Part 3

But that's my ghost in Faringdon, All year cycling it goes. Into the fine wood, the beech, the pine wood, The dim ghost shadows and glows.

Salonica, 1916

CALL OF THE PLOVER

(To Harry Owen)

The crying of the lonely plover From the morning cloud! Do the wings and clouds still hover Where my heart sang loud?

O the valley and the stream there. Where we shouted, being young! Are there boys still dream a dream there, Are the boys' songs sung?

O the winds that once blew round us, O the sun! the rain! Shall the ancient spells that bound us, Bind us ever again?

O a great Word then was spoken, Then was a boy's will clean and strong! Is the boy's will broken That went straight along?

O our ageing ears are ringing With many sad things! Shall we come again with singing Where the plover sings?

CLOUD END

THE GALLANT ROAD

(For my School--without permission)

Grant us, O Lord, to do the thing Clean men and boys have always done; These works to do, these songs to sing, The gallant road to run.

Grant us, O Lord, that we go straight Along the path where shines the sun; These things to love, these things to hate, The gallant road to run.

Grant us, O Lord, to win the fight That all the cleanly hearts have won, Having sure feet, even at night The gallant road to run.

Grant us, O Lord, when Death enfold, That we take Death as half in fun; Like men and boys that knew of old The gallant road to run.

1915

THE QUEST

"I have sought you," I said; "I have found you," I said, "in the pitch of your intimate midnight lair." He drew back with a sob like the swish of a stick thro' the smarting air.

"I have moved like Death on deliberate feet thro' a thousand towns and a hundred lands. Thinking you found, I have squeezed men's throats with pulsing, twitching, inquisitive hands.

"But the fire that waned in their blood-starred eyes was not the flame of the fire I sought, And I went my way with the sword in my heart and the sword in my hand of passion and thought.

"My blood spurted over the boulders of far intolerant mountains of iron and ice, But never in crevice or cave or chasm I found the flesh of my sacrifice.

"I burned with the wrath of a wind from hell thro' molten deserts panting and pent; But ever my foeman fled me afar, the sinister goal of my intent.

"I have sought you," I said, "I have found you," I said; "we shall die together, for I am you." The foam and fever oozed out of my forehead, with a dew like blood, with a blood like dew.

He wailed like a child that recoils from a shadow that moves with menace over his bed; But I pierced my heart with the sword in my hand, and his body at last lay stretched and dead.

HAVING FINISHED "JUDE THE OBSCURE"

Such purposeless and iron wings Obscure our mortal music quite? Such gloom to monstrous gloom outflings The stenches of a churchyard night?

We are no more for God or Sin Than parasites in rotting hair, No different but only in The boundlessness of our despair?

Glories have sprung before our gaze From the wet wood the grey tide warps! We have heard peals of music blaze Sheer from the cold heart of a corpse!

GHOST AND BODY

I that am wiser than most, Have yielded the tract of my ghost To a panting and flat-eyed ghost who gathers these useless things. In a country of seventeen moons, He sits in the sound of bassoons Playing terrible stupid tunes to the first of the ghostial kings.

He has gathered my ghost with the rest To plough it, or do what is best, And doubtless he does it with zest in the country whereover he reigns. I am glad--for the thing was a pest; It lay at the roots of my chest, And it darkened the East and the West and it plastered my eyes with stains.

But heigh-ho! my arms and my feet Now are mine as I swing down the street, And my heart for to storm and to beat whenever my body desires. My eyes will look when they please Down the drains or high to the trees. My body is mine to freeze or shrivel with whitest fires!

GALLOP

My drunken head is a whirl of song, My heart is a drumstick beating time. My pen goes swiftly galloping along The echoing roads of rhythm and rhyme.

The stars are dizzy, for they circle in a ring. Round about the Pole Star all hold hands. The moon lifts her skirts up to do a giddy fling, The trees in the forest dance in big black bands.

The river is bounding from place to place, The fishes in the cold air rise and shine. The parallel hedgerows are running in a race, For each of them and all of them are drunk with wine.

