Destroyers and Other Verses/I Have Wandered Round an Empire

He…

I have wandered round an Empire

To kingdom whence it grew,

To the coast-line of my country

Flashes white between the blue.

Blue the sky and blue the water,

And a ruddy little town

Nestles in a sunny hollow

Underneath the windy down.

In that town a winding alley

Leads into a little square

With an almond-tree in blossom,

And I know my home is there.

Home and country, kingdom, Empire,

All the universe to me

Is a little laughing woman

In her brown room by the sea.