On the South Downs

Francis William Bourdillon 1852 (Runcorn) – 1921



Light falls the rain
On link and laine,
After the burning day;
And the bright scene,
Blue, gold, and green,
Is blotted out in gray.

Not so will part
The glowing heart
With sunny hours gone by;
On cliff and hill
There lingers still
A light that cannot die.

Like a gold crown
Gorse decks the Down,
All sapphire lies the sea;
And incense sweet
Springs as our feet
Tread light the thymy lea.

Fade, vision bright!
Fall rain, fall night!
Forget, gray world, thy green!
For us, nor thee,
Can all days be
As though this had not been!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

30 sec read
68

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABCCB DDEFFE GGHIIH JJCHHX
Closest metre Iambic dimeter
Characters 533
Words 102
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6

Francis William Bourdillon

Francis William Bourdillon was a British poet and translator. more…

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