 | The Poems of A. C. Benson |  |
260
THE WISHING WELL
Yes, here's the place: the meadow thick with rushes,
The gravelly hill, the elms beside the pool,
Here through the dancing sand it jets and gushes,
Divinely clear and cool.
The gravelly hill, the elms beside the pool,
Here through the dancing sand it jets and gushes,
Divinely clear and cool.
Now must I kneel and set my palms together,—
So runs the rite,—and then, devoutly bowed,
Face down the wind, so it be windy weather,
Then speak my wish aloud.
So runs the rite,—and then, devoutly bowed,
Face down the wind, so it be windy weather,
Then speak my wish aloud.
No vague desires, virtue and health combining,
Not love—but one inevitable name,
Not wealth, but cash—describing and defining
The very coin I claim.
Not love—but one inevitable name,
Not wealth, but cash—describing and defining
The very coin I claim.
Then O bright hope, with no success to dim it,
Vast vague desires, of you I dare not think!
Dear boundless dreams I must curtail and limit!
Nay, nay! I will not drink.
Vast vague desires, of you I dare not think!
Dear boundless dreams I must curtail and limit!
Nay, nay! I will not drink.
| The Poems of A. C. Benson | |