Shifting Scenes and Other Poems By J. Stanyan Bigg |
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THE WARRIOR'S BABES. |
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 | Shifting Scenes and Other Poems |  |
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III. THE WARRIOR'S BABES.
Scene: The Forest near the Garden. Three Children playing.
Three little babes are laughing
In among the trees,
Six little eyes are dancing
Glad as summer bees,
In the cool of leaves, in the gleam of springs,
In the shadow and the breeze.
In among the trees,
Six little eyes are dancing
Glad as summer bees,
In the cool of leaves, in the gleam of springs,
In the shadow and the breeze.
Trailing golden garlands
With many a tug and bound,
Breaking off the blossoms,
Showering odours round;
With a laugh, and a shout, and a clap of hands,
Purpling all the ground.
With many a tug and bound,
Breaking off the blossoms,
Showering odours round;
With a laugh, and a shout, and a clap of hands,
Purpling all the ground.
Through the tangled forest,
By the river's brim,
And through the crouching mosses
Beneath the arches dim;
With faces bright, and with hair like light,
They go with ruddy swim.
By the river's brim,
And through the crouching mosses
Beneath the arches dim;
With faces bright, and with hair like light,
They go with ruddy swim.
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Still laughing and still crushing
Berries in the rout,
Tossing up their garlands
With merry laugh and shout;
Through the sun and the shade with a sudden skip
Bounding in and out.
Berries in the rout,
Tossing up their garlands
With merry laugh and shout;
Through the sun and the shade with a sudden skip
Bounding in and out.
And, where the holy silence
A sandalled pilgrim stands,
And communes with the forest,
In hushed uplifted hands,
In the wild sweet glee of their infancy
They break the solemn bands,
A sandalled pilgrim stands,
And communes with the forest,
In hushed uplifted hands,
In the wild sweet glee of their infancy
They break the solemn bands,
And carry all their gladness
With sudden turns and dips
Down the dusky silence,
Into the deep eclipse,
Till the grim woods laugh, and the gnarlèd boughs
Bud out in eyes and lips.
With sudden turns and dips
Down the dusky silence,
Into the deep eclipse,
Till the grim woods laugh, and the gnarlèd boughs
Bud out in eyes and lips.
| Shifting Scenes and Other Poems | |