POETRY.
GRATtos of the quiet hem, Of June nightingales, and flowers Steeped is cool delicions aj- Of hop gardens and the rare Mist from meadows lifting slow— Guard a cottage that I know. Underneath the pine-clad crown Of the topmost windy down, Oaks, with hazel-scrub beneath.,- Fringe upon the purple heath. There this cottage, hung with leaves, Looking (as from under eaves Birds look) out across the plain, Nestles in a Kentish lane.
Here dwells Beauty, still devising Beauties that, emparadising Her small close of garden ground, Deck the year as it goes round.
Crimson, azure, purple, white And yellow blend; through these more bright, Fainter, subtler tints are wove, Shell-pink, lilac, grey and mauve.
Cloud-pale iris; silver-stemmed Poppies ; lupin rain-begemmed; Larkspurs, bright as sea or sky,
Deep as lapis lazuli,—
Pink and gold, rockroses small Tumbling from the terrace wall —Tall strong growths and trailing graces Thrive in their appointed places : All that clusters, all that climbs, Come obedient to their times : Not a colour but she chooses, Not a fragrance she refuses; Roses riot everywhere Near demurest lavender.
—And all things that with her grow Spread and burgeon out (although Set with sweet deliberate care) As if Nature flung them there, Lush and tangled like a brake.
—Draw your curtains when you wake, Through the lattice thrust your head, And behold the garden spread, Jewelled in the morning dew, Born afresh—and born for you.
Thus she dwells, in her domain Paramount—long may she reign— Busy till late summer ends Storing sweetness for her friends, Like a bee, in fragrant cells : —And with Beauty, Quiet dwells.
Wherefore, Genius, of your grace Guard the secret of the place.
Keep the villas hence, and far The peace-destroying motor-car.
From this precinct turn away All unworthy,—rather, say, Let none thitherward repair Save those whom Beauty welcomes there.
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