A chant of love for England, and other poems

Chapter 59: POSIES

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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.

POSIES

—Is this ... the posy of a ring?—Hamlet.

I
FRIENDSHIP

I were not worth you, could I long for you;

But should you come, you would find me ready.

The lamp is lighted, the flame is steady:

Over the strait I toss this song for you!

II
ROSE-RENT

Life! lordly giver and gay!

I, for this manor of Time,

Lightly and lovingly pay

Rent with the rose of a rhyme.

III
DESIRE OF FAME

O unapproachable glories of the night!

You type not my desire: enough for me

The vanished meteor’s immortality,

Brief memory of a moment touched with light.