The grand old buildings, alas and woe is me! Sway about unsteadily from side to side. The streets are moreover crooked things to see; There is no object anywhere will stand and bide.

The goblins are assembled in a mad-moon crowd Upon the hazy summit of the palpitating hill. Let the things that have no voice shout out loud! Let them dance, the fickle things, and have their fill!

And if again they will not sub-subside, (For round-around-around ho! and dance shall we!) The road of the rebel stars is cool and wide, The mad waves dance on the sea!

Then beat like thunder heart, then! round go head! The red stars swing in time. For soon enough, the Lord knows, shall I be dead, And dead my rhythm and rhyme!

OXFORD

WE LADS WHO BARTER RHYMES

There's some be red of face, they be, Like jolly suns in harvest times, And some be haggard men to see, Because of certain hidden crimes. But let us sing with one accord That we're the chosen of the Lord, We lads who barter rhymes.

There's some so tall and fair and free, Like policemen in their leisure times, And some are like a wizened pea, Some worth no more than twenty dimes. But here's our sober view expressed, We're three times better than the best, We lads who barter rhymes.

WHO KNOWS ME?

Who knows me? None knows me. I hobble on two blistered feet Round the corner, down the street. Now and then a child will cry, Seeing a strange thing in my eye, A Bogey Man, a Thing of Dread, Stand from each eye in my head. Now and then a baby 'll smile, --But that's only once a while. Boys of thirteen all throw stones At my stiff and creaky bones. Middle-aged people, fat and bright, Shrug and sniff "It serves him right." Round the corner, out of sight, Down the Street, across the Night.

Who knows me? None knows me. I am young and I am proud, Strong as sun and pure as cloud. All the five seas wash my veins With stinging foam and swinging rains. With the white stars I commune In a silent spheric tune. Who knows me? None knows me. Only but a brown Bird, Only but a little Child, A little Child, a little Bird, Only they know me.

JUDÆUS ERRANS

He hath no place to rest his head. O happy nations, weep indeed. He is forlorn till he be dead. O pity him his wretched meed, His wounds that bleed.

There is no resting in his eyes, And he hath scars upon his feet. He is a stranger to all skies. He walks sad-eyed along the street, And shadow-wise.

For with the dawn must he depart, And with the sunset make his way. All day he bears an aching heart, All night his aching sorrows stay, Yea, night and day.

Then look a moment as he goes, A little sadly, in his eyes. For there are written all the woes, And a surprise. For he is sadder than God knows.

COLD STARS

Cold night, cold with pointed stars That swing like instant scimitars, How you reproach with acid fire The smoky lamps of our desire.

Cold stars, inexorably aloof, That freeze from Vision's dizziest roof, On these our human sins you brood In pride of glacial rectitude.

Cold stars, come down and walk along Our avenues of Sense and Song; Take human shape one night and vex Your bowels with the scourge of sex.

When you return at last to those Cold skies from whence your travel rose, Will you still stare with such disdain, When you, cold stars, are stars again?

REACTIONARY

My heart's blood leaps high, O my Lady, in a fountain of restless aspiring. That you should dangle within it the dissolute gold of your hair. I have shattered the doors of my spirit that you might thereinto retiring Reposefully lie on my pain and reflect that the morning is fair.

You may go to the devil, my Lady, yourself and the rest of your species! I mean it, O desperate damsel, O Lady most anxious and coy! I shall retire to my chamber to see that my clothes are in creases, For I see by the tilt of your brow the minuteness of brain you enjoy.

You have set the clear bells of my spirit to crack in a dissonant jangle. You are fair in your way, O my Lady, but rather oppressively sexed. There is no such fatal mistake as a primitive facial angle. Good-bye, O my dispossessed Lady, remember my name to the next.

LATE

I am very desolate. I am afraid. I am alone. The shadows wait Till I am laid Beneath a stone.

I am very desolate. I can hear feet. I can see ghosts. Fear's by the gate, Death's in the street By the dark posts.

I am very desolate. What have I made Of the dead time? The night is late. I am afraid Of my own rhyme.

