Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
Henry Charles Beeching. 18591919856. Going down Hill on a Bicycle A BOY’S SONG
WITH lifted feet, hands still, | |
I am poised, and down the hill | |
Dart, with heedful mind; | |
The air goes by in a wind. | |
Swifter and yet more swift, | 5 |
Till the heart with a mighty lift | |
Makes the lungs laugh, the throat cry:— | |
‘O bird, see; see, bird, I fly. | |
‘Is this, is this your joy? | |
O bird, then I, though a boy | 10 |
For a golden moment share | |
Your feathery life in air!’ | |
Say, heart, is there aught like this | |
In a world that is full of bliss? | |
‘Tis more than skating, bound | 15 |
Steel-shod to the level ground. | |
Speed slackens now, I float | |
Awhile in my airy boat; | |
Till, when the wheels scarce crawl, | |
My feet to the treadles fall. | 20 |
Alas, that the longest hill | |
Must end in a vale; but still, | |
Who climbs with toil, wheresoe’er, | |
Shall find wings waiting there. |