<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">The Song of Honour</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">I CLIMBED a hill as light fell short.</p><p class="line">And rooks came home in scramble sort.</p><p class="line">And filled the trees and flapped and fought</p><p class="line">And sang themselves to sleep;</p><p class="line">An owl from nowhere with no sound</p><p class="line">Swung by and soon was nowhere found,</p><p class="line">I heard him calling half-way round,</p><p class="line">Holloing loud and deep ;</p><p class="line">A pair of stars, faint pins of light,</p><p class="line">Then many a star, sailed into sight,</p><p class="line">And all the stars, the flower of night,</p><p class="line">Were round me at a leap;</p><p class="line">To tell how still the valleys lay</p><p class="line">I heard a watchdog miles away,</p><p class="line">And bells of distant sheep.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">I heard no more of bird or bell,</p><p class="line">The mastiff in a slumber fell,</p><p class="line">I stared into the sky,</p><p class="line">As wondering men have always done</p><p class="line">Since beauty and the stars were one</p><p class="line">Though none so hard as I.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">It seemed, so still the valleys were,</p><p class="line">As if the whole world knelt at prayer,</p><p class="line">Save me and me alone;</p><p class="line">So pure and wide that silence was</p><p class="line">I feared to bend a blade of grass,</p><p class="line">And there I stood like stone.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">There, sharp and sudden, there I heard--</p><p class="line"><em>Ah! some wild lovesick singing bird</em></p><p class="line"><em>Woke singing in the trees?</em></p><p class="line"><em>The nightingale and babble-wren</em></p><p class="line"><em>Were in the English greenwood then,</em></p><p class="line"><em>And you heard one of these?</em></p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The babble-wren and nightingale</p><p class="line">Sang in the Abyssinian vale</p><p class="line">That season of the year!</p><p class="line">Yet, true enough, I heard them plain,</p><p class="line">I heard them both again, again,</p><p class="line">As sharp and sweet and clear</p><p class="line">As if the Abyssinian tree</p><p class="line">Had thrust a bough across the sea,</p><p class="line">Had thrust a bough across to me</p><p class="line">With music for my ear!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">I heard them both, and oh! I heard</p><p class="line">The song of every singing bird</p><p class="line">That sings beneath the sky,</p><p class="line">And with the song of lark and wren</p><p class="line">The song of mountains, moths and men</p><p class="line">And seas and rainbows vie!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">I heard the universal choir,</p><p class="line">The Sons of Light exalt their Sire</p><p class="line">With universal song,</p><p class="line">Earth's lowliest and loudest notes,</p><p class="line">Her million times ten million throats</p><p class="line">Exalt Him loud and long,</p><p class="line">And lips and lungs and tongues of</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">Grace</p><p class="line">From every part and every place</p><p class="line">Within the shining of His face,</p><p class="line">The universal throng.</p></div><div class="rend"><p class="line">I heard the hymn of being sound</p><p class="line">From every well of honour found</p><p class="line">In human sense and soul:</p><p class="line">The song of poets when they write</p><p class="line">The testament of Beauty sprite</p><p class="line">Upon a flying scroll,</p><p class="line">The song of painters when they take</p><p class="line">A burning brush for Beauty's sake</p><p class="line">And limn her features whole--</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The song of men divinely wise</p><p class="line">Who look and see in starry skies</p><p class="line">Not stars so much as robins' eyes,</p><p class="line">And when these pale away</p><p class="line">Hear flocks of shiny pleiades</p><p class="line">Among the plums and apple trees</p><p class="line">Sing in the summer day--</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The song of all both high and low</p><p class="line">To some blest vision true,</p><p class="line">The song of beggars when they throw</p><p class="line">The crust of pity all men owe</p><p class="line">To hungry sparrows in the snow,</p><p class="line">Old beggars hungry too--</p><p class="line">The song of kings of kingdoms when</p><p class="line">They rise above their fortune Men,</p><p class="line">And crown themselves anew--</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The song of courage, heart and will</p><p class="line">And gladness in a fight,</p><p class="line">Of men who face a hopeless hill</p><p class="line">With sparking and delight,</p><p class="line">The bells and bells of song that ring</p><p class="line">Round banners of a cause or king</p><p class="line">From armies bleeding white--</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The song of sailors every one</p><p class="line">When monstrous tide and tempest run</p><p class="line">At ships like bulls at red,</p><p class="line">When stately ships are twirled and spun</p><p class="line">Like whipping tops and help there's none</p><p class="line">And mighty ships ten thousand ton</p><p class="line">Go down like lumps of lead--</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And song of fighters stern as they</p><p class="line">At odds with fortune night and day.</p><p class="line">Crammed up in cities grim and grey</p><p class="line">As thick as bees in hives,</p><p class="line">Hosannas of a lowly throng</p><p class="line">Who sing unconscious of their song.