‘Twas to greet the new rector I called I here,But in the arm-chair I seeMy old friend, for long years installed here,Who palely nods to me. The new man explains what he’s planningIn a smart and cheerful tone,And I listen, the while that I’m scanningThe figure behind his own. The newcomer urges things on me;I […]

They parted–a pallid, trembling I pair,And rushing down the laneHe left her lonely near me there;–I asked her of their pain. “It is for ever,” at length she said,“His friends have schemed it so,That the long-purposed day to wedNever shall we two know.” “In such a cruel case,” said I,“Love will contrive a course?”“–Well, no […]

Words from the mirror softly passTo the curtains with a sigh:“Why should I trouble again to glassThese smileless things hard by,Since she I pleasured once, alas,Is now no longer nigh!” “I’ve imaged shadows of coursing cloud,And of the plying limbOn the pensive pine when the air is loudWith its aerial hymn;But never do they make […]

(On Yell’Ham Hill) In my loamy nookAs I dig my holeI observe men lookAt a stone, and sighAs they pass it byTo some far goal. Something it saysTo their glancing eyesThat must distressThe frail and lame,And the strong of frameGladden or surprise. Do signs on its faceDeclare how farFeet have to traceBefore they gainSome blest […]

(SCHERZANDO) “So back you have come from the town, Nan, dear!And have you seen him there, or near –That soldier of mine –Who long since promised to meet me here?” “–O yes, Nell: from the town I come,And have seen your lover on sick-leave home –That soldier of yours –Who swore to meet you, or […]

My father was the whipper-in, –Is still–if I’m not misled?And now I see, where the hedge is thin,A little spot of red;Surely it is my fatherGoing to the kennel-shed! “I cursed and fought my father–aye,And sailed to a foreign land;And feeling sorry, I’m back, to stay,Please God, as his helping hand.Surely it is my fatherNear […]

Glad old house of lichened stonework,What I owed you in my lone work,Noon and night!Whensoever faint or ailing,Letting go my grasp and failing,You lent light. How by that fair title came you?Did some forward eye so name youKnowing that one,Sauntering down his century blindly,Would remark your sound, so kindly,And be won? Smile in sunlight, sleep […]

“SACRED TO THE MEMORY”(MARY H.) That “Sacred to the Memory”Is clearly carven there I own,And all may think that on the stoneThe words have been inscribed by meIn bare conventionality. They know not and will never knowThat my full script is not confinedTo that stone space, but stands deep linedUpon the landscape high and lowWherein […]

“Secretum meum mihi”(FADED WOMAN’S SONG) There was a spell of leisure,No record vouches when;With honours, praises, pleasureTo womankind from men. But no such lures bewitched me,No hand was stretched to raise,No gracious gifts enriched me,No voices sang my praise. Yet an iris at that seasonAmid the accustomed slightFrom denseness, dull unreason,Ringed me with living light.

(RECALLING R. T.) Who would have thoughtThat, not having missed herTalks, tears, laughterIn absence, or soughtTo recall for so longHer gamut of song;Or ever to waft herSignal of aughtThat she, fancy-fanned,Would well understand,I should have kissed herPicture when scannedYawning years after! Yet, seeing her poorDim-outlined formChancewise at night-time,Some old allureCame on me, warm,Fresh, pleadful, pure,As […]

When your soft welcomings were said,This curl was waving on your head,And when we walked where breakers dinnedIt sported in the sun and wind,And when I had won your words of graceIt brushed and clung about my face.Then, to abate the miseryOf absentness, you gave it me. Where are its fellows now? Ah, theyFor brightest […]

(WOODSFORD CASTLE: 17-) “What do I catch upon the night-wind, husband? –What is it sounds in this house so eerily?It seems to be a woman’s voice: each little while I hear it,And it much troubles me!” “‘Tis but the eaves dripping down upon the plinth-slopes:Letting fancies worry thee!–sure ’tis a foolish thing,When we were on’y […]

I was the midmost of my worldWhen first I frisked me free,For though within its circuit gleamedBut a small company,And I was immature, they seemedTo bend their looks on me. She was the midmost of my worldWhen I went further forth,And hence it was that, whether I turnedTo south, east, west, or north,Beams of an […]

(L. H. RECALLS HER ROMANCE) He used to pass, well-trimmed and brushed,My window every day,And when I smiled on him he blushed,That youth, quite as a girl might; aye,In the shyest way. Thus often did he pass hereby,That youth of bounding gait,Until the one who blushed was I,And he became, as here I sate,My joy, […]

(A REMINISCENCE OF THE WAR) We sat in the roomAnd praised her whomWe saw in the portico-shade outside:She could not hearWhat was said of her,But smiled, for its purport we did not hide. Then in was broughtThat message, fraughtWith evil fortune for her out there,Whom we loved that dayMore than any could say,And would fain […]

“O whence do you come,Figure in the night-fog that chills me numb?” “I come to you across from my house up there,And I don’t mind the brine-mist clinging to meThat blows from the quay,For I heard him in my chamber, and thought you unaware.” “But what did you hear,That brought you blindly knocking in this […]

“Why are you so bent down before your time,Old mason? Many have not left their primeSo far behind at your age, and can stillStand full upright at will.” He pointed to the mansion-front hard by,And to the stones of the quoin against the sky;“Those upper blocks,” he said, “that there you see,It was that ruined […]

“Did you see something within the houseThat made me call you before the red sunsetting?Something that all this common scene endowsWith a richened impress there can be no forgetting?” “–I have found nothing to see therein,O Sage, that should have made you urge me to enter,Nothing to fire the soul, or the sense to win:I […]

(BALLAD) I missed one night, but the next I went;It was gusty above, and clear;She was there, with the look of one ill-content,And said: “Do not come near!” – “I am sorry last night to have failed you here,And now I have travelled all day;And it’s long rowing back to the West-Hoe Pier,So brief must […]

And he is risen? Well, be it so . . .And still the pensive lands complain,And dead men wait as long ago,As if, much doubting, they would knowWhat they are ransomed from, beforeThey pass again their sheltering door. I stand amid them in the rain,While blusters vex the yew and vane;And on the road the […]