Glamour
THE knowledge of love
Is like sudden sun upon a river—
The slipping water
Is instantly opaque and glorious.
No longer can we look into it
Counting the pebbles,
Watching the ribboned water-reeds,
Or searching idly
For that something which we lost
(A ring with gems)
It is all glamour, now!
We turn away, shading our eyes.
Friendship
I THOUGHT of friendship
As a golden ring,
Round as the world
Yet fitted to my finger;
I thought of friendship
As a path in spring
Where there are flowers
And the footsteps linger;
I thought of friendship
As a globe of light,
Yellow before the doorway of my life,
A flame diffused
Yet potent against night;
I thought—but thought itself in ruin lies
Since, yesterday, you passed with lowered eyes!
The Returned Man
THEY thought that he would come back
Quieter,
Less boyish,
But still a hero with tales to tell.
So, when there were no tales,
Only blank silences—
When he lay for hours
Staring through leafing branches
And forgot them
Utterly—
They tried to arouse him, saying:
“The war is over.”
But when he turned on them
His shadowed eyes
They stammered—
Knowing that they lied!
Epitaph
(For the unknown soldier buried in Westminster Abbey.)
YOU who died fighting
For me and my little children;
You who are a million
Yet are but one,
I lay upon your grave
A rose and a tear—
The tear is the world’s sorrow,
The rose is your joy.