Country Sentiment | Page 6

Robert Graves
his anger, he scratches, he
looks not up.
GIVE US RAIN.
"Give us Rain, Rain," said the bean and the pea,
"Not so much Sun,

Not so much Sun."
But the Sun smiles bravely and encouragingly,

And no rain falls and no waters run.
"Give us Peace, Peace," said the peoples oppressed,
"Not so many
Flags,
Not so many Flags."
But the Flags fly and the Drums beat,
denying rest,
And the children starve, they shiver in rags.

ALLIE.
Allie, call the birds in,
The birds from the sky.
Allie calls, Allie
sings,
Down they all fly.
First there came
Two white doves

Then a sparrow from his nest,
Then a clucking bantam hen,
Then a
robin red-breast.
Allie, call the beasts in,
The beasts, every one.
Allie calls, Allie
sings,
In they all run.
First there came
Two black lambs,
Then a
grunting Berkshire sow,
Then a dog without a tail,
Then a red and
white cow.
Allie, call the fish up,
The fish from the stream.
Allie calls, Allie
sings,
Up they all swim.
First there came
Two gold fish,
A
minnow and a miller's thumb,
Then a pair of loving trout,
Then the
twisted eels come.
Allie, call the children,
Children from the green.
Allie calls, Allie
sings,
Soon they run in.
First there came
Tom and Madge,
Kate
and I who'll not forget
How we played by the water's edge
Till the
April sun set.
LOVING HENRY.
Henry, Henry, do you love me?
Do I love you, Mary?
Oh, can you
mean to liken me
To the aspen tree.
Whose leaves do shake and
vary,
From white to green
And back again,
Shifting and contrary?
Henry, Henry, do you love me,

Do you love me truly?
Oh, Mary,
must I say again
My love's a pain,
A torment most unruly?
It
tosses me
Like a ship at sea
When the storm rages fully.
Henry, Henry, why do you love me?
Mary, dear, have pity!
I swear,
of all the girls there are
Both near and far,
In country or in city,

There's none like you,
So kind, so true,
So wise, so brave, so pretty.

BRITTLE BONES.
Though I am an old man
With my bones very brittle,
Though I am a
poor old man
Worth very little,
Yet I suck at my long pipe
At
peace in the sun,
I do not fret nor much regret
That my work is
done.
If I were a young man
With my bones full of marrow,
Oh, if I were
a bold young man
Straight as an arrow,
And if I had the same years

To live once again,
I would not change their simple range
Of
laughter and pain.
If I were a young man
And young was my Lily,
A smart girl, a bold
young man,
Both of us silly.
And though from time before I knew

She'd stab me with pain,
Though well I knew she'd not be true,

I'd love her again.
If I were a young man
With a brisk, healthy body,
Oh, if I were a
bold young man
With love of rum toddy,
Though I knew that I was
spiting
My old age with pain,
My happy lip would touch and sip

Again and again.
If I were a young man
With my bones full of marrow,
Oh, if I were
a bold young man
Straight as an arrow,
I'd store up no virtue
For
Heaven's distant plain,
I'd live at ease as I did please
And sin once
again.
APPLES AND WATER.
Dust in a cloud, blinding weather,
Drums that rattle and roar!
A
mother and daughter stood together
Beside their cottage door.
"Mother, the heavens are bright like brass,
The dust is shaken high,

With labouring breath the soldiers pass,
Their lips are cracked and
dry."

"Mother, I'll throw them apples down,
I'll bring them pails of water."

The mother turned with an angry frown
Holding back her daughter.
"But mother, see, they faint with thirst,
They march away to die,"

"Ah, sweet, had I but known at first
Their throats are always dry."
"There is no water can supply them
In western streams that flow,

There is no fruit can satisfy them
On orchard trees that grow."
"Once in my youth I gave, poor fool,
A soldier apples and water,
So
may I die before you cool
Your father's drouth, my daughter."
MANTICOR IN ARABIA.
(The manticors of the montaines
Mighte feed them on thy
braines.--Skelton.)
Thick and scented daisies spread
Where with surface dull like lead

Arabian pools of slime invite
Manticors down from neighbouring
height
To dip heads, to cool fiery blood
In oozy depths of sucking
mud.
Sing then of ringstraked manticor,
Man-visaged tiger who of
yore
Held whole Arabian waste in fee
With raging pride from sea to
sea,
That every lesser tribe would fly
Those armed feet, that hooded
eye;
Till preying on himself at last
Manticor dwindled, sank, was
passed
By gryphon flocks he did disdain.
Ay, wyverns and rude
dragons reign
In ancient keep of manticor
Agreed old foe can rise
no more.
Only here from lakes of slime
Drinks manticor and bides
due time:
Six times Fowl Phoenix in yon tree
Must mount his pyre
and burn and be
Renewed again, till in such hour
As seventh
Phoenix flames to power
And lifts young feathers, overnice
From
scented pool of steamy spice
Shall manticor his sway restore

And
rule Arabian plains once more.
OUTLAWS.

Owls: they whinney down the night,
Bats go zigzag by.
Ambushed
in shadow out of sight
The outlaws lie.
Old gods, shrunk to shadows, there
In the wet woods they lurk,

Greedy of human stuff to snare
In
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