English Roses by F. Harald Williams [i.e. F. W. O. Ward] |
 |
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
BENEATH A SKY OF GRAMARY. |
| V. |
| VI. |
 | English Roses |  |
BENEATH A SKY OF GRAMARY.
I and my heart, we dwell apart
From all the weary way
Of ugly strife and little life
With rancour and its venomed knife,
And keep one holiday.
We have a kingdom of our own,
A greener earth, a bluer sky,
To careless other looks unknown
And with these mortal flowers unsown—
The gracious world of Gramary.
O here we rest, at every stage
Of our long passion's pilgrimage;
And from the Tide we step aside
While onward rolls the wave,
Beneath the shadows that divide
The glory from its grave.
And backward on the pictured Past
We see the Future's vision cast
In cloud and light and thunder,
The feast that crowns the bitter fast,
The bliss and beauty under.
With stately palm and purple stream
The unpathed universes gleam,
Below a sky of Gramary.
From all the weary way
Of ugly strife and little life
With rancour and its venomed knife,
And keep one holiday.
We have a kingdom of our own,
A greener earth, a bluer sky,
To careless other looks unknown
And with these mortal flowers unsown—
The gracious world of Gramary.
O here we rest, at every stage
Of our long passion's pilgrimage;
And from the Tide we step aside
444
Beneath the shadows that divide
The glory from its grave.
And backward on the pictured Past
We see the Future's vision cast
In cloud and light and thunder,
The feast that crowns the bitter fast,
The bliss and beauty under.
With stately palm and purple stream
The unpathed universes gleam,
Below a sky of Gramary.
For thus can we alone be free,
And get afar from men;
Beyond the spear of cruel fear,
In wedding garment white, we hear
The secret of all ken.
We drink at fountains fair and deep
That bubble from a broader sky,
Whence glimmers come to us in sleep
From those great guardian souls that keep
The precious pearls of Gramary.
O here we turn each folded page
Of our long passion's pilgrimage;
We steal away at last from Time,
Its fleeting tools and toys,
And chant in peace the over-chime
Of universal joys.
And then return and then advance
The buried change, the boding chance
Of splendid expectation,
And in their varied circumstance
We see each incarnation.
Without the burden and the pain
Old towers and temples rise again,
Beneath a sky of Gramary.
And get afar from men;
Beyond the spear of cruel fear,
In wedding garment white, we hear
The secret of all ken.
We drink at fountains fair and deep
That bubble from a broader sky,
Whence glimmers come to us in sleep
From those great guardian souls that keep
The precious pearls of Gramary.
O here we turn each folded page
Of our long passion's pilgrimage;
We steal away at last from Time,
Its fleeting tools and toys,
And chant in peace the over-chime
Of universal joys.
And then return and then advance
The buried change, the boding chance
Of splendid expectation,
And in their varied circumstance
We see each incarnation.
Without the burden and the pain
Old towers and temples rise again,
Beneath a sky of Gramary.
| English Roses | |