Digby Mackworth Dolben Poems

Beautiful, oh beautiful-
In all the mountain passes
The plenteous dowers of April showers,
Which every spring amasses,
...

Tell us, tell us, holy shepherds,
What at Bethlehem you saw.-
'Very God of Very God
'Asleep amid the straw.'
...

Here in the flats that encompass the hills called Beautiful, lying,
O Beloved, behold a Pilgrim who fain would be sleeping,
...

Come to me, Belovèd,
Babe of Bethlehem;
Lay aside Thy Sceptre
And Thy Diadem.
...

Lilies, lilies not for me,
Flowers of the pure and saintly-
I have seen in holy places
...

On the tender myrtle-branches,
In the meadow lotus-grassèd,
While the wearied sunlight softly
To the Happy Islands passèd,-
...

Beyond the calumny and wrong,
Beyond the clamour and the throng,
Beyond the praise and triumph-song
He passed.
...

My Love, and once again my Love,
And then no more until the end,
Until the waters cease to move,
Until we rest within the Ark,
...

From falsehood and error,
From darkness and terror,
From all that is evil,
From the power of the devil,
...

In the days before the high tide
Swept away the towers of sand
Built with so much care and labour
By the children of the land,
...