Part 16 (1/2)

Oh the fairest flower in the Kaiser's garden Is Rome and Italian land: But it all shall fall to the little Baltung When he shall take lance in hand.

And when he is parting the plunder of Rome, He shall pay for this song of mine, Neither maiden nor land, neither jewel nor gold, But one cup of Italian wine.

Eversley, 1864.

ON THE DEATH OF LEOPOLD, KING OF THE BELGIANS {319}

A King is dead! Another master mind Is summoned from the world-wide council hall.

Ah, for some seer, to say what links behind-- To read the mystic writing on the wall!

Be still, fond man: nor ask thy fate to know.

Face bravely what each G.o.d-sent moment brings.

Above thee rules in love, through weal and woe, Guiding thy kings and thee, the King of kings.

Windsor Castle, November 10, 1865.

EASTER WEEK

(Written for music to be sung at a parish industrial exhibition)

See the land, her Easter keeping, Rises as her Maker rose.

Seeds, so long in darkness sleeping, Burst at last from winter snows.

Earth with heaven above rejoices; Fields and gardens hail the spring; Shaughs and woodlands ring with voices, While the wild birds build and sing.

You, to whom your Maker granted Powers to those sweet birds unknown, Use the craft by G.o.d implanted; Use the reason not your own.

Here, while heaven and earth rejoices, Each his Easter tribute bring-- Work of fingers, chant of voices, Like the birds who build and sing.

Eversley, 1867.

DRIFTING AWAY: A FRAGMENT

They drift away. Ah, G.o.d! they drift for ever.

I watch the stream sweep onward to the sea, Like some old battered buoy upon a roaring river, Round whom the tide-waifs hang--then drift to sea.

I watch them drift--the old familiar faces, Who fished and rode with me, by stream and wold, Till ghosts, not men, fill old beloved places, And, ah! the land is rank with churchyard mold.

I watch them drift--the youthful aspirations, Sh.o.r.es, landmarks, beacons, drift alike.

I watch them drift--the poets and the statesmen; The very streams run upward from the sea.

Yet overhead the boundless arch of heaven Still fades to night, still blazes into day.

Ah, G.o.d! My G.o.d! Thou wilt not drift away