Poems

Southampton Docks: October 1899

Here, where Vespasian's legions struck the sands,
And Cendric with the Saxons entered in,
...

I come across from Mellstock while the moon wastes weaker
To behold where I lived with you for twenty years and more:
...

I

The moving sun-shapes on the spray,
The sparkles where the brook was flowing,
...

I walked in loamy Wessex lanes, afar
From rail-track and from highway, and I heard
In field and farmstead many an ancient word
Of local lineage like "Thu bist," "Er war,"
...

Under a daisied bank
There stands a rich red ruminating cow,
   And hard against her flank
A cotton-hooded milkmaid bends her brow.
...

I

I traversed a dominion
Whose spokesmen spake out strong
...

We two kept house, the Past and I,
The Past and I;
I tended while it hovered nigh,
Leaving me never alone.
...

I rose up as my custom is
On the eve of All-Souls' day,
And left my grave for an hour or so
To call on those I used to know
...

I come to interview a Voiceless ghost;
Whither, O whither will its whim now draw me?
Up the cliff, down, till I'm lonely, lost,
...

I

Never a careworn wife but shows,
   If a joy suffuse her,
...