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IN TIME OF WAR
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Some penned in anguish, and then Frivols.
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CONTENTS
VALLEY OF THE SHADOW
THE BELLS OF PEACE
PICARDY
YOUTH’S OWN
WONDER
UNKNOWN
THE PRAYER
I ASK
TIME
FRIVOLS
MR. COLUMMY
HOLIDAY SONG
UNICORNS
LINES WRITTEN IN THE AUTHOR’S COPY OF ‘FROM THE FOUR WINDS’ SOLD FOR A CHARITY
DEDICATIONS TO TWO GODSONS
LINES WRITTEN IN A VOLUME OF 27 PLAYS BY J. G. GIVEN AS A PRIZE BY THE ‘SAVE THE CHILDREN’ FUND
IN A VOLUME OF 27 PLAYS BY J. G. SOLD ON BEHALF OF A HOSPITAL
IN A COPY OF ‘FOUR FORSYTE STORIES’ SOLD ON BEHALF OF A HOUSING SCHEME
TO PRINCETON
ON ACCIDENTAL EXCHANGE OF OPERA HATS WITH JOHN MASEFIELD
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VALLEY OF THE SHADOW
Most of this is the heartfelt call of most,
"GOD, I am travelling out to death’s sea,
"I who exulted in sunshine and laughter,
"Dreamed not of dying — death is such waste of me! —
"Grant me one prayer: Doom not the hereafter
"Of mankind to war, as though I had died not —"
but the comes the last bit -
"Let not my sinking
"In dark be for naught, my death a vain thing!"
"Make my last breath a bugle call, carrying
"Peace o’er the valleys and cold hills for ever!"
and surely, most soldiers couldn't fight at all if this were their thought, surely they are more into victory for their own side, their country, and security of their loved ones!
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August 06, 2021 - August 06, 2021.
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THE BELLS OF PEACE
Galsworthy begins beautifully -
"LILIES are here, tall in the garden bed,
"And on the moor are still the buds of May;
"Roses are here — and, tolling for our dead
"The Bells of Peace make summer holiday.
"And do they hear, who in their Springtime went?
"The young, the brave young, leaving all behind,
"All of their fate, love, laughter, and content,
"The village sweetness, and the Western wind,"
and goes on to count all the beauty of peaceful land and home they lost; but his view is slightly askance -
"Bells of remembrance, on this summer’s eve
"Of our relief, Peace and Goodwill ring in!
"Ring out the Past, and let not Hate bereave
"Our dreaming Dead of all they died to win!"
It's perhaps that of most who feel more for peace and friendship across borders than most who care for security within, and hence seek to blame it on no simple reality as the actual identity of the aggressor, but would rather see it as a mess caused by every government, or capital.
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August 06, 2021 - August 06, 2021.
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PICARDY
"WHEN the trees blossom again;
"When our spirits lighten —"
. . . .
"When the sweet waters can flow,
"When the world’s forgetting —
"When once more the cattle low
"At golden calm sun-setting;
"Each peaceful evening’s murmur, then,
"And sigh the waters give,
"Will tell immortal tale of men
"Who died that we might live."
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August 06, 2021 - August 06, 2021.
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YOUTH’S OWN
"Since Youth has vanished from our eyes,
"Who of us glad can be?"
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August 06, 2021 - August 06, 2021.
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WONDER
Rather simplistic -
"If God laughs when the guns thunder,
"If He yells when the bullet sings —
"Then, bewildered, I but wonder
"The God of Love can love such things!"
- but then, most natural -
"If you must kill me — why the lark,
"The hawthorn bud, and the corn?
"Why do the stars bedew the dark?
"Why is the blossom born?"
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August 06, 2021 - August 06, 2021.
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UNKNOWN
Confused, post Darwin's theory, about genesis at al - and far more so, with the WWI causing all but genocide, and in Europe, too -
"You who had worked in perfect ways
"To turn the wheel of nights and days,
"Who coaxed to life each running rill
"And froze the snow-crown on the hill,
"The cold, the starry flocks who drove And made the circling seasons move;
"How came your jesting purpose, when
"You fashioned monkeys into men?"
So, the thinker adult questions the God, of faith he assumes true from preaching he was subjected to as a boy -
"What set you frolicking when we
"Were given power to feel and see?
"Why not have kept the stellar plan
"Quite soulless and absolved from man?
"What heavy need to make this thing —
"A monkey with an angel’s wing;
"A murderous poor saint who reaps
"His fields of death, and, seeing — weeps!"
And, hearing no response, thinks one out for himself!
"And Mother Nature’s fingers strummed,
"And flock of dandelion was blown,
"And yew-trees cast their shadows down;
"Such beauty seemed to you forlorn —
"And lo! — this playboy, Man, was born!"
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August 06, 2021 - August 06, 2021.
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THE PRAYER
A trifle Emily Bronte here
"O Lord of Courage grave,
"O Master of this night of Springl
"Make firm in me a heart too brave
"To ask Thee anything!"
