Page:Three Plays Sunderland Hills.pdf/178

Rh Clad in their strict and all-encincturing Close-pleated vesture hieratical The old Gods sate and watch'd the world go by. Their writhen mouth and long-drawn dreaming eyes Frozen to smiling immobility, Their calm brows set in vague unearthly gaze Contemplative of unimagin'd space, Looking beyond the incense and the lights, Impassive of the pains, the pray'rs of men!

Sought or unsought still the old Gods endure! Near to my home, the other side the world, A God awaits his vanish'd worshippers, Deep in the still recesses of a wood Where once a mighty city teem'd with men A myriad fires smok'd, a thousand bells Called from the temples years and years along! Temple and town have pass'd to nothingness,