The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan In Two Volumes. With a Portrait |
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 | The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan |  |
The world was very quiet. Men in traffic
Cast looks over their shoulders; pallid seamen
Shivered to walk upon the decks alone;
Cast looks over their shoulders; pallid seamen
Shivered to walk upon the decks alone;
And women barred their doors with bars of iron,
In the silence of the night; and at the sunrise
Trembled behind the husbandmen afield.
In the silence of the night; and at the sunrise
Trembled behind the husbandmen afield.
I could not see a kirkyard near or far;
I thirsted for a green grave, and my vision
Was weary for the white gleam of a tombstone.
I thirsted for a green grave, and my vision
Was weary for the white gleam of a tombstone.
But hearkening dumbly, ever and anon
I heard a cry out of a human dwelling,
And felt the cold wind of a lost one's going.
I heard a cry out of a human dwelling,
And felt the cold wind of a lost one's going.
One struck a brother fiercely, and he fell,
And faded in a darkness; and that other
Tore his hair, and was afraid, and could not perish.
And faded in a darkness; and that other
Tore his hair, and was afraid, and could not perish.
One struck his aged mother on the mouth,
And she vanished with a gray grief from his hearthstone.
One melted from her bairn, and on the ground
And she vanished with a gray grief from his hearthstone.
One melted from her bairn, and on the ground
With sweet unconscious eyes the bairn lay smiling.
And many made a weeping among mountains,
And hid themselves in caverns, and were drunken.
And many made a weeping among mountains,
And hid themselves in caverns, and were drunken.
I heard a voice from out the beauteous earth,
Whose side rolled up from winter into summer,
Crying, ‘I am grievous for my children.’
Whose side rolled up from winter into summer,
Crying, ‘I am grievous for my children.’
I heard a voice from out the hoary ocean,
Crying, ‘Burial in the breast of me were better,
Yea, burial in the salt flags and green crystals.’
Crying, ‘Burial in the breast of me were better,
Yea, burial in the salt flags and green crystals.’
I heard a voice from out the hollow ether,
Saying, ‘The thing ye cursed hath been abolished—
Corruption, and decay, and dissolution!’
Saying, ‘The thing ye cursed hath been abolished—
Corruption, and decay, and dissolution!’
And the world shrieked, and the summertime was bitter,
And men and women feared the air behind them;
And for lack of its green graves the world was hateful.
And men and women feared the air behind them;
And for lack of its green graves the world was hateful.
| The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan | |