Where on a hallowed winter’s night
The clear-eyed angels may alight.
And if there should be tempests in
My spirit, let them surge like din
Of noble melodies at war;
With fervour of such blades of triumph as are
Flashed in white orisons of saints who go
On shafts of glory to the ecstasies they know.
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Ye hooded witches, baleful shapes that moan,
For now the moon through heaven sails alone,Shedding her peaceful rays from hill to hill.The faun from out his dim and secret placeDraws nigh the darkling pool and from his dreamHalf-wakens, seeing there his sylvan faceReflected, and the wistful eyes that gleam.To his cold lips he sets the pipe to blowSome drowsy note that charms…
Evening was in the wood, louring with storm.
And baked the channels; birds had done with song.Thirst was a dream of fountains in the moon,Or willow-music blown across the waterLeisurely sliding on by weir and mill.Uneasy was the man who wandered, brooding,His face a little whiter than the dusk.A drone of sultry wings flicker’d in his head.The end of sunset burning thro’ the…
Why do you lie with your legs ungainly huddled,
Exhausted face? It hurts my heart to watch you,Deep-shadowed from the candle’s guttering gold;And you wonder why I shake you by the shoulder;Drowsy, you mumble and sigh and turn your head…You are too young to fall asleep for ever;And when you sleep you remind me of the dead.
I
Harking the storm that rides a hurtling legionUp the arched sky, and speeds quick heels of panicWith growling thunder loosed in fork and clapThat echoes crashing thro’ the slumbrous vault.The whispering woodlands darken: vulture GloomStoops, menacing the skeltering flocks of Light,Where the gaunt shepherd shakes his gleaming staffAnd foots with angry tidings down the slope.Drip,…
Now light the candles; one; two; there’s a moth;
And scorch their wings with glory, liquid flame—No, no, not that,—it’s bad to think of war,When thoughts you’ve gagged all day come back to scare you;And it’s been proved that soldiers don’t go madUnless they lose control of ugly thoughtsThat drive them out to jabber among the trees.Now light your pipe; look, what a steady…
I was near the King that day. I saw him snatch
Thick-voiced, he read it out. (His face was grave.)‘This officer advanced with the first wave,‘And when our first objective had been gained,‘(Though wounded twice), reorganized the line:‘The spirit of the troops was by his fine‘Example most effectively sustained.’He gripped his beard; then closed his eyes and said,‘Bathsheba must be warned that he is dead.‘Send for…