Under the paschal skies the weight of dead hopes lay heavy. Only the wan light of rumour flickered fitfully. But who heeds women’s tales fashioned of dreams, losing the fact in the dream? The stranger was an irritant, dropping questions upon their mournful musings till he spoke again. Old embalmed sayings broke from their cerements. …
The night is white with snow-mist A cold monochrome stillness. The porch-light picks out berries on the holly, Evergreen resistant to winter’s thrall. 
 Inside a cheerful fire burns in the grate But upstairs the air is icy. He came, setting a few hearts aglow Despite the inn’s rejection
 And the austerity of the stable, …
I have been out in the wind and the rain And in the night-wild woods. I only know that He comes and goes again, Scatters and leaves His goods. I have lain out where the sward is steeped in sun On a still-murmurous day. He works in the fields, but when His hour is done …
Was I too happy that year, waking to God in spring greenness, while in camps across the channel Green was the backdrop to foulness, carrying no comfort.? Was I too happy, writing Calvary poems in college quiet born of doctrine not experience, while in war-torn lands the cross was written in blood and tears? Now …
A quiet field beyond the church yard sheep browse, there are pools in the grass. Only a seasonal change since I last walked this narrow path, the old dog placidly sauntering. Now the young dog strains at the leash, disproportion is greater. The old dog matched my ageing steps The young one outpaces me. The …
Piece by piece the furniture is carried out chairs, tables, bookcases, beds. The mens’ feet on the bare boards beat a constant accompaniment. Last to go is the piano. Is it loth to leave where so much music has been made? (Shades of Bach, of MacDowell on winter evenings, of carol practice – of HMS …
Far from garden haunts and field smells, Pats and caresses of hands, from all your intimate earthiness, You were hurled beyond earth’s orbit, into scentless space. The tool of science, plaything for cold minds Plotting hubristic conquest of their vacant heavens. Your heart which once leapt at known voices, bones, Potential mates, sight of cats, …
I love all beautiful things that flare and fade, Each wonder that is wind-wild, flickering-fair, The glow of gorgeous suns that pass to shade, All lovely shapes the hastening years impair. As much I love the things that know no change, The bountiful abstractions of the brain, Cool reaches of man’s insubstantial range, And where …
Each night when I put out the light And move to the passage door The dog runs ahead of me Bounds up the stairs Jumps on the bed Settles down for the night. This is one of my certainties, Predictable as the fall of darkness. I know the dog will never round on me With …
Deep-memoried in the glow of former years I walk these walls, while fading day-light brings the monumental charm of ancient things and echoes of a hundred joys and fears. Once I walked here with youthful hopes elate and all the vivid, thoughtless dreams of youth with bright illusions, clad in robes of truth and dark …
