A chant of love for England, and other poems

Chapter 53: “AS THE CROW FLIES”

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About This Book

A collection of poems ranging from patriotic and wartime tributes to intimate lyrics, ballads, and sonnets. Several pieces honor soldiers and examine sacrifice, grief, and courage; narrative poems recall naval engagements and coastal life, sometimes with dramatic rescues and moral reckonings. Shorter lyrics and flower fancies evoke nature, music, and memory, while portraits and character sketches capture theatrical and historical personae. The volume alternates public declamation with domestic tenderness, using formal verse, melodic diction, and varied moods to explore duty, loss, beauty, and the persistence of cultural and personal ideals.

“AS THE CROW FLIES”

Buccaneer with blackest sails,

Steering home by compass true,

Now that all the rich West pales

From its ingot-hue!

Would that compass in thy breast

Thou couldst lend, for guiding me

Where my Hope hath made her nest—

In how far a tree!

Swerving not, nor stooping low,

To that dear, that distant mark

Could I undiverted go,

What were coming dark?

—Careless of the twilight ground,

O’er the wood and o’er the stream

Still he sails, with hollow sound

Strange, as in a dream!