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The Collected Works of William Morris

With Introductions by his Daughter May Morris
Morris, William (1834-1896)

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VOLUME I THE DEFENCE OF GUENEVERE AND OTHER POEMS
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VOLUME II THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JASON
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VOLUME III, IV, V, VI THE EARTHLY PARADISE
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VOLUME VII THE STORY OF GRETTIR THE STRONG. THE STORY OF THE VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS
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VOLUME IX LOVE IS ENOUGH. POEMS BY THE WAY
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VOLUME X THREE NORTHERN LOVE STORIES. THE TALE OF BEOWULF
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VOLUME XII THE STORY OF SIGURD THE VOLSUNG AND THE FALL OF THE NIBLUNGS
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VOLUME XIV THE HOUSE OF THE WOLFINGS. THE STORY OF THE GLITTERING PLAIN
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VOLUME XV THE ROOTS OF THE MOUNTAINS
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INTRODUCTION
  
THE ROOTS OF THE MOUNTAINS WHEREIN IS TOLD SOMEWHAT OF THE LIVES OF THE MEN OF BURGDALE, THEIR FRIENDS THEIR NEIGHBOURS THEIR FOEMEN AND THEIR FELLOWS IN ARMS BY WILLIAM MORRIS
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CHAPTER III. THEY TALK OF DIVERS MATTERS IN THE HALL.
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CHAPTER VI. OF FACE-OF-GOD AND THOSE MOUNTAIN DWELLERS.
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CHAPTER IX. THOSE BRETHREN FARE TO THE YEW-WOOD WITH THE BRIDE.
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CHAPTER XV. MURDER AMONGST THE FOLK OF THE WOODLANDERS.
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CHAPTER XX. THOSE TWO TOGETHER HOLD THE RING OF THE EARTH-GOD.
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CHAPTER XXIX. THEY BRING THE RUNAWAYS TO BURGSTEAD.
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CHAPTER XXXIV. THE CHIEFTAINS TAKE COUNSEL IN THE HALL OF THE FACE.
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CHAPTER XXXVII. OF THE FOLK-MOTE OF THE DALESMEN, THE SHEPHERD-FOLK, AND THE WOODLAND CARLES: THE BANNER OF THE WOLF DISPLAYED.
  
[The Song of the Wolf.]
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CHAPTER XXXIX. OF THE GREAT FOLK-MOTE: MEN TAKE REDE OF THE WAR-FARING, THE FELLOWSHIP, AND THE WARLEADER. FOLK-MIGHT TELLETH WHENCE HIS PEOPLE CAME. THE FOLK-MOTE SUNDERED.
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CHAPTER XLI. THE HOST DEPARTETH FROM SHADOWY VALE: THE FIRST DAY'S JOURNEY.
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CHAPTER XLIV. OF THE ONSLAUGHT OF THE MEN OF THE STEER, THE BRIDGE, AND THE BULL.
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CHAPTER XLV. OF FACE-OF-GOD'S ONSLAUGHT.
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CHAPTER XLVIII. MEN SING IN THE MOTE-HOUSE.
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CHAPTER LI. THE DEAD BORNE TO BALE: THE MOTE-HOUSE RE-HALLOWED.
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CHAPTER LV. DEPARTURE FROM SILVERDALE.
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CHAPTER LVIII. HOW THE MAIDEN WARD WAS HELD IN BURGDALE.
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VOLUME XVI NEWS FROM NOWHERE. A DREAM OF JOHN BALL. A KING'S LESSON
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VOLUME XVII THE WOOD BEYOND THE WORLD. CHILD CHRISTOPHER. OLD FRENCH ROMANCES
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VOLUME XXI THE SUNDERING FLOOD. UNFINISHED ROMANCES
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VOLUME XXIV SCENES FROM THE FALL OF TROY AND OTHER POEMS AND FRAGMENTS

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xxj

[FEBRUARY.]

[Lines from a later draft.]

[_]

Fragment from the second draft, B, of this later draft of “The Hill of Venus.”

“What thing dost thou desire
I cannot give? Has not thy fickle mouth
Been full of praises of the sweet strange fire
That dieth not, of the heart-cleaving drouth
Unquenchable; the sight of deathless youth
And changeless beauty? Shall I take away
These things once given?—Shall night follow day?
[OMITTED]
[OMITTED]
“The thing thou seem'st to lack
xxij

I have not and I know not; if it lay
Within mine hand to give, yet should I say
The having it would never better thee,
Restless and lonely ever shalt thou be.
“Be wise, come back if for a while again!
I am the thing that thou didst cry to have,
That rest and refuge from dull common pain
For which within the world thou didst so crave:
Whence came I, where I wend, what thing shall save
My beauty from the swift decay of earth
I know not; but my heart is full of mirth:
“My heart is full of mirth, and all is good;
Good the slow creeping longing and the ruth
That grows to restless fever of the blood,
Good the sweet blindness, good the flash of truth
That dies and comes again; and good the growth
Of half regret and half forgetfulness
That as the days wear the worn heart doth bless.
“Yea even good awhile the emptied heart
To which but half believed quite scorned is pain,
Ere it is garnished for another part,
Good the new love the old shall not disdain
And all the sweetness sweet come back again—
—O come thou back, curse me, weep on my breast,
Belike it is thou hast not known the best!”
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