POETICAL WORKS of ROBERT BRIDGES Volume II [Illustration] London Smith, Elder & Co 15 Waterloo Place 1898 OXFORD: HORACE HART PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY _POETICAL WORKS OF ROBERT BRIDGES_ _VOLUME THE SECOND CONTAINING_ _SHORTER POEMS_ _p._ 5 _NEW POEMS_ 209 _NOTES_ 291 _INDEX OF FIRST LINES_ 295 LIST OF PREVIOUS EDITIONS _SHORTER POEMS._ 1. _Bks. I-IV. Clarendon Press. Geo. Bell & Sons, Oct. 1890. Reprinted, Nov. 1890, 1891, 1894._ 2. _Bks. I-V. Private Press of H. Daniel. Oxford, 1894._ 3. _Do._ _do._ _Clarendon Press. George Bell & Sons, 1896._ 4. _Cheap issue of 3. 1899. Reprinted, 1899._ _NEW POEMS._ _Collected here for the first time._ * * * * * _For account of earlier issues of first four books of Shorter Poems, and of some of the poems contained in the New Poems, see notes at end of this volume._ THE SHORTER POEMS IN FOUR BOOKS SHORTER POEMS BOOK I DEDICATED TO H. E. W. BOOK I I ELEGY Clear and gentle stream! Known and loved so long That hast heard the song, And the idle dream Of my boyish day; While I once again Down thy margin stray, In the selfsame strain Still my voice is spent, With my old lament And my idle dream, Clear and gentle stream! Where my old seat was Here again I sit, Where the long boughs knit Over stream and grass A translucent eaves: Where back eddies play Shipwreck with the leaves, And the proud swans stray, Sailing one by one Out of stream and sun, And the fish lie cool In their chosen pool. Many an afternoon Of the summer day Dreaming here I lay; And I know how soon, Idly at its hour, First the deep bell hums From the minster tower, And then evening comes, Creeping up the glade, With her lengthening shade, And the tardy boon, Of her brightening moon. Clear and gentle stream! Ere again I go Where thou dost not flow, Well does it beseem Thee to hear again Once my youthful song, That familiar strain Silent now so long: Be as I content With my old lament And my idle dream, Clear and gentle stream. 2 ELEGY