggar looping loops,


s: Soaring and diving like some bird of prey.


s: And through it all I felt that splendour shine


s: "Ah, yes, but it's the Press that leads the way!"


s: Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,


s: You love us when we're heroes, home on leave,


s: That chivalry redeems the war's disgrace.


s: You make us shells. You listen with delight,


s: By tales of dirt and danger fondly thrilled.


s: You crown our distant ardours while we fight,


s: And mourn our laurelled memories when we're killed.


s: You can't believe that British troops "retire"


s: When hell's last horror breaks them, and they run,


s: Trampling the terrible corpses--blind with blood.


s: While you are knitting socks to send your son


s: He's got a Blighty wound. He's safe; and then


s: She can forget the doomed and prisoned men


s: He's back in France. She loathes the listless strain


s: Beseeching Heaven to send him home again,


s: Husbands and sons and lovers; everywhere


s: Mothers and wives and sweethearts,--they don't care


s: Sits welcoming the heroes who have died,


s: While sorrowless angels ranked on either side


s: Then _you_ come shyly through the garden gate,


s: Wearing a blood-soaked bandage on your head;


s: And God says something kind because you're dead,


s: And homesick, discontented with your fate.


s: If I were there we'd snowball Death with skulls;


s: With ghosts of puppies that we walked of old.


s: Our earthly jokes; and strangely wise and good


s: You roam forlorn along the streets of gold.


s: Shaken from sleep, and numbed and scarce awake,


s: Out in the trench with three hours' watch to take,


s: I blunder through the splashing mirk; and then


s: Hear the gruff muttering voices of the men


s: Hark! There's the big bombardment on our right


s: Rumbling and bumping; and the dark's a glare


s: Of flickering horror in the sectors where


s: We raid the Boche; men waiting, stiff and chilled,


s: Or crawling on their bellies through the wire.


s: "What? Stretcher-bearers wanted? Some one killed?"


s: Why did he do it? ... Starlight overhead--


s: Blank stars. I'm wide-awake; and some chap's dead.


s: There seemed a smell of autumn in the air


s: At the bleak end of night; he shivered there


s: Legs wrapped in sand-bags,--lumps of chalk and clay


s: Spattering his face. Dry-mouthed, he thought, "To-day


s: We start the damned attack; and, Lord knows why,


s: Zero's at nine; how bloody if I'm done in


s: And then he coughed and dozed, cursing the din.


s: Was it the ghost of autumn in that smell


s: Of underground, or God's blank heart grown kind,


s: That sent a happy dream to him in hell?--


s: Where men are crushed like clods, and crawl to find


s: Some crater for their wretchedness; who lie


s: Far from clean things or any hope of cheer,


s: Cowed anger in their eyes, till darkness brims


s: And roars into their heads, and they can hear


s: Old childish talk, and tags of foolish hymns.


s: He sniffs the chilly air; (his dreaming starts).


s: In quiet September; slowly night departs;


s: And he's a living soul, absolved from pain.


s: Beyond the brambled fences where he goes


s: Are glimmering fields with harvest piled in sheaves,


s: And tree-tops dark against the stars grown pale;


s: Then, clear and shrill, a distant farm-cock crows;


s: And there's a wall of mist along the vale


s: Where willows shake their watery-sounding leaves.


s: That earth is telling its old peaceful tale;


s: He thanks the blessed world that he was born ...


s: Then, far away, a lonely note of the horn.


s: They're drawing the Big Wood! Unlatch the gate,


s: _He_ knows the corner where it's best to wait


s: And hear the crashing woodland chorus pass;


s: The corner where old foxes make their track


s: To the Long Spinney; that's the place to be.


s: And then a cub looks out; and "Tally-o-back!"


s: He bawls, and swings his thong with volleying crack,--


s: All the clean thrill of autumn in his blood,


s: And hunting surging through him like a flood


s: In joyous welcome from the untroubled past;


s: While the war drifts away, forgotten at last.


s: Of twilight stares along the quiet weald,


s: And the kind, simple country shines revealed


s: The old horse lifts his face and thanks the light,


s: Then stretches down his head to crop the green.


s: All things that he has loved are in his sight;


s: Are in his eyes, his heart, and they are good.


s: Hark! there's the horn: they're drawing the Big Wood.


s: Well, how are things in Heaven? I wish you'd say,


s: Because I'd like to know that you're all right.


s: Tell me, have you found everlasting day,


s: For when I shut my eyes your face shows pain;


s: I hear you make some cheery old remark--


s: Though you've gone out patrolling in the dark.


s: You hated tours of trenches; you were proud


s: Of nothing more than having good years to spend;


s: Longed to get home and join the careless crowd


s: Of chaps who work in peace with Time for friend.


s: That's all washed out now. You're beyond the wire:


s: No earthly chance can send you crawling back;


s: Somehow I always thought you'd get done in,


s: Because you were so desperate keen to live:


s: You were all out to try and save your skin,


s: Well knowing how much the world had got to give.


s: You joked at shells and talked the usual "shop,"


s: Stuck to your dirty job and did it fine:


s: With "Jesus Christ! when _will_ it stop?


s: Three years... It's hell unless we break their line."


s: So when they told me you'd been left for dead


s: I wouldn't believe them, feeling it _must_ be true.


s: Next week the bloody Roll of Honour said


s: "Wounded and missing"--(That's the thing to do


s: When lads are left in shell-holes dying slow,


s: With nothing but blank sky and wounds that ache,


s: It's night, and then it's not worth while to wake!)


s: They won't give in till Prussian Rule's been trod


s: Under the Heel of England... Are you there? ...


s: Yes ... and the War won't end for at least two years;


s: But we've got stacks of men... I'm blind with tears,


s: I wish they'd killed you in a decent show.


s: When I'm asleep, dreaming and lulled and warm,--


s: They come, the homeless ones, the noiseless dead.


s: While the dim charging breakers of the storm


s: Out of the gloom they gather about my bed.


s: They whisper to my heart; their thoughts are mine.


s: "Why are you here with all your watches ended?


s: From Ypres to Frise we sought you in the Line."


s: And while the dawn begins with slashing rain


s: Are they not still your brothers through our blood?"


s: I am banished from the patient men who fight.


s: They smote my heart to pity, built my pride.


s: Shoulder to aching shoulder, side by side,


s: They trudged away from life's broad wealds of light.


s: Their wrongs were mine; and ever in my sight


s: They went arrayed in honour. But they died,--


s: To those who sent them out into the night.


s: The darkness tells how vainly I have striven


s: To free them from the pit where they must dwell


s: In outcast gloom convulsed and jagged and riven


s: By grappling guns. Love drove me to rebel.


s: Love drives me back to grope with them through hell;


s: And in their tortured eyes I stand forgiven.


s: And then he'll speak of Haig's last drive,


s: And smashed, to cleanse the world of guilt.


s: But the boys, with grin and sidelong glance,


s: Will think, "Poor grandad's day is done."


s: Tossed on the glittering air they soar and skim,


s: Whose voices make the emptiness of light


s: Of dawn, and bold with song at edge of night,


s: They clutch their leafy pinnacles and sing


s: Scornful of man, and from his toils aloof


s: Whose heart's a haunted woodland whispering;


s: Whose thoughts return on tempest-baffled wing;


s: And storms the gate of nothingness for proof.


s: October's bellowing anger breaks and cleaves


s: The bronzed battalions of the stricken wood


s: In whose lament I hear a voice that grieves


s: For battle's fruitless harvest, and the feud


s: Of outraged men. Their lives are like the leaves


s: Scattered in flocks of ruin, tossed and blown


s: Along the westering furnace flaring red.


s: O martyred youth and manhood overthrown,


s: The burden of your wrongs is on my head.


s: Come down from heaven to meet me when my breath


s: Chokes, and through drumming shafts of stifling death


s: I stumble toward escape, to find the door


s: Opening on morn where I may breathe once more


s: Clear cock-crow airs across some valley dim


s: With whispering trees. While dawn along the rim


s: Of night's horizon flows in lakes of fire,


s: Come down from heaven's bright hill, my song's desire.


s: Belov'd and faithful, teach my soul to wake


s: In glades deep-ranked with flowers that gleam and shake


s: And flock your paths with wonder. In your gaze


s: Show me the vanquished vigil of my days.


s: Mute in that golden silence hung with green,


s: Come down from heaven and bring me in your eyes


s: Remembrance of all beauty that has been,


s: And stillness from the pools of Paradise.


s: Now light the candles; one; two; there's a moth;


s: What silly beggars they are to blunder in


s: And scorch their wings with glory, liquid flame--


s: No, no, not that,--it's bad to think of war,


s: When thoughts you've gagged all day come back to scare you;


s: And it's been proved that soldiers don't go mad


s: Unless they lose control of ugly thoughts


s: That drive them out to jabber among the trees.


s: Now light your pipe; look, what a steady hand,


s: Draw a deep breath; stop thinking, count fifteen,


s: I wish there'd be a thunder-storm to-night,


s: With bucketsful of water to sluice the dark,


s: And make the roses hang their dripping heads.


