Come home! he will not hear your call;
Only the night winds answer as they fall
Along the shore,
And evermore
Only the sea-shells
On the grey stones singing,
And the white foam-bells
Of the North Sea ringing.
XII
BEFORE A BULLETIN BOARD
(After Beaumont-Hamél)
God! How should letters change their color so:
A little k or m stab like a sword;
How dry, black ink should turn to red and flow,
And figures leap like hydras on the board?
A woman raised her voice, and she was told
That strange things happen at the will of God;
Thus, dawn from midnight; thus, from fire the gold;
Thus did a rose once blossom from a rod.
But stranger things to-day, than that the rod
Should flower, or the cross become a crown—
Stranger than gold from fire; else how should God
Bring on the night before the sun go down.
XIII
BEFORE AN ALTAR
(After Gneudecourt)