Page:The poems of Richard Watson Gilder, Gilder, 1908.djvu/198

170 And said: "Beneath its pall

I have hidden my heart in vain—

To the world thou hast sung it all!

Who told thee my secret pain?"

"WHITE, PILLARED NECK"

"GREAT NATURE IS AN ARMY GAY"

nature is an army gay,

Resistless marching on its way;

I hear the bugles clear and sweet,

I hear the tread of million feet.

Across the plain I see it pour;

It tramples down the waving grass;

Within the echoing mountain-pass

I hear a thousand cannon roar.

It swarms within my garden gate;

My deepest well it drinketh dry.

It doth not rest; it doth not wait;

By night and day it sweepeth by;

Ceaseless it marcheth by my door;

It heeds me not, tho' I implore.

I know not whence it comes, nor where

It goes. For me it doth not care—