s: Standing so quiet and patient on their shelves,


s: Dressed in dim brown, and black, and white, and green,


s: And every kind of colour. Which will you read?


s: Come on; O _do_ read something; they're so wise.


s: Is waiting for you on those shelves; and yet


s: You sit and gnaw your nails, and let your pipe out,


s: And listen to the silence: on the ceiling


s: There's one big, dizzy moth that bumps and flutters;


s: And in the breathless air outside the house


s: The garden waits for something that delays.


s: There must be crowds of ghosts among the trees,--


s: Not people killed in battle,--they're in France,--


s: But horrible shapes in shrouds--old men who died


s: Slow, natural deaths,--old men with ugly souls,


s: Who wore their bodies out with nasty sins.


s: You're quiet and peaceful, summering safe at home;


s: You'd never think there was a bloody war on! ...


s: O yes, you would ... why, you can hear the guns.


s: Hark! Thud, thud, thud,--quite soft ... they never cease--


s: Those whispering guns--O Christ, I want to go out


s: I'm going stark, staring mad because of the guns.


s: When life was a cobweb of stars for Beauty who came


s: In the whisper of leaves or a bird's lone cry in the glen,


s: On dawn-lit hills and horizons girdled with flame


s: I sought for the triumph that troubles the faces of men.


s: With death in the terrible flickering gloom of the fight


s: I was cruel and fierce with despair; I was naked and bound;


s: was stricken: and Beauty returned through the shambles of night;


s: In the faces of men she returned; and their triumph I found.


s: No doubt they'll soon get well; the shock and strain


s: Have caused their stammering, disconnected talk.


s: Of course they're "longing to go out again,"--


s: These boys with old, scared faces, learning to walk,


s: They'll soon forget their haunted nights; their cowed


s: Subjection to the ghosts of friends who died,--


s: Their dreams that drip with murder; and they'll be proud


s: Of glorious war that shatter'd all their pride ...


s: Men who went out to battle, grim and glad;


s: Children, with eyes that hate you, broken and mad.


s: Ring your sweet bells; but let them be farewells


s: To the green-vista'd gladness of the past


s: That changed us into soldiers; swing your bells


s: To a joyful chime; but let it be the last.


s: What means this metal in windy belfries hung


s: When guns are all our need? Dissolve these bells


s: Whose tones are tuned for peace: with martial tongue


s: Let them cry doom and storm the sun with shells.


s: Bells are like fierce-browed prelates who proclaim


s: That "if our Lord returned He'd fight for _us_."


s: So let our bells and bishops do the same,


s: Shoulder to shoulder with the motor bus.


s: Lost in the swamp and welter of the pit,


s: He flounders off the duck-boards; only he knows


s: Each flash, and spouting crash,--each instant lit


s: When gloom reveals the streaming rain. He goes


s: Heavily, blindly on. And, while he blunders,


s: "Could anything be worse than this!"--he wonders,


s: Remembering how he saw those Germans run,


s: Screaming for mercy among the stumps of trees:


s: Green-faced, they dodged and darted: there was one


s: Livid with terror, clutching at his knees...


s: Our chaps were sticking 'em like pigs... "O hell!"


s: He thought--"there's things in war one dare not tell


s: Poor father sitting safe at home, who reads


s: Of dying heroes and their deathless deeds."


s: Procession of my thoughts toward prayer.


s: In these loud years of youth that strives


s: With fox-trot tunes their ghosts I charm.


s: _"Another little drink won't do us any harm."


s: Home from hell with a Blighty wound so neat..._


s: And so the song breaks off; and I'm alone.


s: They're dead... For God's sake stop that gramophone.


s: Moonlight and dew-drenched blossom, and the scent


s: Of summer gardens; these can bring you all


s: Those dreams that in the starlit silence fall:


s: Last night in drizzling dusk along a lane,


s: I passed a squalid farm; from byre and midden


s: Came the rank smell that brought me once again


s: A dream of war that in the past was hidden.


s: Up a disconsolate straggling village street


s: I saw the tired troops trudge: I heard their feet.


s: Saw them file inward, slipping from their backs


s: On filthy straw they sit in the gloom, each face


s: Bowed to patched, sodden boots they must unlace,


s: I'm looking at their blistered feet; young Jones


s: Stares up at me, mud-splashed and white and jaded;


s: Out of his eyes the morning light has faded.


s: Old soldiers with three winters in their bones


s: Puff their damp Woodbines, whistle, stretch their toes:


s: _They_ can still grin at me, for each of 'em knows


s: The secret burden that is always mine?--


s: Pride in their courage; pity for their distress;


s: That I must take them to the accursèd Line.


s: Dim candles in the barn: they gulp their tea,


s: And soon they'll sleep like logs. Ten miles away


s: The battle winks and thuds in blundering strife.


s: And I must lead them nearer, day by day,


s: To the foul beast of war that bludgeons life.


s: The barrack-square, washed clean with rain,


s: Young Fusiliers, strong-legged and bold,


s: The square is walled with windowed light.


s: Shut your brave eyes on sense and sight,


s: Splashing along the boggy woods all day,


s: And over brambled hedge and holding clay,


s: But when the watery fields grow brown and dim,


s: And hounds have lost their fox, and horses tire,


s: Home through the darkness to the evening fire.


s: He's jumped each stile along the glistening lanes;


s: His hand will be upon the mud-soaked reins;


s: He'll wonder if the frost will come next week.


s: I shall forget him in the morning light;


s: And while we gallop on he will not speak:


s: But at the stable-door he'll say good-night.


s: 'Tis Fair-day;--ay, _and more than that._


s: 'Since you and I, old Girl, were _married_


s: 'Look out;--the Sun shines warm and bright,


s: 'Though few have had more cares than we,


s: She thus some trifling doubts express'd.


s: 'Can you then leave your dear stone mug;


s: 'Though time has been we both could run,


s: And to the Hutch [a chest] she reach'd her hand,


s: And urg'd his tott'ring Spouse to haste.


s: Where knots of trembling Cowslips bow'd.


s: 'A Gotch [pitcher] of Milk I'd been to fill,


s: 'Well, Goody, don't stand preaching now;


s: 'We've rear'd Ten _Boys_ and _Girls_ you know;


s: 'And I'll be bound they'll all be there.'


s: _Grand-children_ bawling hem'd them round;


s: Their lusty _Sons_ and _Daughters_ dear:


s: _Which_ should contribute most to please;


s: Who whisper'd thus, 'My good old fellow,


s: KATE view'd her blooming Daughters round,


s: And bowl'd their _fairings_ down the hill;


s: 'Through all my days I've labour'd hard,


s: 'We've nothing for them but our pray'rs.


s: Then, (raising still his Mug and Voice,)


s: 'GOD bless you all;'--so said his eyes----


s: With thankful Hearts and strengthen'd Love,


s: Bright was the summer sky, the Mornings gay,


s: And Jane was young and chearful as the Day.


s: Not yet to Love but Mirth she paid her vows;


s: And Echo mock'd her as she call'd her Cows.


s: Tufts of green Broom, that full in blossom vied,


s: And grac'd with spotted gold the upland side,


s: The level fogs o'erlook'd; too high to share;


s: So lovely JANE o'erlook'd the clouds of Care;


s: No meadow-flow'r rose fresher to the view,


s: That met her morning footsteps in the dew;


s: Where, if a nodding stranger ey'd her charms,


s: Love's random glances struck the unguarded mind,


s: And Beauty's magic made him look behind.


s: Duly as morning blush'd or twilight came,


s: Secure of greeting smiles and Village fame,


s: She pass'd the Straw-roof'd Shed, in ranges where


s: Hung many a well-turn'd Shoe and glitt'ring _Share_;


s: Where WALTER, as the charmer tripp'd along,


s: Would stop his roaring Bellows and his Song.--


s: Dawn of affection; Love's delicious sigh!


s: Caught from the lightnings of a speaking eye,


s: That leads the heart to rapture or to woe,


s: 'Twas WALTER'S fate thy mad'ning power to know;


s: And scarce to know, ere in its infant twine,


s: As the Blast shakes the tendrils of the Vine,


s: The budding bliss that full of promise grew


s: Scarce had he told his heart's unquiet case,


s: And JANE to shun him ceas'd to mend her pace,


s: And learnt to listen trembling as he spoke,


s: And fondly judge his words beyond a joke;


s: When, at the Goal that bounds our prospects here,


s: Jane's widow'd Mistress ended her career:


s: The Mansion sold, (Jane's peaceful home no more,)


s: A distant Village own'd her for its Queen,


s: But could another scene so pleasing prove,


s: Twelve weary miles from Walter and from Love?


s: The Maid grew thoughtful: yet to Fate resign'd,


s: Knew not the worth of what she left behind.


s: He, when at Eve releas'd from toil and heat,


s: Soon miss'd the smiles that taught his heart to beat,


s: Each sabbath-day of late was wont to prove


s: Hope's liberal feast, the holiday of Love:


s: But now, upon his spirit's ebbing strength


s: Came each dull hour's intolerable length.


