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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  800. Summer Dawn

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

William Morris. 1834–1896

800. Summer Dawn

PRAY but one prayer for me ‘twixt thy closed lips, 
  Think but one thought of me up in the stars. 
The summer night waneth, the morning light slips 
  Faint and gray ‘twixt the leaves of the aspen, betwixt the cloud-bars, 
That are patiently waiting there for the dawn:         5
  Patient and colourless, though Heaven’s gold 
Waits to float through them along with the sun. 
Far out in the meadows, above the young corn, 
  The heavy elms wait, and restless and cold 
The uneasy wind rises; the roses are dun;  10
Through the long twilight they pray for the dawn 
Round the lone house in the midst of the corn. 
    Speak but one word to me over the corn, 
    Over the tender, bow’d locks of the corn.