Editing .NDg.NjgzNg

=Aldania.=
Shall I attempt the Italian skies
To paint a deeper blue?
And deck the fields of Arcady
In more resplendent hue?

Or teach the nightingale to sing
More rapturous a refrain?
And tune the angels' harps in heaven
To some more ravishing strain?

Shall I still prettier modesty
The dainty violet loan?
Enrich the balms of Araby
To charms beyond their own?

Or to the sun a candle hold,
To show its peerless light?
Encrust the stars with diamonds,
That they appear more bright?

Oh! vainest of all vanities,
Such idle thoughts to raise!
Yet vainer still it is for me
To sing my Lady's praise.     C.


=Autumn Leaves.=
Like waiting bridges in their wedding robes,

The leaves are whispering to each other wonderingly.

When the next sun dawns

They are gone.

And with quick rustling steps

And ceaseless whisperings,

They hurry onwards after the flying wind.

They wander along the rainy roads

.........And the heavy wheels 

pass over them.     J.A.W.


=O Touch us Not.=
O touch us not, Eternal Magdalen!

The whole world fades away when your pale face

Yearns out to us, the Saviours of Men.


Yea, all our luminous dreams are faded then,

And we hold shadows strained in our embrace.

O touch us not, Eternal Magdalen!


No more we preach on Mountains, or have ken

Of aught to speak of. Yea, we are grown base,

We, who would fain be Saviours of Men.


Hold back your hands, and come not near us when

We agonise in this dim Garden Place.

O touch us not, Eternal Magdalen,

For we would be the Saviours of Men.     I.H.


BC Archives, MS-2570 Box 1 File 6 / MIST, Henry Masterman, Ruhleben magazine, Prisoners' Pie, 1916)