84. The Memory Of Earth

George William Russell

IN the wet dusk silver sweet,
Down the violet scented ways,
As I moved with quiet feet
I was met by mighty days.


On the hedge the hanging dew
Glassed the eve and stars and skies;
While I gazed a madness grew
Into thundered battle cries.


Where the hawthorn glimmered white,
Flashed the spear and fell the stroke—
Ah, what faces pale and bright
Where the dazzling battle broke!


There a hero-hearted queen
With young beauty lit the van:
Gone! the darkness flowed between
All the ancient wars of man.


While I paced the valley’s gloom
Where the rabbits pattered near,
Shone a temple and a tomb
With the legend carven clear:


“Time put by a myriad fates
That her day might dawn in glory;
Death made wide a million gates
So to close her tragic story.”

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