WIND OF BLACK NIGHT

I would go where you go, You sole monarch that I know. Wind, wind of black night, I would go with your delight. Take me by my streaming hair, Take me where in the air Planets meet, stars fight.

I have need of the speed Of your thunder-shattering steed. Wind, wind of black night, I would battle with your might. Take me by my soaring mind. No more blind, I shall find Hell's depth and sky's height.

I would follow where you lead, Freed, freed of sense and creed. Wind, wind of black night, I would see with your sight. Take me by my burning soul, Stark, whole, to God my goal, Clean darkness, sheer light.

YELLOW SATINS

(To Janey Golding)

When I am rich, mother, You will sit in satins, Yellow satins, looking out upon the street. You will smile out on the neighbours, Who will have no yellow satins; And there'll be a great big hassock to rest your tired feet.

You'll have a gold-clasped family album, And a grand piano in the corner; But yellow satins, yellow satins, I have chiefly dreamed of them. And the most wonderful silk-lined work-box, With the clothes of my first baby, For your dear pale fingers to hem.

And the neighbours will come to see you, And pretend not to be looking At the wonderful yellow satins, till I take you away to bed. But in dreaming of the yellow satins, I have forgotten, I have forgotten.... Isn't it seven years, little mother, since you've been dead?

MY MOTHER'S PORTRAIT

Dost thou turn thine eyes away from me, thy stern and gentle eyes, From the error of my living days, O thou in Death most wise? O thou in Death most wise, With thy stern and gentle eyes, Then is thy sleep disturbed by doubt, thy coffin by surprise?

Have I not trodden then the ways which thou wouldst have me tread? Then was it but a wind of words, the passioned vows I said? The passioned vows I said, The ways which I should tread, So have I quite forgotten these now thou art safely dead?

Unless I take thy buried lips my final word to say, Unless I take thy crumbled eyes to light my tangled way, To light my tangled way, My final word to say, Suddenly, Death, come down in flame and shrive me from the day!

TO A. L. O.

My soul is a white flame that has burned longer Than Mars or Aldebaran or all the stars, And gentler than a snowdrop, and far stronger Than all the steel of its containing bars. In cosmic triumphs upon timeless cars My lordly soul hath lain. My soul is younger Than the new-fallen dews in flowery jars: My soul, my godly food, my godly hunger.

Where shall I place my soul for most safe keeping From boisterous intention and omnivorous wave? And sow it in what field for goodliest reaping, From night to shield it and from sins to save? Thou art my treasure-house, awake or sleeping, Or wind-free in meadows or in the obscure grave.

THE DARK KNIGHT OF THE ROAD

Three tall poplars are his plumes, The Dark Knight of the Road. And he is cuirassed round with glooms, And all his stern abode Is loud with seas and dooms.

A rock he takes to be his shield. Loud winds his clarions are. Should banded warriors take the field, Though strong troops come from far, Naught know they but to yield.

But if a sparrow taunt his helm, Froth-like his power is blown. Him shall the mating thrush o'erwhelm. Yea, I have even known Tom-tit usurp his realm.

TO THE SWIFT

Swift, feathered lightning, swift, Flesh of flame, wind-fleet, God who gave you your good gift Gave me only two slow feet.

Countries merge within the span Of your single hour's essay. I being but a wingless man Plod my score of miles a day.

Fading into blankness now, Song that flies and flight that sings, I am chained to clay, but thou, Winds are leashed around thy wings.

Art thou faded, swift? then see, Poet where the swift shall halt, Poet see the sun assault The stone towers of Finity.

Swift, dreamless atom, clod, Swift, thou art slower than Any eyeless, limbless man. Him his soul shall drive to God.

FRESHWATER

GREEN WIND

The wind of course is Green. There is no other word For what no man has seen And every man has heard.

It's neither man nor fowl, And neither fish nor beast. But it comes out of the West And goes into the East.

It never was defined By instrument or mouth. But it comes out of the North And goes into the South.

