A light that shifts, a glare that drifts, Rekindling thus and thus, Not all forlorn, for Thou hast borne Strange tales to them of us. Time hath no tide but must abide The servant of Thy will; Tide hath no time, for to Thy rhyme The ranging stars stand still Regent of spheres that lock our fears Our hopes invisible, We fashioned Heaven and Hell! Pure Wisdom hath no certain path That lacks thy morning-eyne, Most like to Gods design; To lift them through the fight, To give the dead good-night A veil to draw 'twixt God His Law And Man's infirmity, The shambles where we die; A sum to trick th' arithmetic Too base of leaguing odds, Thou handmaid of the Gods! Oh Charity, all patiently Abiding wrack and scaith! Yet drops no jot of faith! To higher, lordlier show, The careless angels know! Thy face is far from this our war, Our call and counter-cry, Nor meet Thee till I die. Yet may I look with heart unshook On blow brought home or missed- The clarions down the list; And ride the barriere- My Lady is not there! THE FLOWERS. “To our private taste, there is always something a little exotic, almost artificial, in songs which, under an English aspect and dress, are yet so manifestly the product of other skies. They affect us like translations; the very fauna and flora are alien, remote ; the dog's-tooth violet is but an ill substitute for the rathe primrose, nor can we ever believe that the wood-robin sings as sweetly in April as the English thrush.”—The Athenæum. Buy my English posies Kent and Surrey may, Wet with Channel spray; Midland furze afire- And I'll sell your hearts' desire ! Buy my English posies!— You that scorn the may Green against the draggled drift, Faint and frail and first- And I'll know where you were nursed! Robin down the logging-road whistles, “Come to me,” Spring has found the maple-grove, the sap is run ning free; All the winds o Canada call the ploughing rain. Take the flower and turn the hour, and kiss your love again! Buy my English posies! Here's to match your need. Buy a bunch of weed Spun before the gale— And I'll tell you whence you hail! lieThroned and thorned the aching berg props the speckless sky Slow below the Wynberg firs trails the tilted wainTake the flower and turn the hour, and kiss your love again! Buy my English posies ! You that will not turn, Buy a frond o’ fern Down the road to Lorne- And I'll say where you were born! great South MainTake the flower and turn the hour, and kiss your love again! Buy my English posies ! Here's your choice unsold! Buy the kowhai's gold |