C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
From ‘England, My Mother’
By William Watson (1858–1935)
From ‘The Poems of William Watson’ (2 vols.)
L
Roots of man’s nature,
Twines the eternal
Passion of song.
Ever Life feeds it;
Time cannot age it,
Death cannot slay.
Stand its foundations,
Tangled with all things,
Twin-made with all.
Self, but an endless
Strife toward music,
Euphony, rhyme?
Tides in their flowing,
Stars in their circling,
Tremble with song.
Eldest of poets:
Unto His measures
Moveth the whole.