Page:Poems of the Great War - Cunliffe.djvu/33

 ELEAXOR ALEXANDER

��A NEGLECTED GARDEN

Barren the garden lies, undressed ; Long weeds like serpents coil and squeeze Forsaken loves of faithless bees, Boughs broken, to the ground are pressed ; Columbines, heartsease, picotees No more greet evening from the West, Nor lilies give their beauty to the night — \Miere are the roses of our lost delight ?

Deep rooted, to the sun they glow

In a new world's eternal Spring ;

Low at our feet the tendrils cling.

High as the Himalayan snow

The birds among their branches sing ;

From crag and strand and plain they grow,

France, utmost Africa, the cold North Sea,

Mesopotamia and Gallipoli.

Let the neglected garden lie ! There is no need for English flowers. These, by a right divine, are ours. These bloom forever under every sky. Droop in no drought, thirst for no showers,

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