s: The next had scarcely dawn'd when Walter hied


s: O'er hill and dale, Affection for his guide:


s: O'er the brown Heath his pathless journey lay,


s: Where screaming Lapwings hail'd the op'ning day.


s: High rose the Sun, the anxious Lover sigh'd;


s: His slipp'ry soles bespoke the dew was dried:


s: Her last farewell hung fondly on his tongue


s: As o'er the tufted Furze elate he sprung;


s: Trifling impediments; his heart was light,


s: For Love and Beauty glow'd in fancy's sight;


s: And soon he gaz'd on Jane's enchanting face,


s: Renew'd his passion,--but, destroy'd his peace.


s: Truth, at whose shrine he bow'd, inflicted pain;


s: And Conscience whisper'd, '_Never come again_.'


s: For now, his tide of gladness to oppose,


s: A clay-cold damp of doubts and fears arose;


s: Clouds, which involve, midst Love and Reason's strife,


s: The poor man's prospect when he takes a wife.


s: Though gay his journeys in the Summer's prime,


s: When tears stole down his face, she knew not why.


s: Yet this he did; the wan Moon circling found


s: His evenings cheerless, and his rest unsound;


s: And saw th' unquenched flame his bosom swell:


s: What were his doubts, thus let the Story tell


s: A month's sharp conflict only serv'd to prove


s: The pow'r, as well as truth, of Walter's love.


s: Absence more strongly on his mind portray'd


s: His own sweet, injur'd, unoffending Maid.


s: Once more he'd go; full resolute awhile,


s: But heard his native Bells on every stile;


s: The sound recall'd him with a pow'rful charm,


s: The Heath wide open'd, and the day was warm;


s: There, where a bed of tempting green he found,


s: Increasing anguish weigh'd him to the ground;


s: His well-grown limbs the scatter'd Daisies press'd,


s: While his clinch'd hand fell heavy on his breast.


s: "I love thee, Jane; appoint the happy day?"


s: 'Then grasp her hand and proffer--poverty?


s: 'Why act like time and sickness on her frame?


s: 'Why should my scanty pittance nip her prime,


s: 'And chace away the Rose before its time?


s: 'I'm young, 'tis true; the world beholds me free;


s: 'Labour ne'er show'd a frightful face to me;


s: 'Nature's first wants hard labour _should_ supply;


s: 'But should it fail, 'twill be too late to fly.


s: 'Some Summers hence, if nought our loves annoy,


s: 'May mock my arm, and make the Anvil ring;


s: 'Then if in rags.--But, O my heart, forbear,--


s: 'I love the Girl, and why should I despair?


s: 'And that I love her all the village knows;


s: 'Oft from my pain the mirth of others flows;


s: 'As when a neighbour's Steed with glancing eye


s: 'Saw his par'd hoof supported on my thigh:


s: 'Jane pass'd that instant; mischief came of course;


s: 'I drove the nail awry and lam'd the Horse;


s: 'The poor beast limp'd: I bore a Master's frown,


s: 'A thousand times I wish'd the wound my own.


s: 'When to these tangling thoughts I've been resign'd,


s: 'All eyes have stared, I've blown a blast so strong;


s: 'Forgot to smite at all, or smote too long.


s: 'If at the Ale-house door, with careless glee


s: 'One drinks to Jane, and darts a look on me;


s: 'I feel that blush which her dear name will bring,


s: 'I feel:--but, guilty Love, 'tis not thy sting!


s: 'Yet what are jeers? the bubbles of an hour;


s: 'Jane knows what Love can do, and feels its pow'r;


s: 'In her mild eye fair Truth her meaning tells;


s: 'Tis not in looks like her's that falsehood dwells.


s: 'I've seen midst downward pebbles devious stray;


s: 'If kindred drops an adverse channel keep,


s: 'The crystal friends toward each other creep;


s: 'Near, and still nearer, rolls each little tide,


s: 'Th' expanding mirror swells on either side:


s: 'They touch--'tis done--receding bound'ries fly,


s: 'An instantaneous union strikes the eye:


s: 'So 'tis with us: for Jane would be my bride;


s: 'Shall coward fears then turn the bliss aside?'


s: While thus he spoke he heard a gentle sound,


s: That seem'd a jarring footstep on the ground:


s: Asham'd of grief, he bade his eyes unclose,


s: All unprepared the sweet surprise to bear;


s: His heart beat high, for Jane herself was there.--


s: Flusht was her cheek; she seem'd the full-blown flower,


s: For warmth gave loveliness a double power;


s: Round her fair brow the deep confusion ran,


s: Her lips, where dwelt sweet love and smiling ease,


s: Puff'd gently back the warm assailing breeze.


s: 'I've travell'd all these weary miles with pain,


s: 'And show my true regard for neighbour _Hind_;


s: 'Not like you, Walter, _she_ was always kind.'


s: 'Twas thus, each soft actuation laid aside,


s: She buoy'd her spirits up with maiden pride;


s: Disclaimed her love, e'en while she felt the sting;


s: 'What, come for Walter's sake!' 'Twas no such thing.


s: But when astonishment his tongue releas'd,


s: Pride's usurpation in an instant ceas'd:


s: By force he caught her hand as passing by,


s: His heart's distraction, and his boding fears


s: She heard, and answer'd with a flood of tears;


s: Precious relief; sure friends that forward press


s: To tell the mind's unspeakable distress.


s: Ye Youths, whom crimson'd health and genuine fire


s: Bear joyous on the wings of young desire,


s: Ye, who still bow to Love's almighty sway,


s: What could true passion, what could Walter say?


s: Age, tell me true, nor shake your locks in vain,


s: Tread back your paths, and be in love again;


s: In your young days did such a favouring hour


s: Show you the littleness of wealth and pow'r?


s: Advent'rous climbers of the Mountain's brow;


s: While Love, their master, spreads his couch below--


s: 'My dearest Jane,' the untaught Walter cried,


s: As half repell'd he pleaded by her side;


s: 'My dearest Jane, think of me as you may--'


s: Thus--still unutter'd what he strove to say,


s: They breath'd in sighs the anguish of their minds,


s: And took the path that led to neighbour _Hind's_.


s: A secret joy the well-known roof inspir'd,


s: Small was its store, and little they desir'd;


s: Jane dried her tears; while Walter forward flew


s: To aid the Dame; who to the brink updrew


s: The pond'rous Bucket as they reach'd the well,


s: And scarcely with exhausted breath could tell


s: How welcome to her Cot the blooming Pair,


s: O'er whom she watch'd with a maternal care.


s: 'What ails thee, Jane?' the wary Matron cried;


s: With heaving breast the modest Maid reply'd,


s: 'Not much, good Dame; I'm weary by the way;


s: 'Perhaps, anon, I've something else to say.'


s: Now, while the Seed-cake crumbled on her knee,


s: The clam'rous Hen her fearless brood display'd,


s: And march'd around; while thus the Matron said:


s: 'Jane has been weeping, Walter;--prithee why?


s: 'I've seen her laugh, and dance, but never cry.


s: 'But I can guess; with _her_ you should have been,


s: 'When late I saw you loit'ring on the green;


s: 'I'm an old Woman, and the truth may tell:


s: I say then, Boy, you have not us'd her well.'


s: _Pleadings of Experience for Love with extreme Prudence._


s: JANE felt for WALTER; felt his cruel pain,


s: While Pity's voice brought forth her tears again.


s: 'Don't scold him, Neighbour, he has much to say,


s: The Dame resum'd--'Why then, my Children, why


s: 'Do such young bosoms heave the piteous sigh?


s: 'The ills of Life to you are yet unknown;


s: 'Death's sev'ring shaft, and Poverty's cold frown:


s: 'I've felt them both, by turns:--but as they pass'd,


s: 'Strong was my trust, and here I am at last.


s: 'When I dwelt young and cheerful down the _Lane_.


s: '(And, though I say it, I was much like JANE,)


s: 'O'er flow'ry fields with _Hind_, I lov'd to stray,


s: 'And talk, and laugh, and fool the time away:


s: 'And Care defied; who not one pain could give,


s: 'Till the thought came of how we were to live;


s: 'And then Love plied his arrows thicker still:


s: 'And prov'd victorious;--as he always will.


s: 'We brav'd Life's storm together; while that Drone,


s: 'Your poor old Uncle, WALTER, liv'd alone.


s: 'He died the other day: when round his bed


s: 'No tender soothing tear Affection shed--


s: 'Affection! 'twas a plant he never knew;--


s: 'Why should he feast on fruits he never grew?'


s: WALTER caught fire: nor was _he_ charm'd alone


s: With conscious Truth's firm elevated tone;


s: JANE from her seat sprang forward, half afraid,


s: (O! 'twas the very Chord that touch'd his heart,)--


s: Alive to the best feelings man can prize,


s: A Bridegroom's transport sparkled in his eyes;


s: Love, conquering power, with unrestricted range


s: Silenc'd the arguments of Time and Change;


s: And led his vot'ry on, and bade him view,


s: And prize the light-wing'd moments as they flew:


s: All doubts gave way, all retrospective lore,


s: Whence cooler Reason tortur'd him before;


s: Comparison of times, the Lab'rer's hire,


s: And many a truth Reflection might inspire,


s: Sunk powerless. 'Dame, I am a fool,' he cried;


s: 'Alone I might have reason'd till I died.


