LXXX
An Oxford Retrospect: May 1915
(To R. W. L.)
MAY!—and I am no more among your spires,
Dear Mother-city of my soul.
May!—and my heart hath new desires,
My spirit seeks another goal.
The lilac purples in the meadows green,
The avenues of elms I walked between
Cast over Christ Church walk their welcome shade.
Now in the College garden tulips tall
Nod to the gnarled wistaria on the wall,
And bright laburnum clusters gild the glade.
Now livid snakesheads bloom in Iffley mead,
And golden king-cups and pale cuckoo-weed,
That children gather against market-day.
O'er the cloud-dappled Cumnor hills the shade
Chases the sunlight—there I oft have strayed
And watched dun milch-cows munch the hours away.
The river flows as ever 'neath the trees,
But I no longer take thereon my ease
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