Oh Hale green song,
O Song as water flowing,
That cooleth all my soul
And freeth me, from shapes
Of dread,
and every gloom
From out the dark
That threatneth me and leereth
From the walls of this my consciousness
And hisseth mutterings against my heart.
O stream soft-flowing of thy good content
That healeth, blesseth and is soft unto
My forehead twitch-strained
and mine eyes that tire.
O thou soft-breathéd song of sweet content,
of fields and flowers and hale greenery,
Thou calm of friendliness that be my friend
As mead unto my lips in honied flow
That soothes, that healeth all this heart o’ me.
This factious striver ‘gainst the ways o’ men,
This sore rent prophet in the streets of guile,
This pilgrim weary in an age wherein
The truth lies panting in the ways of gain.
O blessedness of calm and of content,
O hale green song that this my
friend hath sent
As wind sea-strong of salt
upon my lips to be
An after-dream-thing of
old minstrelsy.
O take my thanking, for to give
thee praise
Were but a base thing sith
my heart doth raise
Its banner’s greeting thee as friend,
tho to the gaze
Of many thou shalt stand
forth and be
A song, a romance—
a celebrity.
N. J.-March