Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.
A Memory of EarthA. E. (George William Russell) (18671935)
I
Down the violet-scented ways,
As I moved with quiet feet
I was met by mighty days.
Glass’d the eve and stars and skies;
While I gazed a madness grew
Into thunder’d battle-cries.
Flashed the spear and fell the stroke,
Ah, what faces pale and bright
Where the dazzling battle broke!
With young beauty lit the van.
Gone! the darkness flow’d between
All the ancient wars of man.
Where the rabbits patter’d near,
Shone a temple and a tomb
With a legend carven clear:
That her day might dawn in glory:
Death made wide a million gates
So to close her tragic story.