s: 'I caus'd those tears of Jane's:--but as they fell


s: 'How much I felt none but ourselves can tell.


s: 'Sighs reign'd by day and hideous dreams by night;


s: ''Twas then the Soldier's plume and rolling Drum


s: 'To fly from Care then half resolv'd I stood,


s: 'And without horror mus'd on fields of blood,


s: 'But Hope prevail'd.--Be then the sword resign'd;


s: 'And I'll make _Shares_ for those that stay behind,


s: Announc'd a guest, who bore with winning grace


s: His well-tim'd errand pictur'd in his face.


s: Around with silent reverence they stood;


s: A blameless reverence--the man was good.


s: Wealth he had some, a match for his desires,


s: First on the list of active Country 'Squires.


s: Seeing the youthful pair with downcast eyes,


s: Unmov'd by Summer-flowers and cloudless skies,


s: Pass slowly by his Gate; his book resign'd,


s: He watch'd their steps and follow'd far behind,


s: Bearing with inward joy, and honest pride,


s: A trust of WALTER'S kinsman ere he died,


s: A hard-earn'd mite, deposited with care,


s: And with a miser's spirit worshipt there.


s: He found what oft the generous bosom seeks,


s: In the Dame's court'seys and JANE'S blushing cheeks,


s: That consciousness of Worth, that freeborn Grace,


s: Which waits on Virtue in the meanest place.


s: 'Nor name intrusion, for my news is true;


s: 'Tis duty brings me here: your wants I've heard,


s: 'And can relieve: yet be the dead rever'd.


s: 'Here, in this Purse, (what should have cheer'd a Wife,)


s: 'Lies, half the savings of your Uncle's life!


s: 'I know your history, and your wishes know;


s: 'And love to see the seeds of Virtue grow.


s: 'I've a spare Shed that fronts the public road:


s: 'Make that your Shop; I'll make it your abode.


s: 'Thus much from me,--the rest is but your due.'


s: That instant twenty pieces sprung to view.


s: Goody, her dim eyes wiping, rais'd her brow,


s: And saw the young pair look they knew not how;


s: Perils and Power while humble minds forego,


s: Who gives them half a Kingdom gives them woe;


s: Comforts may be procur'd and want defied,


s: Heav'ns! with how small a Sum, when right applied!


s: _How little of outward Good suffices for Happiness._


s: Give Love and honest Industry their way,


s: Clear but the Sun-rise of Life's little day,


s: Those we term poor shall oft that wealth obtain,


s: For which th' ambitious sigh, but sigh in vain:


s: Wealth that still brightens, as its stores increase;


s: The calm of Conscience, and the reign of Peace.


s: Walter's enamour'd Soul, from news like this,


s: Now felt the dawnings of his future bliss;


s: E'en as the Red-breast shelt'ring in a bower,


s: Mourns the short darkness of a passing Shower,


s: Then, while the azure sky extends around,


s: Darts on a worm that breaks the moisten'd ground,


s: And mounts the dripping fence, with joy elate,


s: And shares the prize triumphant with his mate;


s: So did the Youth;--the treasure straight became


s: An humble servant to Love's sacred flame;


s: Glorious subjection!--Thus his silence broke:


s: Joy gave him words; still quick'ning as he spoke.


s: 'Want was my dread, my wishes were but few;


s: Others might doubt, but JANE those wishes knew:


s: This Gold may rid my heart of pains and sighs;


s: But her true love is still my greatest prize,


s: Long as I live, when this bright day comes round,


s: Beneath my Roof your noble deeds shall sound;


s: But, first, to make my gratitude appear,


s: I'll shoe your Honour's Horses for a Year;


s: If clouds should threaten when your Corn is down,


s: I'll lend a hand, and summon half the town;


s: If good betide, I'll sound it in my songs,


s: And be the first avenger of your wrongs:


s: Though rude in manners, free I hope to live:


s: This Ale's not mine, no Ale have I to give;


s: Yet, Sir, though Fortune frown'd when I was born,


s: Let's drink eternal friendship from this Horn.


s: Soon our three Bells shall let the Neighbours know;


s: 'The sound shall raise e'en stooping Age awhile,


s: 'And every Maid shall meet you with a smile;


s: 'Long may you _live_'--the wish like lightning flew;


s: By each repeated as the 'Squire withdrew.


s: 'Long may _you_ live,' his feeling heart rejoin'd;


s: Leaving well-pleas'd such happy Souls behind.


s: Hope promis'd fair to cheer them to the end;


s: With Love their guide, and Goody for their friend.


s: Near the high road upon a winding stream


s: An honest Miller rose to Wealth and Fame:


s: The noblest Virtues cheer'd his lengthen'd days,


s: And all the Country echo'd with his praise:


s: His Wife, the Doctress of the neighb'ring Poor,


s: Drew constant pray'rs and blessings round his door.


s: One Summer's night, (the hour of rest was come)


s: A chilling blast was felt; the foremost cloud


s: Sprinkl'd the bubbling Pool; and thunder loud,


s: Though distant yet, menac'd the country round,


s: And fill'd the Heavens with its solemn sound.


s: Who can retire to rest when tempests lour?


s: Meekly resign'd she sat, in anxious pain;


s: He fill'd his pipe, and listen'd to the rain


s: That batter'd furiously their strong abode,


s: Roar'd in the Damm, and lash'd the pebbled road:


s: When, mingling with the storm, confus'd and wild,


s: They heard, or thought they heard, a screaming _Child_:


s: The voice approach'd; and midst the thunder's roar,


s: Now loudly begg'd for Mercy at the door.


s: MERCY was _there_: the Miller heard the call;


s: His door he open'd; when a sudden squall


s: Drove in a wretched Girl; who weeping stood,


s: Whilst the cold rain dripp'd from her in a flood.


s: Dry cloaths procur'd, and cheer'd her shiv'ring guest,


s: And sooth'd the sorrows of her infant breast.


s: But as she stript her shoulders, lily-white,


s: What marks of cruel usage shock'd their sight!


s: Weals, and blue wounds, most piteous to behold


s: Upon a Child yet scarcely Ten years old.


s: Yet, as the weary stranger clos'd her eyes,


s: And seem'd fatigu'd beyond her strength and years,


s: 'Sleep, Child,' he said, 'and wipe away your tears.'


s: They watch'd her slumbers till the storm was done;


s: 'See, fluttering sighs that rise against her will,


s: 'Dame, we should know before we go to rest,


s: 'Whence comes this Girl, and how she came distrest.


s: 'Wake her, and ask; for she is sorely bruis'd:


s: 'I long to know by whom she's thus misus'd.


s: 'Child, what's your name? how came you in the storm?


s: 'Have you no home to keep you dry and warm?


s: 'Who gave you all those wounds your shoulders show?


s: 'Where are your Parents? Whither would you go?


s: The Stranger bursting into tears, look'd pale,


s: And this the purport of her artless tale.


s: 'I have no Parents; and no friends beside:


s: 'My Brother cried; and so did I that day:


s: 'That night we left our home new cloaths to wear:


s: 'The _Work-house_ found them; we were carried there.


s: 'We lov'd each other dearly; when we met


s: 'We always shar'd what trifles we could get.


s: _Rustic Hospitality and Protection of the friendless_.


s: But _George_ was older by a year than me:--


s: "Good-bye, dear Phoebe," the poor fellow said!


s: Perhaps he'll come again; perhaps he's dead.


s: When I grew strong enough I went to place,


s: My Mistress had a sour ill-natured face;


s: And though I've been so often beat and chid,


s: I strove to please her, Sir: indeed, I did.


s: And always cried at night before I slept.


s: And thus far travell'd through the sultry day;


s: And, O don't send me back! I dare not go.'--


s: 'I send you back!' the Miller cried, 'no, no.'


s: Th' appeals of Wretchedness had weight with him,


s: He mutter'd, glorying in the work begun,


s: 'Well done, my little Wench; 'twas nobly done!'


s: Then said, with looks more cheering than the fire,


s: 'My house has childless been this many a year;


s: While you deserve it you shall tarry here.'


s: Blest his kind words, and thank'd him with a sigh.


s: Thus was the sacred compact doubly seal'd;


s: Thus were her spirits rais'd, her bruises heal'd:


s: Thankful, and cheerful too, no more afraid,


s: Thus little PHOEBE was the Miller's Maid.


s: Grateful they found her; patient of controul:


s: Made pleasure of what work she had to do:


s: Five years she pass'd in this delightful home;


s: Five happy years: but, when the sixth was come,


s: The _Miller_ from a Market Town hard by,


s: Brought home a sturdy Youth his strength to try,


s: To raise the sluice-gates early every morn,


s: To heave his powder'd sacks and grind his corn:


s: And meeting _Phoebe_, whom he lov'd so dear,


s: 'I've brought you home a Husband, Girl?--D'ye hear?


