<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="" class="head">Colonists</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line"><span class="smallcaps">What</span> new star now in the sky</p><p class="line">Needs a starry colony</p><p class="line">That our men flock forth in troops,</p><p class="line">All our joys, our loves, our hopes?</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Wise and brave and kind they go</p><p class="line">Through the lonesome gate and low;</p><p class="line">All our starry colonists</p><p class="line">Through the rains and through the mists,</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">To what glories may they fare,</p><p class="line">To what floods of ambient air,</p><p class="line">To what rivers, to what trees,</p><p class="line">To what dreaming palaces?</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Just beyond the gate may be</p><p class="line">Leagues on leagues of crystal sea,</p><p class="line">And high galleons, poop on poop,</p><p class="line">Where they shall go climbing up.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Twisted cordage of spun gold,</p><p class="line">Sails of silk in fold on fold.</p><p class="line">Like a flock of heavenly birds</p><p class="line">Sails the squadron Paradise-wards.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Spiced winds have ta'en the sails.</p><p class="line">Singing like the nightingales</p><p class="line">The young souls go glad and gay,</p><p class="line">All their faces turned one way.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Now the Great Adventure calls,</p><p class="line">And they steal, with hushed footfalls,</p><p class="line">For there's work awaits them yonder</p><p class="line">In a starry world of wonder.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Young and fond and fair and brave,</p><p class="line">What new planet now may crave</p><p class="line">All these starry colonists</p><p class="line">From the rains and from the mists?</p></div></body></html> · Great War