University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
A Poet's Harvest Home

Being One Hundred Short Poems: By William Bell Scott ... With an Aftermath of Twenty Short Poems
Scott, William Bell (1811-1890)
  
[epigraph]
  
[dedication]

collapse section 
POEMS.
  
PROLOGUE.
  
THE POET'S OPPORTUNITY.
collapse section 
THE FOXGLOVE:
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
  
THE GARDEN BOWER.
  
THE ROBIN.
  
CONTENT.
  
PHEMIE BLAYNE.
  
THE SCHOOL-CHILDREN.
  
GLENKINDIE.
  
TELIESSIN.
  
HELP.
  
OISIN.
  
THE SEA.
  
THE TIDE.
  
AT SEA.
  
THE HURRICANE.
  
THE NORNS WATERING YGGDRASILL.
  
THOROLF AND GUDRUN.
  
THE NYMPH OF ARCADIE.
  
CUPID AMONG THE MAIDENS.
  
MUSIC.
collapse section 
THE OLD OLD STORY.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
  
THE APPLE TREE.
  
THE APPLE.
  
APPLE GATHERING.
  
A BIRTHDAY.
  
BEFORE MARRIAGE.
  
TO THE DEAD.
  
ELIJAH.
  
LOVE AND DEATH.
  
THE OFFERING.
  
THE EMPEROR JULIAN ON GERMAN DRINK.
  
THE CANDIDATE.
collapse section 
THE SPHYNX.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
collapse section 
NATURE.
 I. 
[I.]
 II. 
II.
  
HORTUS PARADISI.
  
ST. COLUMBA.
  
OF ME.
  
LITTLE BOY.
  
BAGATELLE.
  
MARE SERENITATIS.
  
A GENIUS?
  
THE TWO SIDES.
  
SELF-ACCUSATION.
collapse section 
THE SUN-DIAL.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
  
MORALITY.
  
A GHOST.
  
A LOWLAND WITCH BALLAD.
  
MORNING.
  
SILENCE.
  
HERO-WORSHIP.
  
ROSE-LEAVES.
  
PARACELSUS.
  
RABELAIS.
  
A SIMILE.
collapse section 
OF POETRY.
 I. 
I. THE POET.
 II. 
II. THE POET'S BOOK.
 III. 
III. ART FOR ART'S SAKE.
 IV. 
IV. ANCIENT FORMS.
 V. 
V. ON READING MR. THEODORE WATTS' SONNET, ‘THE SONNET'S VOICE.’
 VI. 
VI. REMONSTRANCE.
collapse section 
OF POETS.
 I. 
I. STRATFORD.
 II. 
II. SHAKESPEARE.
 III. 
III. THE KESSELSTADT MASK.
 IV. 
IV. DANTE. I.
 V. 
V. DANTE. II.
 VI. 
VI. DANTE AND BEATRICE.
 VII. 
VII. WORDSWORTH.
 VIII. 
VIII. SOUTHEY.
 IX. 
IX. BURNS.
 X. 
X. CHATTERTON.
 XI. 
XI. SAPPHO.
 XII. 
XII. ORPHEUS.
 XIII. 
XIII. BYRON.
 XIV. 
XIV. SHELLEY. I.
 XV. 
XV. SHELLEY. II.
  
THE FALLING LEAF.
  
LEFT ALONE.
  
AUBADE.
  
A GARLAND, FOR ADVANCING YEARS.
  
AN AUTUMN EVENING.
  
END OF HARVEST.
  
MEMORY.
  
SEEKING FORGETFULNESS.
  
CONTINUITY OF LIFE.
  
EXPERIENCE.
  
AGE.
  
BIRTHDAY, ÆT. 70.
  
A-DIEU.
  
EPILOGUE.
collapse section 
An Aftermath.
  
INTRODUCTORY SONNET.
collapse section 
NEW YEAR BELLS.
 I. 
TWO EPOCHS. I. 1831.
 II. 
TWO EPOCHS. II. 1881.
  
RHYME OF LOVE.
  
SPRING.
  
WM. BLAKE'S DESIGNS FOR THE GRAVE.
  
CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM.
  
INFANCY.
  
AN ANNIVERSARY: THE 31st.
  
DANTE IN EXILE.
  
THE INFERNO.
  
RAPHAEL'S MADONNA DI SAN SISTO.
  
MERRY ENGLAND.
collapse section 
THE AUTO DA FE.
 I. 
I. SAINT DOMINIC.
 II. 
II. TORQUEMADA.
collapse section 
CARDINAL NEWMAN.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
collapse section 
THE SICKLE.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 IV. 
IV.
  
VOICES OF SUNSET CLOUDS.
  
A LAST WALK, IN ILLNESS.
  
THE FURTHER SHORE.

collapse section Collapse All | Expand All expand section
previous section A Poet's Harvest Home
next section

I.

Reach the old Sickle from the wall
Where it hath hung so long.
The reaper's re-awakening song
Sounds the autumn's annual call,
Bewildering the watchful hare
In his yet unhunted lair.
Dear old Sickle, once again
The undergrowth of poppies red,
Whose beauties on themselves were shed,
Shall dazzle soon the trembling air,
When the wheat-ears over head
Across thy curved blade have lain,
In triumph as the reaper's eye
Smiles to his fair mate jocundly.
Sacred old Sickle, while the wind
Died on the winter's crisped rind,
And the mossed thatching o'er the door
Was whiter than now is the mill's white floor,
Thou broughtest July's sun to mind:
184

And so, when May-day breezes blew,
And made each building bird renew
The search for straws and sticks, 'twas thou
For whom we blessed the fledgeling bough,
Then through high summer's long bright eves
Sat the dear saint Tranquility,
Longing to see them gild the sheaves,
And, bread-rich Sickle, glance on thee
Over the villager's shoulder flung,
Love-making fieldward, blythe and young.
previous section A Poet's Harvest Home
next section