s: He begg'd for work; his money seem'd but scant:


s: Those that will work 'tis pity they should want.


s: So use him well, and we shall shortly see


s: Whether he merits what I've done, like thee.'


s: Now throbb'd her heart,--a new sensation


s: Whene'er the comely Stranger was in right:


s: To please so sweet a Maid, and win her love.


s: And saw fresh beauties opening ev'ry day;


s: The mantling blush, and every nameless grace,


s: When Love he mention'd;---Love, and Honour true,


s: But _Phoebe_ still was shy; and wish'd to know


s: More of the honest Youth, whose manly brow


s: She verily believ'd was Truth's own throne,


s: And all his words as artless as her own;


s: Most true she judg'd; yet, long the Youth forbore


s: Divulging where, and how, he liv'd before;


s: And seem'd to strive his History to hide,


s: The _Miller_ saw, and mention'd, in his prajse,


s: One day he jokjng cried, 'Come here, my Son!


s: Beneath my roof should bring disorders new!


s: But here's my _Phoebe_,--once so light and airy,


s: She'd trip along the passage like a Fairy,--


s: Has lost her swiftness quite, since here you came:--


s: And yet;... I can't perceive the Girl is lame!


s: The obstacles she meets with still fall thicker:


s: Old as I am I'd turn a corner quicker.'--


s: The _Youth_ blush'd deep; and _Phoebe_ hung her head:


s: The _good Man_ smil'd, and thus again he said:


s: That you should love to gaze at _Phoebe's_ eyes;


s: But be explicit, Boy; and deal with honour:


s: When here you came you'd sorrow on your brow;


s: And I've forborne to question you till now.


s: First, then, say what thou art.' He instant bow'd,


s: And thus, in _Phoebe's_ hearing, spoke aloud:


s: 'Thus far experienc'd, Sir, in you I find


s: All that is generous, fatherly, and kind;


s: And while you look for proofs of real worth,


s: You'll not regard the meanness of my birth.


s: When, pennyless and sad, you met with me,


s: I'd just escap'd the dangers of the Sea;


s: Resolv'd to try my fortune on the shore:


s: To get my bread; and trust the waves no more.


s: Having no Home, nor Parents, left behind,


s: I'd all my fortune, all my Friends, to find.


s: Keen disappointment wounded me that morn:


s: For, trav'ling near the spot where I was born,


s: I at the well-known door where I was bred,


s: Inquir'd who still was living, who was dead:


s: But first, and most, I sought with anxious fear


s: Tidings to gain of her who once was dear;


s: A Girl, with all the meekness of the dove,


s: The constant sharer of my childhood's love;


s: She call'd me _Brother_:--which I heard with pride,


s: Though now suspect we are not so allied.


s: Thus much I learnt; (no more the churls would say;)


s: 'And scandal added'----'Hold!' the _Miller_ cried,


s: And, in an instant, stood at _Phoebe's_ side;


s: For he observed, while list'ning to the tale,


s: Her spirits faulter'd, and her cheeks turn'd pale;


s: Whilst her clasp'd hands descended to her knee


s: She sinking whisper'd forth, 'O _God_, 'tis _he_!


s: The good Man, though he guess'd the pleasing truth,


s: But stirr'd himself amain to aid his Wife,


s: Who soon restor'd the trembler back to life.


s: But, '_O my Brother!_' was distinctly heard:


s: The astonisht Youth now held her to his breast;


s: And tears and kisses soon explain'd the rest.


s: Past deeds now from each tongue alternate fell;


s: For news of dearest import both could tell.


s: Fondly, from childhood's tears to youth's full prime,


s: They match'd the incidents of jogging time;


s: And prov'd, that when with Tyranny opprest,


s: Poor _Phoebe_ groan'd with wounds and broken rest,


s: _George_ felt no less: was harassed and forlorn;


s: A rope's-end follow'd him both night and morn.


s: Andin that very storm when _Phoebe_ fled,


s: When the rain drench'd her yet unshelter'd head;


s: The Vessel founder'd, and the Boy was say'd!


s: Mysterious Heaven!--and O with what delight--


s: To his charm'd heart a living picture drew;


s: The list'ning Host observ'd the gentle Pair;


s: And ponder'd on the means that brought them there:


s: Convinc'd, while unimpeach'd their Virtue stood,


s: Twas _Heav'n's_ high Will that he should do them good.


s: But now the anxious Dame, impatient grown,


s: Demanded what the Youth had heard, or known,


s: Whereon to ground those doubts but just exprest;--


s: Doubts, which must interest the feeling breast:


s: 'Her Brother wert thou, George?--how; prithee say:


s: Canst thou forego, or cast that name away?'


s: 'No living proofs have I,' the Youth reply'd,


s: A mother's dying words......I hear them still:


s: She said, to one who watch'd her parting breath,


s: "Don't separate the Children at my death;


s: They're not both mine: but--" Here the scene was clos'd;


s: She died, and left us helpless and expos'd;


s: Nor Time hath thrown, nor Reason's opening power,


s: One friendly ray on that benighted hour.'


s: Ne'er did the Chieftains of a Warring State


s: Hear from the _Oracle_ their half-told fate


s: With more religious fear, or more suspense,


s: Than _Phoebe_ now endur'd:--for every sense


s: Became absorb'd in this unwelcome theme;


s: 'They're not both mine,' was every morning new:


s: For, till this hour, the Maid had never prov'd


s: How far she was enthrall'd, how much she lov'd:


s: In that fond character he first appear'd;


s: His kindness charm'd her, and his smiles endear'd:


s: Her peace was wounded, and her Lover lost.


s: For _George_, with all his resolution strove


s: To check the progress of his growing love;


s: Th'unravell'd secret robb'd him of his bliss.


s: Health's foe, Suspense, so irksome to be borne,


s: Hung on their Hearts, when Nature bade them rise,


s: And stole Content's bright ensign from their eyes.


s: The good folks saw the change, and griev'd to find


s: These troubles labouring in _Phoebe's_ mind;


s: They lov'd them both; and with one voice propos'd


s: The only means whence _Truth_ might be disclos'd;


s: That, when the Summer Months should shrink the rill,


s: And scarce its languid stream would turn the Mill,


s: When the Spring broods, and Pigs, and Lambs were rear'd,


s: (A time when _George_ and _Phoebe_ might be spar'd,)


s: Their birth-place they should visit once again,


s: From Record, or Tradition, what might be


s: To chain, or set their chain'd affections free:


s: Or clear the road for Nature and for Love.


s: Never, till now, did PHOEBE count the hours,


s: Or think _May_ long, or wish away its flowers;


s: With mutual sighs both fann'd the wings of Time;


s: As we climb Hills and gladden as we climb,


s: And reach at last the distant promis'd seat,


s: Casting the glowing landscape at our feet


s: Oft had the Morning Rose with dew been wet,


s: And oft the journeying Sun in glory set,


s: Beyond the willow'd meads of vigorous grass,


s: The steep green hill, and woods they were to pass;


s: When now: the day arriv'd: Impatience reign'd;


s: And GEORGE,--by trifling obstacles detain'd--


s: His bending Blackthorn on the threshold prest,


s: Survey'd the windward clouds, and hop'd the best.


s: PHOEBE, attir'd with every modest grace,


s: While Health and Beauty revell'd in her face,


s: Came forth; but soon evinc'd an absent mind,


s: For, back she turn'd for something left behind;


s: Again the same, till George grew tir'd of home,


s: And peevishly exclaim'd, _'Come, Phoebe, come.'_


s: As from the door they tripp'd with nimble heel,


s: A poor old Man, foot-founder'd and alone,


s: Thus urgent spoke, in Trouble's genuine tone:


s: May disappointment never fade your cheek!--


s: Your's be the joy;--yet, feel another's woe;


s: O leave some little, gift before you go.'


s: His words struck home; and back she turn'd again,


s: (The ready friend of indigence and pain,)


s: To banish hunger from his shatter'd frame;


s: And close behind her, lo, the _Miller_, came,


s: With Jug in hand, and cried, 'GEORGE, why such haste?


s: Here, take a draught; and let that _Soldier_ taste.'


s: 'Thanks for your bounty, Sir,' the _Veteran_ said;


s: Threw down his Wallet, and made bare his head;


s: And straight began, though mix'd with doubts and fears,


s: Th' unprefac'd History of his latter years,


s: 'I cross'd th' _Atlantic_ with our Regiment, brave,


s: Where Sickness sweeps whole Regiments to the grave;


s: Yet I've escap'd; and bear my arms no more;


s: My age discharg'd me when I came on shore.


s: My Wife, I've heard,'--and here he wip'd his eyes,---


s: 'In the cold corner of the Church-yard lies.


s: Employment fail'd, and poverty waa come;


s: We parted; and I've seen my betters fall.


s: Yet, as I'm spar'd, though in this piteous case,


s: I'm tray'ling homeward to my native place;


s: Though should I reach that dear remember'd spot,


s: Perhaps OLD GRAINGER will be quite forgot.'


