The Yellow Book/Volume 5/A Fleet Street Eclogue
Fleet Street Eclogue[1]
St. George's Day
Basil.Menzies.Percy.Brian.Herbert.Sandy.
Menzies.
Of rasping spleen?
What hope its victim soothe?
What dream assuage his pains?
Herbert.
Two beeches silvery smooth,
All carved and kissed by lovers fond.
Menzies.
Herbert.
For ever dear to me—
Foot-worn, its bars by many hands
Polished like ebony!
Menzies.
Holds in a fretting bond.
Herbert.
And the fields roll green beyond;
While the antique footpath winds about
By farms and little towns,
By waterways, and in and out,
And up and over the downs.
Menzies.
I hear their children's hungry cries;
I hear the burden of the years;
I hear the drip of women's tears;
I hear despair, whose tongue is dumb,
Speak thunder in the ruthless bomb.
Sandy.
Why hearken such discordant tones?
Sandy.
For we are all good Englishmen!
Basil.
The Boreal and the Austral men!
All.
All Englishmen, all Englishmen!
Who with their latest breath shall sing
Of England and the English Spring!
Ballantyne Press
London & Edinburgh
- ↑ Copyright in America by John Lane.