Page:Marlborough and other poems, Sorley, 1919.djvu/35

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VIII

THE OTHER WISE MAN

(Scene: A valley with a wood on one side and a road running up to a distant hill: as it might be, the valley to the east of West Woods, that runs up to Oare Hill, only much larger. Time: Autumn. Four wise men are marching hillward along the road.)

One Wise Man

I wonder where the valley ends?
On, comrades, on.


Another Wise Man

The rain-red road,
Still shining sinuously, bends
Leagues upwards.


A Third Wise Man

To the hill, O friends,
To seek the star that once has glowed
Before us; turning not to right
Nor left, nor backward once looking.
Till we have clomb—and with the night
We see the King.


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