s: All eyes beheld young _George_ with wonder start:


s: Strong were the secret bodings of his heart;


s: Yet not indulg'd: for he with doubts survey'd


s: By turns the Stranger, and the lovely Maid.


s: 'Had you no Children?'--'Yes, young Man; I'd two:


s: A _Boy_, if still he lives, as old as you:


s: Though but the pledge of an unlawful Love:


s: I cherish'd him, to hide a _Sister's_ shame:


s: He shar'd my best affections, and my name.


s: But why, young folks, should I detain you here?


s: Go; and may blessings wait upon your cheer:


s: Such kindly thoughts my fainting hopes revive!--


s: _Phoebe_, my Cherub, ART _thou_ still alive?'


s: Could Nature hold!--Could youthful Love forbear!


s: _George_ clasp'd the wond'ring _Maid_, and whisper'd, '_There_!


s: _You're mine for, ever_!--O, sustain the rest;


s: And hush the tumult of your throbbing breast.'


s: Then to the _Soldier_ turn'd, with manly pride,


s: And fondly led his long-intended _Bride_:


s: 'Here see your _Child_; nor wish a sweeter flow'r.


s: 'Tis _George_ that speaks; thou'lt bless the happy hour!--


s: _The Bliss of disinterested Benevolence_.


s: Nay, be compos'd; for all will yet be well,


s: Though here our history's too long to tell'--


s: A long-lost Father found, the mystery clear'd,


s: What mingled transports in _her_ face appear'd!


s: The gazing _Veteran_ stood with hands uprais'd--


s: 'Art thou _indeed_ my Child! then, God be prais'd.'


s: O'er his rough cheeks the tears profusely spread:


s: Such as fools say become not Men to shed;


s: Past hours of bliss, regenerated charms,


s: Rose, when he felt his Daughter in his arms:


s: So tender was the scene, the generous Dame


s: Wept, as she told of _Phoebe's_ virtuous fame,


s: And the good Host, with gestures passing strange,


s: Abstracted seem'd through fields of joy to range:


s: Rejoicing that his favour'd Roof should prove


s: Rejoicing that to him the task was given,


s: his full Soul was mounting up to Heav'n.


s: But now, as from a dream, his Reason sprung,


s: And heartiest greetings dwelt upon his tongue;


s: The sounding Kitchen floor at once receiv'd


s: The happy group, with all their fears reliev'd:


s: 'Soldier,' he cried, 'you've found your Girl; 'tis true:


s: For, never Child that blest a Parent's knee,


s: Could show more duty than she has to met


s: Strangely she came; Affliction chas'd her hard:


s: Here sit you down; recount your perils o'er:


s: Henceforth be this your home; and grieve no more:


s: Plenty hath shower'd her dewdrops on my head;


s: My heart's warm wishes thus then I fulfill:--


s: My Dame and I can live without the Mill:


s: _George_, take the whole; I'll near you still remain


s: To guide your judgment in the choice of Grain:


s: _Perfect Content: hopes and prospects of Goodness_.


s: In Virtue's path commence your prosperous life;


s: And from my hand receive your worthy Wife.


s: Rise, _Phoebe_; rise, my Girl!--kneel not to me;


s: But to THAT POW'R who interpos'd for thee.


s: Integrity hath mark'd your favourite Youth;


s: Fair budding Honour, Constancy, and Truth:


s: Bring smiling round me, rosy Girls and Boys!


s: I'll love them for thy sake. And may your days


s: Glide on, as glides the Stream that never stays;


s: Bright as whose shingled bed, till life's decline,


s: May all your Worth, and all your Virtues shine!'


s: And cloath'd with leaves my humble bower,


s: Like days and years still filt'ring through,


s: Curl inward here, sweet Woodbine flow'r;--


s: 'Now sweeping floods rush down the slope,


s: Wide scattering ruin.--Stars, shine soon!


s: 'Press round him:--guide his willing steed


s: Through darkness, dangers, currents, snows;


s: Wait where, from shelt'ring thickets freed,


s: The dreary Heath's rude whirlwind blows.


s: The Thorn's white load it bears on high!


s: Mounts the dried grass;--Earth's bosom dry.


s: Sure-footed beast, thy road thou'lt keep;


s: _Home_, all the spur thy footsteps need,


s: What pain, what cold, their Father feels;


s: Would it were so!--the fire burns bright,


s: 'I'll look abroad!--'tis piercing cold!--


s: 'There shines a _Star!_--O welcome sight!--


s: Through the thin vapours brightening still!


s: 'Mercy, kind Heav'n! such thoughts dispel!


s: (Where Night and Silence brooding dwell,


s: Spreads thy cold reign, heart-chilling Fear.)


s: 'Where have you stay'd? put down your load.


s: That Beast is worth his weight in gold.'


s: With joy glanc'd o'er the Children's bed.


s: Learn, though mishap may cross our ways,


s: Where clam'rous Rooks, yet scarcely hush'd,


s: She turn'd; it stopt;--nought could she see


s: When through the cheating glooms of night,


s: The Candle's gleam pierc'd through the night,


s: I've heard the last groans of the brave;--


s: 'Twas when _De Grasse_ the battle join'd


s: Thy reign, sweet Peace, was o'er too soon;


s: For, on the bloodstain'd _first_ of _June_


s: 'Our Country claims our lives,' they said.


s: No more I feel that thirst of Fame;--All


s: Proud crested Fiend, the World's worst foe,


s: _"Ingenuous trust, and confidence of Love."_


s: And thus from memory's treasur'd sweets,


s: And thus from Love's pure fount she drew


s: Day, conqu'ring climb'd from cloud to cloud;


s: We stroll'd the bordering flow'rs among:


s: Like them our hearts still closer crept,


s: The sweet-brier op'd its pink-ey'd rose,


s: Though modest flow'rs may sweets disclose;


s: He seem'd, methought, on that dear morn,


s: But blessings crouding forc'd their way:


s: _'My dearest, I'll be true_,' he cried:--


s: Then haste, ye hours, haste, Eve and Morn,


s: Ere Winter's blasts shall strip the thorn


s: Their honour'd leaves the green Oaks rear'd,


s: And crown'd the upland's graceful swell;


s: While answering through the vale was heard


s: Hail, Greenwood shades, that stretching far,


s: Withholds the Cloud, withholds the Show'r.


s: (The Herd's rude tracks from rill to rill)


s: Roar'd echoing through the solemn scene.


s: From my charm'd heart the numbers sprung,


s: Sweet Emma's Love, 'the Nut-brown Maid.'


s: Resist, when straight the Whirlwind cleaves,


s: But Peace was there: no lightnings blaz'd:--


s: My thoughts to home, and you, were giv'n.


s: Yet, bootless pride and falsehood scorn,


s: And peace like this shall cheer your way.


s: For, many an Oak lay stretch'd at length,


s: Whose trunks (with bark no longer sheath'd)


s: Had reach'd their full meridian strength


s: Groves, that grown bright in borrow'd fire,


s: Round _Wake's_ huge Oak, their favourite tree;


s: Where fruitful fields with woodlands close,


s: 'Would glitter through _Toves'_ winding dale.


s: What brought your gazing stranger there.


s: Let dreams still lengthen thy long glades,


s: Now fare-thee-well, England; no further I'll roam;


s: But follow my shadow that points the way home;


s: Your gay southern Shores shall not tempt me to stay;


s: For my Maggy's at Home, and my Children at play!


s: Tis this makes my Bonnet set light on my brow,


s: Gives my sinews their strength and my bosom its glow.


s: Farewell, Mountaineers! my companions, adieu;


s: Soon, many long miles when I'm severed from you,


s: I shall miss your white Horns on the brink of the Bourne,


s: And o'er the rough Heaths, where you'll never return:


s: But in brave English pastures you cannot complain,


s: While your Drover speeds back to his Maggy again.


s: O Tweed! gentle Tweed, as I pass your green vales,


s: More than life, more than Love, my tir'd Spirit inhales;


s: There Scotland, my darling, lies full in my view,


s: With her bare-footed Lasses and Mountains so blue:


s: To the Mountains away; my heart bounds like the Hind;


s: For home is so sweet, and my Maggy so kind.


s: As day after day I still follow my course,


s: And in fancy trace back every Stream to its source,


s: Hope cheers me up hills, where the road lies before


s: O'er hills just as high, and o'er tracks of wild Moor;


s: The keen polar Star nightly rising to view;


s: But Maggy's my Star, just as steady and true.


s: O Ghosts of my Fathers! O heroes, look down!


s: Fix my wandering thoughts on your deeds of renown,


s: For the glory of Scotland reigns warm in my breast,


s: And fortitude grows both from toil and from rest;


s: May your deeds and your worth be for ever in view,


s: And may Maggy bear sons not unworthy of you.


s: Love, why do you urge me, so weary and poor?


s: I've pass'd silver Tweed; e'en the Tay flows behind:


s: Yet fatigue I'll disdain;--my reward I shall find:


s: Thou, sweet smile of innocence, thou art my prize;


s: And the joy that will sparkle in Maggy's blue eyes.


