Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.
Herbert Edwin Clarke b. 1852In the Wood
T
Turning the green to gold;
The bee about the heather hums,
And the morning air is cold
Here on the breezy woodland side,
Where we two ride.
The sunlight glances down,
And makes a halo round her there,
And crowns her with a crown
Queen of the sunrise and the sun,
As we ride on.
His lips have left a rose,—
He found her cheek so sweet a place
For kisses, I suppose,
He thought he ’d leave a sign, that so
Others might know.
The green boughs close above,
And overhead, and either side,
The wild birds sing of Love:
But ah, she is not listening
To what they sing!
And word by word unfold
Its meaning as we ride along,—
And when my tale is told,
I turn my eyes to hers again,—
And then,—and then,—
The leaves shut out the sun;)
Where the wind’s lips left their one rose
My own leave more than one:
While the leaves murmur up above,
And laugh for love.
Now ’twixt the branches bare;
About the path the dead leaves lie,
And songless is the air;—
All ’s changed since then, for that, you know,
Was long ago.
Let us ride on—ride fast!—
’T is winter, and we knew of old
That love could never last
Without the summer and the sun!—
Let us ride on!