<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">The Spires of Oxford<br xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"/><span class="smallcaps">(Seen From The Train)</span></h1><p class="byline"> WINIFRED M. LETTS <br xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"/>From "The Spires of Oxford and Other Poems," by Winifred M. Letts, copyright, 1917, by E. P. Dutton & Company, New York. Permission to reproduce in this book.</p><div class="stanza"><p class="line">I SAW the spires of Oxford </p><p class="line">As I was passing by, </p><p class="line">The gray spires of Oxford </p><p class="line">Against a pearl--gray sky. </p><p class="line">My heart was with the Oxford men </p><p class="line">Who went abroad to die.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The years go fast in Oxford, </p><p class="line">The golden years and gay, </p><p class="line">The hoary colleges look down </p><p class="line">On careless boys at play. </p><p class="line">But when the bugles sounded--War! </p><p class="line">They put their games away.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">They left the peaceful river, </p><p class="line">The cricket field, the quad, </p><p class="line">The shaven lawns of Oxford </p><p class="line">To seek a bloody sod--</p><p class="line">They gave their merry youth away </p><p class="line">For country and for God.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">God rest you, happy gentlemen, </p><p class="line">Who laid your good lives down, </p><p class="line">Who took the khaki and the gun </p><p class="line">Instead of cap and gown. </p><p class="line">God bring you to a fairer place </p><p class="line">Than even Oxford town. </p></div></body></html> · Great War