<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">Recompense</h1><h1 align="center" class="head"><em>(For Lord Kilhacken)</em></h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line" style="text-indent:6%"><span class="smallcaps">That</span> which I saved I lost</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:6%">And that I lost I found,</p><p class="line">And you are mine, oh tender little ghost,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:6%">Whose grave is holy ground.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line" style="text-indent:6%">That which I kept is flown,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:6%">So fast the children grow,</p><p class="line">The only child I keep to be my own</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:6%">I lost long years ago.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line" style="text-indent:6%">The little ones that stayed</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:6%">Slip from me while I cry:</p><p class="line">Oh, not so fast, so fast, you golden-head.</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:6%">Swift as the wind they fly.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line" style="text-indent:6%">Not two days are the same.</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:6%">To-morrow will not see</p><p class="line">To-day's young children, crested like a flame,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:6%">Gathered about my knee.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line" style="text-indent:6%">One day a day will dawn</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:6%">Will see me dispossessed --</p><p class="line">An empty nest whence singing-birds have flown.</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:6%">Who shall refill the nest?</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line" style="text-indent:6%">The years run out like sand</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:6%">To strip me of my pride;</p><p class="line">Then in my hand will steal a clinging hand.</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:6%">I keep the child who died.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line" style="text-indent:6%">God gives and does not lend</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:6%">This one lamb of the fold;</p><p class="line">And he will need his mother to the end</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:6%">And never will grow old.</p></div></body></html> · Great War