February 42 Oh! 'Tis May 43 To the Wind 45 The Grey Wind 47 Poeta Nascitur 49 Queen Elizabeth 51 The Death of Queen Elizabeth 56 The Plea of the Antarctic 58 The Stranger in London 59 The Transvaal in June 62 Johannesburg 63 In the Land of the Silences 65 The Great War Into His colour store God dipped His hand And drew it forth Full of strange hues forgotten, contraband Of War and Wrath. Time wove the pattern of the years, that so The quick and dead Might knit their bleeding crosses in. And lo! A patch of red! My London Garden, 1914 My Garden is a tiny square Of bordered green And gravel brown In misty town, And chimneys smoky and unclean Sweep to the sky.--_You_ would not care To visit there. The Grass creeps up all in between the stones And raises undisturbed its luscious green And laughs for youth in shrill and ringing tones. I love it that it grows up so serene, Dauntless and bright And laughing me to scorn, So vivid and so slight, Glad for the night-shed dew and smoke-bred morn. My little patch of bordered green and brown Sleeps in the bosom of a grim old town, I wish that you could see Its beauty here with me; I'd tell you many things you never knew, For few, so few Know the romance of such a London strip, With ferny screen That slants shy gleams of sunlight in between And weeds which flourish just inside the dip, Holding their tenure with a firm deep grip Where prouder things all die. Small wonder I Tend my tall weed as tho' it were a gem, Note every leaf, and watch the stalwart stem Wax strong and high-- My weed plot lives in reckless luxury. But, in the Spring, before black grime Has done its worst, And cruel Time And dust accursed Have marred the innocence of each young leaf, Or soiled the blossoms, like a wanton thief-- Masses of tulips, pink and white, Rise from the earth in prim delight, And iris, king of pomp and state, In vesture fine And purple and pale gold Its buds unfold-- A mighty potentate, And marshals nobly, proudly into line, Whilst lilacs sway in wind and rushing breeze, Bowing and nodding to some poplar trees.