Various

“ Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
⁠And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
⁠And evening full of the linnet's wings.
I will arise and go now, for always, night and day,
I hear lake-water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
⁠I hear it in the deep heart's core. ”

“ Noon strikes on England, noon on Oxford town,
—Beauty she was statue cold—there's blood upon her gown:
Noon of my dreams, O noon!
⁠Proud and godly kings had built her, long ago,
⁠With her towers and tombs and statues all arow,
With her fair and floral air and the love that lingers there,
⁠And the streets where the great men go. ”

“ The Early Morning
THE moon on the one hand, the dawn on the other:
The moon is my sister, the dawn is my brother.
The moon on my left and the dawn on my right.
My brother, good morning: my sister, good night. ”

“ Like blindfolded lions grappled,
⁠When the World was strange and young.
⁠Oh, the Captains brave and daring,
⁠With their grim old crews are faring
⁠⁠Where our guiding beacons gleam;
⁠And the homeward liners o'er them—
⁠All the charted seas before them—
⁠⁠Shall not wake them as they dream. ”

“ To find the hidden pathway in the darkness of the night.
Ash-tree, ash-tree, throw me, if you please,
Throw me down a slender branch of russet-gold keys.
I fear the gates of Fairyland may all be shut so fast
That nothing but your magic keys will ever take me past. ”

“ A FLECK of foam on the shining sand,
⁠Left by the ebbing sea,
But richer than man may understand
⁠In magic and mystery—
Transient bubbles rainbow-bright,
⁠Myriad-hued and strange,
Tremble and throb in the noonday light,
⁠Flower and flush and change. ”

“ And ice where water flowed:
Till, when the low sun drank
Those milky mists that cloak
Hanger and hollied bank,
The winter world awoke
To hear the feeble bleat
Of lambs on downland farms:
A blackbird whistled sweet ”

“ As wondering men have always done
Since beauty and the stars were one,
⁠Though none so hard as I.
It seemed, so still the valleys were,
As if the whole world knelt at prayer,
⁠Save me and me alone ”

“ I CAN see from the window a little brown house,
And the garden goes up to the top of the hill.
⁠And the sun comes each day,
⁠And slips down away
At the end of the garden an' sleeps there ... until
The daylight comes climbing up over the hill. ”

“ I'M a lean dog, a keen dog, a wild dog, and lone;
I'm a rough dog, a tough dog, hunting on my own;
I'm a bad dog, a mad dog, teasing silly sheep;
I love to sit and bay the moon, to keep fat souls from sleep. ”

“ A heart to front the world and find God in it,
⁠Eyes blind enow, but not too blind to see
The lovely things behind the dross and darkness,
⁠And lovelier things to be.
And friends whose loyalty time nor death shall weaken,
⁠And quenchless hope and laughter's golden store ”

“ While little trees blush faintly as you pass.
The morning and the night
You bathe with heavenly showers,
And scatter scentless violets on the rounded hills,
Drop beneath leafless woods pale primrose posies.
With magic key, in the new evening light,
You are unlocking buds that keep the roses ”

“ Never was face so stern
With sweet austerity.
Vanquished in life, his death
By beauty made amends:
The passing of his breath
Won his defeated ends.
Brief life and hapless? Nay:
Through death, life grew sublime. ”

“ And "Come and see!" he says:
"Come and see!"
"Come and see! Come and see!"
Within this house there are treasures three:
So warm and snug in its curve they lie—
Like three bright bits out of Spring's blue sky.
We would not hurt them, he knows; not we! ”

“ While overhead the seamews wheeled, and skirled
⁠⁠In glee;
But the black cows stood, and cropped where they stood,
⁠⁠And never heeded thee,
O dark pale man, with the weary eyes,
⁠⁠On the road to Withernsea. ”

“ The girl who in their shadow sits
Can only see the sock she knits;
Her dog is watching all the day
That not a cow shall go astray.
The leisurely contented cows
Can only see the earth they browse ”

