Page:Marlborough and other poems, Sorley, 1919.djvu/29

 She'll come no more in lust of strife,

In hedge's leap, and wild bird's cries,

In winds that cut you like a knife,

In days of laughter and swift skies,

That palpably pulsate with life,

With life that kills, with life that dies.

But in a morning such as this

Is neither life nor death to see,

Only that state which some call bliss,

Grey hopeless immortality.

Earth is at length bedrid. She is

Supinest of the things that be:

And stilly, heavy with long years,

Brings forth such days in dumb regret,

Immortal days, that rise in tears,

And cannot, though they strive to, set.

The mists do move. The wind takes breath.

The sun appeareth over there,

And with red fingers hasteneth

From Earth's grey bed the clothes to tear,

And strike the heavy mist's dank tent.

And Earth uprises with a sigh.

She is astir. She is not spent.

And yet she lives and yet can die.

The grey road-mender from the ditch

Looks up. He has not looked before.

The stunted tree sways like the witch

It was: 'tis living witch once more. 11