Chapter I: Preface: 5

NATURE POEMS

PRAYERS: I. 11

” II. 12

” III. 13

” IV. 14

THE HOLLOW LAND 15

ON BIRDLIP 16

OUT OF THE CITY 17

A SONG 18

MAY-FLOOD 18

BIG THINGS AND SMALL 19

AFTER LONG WANDERING 20

THE MOON 22

THE WIND’S GRIEF 23

A WINDY NIGHT 24

RIDDLE CUM RUDDLE 25

GLOUCESTERSHIRE FROM THE TRAIN 26

LASSINGTON 27

JEALOUSY 28

ELVERS 29

JOHN HELPS 32

LOVE POEMS

THE GOLDEN SNAKE 33

IN A CATHEDRAL 34

THE LANTHORN 35

SONNET: “MY NATIVE LAND IS ONLY WHERE YOU ARE” 36

SINCE I HAVE LOVED 37

SAFETY 38

HAPPY SINGING 39

SONG 40

IDENTITY 41

JUNE 42

SONNET: “THAT DEATH SHALL TAKE AND SLAY ME MATTERS NOT” 43

SONNET: “BUT NOW SINCE DEATH HATH CERTAIN DATE” 44

“LOCAL FATALITIES ARE REPORTED” 45

MY JOY 46

THE WATCHING MOON 46

HARVEST HOME 47

POEMS OF REFLECTION

EXPERIMENTS IN VERS LIBRE 48

THE PHILOSOPHER VISITS THE NIGHT CLUB 50

MISERERE DOMINE 52

NOW, IF I WERE RICH 53

THE RABBLE FATES--TO HELL WITH THEM! 54

THE LAUGHTER OF LITTLE BABIES 55

PETITION TO THE ALMIGHTY 56

LAST WORD 57

VANITY OF VANITIES 58

TRIOLET: “FLESH TRIUMPHS AWHILE” 61

FIRE (REVISED VERSION) 62

THE LIFE THAT’S UNDER THE GROUND 66

EPITAPH 67

INVOCATION--AND REPLY 68

MADNESS 70

GLOUCESTERSHIRE MEN 71

BALLADE OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE TOWNS 72

LUCKY 74

CAROL 75

GOD’S BEAUTY IN THE SKY 76

THE LOST WORLD 77

PROSE POEMS

DAWN 78

THE VISIBLE WORLD 78

FUEL 78

BLOW, INVISIBLE MOUTHS! 78

ANGRY LOVER 79

HOME 79

LOVE SONG 79

THE WINDOW 80

BROTHERS 80

HOLY BROTHERHOOD 80

_NATURE POEMS_

PRAYERS

I

THAT MY EYES MAY BE MADE TO SEE

God of bright colours: rainbows, peacocks,
And the shot-silk gleam of springing
Wind-shaken wheat
On rolling red-ribbed Earth:
Thou Who dost bring to birth
From out the womb
Of darkness golden flowers,
Filling the hollows
With daffodils in March,
Cowslips in April,
Dog-roses in May,
Who in the smouldering forest
Makes the huge
Red flare of Autumn:
God of all the colours
On Earth, and hues (too bright for mortal eyes)
In Paradise--
Unblind me to Thy glory,
That I may see!

II

THAT MY SOUL MAY BE SET TO DANCE

God of light dancing:
Waves and ripples
In foam and forest,
And shadows under leaves,
Lambs leaping, prancing,
Horses, dragon-flies,
Stars ...
Thou Whose eye perceives
How and in what dream-ecstasy tall reeds
Shake out brown hair and sway
Like dusky girls
Tranced in an Indian air;
Who knowest the way
Of clouds
Which glide o’er blue unflowered fields,
Scattering shadows
On golden meadows
And fields of dancing daisies:
Teach me, O Lord,
The rhythm of that joy which is Thy mind!
Make my soul dance!

III

THAT I MAY BE TAUGHT THE GESTURE OF HEAVEN

God of the steadfast line,
Who laid the curving Cotswolds on the sky:
God of the hills,
And of the lonely hollows in the hills,
And of the cloudy nipples of the mountains:
Teach me thy passionate austerity!
God of elm twigs
And of all winter trees
Etched ebony on sunset, or bright silver
Upon hard morning heavens;
Cunning shaper of ferns,
And ferns which whitely gleam on frosty windows
And snow-flakes:
God of the naked body beautifully snatched
To some swift-gestured loveliness of Heaven:
Master
Of stars,
And all beneath most passionately curbed
In Form: catch up my sprawling soul and fix it
In gesture of its lost divinity!