Pale breadth of sand, where clamorous gulls confer, Marked with broad arrows by their planted feet; White rippled pools, where late deep waters were And ever the white waves marshalled in retreat And the grey wind in sole supremacy O’er opal and amber cold of darkening sky and sea. ON THE DOWNS The little moon is dead, Drowned in the flood of rain That drips from roof of byre and shed, And splashes in the lane: The leafless lean-flanked lane where last year’s leaves are spread. The sheep cower in the fold, Where the rain beats them blind, Where scarce the rotten hurdles hold Against the weary wind That moans with angry tears across the pathless wold. Dim lights across the down Show where the lone farms lie, The twisted trees have lost their brown, Are black against the sky, And far below blink lights, gay lights of Brighton town. Ah, was the moon once bright? And did the thyme smell sweet Where, between dewy dusk and light, The warm turf felt our feet, And bean-flowers scented all the enchanted summer night? Did sheep-bells tinkle clear Across the golden haze? Were the woods ever leafy-dear, In those forgotten days? The wet wind shrieks denial: no other voice speaks here. NEW COLLEGE GARDENS, OXFORD On this old lawn, where lost hours pass Across the shadows dark with dew, Where autumn on the thick sweet grass Has laid a weary leaf or two, When the young morning, keenly sweet, Breathes secrets to the silent air, Happy is he whose lingering feet May wander lonely there. The enchantment of the dreaming limes, The magic of the quiet hours, Breathe unheard tales of other times And other destinies than ours; The feet that long ago walked here Still, noiseless, walk beside our feet, Poor ghosts, who found this garden dear, And found the morning sweet! Age weeps that it no more may hold The heart-ache that youth clasps so close, Pain finely shaped in pleasure’s mould, A thorn deep hidden in a rose. Here is the immortal thorny rose That may in no new garden grow-- Its root is in the hearts of those Who walked here long ago. TO A TULIP-BULB