s: She'll watch to the southward;--perhaps she will sigh,


s: That the way is so long, and the Mountains so high;


s: Perhaps some huge Rock in the dusk she may see,


s: And will say in her fondness, 'That surely is he!'


s: Good Wife, you're deceiv'd; I'm still far from my home;


s: Go, sleep, my dear Maggy,--to-morrow I'll come.


s: I'll shake my grey hairs when you laugh,


s: "Accept, dear Bard, the Muse's genuine thought,


s: And take not ill the tribute of my heart:--


s: For thee the laureat wreath of praise I'll bind,


s: None that have read thy commendable mind


s: For by thy lays I know thy sympathy."  F.P.


s: Hey, Giles! in what new garb art dresst?


s: But, hark ye!--don't despise your old one.


s: Who've found abroad good friends to own 'em;


s: Then, in such Coats have shown their joy,


s: E'en their _own Fathers_ have not known 'em.


s: You ask me, dear Nancy, what makes me presume


s: That you cherish a secret affection for me?


s: When we see the Flow'rs bud, don't we look for the Bloom?


s: Then, sweetest, attend, while I answer to thee.


s: When we Young Men with pastimes the Twilight beguile,


s: I watch your plump cheek till it dimples with joy:


s: And observe, that whatever occasions the smile,


s: You give me a glance; but provokingly coy.


s: Last Month, when wild Strawberries pluckt in the Grove,


s: Like beads on the tall seeded grass you had strung;


s: You gave me the choicest; I hop'd 'twas for Love;


s: And I told you my hopes while the Nightingale sung.


s: Remember the Viper:--'twas close at your feet;


s: How you started, and threw yourself into my arms;


s: Not a Strawberry there was so ripe nor so sweet


s: As the lips which I kiss'd to subdue your alarms.


s: As I pull'd down the clusters of Nuts for my Fair,


s: What a blow I receiv'd from a strong bending bough;


s: Though Lucy and other gay lasses were there,


s: Not one of them show'd such compassion as you.


s: And was it compassion?--by Heaven 'twas more!


s: A telltale betrays you;--that blush on your cheek.


s: Then come, dearest Maid, all your trifling give o'er,


s: And whisper what Candour will teach you to speak.


s: Can you stain my fair Honour with one broken vow?


s: Can you say that I've ever occasion'd a pain?


s: On Truth's honest base let your tenderness grow:


s: I swear to be faithful, again and again.


s: Now then we'll start; and thus I'll sling


s: Yet, ere night comes, should hunger sting,


s: The fresh breeze bears its sweets along;


s: And with old Ringwood's well-known voice


s: The shrill Horn sounds, the courser flies,


s: Far o'er the Downs, ye Gales that sweep,


s: But where's the note, brave Dog, like thine?


s: The Stream's let loose, and from the Mill


s: Since there thy smiles, my charming Maid,


s: Though the Wind through the crevices sing,


s: While the Bellows blow Bass to the sound.


s: The moonbeams over Arno's vale in silver flood were pouring,


s: When first I heard the nightingale a long-lost love deploring.


s: So passionate, so full of pain, it sounded strange and eerie;


s: I longed to hear a simpler strain,--the woodnotes of the veery.


s: The laverock sings a bonny lay above the Scottish heather;


s: It sprinkles down from far away like light and love together;


s: He drops the golden notes to greet his brooding mate, his dearie;


s: In English gardens, green and bright and full of fruity treasure,


s: The ballad was a pleasant one, the tune was loud and cheery,


s: And yet, with every setting sun, I listened for the veery.


s: But far away, and far away, the tawny thrush is singing;


s: I fain would hear, before I go, the wood-notes of the veery.


s: Sings _"Sweet--sweet--sweet--very merry cheer."_


s: He comes in March, when winds are strong,


s: But still he warms his heart with mirth,


s: With _"Sweet--sweet--sweet--very merry cheer."_


s: His _"Sweet--sweet--sweet--very merry cheer."_


s: In _"Sweet--sweet--sweet--very merry cheer."_


s: There's magic in that small bird's note--


s: The leaves dance round her with delight,


s: The stream laughs out beneath her feet--


s: With all the pain that haunts the strain


s: At sunset, when the rosy light was dying


s: Pilgrim of air, I cried, could I but borrow


s: But when the filmy veil of dusk was falling,


s: Deep in the forest where his mate was calling


s: Peace, heart of mine! no longer sigh to wander;


s: Floating and falling through the wood alone,


s: A hermit-hymn poured out for God to hear!


s: Long light, low light, glory of eventide!


s: Warm love, earth love, tender love of mine,


s: The heavenly joy that can not find the word?


s: Then, while we wait again to hear the bird,


s: Come very near to me, and do not move,--


s: The cool, green cup of air with harmony,


s: And we will drink the wine of love with you.


s: Where the wrinkled ripples run and whisper,


s: Where the crested billows plunge and roar;


s: Long-winged, tireless roamers and adventurers,


s: Here the high-built cities rise around you;


s: Here the cliffs that tower east and west,


s: Here the river flows begrimed and troubled;


s: Here the hurrying, panting vessels fume,


s: Restless, up and down the watery highway,


s: Toil and tumult, conflict and confusion,


s: Human hands have built for human bondage--


s: Circling, soaring, sailing, swooping lightly


s: Down to glean your harvest from the wave;


s: Saw your wheeling flocks of white and gray;


s: Even so you fluttered, followed, floated,


s: Round the _Half-Moon_ creeping up the bay;


s: Even so your voices creaked and chattered,


s: While your black and beady eyes were glistening


s: From the crowded boats that cross the ferries


s: Though the cities climb and close around us,


s: Something tells us that our souls are free,


s: While the sea-gulls fly above the harbour,


s: What time the rose of dawn is laid across the lips of night,


s: And all the little watchman-stars have fallen asleep in light,


s: 'Tis then a merry wind awakes, and runs from tree to tree,


s: And borrows words from all the birds to sound the reveille.


s: The phantom flood of dreams has ebbed and vanished with the dark,


s: There's wild azalea on the hill, and iris down the dell,


s: And just one spray of lilac still abloom beside the well;


s: The columbine adorns the rocks, the laurel buds grow pink,


s: Along the stream white arums gleam, and violets bend to drink.


s: For be your fortune great or small, you take what God will give,


s: And all the day your heart will say, "'Tis luck enough to live."


s: This is the song the Brown Thrush flings


s: Deep in the heart of the forest the lily of Yorrow is growing;


s: Blue is its cup as the sky, and with mystical odour o'erflowing;


s: Sweet are the primroses pale and the violets after a shower;


s: Who can describe how it grows, with its chalice of lazuli leaning


s: Calm of the journeying stars, and repose of the mountains olden,


s: Joy of the swift-running rivers, and glory of sunsets golden,


s: Surely to see it is peace and the crown of a lifelong endeavour;


s: 'Twas but a moment ago that a comrade was walking near me:


s: The mellow sounds that cliff and island gave,


s: Or spirit, passing from the world below,


s: Upon the trembling eyelid, till the world


s: Than all the distant landscape that it blurs.


s: A smile that hovers round a mouth beloved,


s: Like the faint pulsing of the Northern Light,


s: Born in the sweetest depths of trustful eyes,


s: From some far-lifted height of love unseen,


s: Than hidden brooks that murmur in the dusk,


s: Or fall athwart the cliff with wavering gleam.


s: Ah, not for their own sake are earth and sky


s: But as they set themselves unto the tune


s: That fills our life; as light mysterious


s: Flows from within and glorifies the world.


s: For so a common wayside blossom, touched


s: With tender thought, assumes a grace more sweet


s: Than crowns the royal lily of the South;


s: The breath of one who breathes in Paradise.


s: And so, by night, while we were all at rest,


s: I think the coming sped the parting guest.


s: Beyond the hills where green trees grow;


s: The thistle-birds have changed their dun,


s: Where water flows, where green grass grows,


s: Song-sparrows gently sing, "Good cheer."


s: And, best of all, through twilight's calm


s: Where I may wade through woodland shade,


s: 'Tis all I'm wishing--old-fashioned fishing,


s: Ah, who will tell me, in these leaden days,


s: For bloom, and fragrance, and the ruby fire


s: Through which I watched the solitary bird


s: That braved the tempest, buffeted and tossed


s: With rumpled feathers down the wind again.


s: When winter laid the wild flowers in their tomb?


s: For blue hepaticas, and trilliums white,


s: And trailing arbutus, the Spring's delight,


s: Starring the withered leaves with rosy bloom.


s: Only the tuneful sparrow, on whose throat


s: Lifted his head and sang my heart a hint,--


s: "Wait, wait, wait! oh, wait a while for Spring!"


s: For all delay! What sweetness treasured up,


s: For look, sweet heart, here are the early flowers


s: Thronging in haste to kiss the feet of May,


s: Entangled with the bloom of later hours,--


s: And white, and iris richly gleaming through


s: Of butter-cups and daisies in the field,


s: As if a chime of golden bells had pealed!


s: Of silent birds that hid in leafless woods,


s: Now oriole and bluebird, thrush and lark,


s: And every heart leaps up in singing fire.


