 | A Sonnet Chronicle |  |
4
St. George's Day, April 23rd, 1900
This is the day when overlord and thane
Chose Alfred, great and goodliest, to be king;
This is the day when light gave welcoming
To him whom darkness ne'er shall hold again—
Shakespeare, world-crowned—a day of joy and pain,
Seeing this day Heaven caught him back to sing
Among the stars, whom God sent forth to bring
To mortal ears a more than mortal strain.
Chose Alfred, great and goodliest, to be king;
This is the day when light gave welcoming
To him whom darkness ne'er shall hold again—
Shakespeare, world-crowned—a day of joy and pain,
Seeing this day Heaven caught him back to sing
Among the stars, whom God sent forth to bring
To mortal ears a more than mortal strain.
But here, by Grasmere lake and Rydal Scar,
We think of one who fifty years to-day
Gave to the hands of death a deathless lyre;
Who, truest knight that ever rode to war
Against the dragon-lusts of foul desire,
Saved and led home Life's purer simpler way.
We think of one who fifty years to-day
Gave to the hands of death a deathless lyre;
Who, truest knight that ever rode to war
Against the dragon-lusts of foul desire,
Saved and led home Life's purer simpler way.
| A Sonnet Chronicle | |