New Poems Part 9

Bury me low in valleys green And where the milder breeze Blows fresh along the stream, Sings roundly in the trees- Bury me low and let me lie Under the wide and starry sky.

Joying to live, I joyed to die, Bury me low and let me lie.

WHAT MAN MAY LEARN, WHAT MAN MAY DO

WHAT man may learn, what man may do, Of right or wrong of false or true, While, skipper-like, his course he steers Through nine and twenty mingled years, Half misconceived and half forgot, So much I know and practise not.

Old are the words of wisdom, old The counsels of the wise and bold: To close the ears, to check the tongue, To keep the pining spirit young; To act the right, to say the true, And to be kind whate'er you do.

Thus we across the modern stage Follow the wise of every age; And, as oaks grow and rivers run Unchanged in the unchanging sun, So the eternal march of man Goes forth on an eternal plan.

SMALL IS THE TRUST WHEN LOVE IS GREEN

SMALL is the trust when love is green In sap of early years; A little thing steps in between And kisses turn to tears.

Awhile-and see how love be grown In loveliness and power!

Awhile, it loves the sweets alone, But next it loves the sour.

A little love is none at all That wanders or that fears; A hearty love dwells still at call To kisses or to tears.

Such then be mine, my love to give, And such be yours to take:- A faith to hold, a life to live, For lovingkindness' sake:

Should you be sad, should you be gay, Or should you prove unkind, A love to hold the growing way And keep the helping mind:-

A love to turn the laugh on care When wrinkled care appears, And, with an equal will, to share Your losses and your tears.

KNOW YOU THE RIVER NEAR TO GREZ

KNOW you the river near to Grez, A river deep and clear?

Among the lilies all the way, That ancient river runs to-day From snowy weir to weir.

Old as the Rhine of great renown, She hurries clear and fast, She runs amain by field and town From south to north, from up to down, To present on from past.

The love I hold was borne by her; And now, though far away, My lonely spirit hears the stir Of water round the starling spur Beside the bridge at Grez.

So may that love forever hold In life an equal pace; So may that love grow never old, But, clear and pure and fountain-cold, Go on from grace to grace.

IT'S FORTH ACROSS THE ROARING FOAM

IT'S forth across the roaring foam, and on towards the west, It's many a lonely league from home, o'er many a mountain crest, From where the dogs of Scotland call the sheep around the fold, To where the flags are flying beside the Gates of Gold.

Where all the deep-sea galleons ride that come to bring the corn, Where falls the fog at eventide and blows the breeze at morn; It's there that I was sick and sad, alone and poor and cold, In yon distressful city beside the Gates of Gold.

I slept as one that nothing knows; but far along my way, Before the morning G.o.d rose and planned the coming day; Afar before me forth he went, as through the sands of old, And chose the friends to help me beside the Gates of Gold.

I have been near, I have been far, my back's been at the wall, Yet aye and ever shone the star to guide me through it all: The love of G.o.d, the help of man, they both shall make me bold Against the gates of darkness as beside the Gates of Gold.

AN ENGLISH BREEZE

UP with the sun, the breeze arose, Across the talking corn she goes, And smooth she rustles far and wide Through all the voiceful countryside.

Through all the land her tale she tells; She spins, she tosses, she compels The kites, the clouds, the windmill sails And all the trees in all the dales.

G.o.d calls us, and the day prepares With nimble, gay and gracious airs: And from Penzance to Maidenhead The roads last night He watered.

G.o.d calls us from inglorious ease, Forth and to travel with the breeze While, swift and singing, smooth and strong She gallops by the fields along.

AS IN THEIR FLIGHT THE BIRDS OF SONG

AS in their flight the birds of song Halt here and there in sweet and sunny dales, But halt not overlong; The time one rural song to sing They pause; then following bounteous gales Steer forward on the wing: Sun-servers they, from first to last, Upon the sun they wait To ride the sailing blast.

So he awhile in our contested state, Awhile abode, not longer, for his Sun- Mother we say, no tenderer name we know- With whose diviner glow His early days had shone, Now to withdraw her radiance had begun.

Or lest a wrong I say, not she withdrew, But the loud stream of men day after day And great dust columns of the common way Between them grew and grew: And he and she for evermore might yearn, But to the spring the rivulets not return Nor to the bosom comes the child again.

And he (O may we fancy so!), He, feeling time forever flow And flowing bear him forth and far away From that dear ingle where his life began And all his treasure lay- He, waxing into man, And ever farther, ever closer wound In this obstreperous world's ign.o.ble round, From that poor prospect turned his face away.

THE PIPER

AGAIN I hear you piping, for I know the tune so well,- You rouse the heart to wander and be free, Tho' where you learned your music, not the G.o.d of song can tell, For you pipe the open highway and the sea.

O piper, lightly footing, lightly piping on your way, Tho' your music thrills and pierces far and near, I tell you you had better pipe to someone else to-day, For you cannot pipe my fancy from my dear.