Poems (Jackson)/No Man's Land

by Helen Hunt Jackson

NO MAN'S LAND.

HO called it so? What accident
 The wary phase devised?
What wandering fancy thither went,
 And lingered there surprised?

Ah, no man's land! O sweet estate
 Illimitably fair!
No measure, wall, or bar or gate.
 Secure as sky or air.

No greed, no gain; not sold or bought,
 Unmarred by name or brand,
Not dreamed of or desired or sought,
 Nor visioned, "no man's land."

Suns set and rise, and rise and set,
 Whole summers come and go;
And winters pay the summer's debt,
 And years of west wind blow;

And harvests of wild seed-times fill,
 And seed and fill again;
And blossoms bloom at blossoms' will,
 By blossoms overlain;

And day and night, and night and day,
 Uncounted suns and moons,
By silent shadows mark and stay
 Unreckoned nights and noons:

Ah, "no man's land," hast thou a lover,
 Thy wild, sweet charm who sees?
The stars look down; the birds fly over;
 Art thou alone with these?

Ah, "no man's land," when died thy lover,
 Who left no trace to tell?
Thy secret we shall not discover;
 The centuries keep it well!