</p><p class="line">Whose lips are in their lives--</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And song of some at holy war</p><p class="line">With spells and ghouls more dread by far</p><p class="line">Than deadly seas and cities are</p><p class="line">Or hordes of quarrelling kings--</p><p class="line">The song of fighters great and small,</p><p class="line">The song of pretty fighters all</p><p class="line">And high heroic things--</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The song of lovers -- who knows how</p><p class="line">Twitched up from place and time</p><p class="line">Upon a sigh, a blush, a vow,</p><p class="line">A curve or hue of cheek or brow,</p><p class="line">Borne up and off from here and now</p><p class="line">Into the void sublime!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And crying loves and passions still</p><p class="line">In every key from soft to shrill</p><p class="line">And numbers never done,</p><p class="line">Dog-loyalties to faith and friend,</p><p class="line">And loves like Ruth's of old no end,</p><p class="line">And intermission none--</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And burst on burst for beauty and</p><p class="line">For numbers not behind,</p><p class="line">From men whose love of motherland</p><p class="line">Is like a dog's for one dear hand,</p><p class="line">Sole, selfless, boundless, blind--</p><p class="line">And song of some with hearts beside</p><p class="line">For men and sorrows far and wide,</p><p class="line">Who watch the world with pity and pride</p><p class="line">And warm to all mankind--</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And endless joyous music rise</p><p class="line">From children at their play,</p><p class="line">And endless soaring lullabies</p><p class="line">From happy, happy mothers' eyes,</p><p class="line">And answering crows and baby-cries,</p><p class="line">How many who shall say!</p><p class="line">And many a song as wondrous well</p><p class="line">With pangs and sweets intolerable</p><p class="line">From lonely hearths too grey to tell,</p><p class="line">God knows how utter grey!</p><p class="line">And song from many a house of care</p><p class="line">When pain has forced a footing there</p><p class="line">And there's a Darkness on the stair</p><p class="line">Will not be turned away--</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And song--that song whose singers come</p><p class="line">With old kind tales of pity from</p><p class="line">The Great Compassion's lips,</p><p class="line">That make the bells of Heaven to peal</p><p class="line">Round pillows frosty with the feel</p><p class="line">Of Death's cold finger tips--</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The song of men all sorts and kinds,</p><p class="line">As many tempers, moods and minds</p><p class="line">As leaves are on a tree,</p><p class="line">As many faiths and castes and creeds.</p><p class="line">As many human bloods and breeds</p><p class="line">As in the world may be;</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The song of each and all who gaze</p><p class="line">On Beauty in her naked blaze,</p><p class="line">Or see her dimly in a haze,</p><p class="line">Or get her light in fitful rays</p><p class="line">And tiniest needles even,</p><p class="line">The song of all not wholly dark,</p><p class="line">Not wholly sunk in stupor stark</p><p class="line">Too deep for groping Heaven--</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And alleluias sweet and clear</p><p class="line">And wild with beauty men mishear,</p><p class="line">From choirs of song as near and dear</p><p class="line">To Paradise as they,</p><p class="line">The everlasting pipe and flute</p><p class="line">Of wind and sea and bird and brute,</p><p class="line">And lips deaf men imagine mute</p><p class="line">In wood and stone and clay,</p><p class="line">The music of a lion strong</p><p class="line">That shakes a hill a whole night long,</p><p class="line">A hill as loud as he,</p><p class="line">The twitter of a mouse among</p><p class="line">Melodious greenery,</p><p class="line">The ruby's and the rainbow's song,</p><p class="line">The nightingale's -- all three,</p><p class="line">The song of life that wells and flows</p><p class="line">From every leopard, lark and rose</p><p class="line">And everything that gleams or goes</p><p class="line">Lack-lustre in the sea.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">I heard it all, each, every note</p><p class="line">Of every lung and tongue and throat.</p><p class="line">Ay, every rhythm and rhyme</p><p class="line">Of everything that lives and loves</p><p class="line">And upward, ever upward moves</p><p class="line">From lowly to sublime!</p><p class="line">Earth's multitudinous Sons of Light,</p><p class="line">I heard them lift their lyric might</p><p class="line">With each and every chanting sprite</p><p class="line">That lit the sky that wondrous night</p><p class="line">As far as eye could climb!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">I heard it all, I heard the whole</p><p class="line">Harmonious hymn of being roll</p><p class="line">Up through the chapel of my soul</p><p class="line">And at the altar die,</p><p class="line">And in the awful quiet then</p><p class="line">Myself I heard. Amen, Amen,</p><p class="line">Amen I heard me cry!</p><p class="line">I heard it all and then although</p><p class="line">I caught my flying senses. Oh,</p><p class="line">A dizzy man was I!</p><p class="line">I stood and stared; the sky was lit,</p><p class="line">The sky was stars all over it,</p><p class="line">I stood, I knew not why,</p><p class="line">Without a wish, without a will,</p><p class="line">I stood upon that silent hill</p><p class="line">And stared into the sky until</p><p class="line">My eyes were blind with stars and still</p><p class="line">I stared into the sky.</p></div></body></html> · Great War