s: Were breathing deep beneath the sun's caress,


s: In shimmering clouds of rose and gold and green,


s: True love, long sought and found at last,


s: That makes amends for all the wintry past.


s: For all the flowers and songs I feared to miss


s: And in the lingering pressure of your kiss


s: And in the promise of your generous eyes


s: And bliss enhanced by rapture of surprise.


s: Ah, think not early love alone is strong;


s: He loveth best whose heart has learned to wait:


s: Dear messenger of Spring that tarried long,


s: You're doubly dear because you come so late.


s: Now in the oak the sap of life is welling,


s: Now on the elm the misty buds are swelling;


s: Every little pine-wood grows alive with wings;


s: Blue-jays are fluttering, yodeling and crying,


s: Meadow-larks sailing low above the faded grass,


s: Red-birds whistling clear, silent robins flying,--


s: Who has waked the birds up? What has come to pass?


s: Last year's cotton-plants, desolately bowing,


s: Tremble in the March-wind, ragged and forlorn,


s: Red are the hillsides of the early ploughing,


s: Gray are the lowlands, waiting for the corn.


s: Earth seems asleep, but she is only feigning;


s: Deep in her bosom thrills a sweet unrest;


s: Look where the jasmine lavishly is raining


s: Jove's golden shower into Danäe's breast!


s: Now on the plum-tree a snowy bloom is sifted,


s: Now on the peach-tree, the glory of the rose,


s: Far o'er the hills a tender haze is drifted,


s: Full to the brim the yellow river flows.


s: Greener than emeralds shining in the sun.


s: Whence comes the magic? Listen, sweetheart, listen!


s: The mocking-bird is singing: Spring is begun.


s: Hark, in his song no tremor of misgiving!


s: All of his heart he pours into his lay,--


s: "Love, love, love, and pure delight of living:


s: Winter is forgotten: here's a happy day!"


s: Fair in your face I read the flowery presage,


s: Snowy on your brow and rosy on your mouth:


s: Sweet in your voice I hear the season's message,--


s: Love, love, love, and Spring in the South!


s: I never seen no "red gods"; I dunno wot's a "lure";


s: But if it's sumpin' takin', then Spring has got it sure;


s: An' it doesn't need no Kiplins, ner yet no London Jacks,


s: To make up guff about it, w'ile settin' in their shacks.


s: It's sumpin' very simple 'at happens in the Spring,


s: But it changes all the lookin's of every blessed thing;


s: The buddin' woods look bigger, the mounting twice as high,


s: But the house looks kindo smaller, tho I couldn't tell ye why.


s: It's cur'ous wot a show-down the month of April makes,


s: Between the reely livin', an' the things 'at's only fakes!


s: Machines an' barns an' buildin's, they never give no sign;


s: But the livin' things look lively w'en Spring is on the line.


s: She doesn't come too suddin, ner she doesn't come too slow;


s: Her gaits is some cayprishus, an' the next ye never know,--


s: A single-foot o' sunshine, a buck o' snow er hail--


s: But don't be disapp'inted, fer Spring ain't goin' ter fail.


s: She's loopin' down the hillside,--the driffs is fadin' out.


s: She's runnin' down the river,--d'ye see them risin' trout?


s: She's loafin' down the canyon,--the squaw-bed's growin' blue,


s: An' the teeny Johnny-jump-ups is jest a-peekin' thru.


s: A thousan' miles o' pine-trees, with Douglas firs between,


s: Is waitin' fer her fingers to freshen up their green;


s: With little tips o' brightness the firs 'ill sparkle thick,


s: An' every yaller pine-tree, a giant candlestick!


s: The underbrush is risin' an' spreadin' all around,


s: Jest like a mist o' greenness 'at hangs above the ground;


s: A million manzanitas 'ill soon be full o' pink;


s: So saddle up, my sonny,--it's time to ride, I think!


s: We'll ford er swim the river, becos there ain't no bridge;


s: We'll foot the gulches careful, an' lope along the ridge;


s: We'll take the trail to Nowhere, an' travel till we tire,


s: An' camp beneath a pine-tree, an' sleep beside the fire.


s: We'll see the blue-quail chickens, an' hear 'em pipin' clear;


s: An' p'raps we'll sight a brown-bear, er else a bunch o' deer;


s: But nary a heathen goddess or god 'ill meet our eyes;


s: For why? There isn't any! They're jest a pack o' lies!


s: Oh, wot's the use o' "red gods," an' "Pan," an' all that stuff?


s: The natcheral facts o' Springtime is wonderful enuff!


s: An' if there's Someone made 'em' I guess He understood,


s: To be alive in Springtime would make a man feel good.


s: Through the lights and shadows glancing,


s: There are songs for the morning and songs for the night,


s: For sunrise and sunset, the stars and the moon;


s: But who will give praise to the fulness of light,


s: And sing us a song of the glory of noon?


s: When the blue sky burns, and the great sun turns


s: How swiftly he rose in the dawn of his strength!


s: How slowly he crept as the morning wore by!


s: Ah, steep was the climbing that led him at length


s: To the height of his throne in the wide summer sky.


s: Till the sun looks down from his journey's crown,


s: Then a quietness falls over meadow and hill,


s: The wings of the wind in the forest are furled,


s: The river runs softly, the birds are all still,


s: The workers are resting all over the world.


s: Little inn half-way on the road of the day,


s: There's a plentiful feast in the maple-tree shade,


s: The lilt of a song to an old-fashioned tune,


s: The talk of a friend, or the kiss of a maid,


s: To sweeten the cup that we drink to the noon.


s: The bold tide, the gold tide, the flood o' the sunlit sea,--


s: Are swinging and slanting their prows to the ocean, panting


s: To lift their wings to the wide wild air,


s: And venture a voyage they know not where,--


s: The low tide, the slow tide, the ebb o' the moonlit bay,--


s: Are rounding and turning their bows to the landward, yearning


s: To breathe the breath of the sun-warmed strand,


s: To rest in the lee of the high hill land,--


s: In rising and falling with mystical currents, calling


s: At morn, to range where the far waves foam,


s: At night, to a harbour in love's true home,


s: O mother mountains! billowing far to the snowlands,


s: Robed in aërial amethyst, silver, and blue,


s: Why do ye look so proudly down on the lowlands?


s: What have their groves and gardens to do with you?


s: Theirs is the languorous charm of the orange and myrtle,


s: Theirs are the fruitage and fragrance of Eden of old,--


s: Broad-boughed oaks in the meadows fair and fertile,


s: Dark-leaved orchards gleaming with globes of gold.


s: You, in your solitude standing, lofty and lonely,


s: Bear neither garden nor grove on your barren breasts;


s: Rough is the rock-loving growth of your canyons, and only


s: Storm-battered pines and fir-trees cling to your crests.


s: Why are ye throned so high, and arrayed in splendour


s: Richer than all the fields at your feet can claim?


s: What is your right, ye rugged peaks, to the tender


s: Queenly promise and pride of the mother-name?


s: Answered the mountains, dim in the distance dreaming:


s: "Ours are the forests that treasure the riches of rain;


s: Ours are the secret springs and the rivulets gleaming


s: Silverly down through the manifold bloom of the plain.


s: "Vain were the toiling of men in the dust of the dry land,


s: Vain were the ploughing and planting in waterless fields,


s: Save for the life-giving currents we send from the sky land,


s: Save for the fruit our embrace with the storm-cloud yields."


s: O mother mountains, Madre Sierra, I love you!


s: Rightly you reign o'er the vale that your bounty fills,--


s: Kissed by the sun, or with big, bright stars above you,--


s: I murmur your name and lift up mine eyes to the hills.


s: "The rule was false, and the prize was pain,


s: In the fields where wild flowers spring.


s: The answer came with a laugh and a song,--


s: From sea and sky they called their strength,


s: The little people of the leaves are fled.


s: Laughs down upon the battle lost and won,


s: And crowns the triumph of the cloudy host


s: In rolling lines retreating to the coast.


s: But we, fond lovers of the woodland shade,


s: And grateful friends of every fallen leaf,


s: And walk the ruined woods in quiet grief.


s: For ever so our thoughtful hearts repeat


s: Among the rustling memories of the dead.


s: At dawn in silence moves the mighty stream,


s: The silver-crested waves no murmur make;


s: The rumbling echoes, dull as in a dream;


s: To fall into the stillness, flake by flake,


s: And leave the hollow air with naught to break


s: At noon unnumbered rills begin to spring


s: Beneath the burning sun, and all the walls


s: Of sovereign love, and song began to flow.


s: White Death had laid his pall upon the plain,


s: And crowned the mountain-peaks like monarchs


s: The vault of heaven was glaring overhead


s: With pitiless light that filled my eyes with pain;


s: And while I vainly longed, and looked in vain


s: For sign or trace of life, my spirit said,


s: "Shall any living thing that dares to tread


s: A line of pointed footprints in the snow:


s: Had passed this way along his journey fleet,


s: And left a message from a friend unknown


s: To cheer my pilgrim-heart, no more alone.


s: I love the hour that comes, with dusky hair


s: To lead the cattle forth. A thousand bells