Emily Bronte's was superior.
No surprises there!
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August 06, 2021 - August 06, 2021.
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I ASK
Poet here describes beauty of life -
"MY happy lime is gold with flowers;
"From noon to noon the breezes blow
"Their love pipes; and the wild bees beat
"Their drums, and sack the blossom bowers."
- and then, turning to
"Behind the fairest masks of life
"Dwells ever that pale constant death."
questions if it should be simply hidden, forgotten - but with a really bad turn of phrase!
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August 06, 2021 - August 06, 2021.
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TIME
"BENEATH this vast serene of sky
"Where worlds are but as mica dust,
"From age to age the wind goes by;
"Unnumbered summer bums the grass.
"On granite rocks, at rest from strife,
"The aeons lie in lichen rust.
"Then what is man’s so brittle life? —
"The humming of the bees that pass!"
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August 06, 2021 - August 06, 2021.
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FRIVOLS
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MR. COLUMMY
This one begins sounding ridiculous, but as one goes through, a serious portrait of a prototype emerges.
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August 06, 2021 - August 06, 2021.
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HOLIDAY SONG
"Birds are piping, insects hum;
"Take the path of play and laughter!
"Why go caring what comes after?
"Nature’s drum-sticks all a-drum!
"Clowns and Christians count the loss!
"Ope your mouth — let berries tumble!
"Eat no more of pie that’s humble!
"Let your heart play pitch and toss!"
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August 06, 2021 - August 06, 2021.
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UNICORNS
"IF I were asked to take my pick
"Of all the creatures fantastic,"
"I should choose white unicorns!"
White?
Not Golden? Not Rainbow-hued? Not even pink?
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August 06, 2021 - August 06, 2021.
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LINES WRITTEN
IN THE AUTHOR’S COPY OF
‘FROM THE FOUR WINDS’
SOLD FOR A CHARITY
"I WROTE this book and certify
"That sh e’s been mine in days gone by.
"In fact the slim and timid tome
"Has only known her parent’s home.
"There, with a slightly elder twin
"She’s stabled been, with kith and kin;
"Thereof, lest any have a doubt
"I write these words, and send her out."
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August 06, 2021 - August 06, 2021.
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DEDICATIONS TO TWO GODSONS
"But we conspirators must be
"And hide up our unworthiness.
"Together we will tread the way
"That leads to mansions in the sky,
"Or, if we don’t, at least we’ll say
"We surely mean to, by and by."
"Small John, I fear when you grow up you’ll say:
"“They gave to me as pilot to the sky
"A silly man who didn’t know the way,
"And couldn’t put me wise — I wonder why?
"He never gave me book morocco-bound,
"Or silver cup with christening date engraved;
"He let me wander round and round and round,
"And quite neglected for to get me saved!”"
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August 06, 2021 - August 06, 2021.
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LINES WRITTEN IN A VOLUME
OF 27 PLAYS BY J. G.
GIVEN AS A PRIZE BY THE
‘SAVE THE CHILDREN’ FUND
"Who wins this prize has work cut out,
"The volume is so very stout,
"Indeed ‘twill take many days
"To read these twenty-seven plays.
"But then he/she need not take the thing
"Au sérieux, but have a fling; his
"Present the object to her Ma,
"Or leave it in a motor car.
"June 8, 1932."
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August 06, 2021 - August 06, 2021.
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IN A VOLUME OF 27 PLAYS BY J. G.
SOLD ON BEHALF OF A HOSPITAL
"THE buyer gapes and stammers: “What!
"You mean to tell me I have got
"To read these Plays — to read them all!
"Oh! no — the man’s a criminal,"
"I make the buyer this reply:
"“Far better burned than read, poor buyer,
"So spare your eyes, and feed your fire!”"
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August 06, 2021 - August 06, 2021.
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IN A COPY OF ‘FOUR FORSYTE STORIES’
SOLD ON BEHALF OF A HOUSING SCHEME
"When signed editions he goes marketing,
"Priced at as many guineas as he dare,
"And, trusting to the Public’s want of flair,
"Makes major money from a minor thing.”"
"A very peacock-fantail-phoenix, he;
"The more you warn him of his coming fall
"Or tell him that he’s nothing worth at all,
"The more his pinnacle in air he’ll see!”"
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August 06, 2021 - August 06, 2021.
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TO PRINCETON
"LORD! I plump for Princeton —
"Peaceful there I be!
"Peace and plump and Princeton
"All begin with P!"
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August 06, 2021 - August 06, 2021.
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ON ACCIDENTAL EXCHANGE OF OPERA HATS
WITH JOHN MASEFIELD
"O FRIENDLY hat — hat of my friend!
"And must I pack thee up and end
"That brief encircling halo torn
"From noble Masefield’s peg, and worn
"In ecstasy one hour? Dear hat!
"So much more beautiful than that
"I left behind — from me depart!
"Be crushed once more against his heart!"
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August 06, 2021 - August 06, 2021.
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August 06, 2021 - August 06, 2021.
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