The wind it is a Green Thing That swishes thro' the corn, And shouts you to praise loudly The day that you were born.

The wind it is a Wise Thing That rumbles thro' the beech, And bids you to learn there A wisdom it can teach.

The wind's as Green as Greenness Possibly can be, And lashes to a foam of Green The deepest bluest sea.

And even in the grassless towns, The murky streets and mean, Along the greys, behind the browns, It sings a Song of Green.

And whither does it go then, And whence does it come forth? It comes out of the South, And goes into the North.

It comes out of the East, And goes into the West, And why the wind is Green as Green, God alone knows best.

THE MIDMOST FIELD IN KENT

There is a time of charm and chime, And this is Sabbath evening time. There is a place of dear content, This is the midmost field in Kent. This is the time and this the place Where boughs droop down with dews of grace; Where under hedges hung with sleep, Through atmospheres of music creep Sheep like ghosts and ghosts like sheep. Here a great Lord of Magic comes Fanfarronading with far drums, And deep athwart the night he throws His banners of white fire and rose. From the great town unto the sea, He thunders through his empiry. But when his drums are heard no more, The quiet is quiet as before. And there's a drowsy dreamy scent Drenches the midmost field in Kent. Neither more quickly nor more slow, Shadows come, shadows go. Shadows that reap while others sow, Shadows that sow while others reap, Shadows whose windy singings keep, Sheep like ghosts and ghosts like sheep.

MURMURYNGEHAM

In Murmuryngeham, in Murmuryngeham, The bees is always singing, The flowers is always chiming, The sheep stands on their head. There's lads and lasses clinging, And minor poets rhyming, In Murmuryngeham, in Murmuryngeham, When they should be in bed. So now my feet is winging, When other men's are climbing, To Murmuryngeham, which I shall find If my good Patron be inclined, Murmuryngeham, Murmuryngeham, Some day before I'm dead.

WINCHESTER DOWNS

In Winchester on the white downs This is not mist at all, But the thin silk of fairy gowns Which is not woven in the towns And all behind a wall.

In Winchester, be taught of me, The fairies seize your wrist. Their gowns are caught in every tree; --But if you have no eyes to see, Then sure, it's only mist.

CYCLING IN OCTOBER

O the wind blowing round me, the wind blowing round me, the same wind that blew when the grey world was green! The high hills before me, the brown hills before me, that stand in their places where Death has not been. The blue sky over my head is singing, is singing, is singing, as loudly as I. For Death was only a seeming, a dreaming, and Life is as clouds that fade and fly. The strong hills vanish, as thin clouds vanish, as I shall vanish, my dream, my pain; But all my dreams and I the dreamer, clouds and hills shall sing again. Then birds of October, hills of October, winds of October, wrap me round. Carry me forward, road of October, sped on the wheels of light and sound. For the birds are on wings now and I am on wings now over the white road the dead men trod. And there are no dead men, there are no dead men, but living men only and dead men are God!

THE SHEPHERD

"Ah me," the shepherd said Who dwelt beside a fold Upon the Northern hills. "Ah me, 'tis bitter cold, My oldest friends be dead. And O a humming fills My nid-nod-nodding head."

The guns lie in the beams. The shepherd feeds the fire With fingers old and numb. The lamplight flickers higher. A double winter seems Surely to have come. The old friends hover nigher In simple shepherd dreams.

The frost lies on the fells. The moon's a great white flower. The stars have cruel hearts. And loud and very clear, With sudden silly starts, The old clock ticks and tells The changing of the hour. But the shepherd hears the bells No other man may hear.

A look's within his eyes I have not seen before In shepherd North or South. The old head sinketh lower. The shadows fall and rise Along the earthen floor. --God wot, he'll go no more Beneath the windy skies.

No more the shepherd will Lead down the misty scars The small sheep frail and lost, Nor thread the bracken hill Singing a shepherd's rune. The moorland wind is still, Beneath the ancient moon. The fells are white with frost. The white peaks touch the stars.

