Chapter I: Front Matter

VERSES
AND
SONNETS

VERSES
AND SONNETS

BY

HILAIRE BELLOC

LONDON

WARD AND DOWNEY
_Limited_
12 YORK BUILDINGS ADELPHI W.C.
1896
[_All rights reserved_]

F. M. EVANS AND CO., LIMITED, PRINTERS,
CRYSTAL PALACE, S.E.

_TO
JOHN SWINNERTON PHILLIMORE_

CONTENTS

PAGE

THE NIGHT 11

HOMAGE 13

CUCKOO! 14

SONNETS.

THE HARBOUR 19

HER YOUTH 20

LOVE AND HONOUR 21

HER MUSIC 22

HER FAITH 23

HER GIFT IN A GARDEN 24

THE CHECK 25

THE POOR OF LONDON 26

GROTESQUES.

NOËL 29

THE EARLY MORNING 32

AUVERGNAT 33

THE WORLD’S END 35

FILLE-LA-HAINE 37

THE MOON’S FUNERAL 39

THE JUSTICE OF THE PEACE 41

EPIGRAMS.

ON PERKINS--AN ACTOR 45

ON SLOP--A POET 46

ON TORTURE--A SINGER 47

ON SUBTLE--A REVIEWER 48

ON PAUNCH--A PARASITE 49

ON PUGLEY--A DON 50

SONNETS OF THE TWELVE MONTHS.

JANUARY 53

FEBRUARY 54

MARCH 55

APRIL 56

MAY 57

JUNE 58

JULY 59

AUGUST 60

SEPTEMBER 61

OCTOBER 62

NOVEMBER 63

DECEMBER 64

VERSES.

THE NIGHT.

Most holy Night, that still dost keep
The keys of all the doors of sleep,
To me when my tired eyelids close
Give thou repose.

And let the far lament of them
That chaunt the dead day’s requiem
Make in my ears, who wakeful lie,
Soft lullaby.

Bid them that guard the sacred moon
By my bedside their memories croon;
So shall I have strange dreams and blest
In my brief rest.

Fold thy great wings about my face,
Hide day-dawn from my resting-place,
And cheat me with thy false delight,
Most holy Night.

HOMAGE.

I.

There is a light around your head
Which only Saints of God may wear,
And all the flowers on which you tread
In pleasaunce more than ours have fed,
And supped the essential air
Whose summer is a-pulse with music everywhere.