A Gloucestershire Lad at Home and AbroadHarvey, F. W. (Frederick William)
General
A Gloucestershire Lad at Home and Abroad
Harvey, F. W. (Frederick William)
Gloucestershire (England) -- Poetry; World War, 1914-1918 -- Poetry
“I am tired of failing!” said the Artist, and he ripped up the picture
with his penknife.
“Now he will remember my love!” thought the woman, and she smiled. But
when the Artist saw the smile on her face, he took his brushes and made
a picture of it, and the love of the woman was forgotten.
4. THE WINDOW GLASS
Against the dark glass shone like a flower the mouth of his beloved.
But in vain he pressed lips of fire upon the panes--in vain!
“Then, since Love may not melt,” cried he, “shatter, O Death!”
God broke the window with His fist.
5. IN THE FIELD OF TIME
In the field of Time, at the end of the path of daisies, grow flaming
poppies, taking the eye more readily than the flowers of gold and white.
But a man, looking at some he had plucked to wear, discovered (formed
by the inside shape and hue of the petals) a black cross at the bottom
of every scarlet cup, and cast them from him.
6. BLUE GRASS
“Is not this the mountain of blue grass?” asked the stranger. “Why is
the grass as green as in our common meadows?”
“It was never any other colour,” said the native.
“It looked blue from afar,” protested the traveller, “and I have
journeyed a long and difficult way to find it.”
“You had better have stayed at home,” answered the native.
“No,” returned the stranger, with a sad smile, “I had better have come,
but now I will go home. The grass there has become blue.”
7. THE POET
“What is that lovely thing you have in your heart? Why do you not sing
of it?” asked the Muse.
“I have not yet lost it,” answered the Poet.
8. SORROW
The lean dagger had gone into the Poet’s heart.
Shuddering, he plucked it free, lest he should die. And then--by
magic--it became in his hand a shining sword fit to smite down the
sorrow of the world.
9. THE MIRACLE
Why has the Earth taken on a new significance?
Why is the smoking mist now white music, and the world’s architecture
more wonderful than a fine cathedral?
It is something that has happened in your heart.
Perhaps (I do not know) you have learnt to hate yourself or to love a
fellow-being.
10. FAITH
Why am I so many men?
It is because you have not Faith.
What is Faith?
Faith is a fire.
But how does a man come by it?
Perhaps God gives it him.
11. TIME--THE HORSE
Whither does Time trot us? And is moonlight brightening the harness
buckles as when children play beneath the rugs, guessing “Where are
we?” and father drives home--home--beneath the stars?
12. THE REBUILDING OF REALITY
“Behold the sunshine, the green earth, the shining sea!” shouted my
Eyes.
Said Heart: “Oh, I cannot; the realities I knew are gone! Death’s
shadow is upon all this.”
“Well, it is yours to create realities anew,” smiled Death. “Hitherto
(like the rest) you seem to have done it badly.”
13. THE TOKEN
Because of you I am insatiably curious about death.
Because of Him who imagined and made you I am able tranquilly to abide
the time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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