Page:Poems Blake.djvu/134

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HEARTSICK!
"Is it the tramp of men to battle
Breaking across the silent night,
The stinging roll of the muskets' rattle,
The far-off shock of the deadly fight?
Is it the moan of strong men dying,
Coming across the dreary plain?"
"Mother, only the south wind sighing,
And the falling drops of the summer rain."

"Listen again! where the hill lies glooming,
Flinging its shadow across the grass,
Did you not hear the cannon booming.
And clash of steel from the rocky pass?
Now drawing nearer, now retreating,
Are there not cries on the village green?"
"Only the surf on the dark rocks beating,
And the roll of the thunder dropped between."

Alas and alas! When the heart is fearing,
Every shadow has life and weight,