Sonnets on the War By Alexander Smith and By the Author of "Balder" and "The Roman" [S. T. Dobell] |
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DEDICATORY. |
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 | Sonnets on the War |  |
5
DEDICATORY.
I.
“Oh, Treeless Grange, upon the windy Hill,Crowded with peats and comfortable stacks!
The brightest lot and fairest landscape lacks,
Unless these gentle friends are with me still;”
I murmured, as I trudged with right good will.
Before the autumn's mellow breath there rolled
A heavy vale of tanned and lazy gold:
The dog was barking from the shadowy mill.
Their sunset-lighted window filled my eye;
Tears glittered on my cheek. “Where'er they roam,—
'Neath sparrow-haunted thatch or stately dome,
May God in all his plenty round them lie!”
I raised my face. Across the orange sky
A weary train of rooks were flying home.
6
II.
And if we sing—I and that dearer friend—Take Thou our music. He dwells in thy light
Through sun and shower, blue day and starry night.
And sometimes for a moment thou dost blend
Thy moonrise with my twilight. Away I wend,
Like one from prayer. A life-long hood of pain
Thou wear'st, and never will a murmur stain
Thy spirit's crystalline until the end.
I pass into the world from thy abode;
A something of thy radiance pure and tried,
Hangs round my soul for days. I would to God
We could thy burden in two parts divide,
Thy heart were blythe as dawn, and side by side
We three should travel on life's sacred road!
| Sonnets on the War | |