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[Page 5]
The Guest, J. Drinkwater
Sometimes I feel that death is very near,
And, with half lifted hand,
Looks in my eyes, and tells me not to fear,
But walk his friendly land,
Comrade with him, and, wise
As peace is wise.
Then, gently though my heart with pity moves,
For dear imperilled loves,
I somehow know
That death is friendly so,
A comfortable spirit: one who takes
Long thought for all our sakes.
I wonder: will he come that friendly way
That guest, or roughly in the appointed day,
And will, when the last drops of life are spent,
My soul be torn from me,
Or, like a ship truly and timely built,
Slip quietly to sea?
Tides, Dec. 9, 1917
Let us each be Greek in our own fashion: but let us all be Greek.
Goethe.
The Future comes not from before to meet us, but streams up from behind, over our heads.
Chap. heading "Face of Clay".
But the best was, we never tarried long in any place, and therefore might the more willingly endure one night's hardship, in hope the next night might be better. And then we continued our march.
Diary: Sir Henry Slingsby, 1645.
Tomorrow, Dec. 15, we leave Quehen for a long marching to St. Omer.
And each man and each year that lives on earth
Turns hither or thither and hence or thence is fed;
And as a man was before was from his birth
So shall a man be after among the dead.
Swinburne, "Genesis", S.B.S.
?18.12.17
I knew a Phoenix in my youth, so let them have their day.
W.B. Yeats.
8.11.18
My spirit will not haunt the mound,
Above my breast,
But travel, memory possessed,
To where my tremulous being found
Life largest, best.
Thomas Hardy
4.4.18