VERSES OLD AND NEW.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 888, 6 August 1910, Page 9

VERSES OLD AND NEW.

mJvV'' "■ OXFORD FROM EXILE. The merry winds 'are shouting: V;:':ip ; . ; ; An ancient glee of spring, : . : • And sunlit falls- tile challenge v ; . . Come out—como out, and sing; ... ' When lo! there comes a rumour, :'-..-,'j[V- . A whispering to mo > ;;sh Of the grey town, the fey town,. ' - The town where : l would be. . I bco the river Silence, ■ : ; --X, see." the crumbling. walls, ' • I hear the melloiv laughter . And a clear voice that calls; ■i .- 0 tears that rise unbidden, 'n - V Ye shall not blur for ine 1; j 'The old town, the cold town, i. ; ' Tho town I cannot, see. ; ' The memories of comrades, - I' V- : Of battles lost or won,' ■ji ; Light, light they sway , the balance Against a gleam of sun:- - \i Hi. : -' . But ah! my. heart: is- yearning v •' . .And going iar from mo : ; .To the grey ,town, tho fey town; •"i .' The town where I would be. . —H. F. B. Brett-Smith, in the ■ . ;; "Spectotar." i .BUCOLIC. - ; Where' shall've wish to go, when' we die P : '! Vj'Where a red-tiled roof'climbs a paie, . mild sky .■ , s Prom over ,a. whitewashed, sun-baked wall. • • .• In the eaves, bees buzz in a cobweb . . . - -fair .-- : '.f, ' , :■ On the. cobbles, where stray straws gleam, all gold. • ~, ! Geraniums■ glow ill the curtain s fold, .' - yßetween shutters; green as the water-butt ' , Below, on, the'flags, where pigeons strut. ■■■: Ail old; dog blinks: at" a' fly on his nose. : ij- ; The -hollyhocks caught; in- a full-bloom .5 rose. ■' : - ,: ■■.' . V Oil the bench, by the porch, heres some..f , ' "Jone'set -' ! !A- blue bowl' of stocks and mignonette. - Open wide swings the garden gate .. On the. green, with the poplars,'tall and : • straight; . '■ ■ : ' .-'. - ' -' -Tho idle' breeze that rattles the latch |i Brings scents of the orchard, and laven- ' ' '■ ..■■■' der patch. . i ■;i'.Of gorse, from- the field where thistlc- - ; oowns ily, " < ..■ H. Where a cow and donkey keep company. .The;'children' swing '■ on a plank and scream, - The pony stands .knee-deep in the stream. } Ont .of the~ pool wade ducks, with a splash, • Someone sings, as she ,I'angS' out the ■ - wash, ■ ■ Somebody gossips over" his beer. .- The- hills trend off to the sea, quite near. • • . /•- There would I float, a mote, in the sun ' Of'an afternoon that is just begun! ' ' —"The Nation."