“ Get thee on boughs and clap thy wings
Before the windows of proud kings.
Nay, lovely Bird, thou art not vain;
⁠Thou hast no proud ambitious mind;
I also love a quiet place
⁠That's green, away from all mankind ”

“ The men that live in North England
⁠I saw them for a day:
Their hearts are set upon the waste fells,
⁠Their skies are fast and grey;
From their castle-walls a man may see
⁠The mountains far away. ”

“ Where the harebell grows, and the gorse, and the foxgloves purple and white;
Where the shy-eyed delicate deer come down in a troop to drink
When the stars are mellow and large at the coming on of the night. ”

“ Of my own big fur," says the She-bear.
"I'm afraid of the man and his terrible arrow:
The thought of it chills my bones to the marrow,
⁠And the frost so cruel to-night!
⁠And the frost so cruel to-night!" ”

“ And, misted by the winter damps,
The shops shine bright anew—
Blue comes to earth, it walks the street,
It dyes the wide air through;
A mimic sky about their feet,
The throng go crowned with blue. ”

“ On some hid danger in the dark ahead.
A twang of wire—unseen
The signal drops; and now, instead
Of a red eye, a green.
Out of the silence grows
An iron thunder—grows, and roars, and sweeps,
Menacing! ”

“ An' the moon she climbed the 'azels, while a night-jar seemed to spin
That Pharaoh's wisdom o'er again, 'is sooth of lose-and-win;
For "up an' down an' round," said 'e, "goes all appointed things,
An' losses on the roundabouts means profits on the swings!" ”

“ Calls 'Lift!' and the arms, remembering well their work,
Lengthen and pause for help.
Then a slow ripple flows from head to foot
⁠While all the muscles call to one another:
⁠⁠'Lift!' and the bulging bale
⁠⁠Floats like a butterfly in June. ”

“ The blackbird sings to him, "Brother, brother,
⁠If this be the last song you shall sing
Sing well, for you may not sing another;
⁠Brother, sing."
In dreary, doubtful, waiting hours,
⁠Before the brazen frenzy starts,
The horses show him nobler powers ”

“ Street Lanterns
COUNTRY roads are yellow and brown.
We mend the roads in London Town.
Never a hansom dare come nigh,
Never a cart goes rolling by.
An unwonted silence steals
In between the turning wheels. ”

“ Stared back solemnly at me.
JAMES STEPHENS
When the Leaves Fall
WHEN the leaves fall off the trees
⁠Everybody walks on them:
Once they had a time of ease
⁠High above, and every breeze
Used to stay and talk to them. ”

“ And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gipsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.
JOHN MASEFIELD
Tewkesbury Road
IT is good to be out on the road, and going one knows not where,
Going through meadow and village, one knows not whither nor why ”

“ His ram's bell rings 'neath an arch of stars,
⁠"Rest, rest, and rest again."
WALTER DE LA MARE
The Song of the Mad Prince
WHO said, "Peacock Pie"?⁠
⁠The old King to the sparrow:
Who said, "Crops are ripe"?
⁠Rust to the harrow:
Who said, "Where sleeps she now?
⁠Where rests she now her head,
Bathed in eve's loveliness"?
⁠That's what I said.
Who said, "Ay, mum's the word"?
⁠Sexton to willow:
Who said, "Green dusk for dreams,
⁠Moss for a pillow"?
Who said, "All Time's delight
⁠Hath she for narrow bed;
Life's troubled bubble broken"? ”

“ They'll set the realms of Fairyland all dancing with delight.
ROSE FYLEMAN
"THEY'LL SET THE REALMS OF FAIRYLAND ALL DANCING WITH DELIGHT"⁠
106
I Don't Like Beetles
I DON'T like beetles, tho' I'm sure they're very good,
I don't like porridge, tho' my Nanna says I should ”

“ A little lovely dream.
Dear eyes, good-night,
In golden light
The stars around you gleam;
⁠On you I press
⁠With soft caress
A little lovely dream.
SAROJINI NAIDU ↑ A lilac-tree (Hindustani) . ”