Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900.djvu/993

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WILLIAM MORRIS

An entrance to that happy place;
To seek the unforgotten face
Once seen, once kiss'd, once reft from me
Anigh the murmuring of the sea.

RODEN BERKELEY WRIOTHESLEY NOEL

1834-1894
803.
The Water-Nymph and the Boy

I FLUNG me round him,
I drew him under;
I clung, I drown'd him,
My own white wonder! …

Father and mother,
Weeping and wild,
Came to the forest,
Calling the child,
Came from the palace,
Down to the pool,
Calling my darling,
My beautiful!
Under the water,
Cold and so pale!
Could it be love made
Beauty to fail?

Ah me for mortals!
In a few moons,
If I had left him,
After some Junes