ove, beyond which not one bird, one leaf can fall.

XV

And hark, His whispers thro' creation flow,
_Lovest thou me?_ His nations answer "yea!"
And--_Feed My lambs_, His voice as long ago
Steals from that highest heaven, how far away!
And yet again saith--_Lovest thou Me?_ and "O,
Thou knowest we love Thee," passionately we cry:
But, heeding not our tumult, out of the deep
The great grave whisper, pitiful and low,
Breathes--_Feed My sheep_; and yet once more the sky
Thrills with that deep strange plea,
_Lovest thou, lovest thou Me?_
And our lips answer "yea"; but our God--_Feed My sheep._

XVI

O sink not yet beneath the exceeding weight
Of splendour, thou still single-hearted voice
Of Britain. Droop not earthward now to freight
Thy soul with fragments of the song, rejoice
In no faint flights of music that create
Low heavens o'er-arched by skies without a star,
Nor sink in the easier gulfs of shallower pain!
Sing thou in the whole majesty of thy fate,
Teach us thro' joy, thro' grief, thro' peace, thro' war,
With single heart and soul
Still, still to seek the goal,
And thro' our perishing heavens, point us to Heaven again.

XVII

Voice of the summer stars that long ago
Sang thro' the old oak-forests of our isle,
An ocean-music that thou ne'er couldst know
Storms Heaven--O, keep us steadfast all the while;
Not idly swayed by tides that ebb and flow,
But strong to embrace the whole vast symphony
Wherein no note (no bird, no leaf) can fall
Beyond His care, to enfold it all as though
Thy single harp were ours, its unity
In battle like one sword,
And O, its one reward
One spray of the sacred oak, still coveted most of all.

THE WORLD'S WEDDING

"Et quid curae nobis de generibus et speciebus? Ex uno Verbo omnia, et
unum loquuntur omnia. Cui omnia unum sunt, quique ad unum omnia trahit
et omnia in uno videt, potest stabilis corde esse."--THOMAS A KEMPIS.

I

When poppies fired the nut-brown wheat,
My love went by with sun-stained feet:
I followed her laughter, followed her, followed her, all a summer's
morn!
But O, from an elfin palace of air,
A wild bird sang a song so rare,
I stayed to listen and--lost my Fair,
And walked the wor