The South Country

Hilaire Belloc 1870 (La Celle-Saint-Cloud) – 1953



When I am living in the Midlands
          That are sodden and unkind,
          I light my lamp in the evening:
          My work is left behind;
          And the great hills of the South Country
          Come back into my mind.

          The great hills of the South Country
          They stand along the sea;
          And it's there walking in the high woods
          That I could wish to be,
          And the men that were boys when I was a boy
          Walking along with me.

          The men that live in North England
          I saw them for a day:
          Their hearts are set upon the waste fells,
          Their skies are fast and grey;
          From their castle-walls a man may see
          The mountains far away.

          The men that live in West England
          They see the Severn strong,
          A-rolling on rough water brown
          Light aspen leaves along.
          They have the secret of the Rocks,
          And the oldest kind of song.

          But the men that live in the South Country
          Are the kindest and most wise,
          They get their laughter from the loud surf,
          And the faith in their happy eyes
          Comes surely from our Sister the Spring
          When over the sea she flies;
          The violets suddenly bloom at her feet,
          She blesses us with surprise.

          I never get between the pines
          But I smell the Sussex air;
          Nor I never come on a belt of sand
          But my home is there.
          And along the sky the line of the Downs
          So noble and so bare.

          A lost thing could I never find,
          Nor a broken thing mend:
          And I fear I shall be all alone
          When I get towards the end.
          Who will there be to comfort me
          Or who will be my friend?

          I will gather and carefully make my friends
          Of the men of the Sussex Weald;
          They watch the stars from silent folds,
          They stiffly plough the field.
          By them and the God of the South Country
          My poor soul shall be healed.

          If I ever become a rich man,
          Or if ever I grow to be old,
          I will build a house with deep thatch
          To shelter me from the cold,
          And there shall the Sussex songs be sung
          And the story of Sussex told.

          I will hold my house in the high wood
          Within a walk of the sea,
          And the men that were boys when I was a boy
          Shall sit and drink with me.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 30, 2023

2:01 min read
315

Quick analysis:

Scheme xabaca ccxcDc efxfcf egxgxg chxhbhxh xixixi ajxjcj xaxkck xlxlxl xcDc
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 2,546
Words 403
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6, 8, 6, 6, 6, 6, 4

Hilaire Belloc

Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was an Anglo-French writer and historian who became a naturalised British subject in 1902, but kept his French citizenship. more…

All Hilaire Belloc poems | Hilaire Belloc Books

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