Father, I cry to thee for bread With hungred longing, eager prayer; Thou hear’st, and givest me instead More hunger and a half-despair. 0 Lord, how long? My days decline, My youth is lapped in memories old; I need not bread alone, but wine– See, cup and hand to thee I hold! And yet thou […]

When the summer gave us a longer day, And the leaves were thickest, I went away: Like an isle, through dark clouds, of the infinite blue, Was that summer-ramble from London and you. It was but one burst into life and air, One backward glance on the skirts of care, A height on the hills […]

I have not any fearful tale to tell Of fabled giant or of dragon-claw, Or bloody deed to pilfer and to sell To those who feed, with such, a gaping maw; But what in yonder hamlet there befell, Or rather what in it my fancy saw, I will declare, albeit it may seem Too simple […]

O Mother Earth, I have a fear Which I would tell to thee– Softly and gently in thine ear When the moon and we are three. Thy grass and flowers are beautiful; Among thy trees I hide; And underneath the moonlight cool Thy sea looks broad and wide; But this I fear–lest thou shouldst grow […]

Come to me, come to me, O my God; Come to me everywhere! Let the trees mean thee, and the grassy sod, And the water and the air! For thou art so far that I often doubt, As on every side I stare, Searching within, and looking without, If thou canst be anywhere. How did […]

A FRAGMENT. When the cock crows loud from the glen, And the moor-cock chirrs from the heather, What hear ye and see ye then, Ye children of air and ether? 1st Echo.A thunder as of waves at the rising of the moon, And a darkness on the graves though the day is at its noon. […]

Out of thy door I run to do the thing That calls upon me. Straight the wind of words Whoops from mine ears the sounds of them that sing About their work, “My God, my father-king!” I turn in haste to see thy blessed door, But, lo, a cloud of flies and bats and birds, […]

I. I see thy house, but I am blown about, A wind-mocked kite, between the earth and sky, All out of doors–alas! of thy doors out, And drenched in dews no summer suns can dry. For every blast is passion of my own; The dews cold sweats of selfish agony; Dank vapour steams from memories […]

Oh that a wind would call From the depths of the leafless wood! Oh that a voice would fall On the ear of my solitude! Far away is the sea, With its sound and its spirit tone; Over it white clouds flee; But I am alone, alone. Straight and steady and tall The trees stand […]

I. I honour Nature, holding it unjust To look with jealousy on her designs; With every passing year more fast she twines About my heart; with her mysterious dust Claim I a fellowship not less august Although she works before me and combines Her changing forms, wherever the sun shines Spreading a leafy volume on […]

I woke at midnight, and my heart, My beating heart, said this to me: Thou seest the moon, how calm and bright! The world is fair by day and night, But what is that to thee? One touch to me, down dips the light Over the land and sea. All is mine, all is my […]

RONDEL. Would that thou hid me in the grave And kept me with death’s gaoler-care; Until thy wrath away should wear A sentence fixed thy prisoner gave! I would endure with patience brave So thou remembered I was there! Would that thou hid me in the grave, And kept me with death’s gaoler-care! To see […]

Chained is the Spring. The Night-wind bold Blows over the hard earth; Time is not more confused and cold, Nor keeps more wintry mirth. Yet blow, and roll the world about– Blow, Time, blow, winter’s Wind! Through chinks of time heaven peepeth out, And Spring the frost behind.

Lord, according to thy words, I have considered thy birds; And I find their life good, And better the better understood: Sowing neither corn nor wheat They have all that they can eat; Reaping no more than they sow They have more than they could stow; Having neither barn nor store, Hungry again, they eat […]

Here is a temple strangely wrought: Within it I can see Two spirits of a diverse thought Contend for mastery. One is an angel fair and bright, Adown the aisle comes he, Adown the aisle in raiment white, A creature fair to see. The other wears an evil mien, And he hath doubtless slipt, A […]

Oh holy Sabbath bells, Ye have a pleasant voice! Through all the land your music swells, And man with one commandment tells To rest and to rejoice. As birds rejoice to flee From dark and stormy skies To brighter lands beyond the sea Where skies are calm, and wings are free To wander and to […]

Quiet, quiet dead, Have ye aught to say From your hidden bed In the earthy clay? Fathers, children, mothers, Ye are very quiet; Can ye shout, my brothers? I would know you by it! Have ye any words That are like to ours? Have ye any birds? Have ye any flowers? Could ye rise a […]

Thou foldest me in sickness; Thou callest through the cloud; I batter with the thickness Of the swathing, blinding shroud: Oh, let me see thy face, The only perfect grace That thou canst show thy child. 0 father, being-giver, Take off the sickness-cloud; Saviour, my life deliver From this dull body-shroud: Till I can see […]

I have long enough been working down in my cellar, Working spade and pick, boring-chisel and drill; I long for wider spaces, airy, clear-dark, and stellar: Successless labour never the love of it did fill. More profit surely lies in a holy, pure quiescence, In a setting forth of cups to catch the heavenly rain, […]

When the heart is a cup In the body low lying, And wine, drop by drop Falls into that cup From somewhere high up, It is good to be dying With the heart for a cup In the body low lying.