DERWENTWATER

(To J. L. Paton)

God give me Derwentwater when I die. Let no one else be by To say prayers over me or close my eye.

On Friar's Crag my body will lie down. On green grass and earth brown. I will forget the fever and the town.

Over the tops of ancient Borrowdale, Slowly the clouds will sail Through great sky spaces, exquisite and frail.

And grandly will the flames of heather climb Up Skiddaw-Hill sublime, With head unbowed before the knees of time.

Thro' the still dusk a little bird will sing Sweetly a holy thing, And fade in silence on a drowsy wing.

The winds will pass along the quiet lake, And God will gently take My own breath with them for His Godhead's sake.

"I VOWED THAT I WOULD BE A TREE"

I vowed that I would be a tree. I went up to an oak and said, "What shall I do that I might be A beech, an oak, or any tree, With branches leafing from my head?"

There was a sound of sap that ran, There was a wind of leaves that spoke. "So you would cease to be a man, And be a green tree, if you can, A pine, a beech, an oak?"

I answered, "I am tired of men, As tired as they of me. I fain would not return again To the perplexity of men, But straightway be a tree."

There was a sound of winds that went To summon every oldest tree, To hold their austere Parliament About the thing had craved to be Elect of their calm company.

There was a sound of bursting tide, There was a wash of clanging foam, A crumbling shore, a bursting tide. There came a thunder that outcried, "Go, wretched mortal, get thee home!

"Who art thou that would be a tree, Least of the weeds that shoot and pass? Bide till a Wisdom come, and see Before a mortal be a tree, He first must be a blade of grass!"

WOUNDED SOLDIERS

Have you no arms, soldier? See, I have two. Whatever deeds for arms there be, These still I can do. Out of clay I still can make Living things like me and you. I still can cleave the lake With strong arms true.

Have you no feet, soldier, No feet at all? I still have feet to climb Oak-tree and tall. Still as in our boyhood, I leap the hedge and climb the wall. Still my feet will chase the Spring When birds call.

Have you no eyes, soldier, Keen eyes like me? My eyes still have light that draw Strength from the great sea. O soldier, is it hard to lose The first Spring-whisper on the tree, Sun foaming round the love you choose, Whosoever she?

Ah! but you have something, soldier, Never we shall know. You shall hear the holy winds We can not hear blow. From your garden-soul shall start Flowers of flaming snow. There's the secret at your heart Never we shall know.

STILL LIFE IN FRANCE

Sweet peas drooping in a vase Like the tears of Niobe, Poppies like the cheeks of Mars Kissing the Aphrodite.

Pansies like a dryad's eyes, Open-wide and half-afraid, Like unfolded butterflies In a little Tempe glade.

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Flowers and words might be my toys Half a drowsy summer day, But at night I hear the noise Of bombardment far away.

Very quiet I am then, Like a moon-enchanted boy, As I see the khaki men Storm the granite walls of Troy.

HARFLEUR, 1917

I DREAM'D I DIED

I dream'd I died. The green of Spring was not yet manifest Upon the cold hillside. They bore me slowly to my place of rest, And let me bide. Far from the pale I lay of space and light, Of dusk and dawn. I knew the sharp stars of the winter night Were far withdrawn. Silent I lay upon my bed, In sooth at rest. The earth pressed heavily on my head, My lean hands cross'd my breast. I saw not through my eyes. When I had faded from the room of sighs, Someone had sealed them down with clay, Had whispered, "He hath seen the whole Of summer earth and starlit skies, Or yellow hills of tumbled hay That he shall see. Here till the time of Judgment let him be. God soothe his soul."

Under the moon I lay remote from the dear nightingale. Late and soon, Faintly I heard the wan wind drone and wail. I dream'd, Thro' many years it seemed: Until I wearied me of dreaming And closed the windows of my soul, Where no sun streaming Show'd how God's far far days did westward roll. All blind, blind, A sea of sleep did drown me unconfin'd, Wide and deep, A sea of utter sleep, Its levels no time stirred by any wind. And so I slept, My hands across my breast. My clamped spirit kept A total rest.

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