 | Collected poems |  |
124
THE MEMORY OF EARTH
In the wet dusk silver sweet,
Down the violet scented ways,
As I moved with quiet feet
I was met by mighty days.
Down the violet scented ways,
As I moved with quiet feet
I was met by mighty days.
On the hedge the hanging dew
Glassed the eve and stars and skies;
While I gazed a madness grew
Into thundered battle cries.
Glassed the eve and stars and skies;
While I gazed a madness grew
Into thundered battle cries.
Where the hawthorn glimmered white,
Flashed the spear and fell the stroke—
Ah, what faces pale and bright
Where the dazzling battle broke!
Flashed the spear and fell the stroke—
Ah, what faces pale and bright
Where the dazzling battle broke!
There a hero-hearted queen
With young beauty lit the van:
Gone! the darkness flowed between
All the ancient wars of man.
With young beauty lit the van:
Gone! the darkness flowed between
All the ancient wars of man.
While I paced the valley's gloom
Where the rabbits pattered near,
Shone a temple and a tomb
With the legend carven clear:
Where the rabbits pattered near,
Shone a temple and a tomb
With the legend carven clear:
125
“Time put by a myriad fates
That her day might dawn in glory;
Death made wide a million gates
So to close her tragic story.”
That her day might dawn in glory;
Death made wide a million gates
So to close her tragic story.”
| Collected poems | |