F. W. Harvey

“ There globes which muffle in the naked light
Aside being cast, naked and unafraid,
Lovers may stand in one another’s sight.
Now since through fleshly glass Thy flame, O Love,
Shines clear, and nowhere else doth visibly move ”

“ In the water bright.
From the Severn river at daybreak come
Hundreds of happy fishermen home
With bags full of elvers: perhaps that’s why
We all love Lent,
Lean mean Lent,
Fishy old Lent,
When the elvers fry. ”

“ He sang of the strong labouring of stars that wheel in their courses, and of passionate Suns.... Songs of courage against destiny, of scorn against mean riches; songs of sorrow, and of dancing [80] joy; of childhood, old age, and life again after. But never a song sang he of his beloved. Therefore she laughed, and knew that he was still her slave.
THE WINDOW
Blinking at the sun, what things of horror come peering out of me!—what ages of beasts! O that God would look out of me upon His world—that I might be a window for the eyes of Christ!
BROTHERS
Are men only our brothers? ”

“ Winchcombe—poor pagan queen—doth lack a throne.
Ciceter keeps her soul, but she alone:
For Tewkesbury’s soul is in a pewter-pot,
And Cheltenham never had one of her own.
Old Gloucester reigns the king of all the lot!
[73]
L’Envoy
Prince, you have travelled far and wide, and seen
Much nicer towns than these? “All Tommy rot!”
(“Your Royal Highness surely jests,” I mean.)
Old Gloucester reigns the king of all the lot!
[74] LUCKY
Lucky to live,
Lucky again
To have met and marched
With the finest men
(So I believe)
Earth ever bred
Since heaven was arched....
But they are dead. ”

“ This is not to say that people aren’t great fools for preferring law to literature. It is rather to imply that a poet who can do both is a fool if he does not.
I am not a fool.
Farewell!
F. W. H.
[6] ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author desires to acknowledge gratefully permissions to reprint certain of these poems granted by the editors of The Spectator, The Athenæum, The London Mercury, The Nation, The Woman’s Leader, The Gloucestershire Chronicle and The Gloucestershire Journal. ”

“ Peopled with children-haunted pines
Murmuring fairy-tales.
[1] First version was published in Ducks, and other Verses, 1919.
[66] THE LIFE THAT’S UNDER THE GROUND
It’s funny to think of the life that’s under the ground. ”

“ Riddle cum Ruddle, the harvest’s whoam;
An’ varmer be merry, an’ me an’ Jack
Sing Riddle cum Ruddle, the harvest’s whoam.
There’s wuts for the horses and hay for the cow—
Riddle cum Ruddle, the harvest’s whoam ”

“ DUCKS, AND OTHER VERSES.
COMRADES IN CAPTIVITY: A Record
of Life in Seven German Prisons.
Illustrated by C. E. B. Bernard.
Sidgwick & Jackson, Ltd.
FAREWELL
BY
F. W. HARVEY
AUTHOR OF “A GLOUCESTERSHIRE LAD”
“GLOUCESTERSHIRE FRIENDS”
ETC., ETC.
LONDON
SIDGWICK & JACKSON, LTD.
1921
[5] PREFACE
In spite of all the soulful utterances of people comfortably off, economic independence remains the first condition of happiness. ”