<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">The Royal Mails</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">For all its flowers and trailing bowers,</p><p class="line">Its singing birds and streams.</p><p class="line">This valley's not the blissful spot.</p><p class="line">The paradise, it seems.</p><p class="line">I don't forget a man I met</p><p class="line">Beneath this very tree, —</p><p class="line">The cooing of that cushat dove</p><p class="line">Brings back his face to me, —</p><p class="line">The merest lad, a sullen, sad.</p><p class="line">Unhappy soul with eyes half mad.</p><p class="line">Most sorrowful to see.</p><p class="line">I asked him who he was, and what;</p><p class="line">'Twas his affair, he answered, that,</p><p class="line">And had no more to say ;</p><p class="line">'Twas all I'd feared, the tale I heard,</p><p class="line">When he at last gave way.</p><p class="line">I've not forgot the look he shot</p><p class="line">Me through and through with then;</p><p class="line">"What loathly land is this!" he cried.</p><p class="line">And cursed it for a countryside</p><p class="line">Where devils masque as men.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">I thought at first his brain was burst,</p><p class="line">So senselessly he cried and cursed</p><p class="line">And spat with rage and hate;</p><p class="line">He writhed to hear the glossy dove</p><p class="line">In song among the boughs above</p><p class="line">Beside its gentle mate.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">His fury passed away at last,</p><p class="line">And when his reason came</p><p class="line">He told me he was city bred,</p><p class="line">A page about the Court, he said,</p><p class="line">And coloured up with shame;</p><p class="line">It made him wince to own a Prince</p><p class="line">Of very famous fame.</p><p class="line">"He looked for one with speed and strength</p><p class="line">And youth, and picked on me at length</p><p class="line">And ordered me to stand</p><p class="line">Prepared to leave at break of day,</p><p class="line">With letters naught must long delay,</p><p class="line">For certain cities far away</p><p class="line">Across this lonely land.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"He told me all the roads to take</p><p class="line">And cautioned me to go</p><p class="line">With ears and eyes and wits awake,</p><p class="line">Alert from top to toe,</p><p class="line">For spies and thieves wore out most shoes</p><p class="line">Upon the roads that I must use,</p><p class="line">As he had cause to know.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">" I took my cloak as morning broke</p><p class="line">And started down the hill,</p><p class="line">With Castle-bells and Fare-ye-wells</p><p class="line">And bugles sweet and shrill--</p><p class="line">Sir Woodman, though it's months ago,</p><p class="line">I hear that music still.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"What matters now or ever how</p><p class="line">I made the journey here!</p><p class="line">I fed on berries from the bough,</p><p class="line">Abundant everywhere.</p><p class="line">Or if it failed, that luscious meat,</p><p class="line">I dug up roots that wild hogs eat</p><p class="line">And flourished on the fare;</p><p class="line">At night I made a grassy bed</p><p class="line">And went to sleep without a dread</p><p class="line">And woke without a care--</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"No matter how I managed now,</p><p class="line">It all went well enough,</p><p class="line">Until I saw this spot, I vow,</p><p class="line">No man was better off.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"Last night as I came down this vale</p><p class="line">In wind and rain full blast,</p><p class="line">I turned about to hear a shout</p><p class="line">Ho, master, whither so fast!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"A minute more and half a score</p><p class="line">Of men were at my side,</p><p class="line">Plain merchants all, they said they were</p><p class="line">And camping in a thicket near,</p><p class="line">'Remain with us!' they cried.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"'Remain with us, our board is spread</p><p class="line">With cheer the best, Ah, stay,' they said,</p><p class="line">'Why go so proudly by!'</p><p class="line">And there and then my legs were lead,</p><p class="line">A weary man was I!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"They stared with wonder that I walked</p><p class="line">These tangled hills and dales, and talked</p><p class="line">Of better roads at hand,</p><p class="line">Smooth roads without a hill to climb</p><p class="line">A man could walk in half the time,</p><p class="line">The finest in the land,</p><p class="line">With more,-- but most of it I lost</p><p class="line">Or did not understand.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"'So, come,' they cried, 'our tents are tight,</p><p class="line">Our fires are burning warm and bright!</p><p class="line">How shall we let you go to-night</p><p class="line">Without offending heaven!</p><p class="line">Come, leave you shall with morning light,</p><p class="line">Strong with the strength of seven!'</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"True men they seemed, for me I dreamed</p><p class="line">No whit of their design,</p><p class="line">Their mildness would have clapped a hood</p><p class="line">On sharper eyes than mine;</p><p class="line">Ay, me they pressed awhile to rest,</p><p class="line">Persuaded me to be their guest,</p><p class="line">And stole the letters from my breast</p><p class="line">When I fell down with wine!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"It all came crowding on my mind</p><p class="line">With morning when I woke to find</p><p class="line">How blind and blind and utter blind</p><p class="line">And blind again I'd been;</p><p class="line">Both tents and men had vanished then,</p><p class="line">Were nowhere to be seen."</p><p class="line">'Twas word for word a tale I'd heard</p><p class="line">Not once or twice before,</p><p class="line">Since first I made an axe ring out</p><p class="line">Upon the timber hereabout,</p><p class="line">But twenty times and more.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">For many a year we've harboured here</p><p class="line">A nest of thieves and worse,</p><p class="line">Who watch for these young Castle-men</p><p class="line">At night among the gorse,</p><p class="line">It's hard to say if one in ten</p><p class="line">Gets by with life and purse.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">I wonder since 'twould serve the Prince</p><p class="line">To square accounts with these,--</p><p class="line">And many a score of footpads more</p><p class="line">All like as pins or peas,</p><p class="line">Who ply their trades in other glades</p><p class="line">And plunder whom they please --</p><p class="line">He does not rout the vermin out</p><p class="line">And hang them to the trees.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">But this poor lad -- for me I knew</p><p class="line">Scarce what to think or say,</p><p class="line">I pitied him, I pitied, too,</p><p class="line">Those cities far away.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">I asked him would he stay and be</p><p class="line">A woodman in these woods with me,</p><p class="line">Perhaps he did not hear,</p><p class="line">Perhaps the dove in song above</p><p class="line">Beside its mistress dear,</p><p class="line">Was Castle-bells and Fare-ye-wells</p><p class="line">And hornets in his ear;</p><p class="line">An old grey man in all but years,</p><p class="line">He pulled his cloak about his ears,</p><p class="line">And went I know not where.</p></div></body></html> · Great War