<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">The Quiet Heart.</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">OLD man, herding in the dell</p><p class="line">Peaceful sheep with crook and bell </p><p class="line">Underneath a country sky, </p><p class="line">I wish my thoughts might pass me by, </p><p class="line">And leave me quiet as you are </p><p class="line">To love the dawn and evening star.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">I saw them leave me one by one, </p><p class="line">My oldest to my youngest son; </p><p class="line">I watched them leave this quiet place </p><p class="line">And journey out in God's good grace. </p><p class="line">They rode beyond the heathered fell, </p><p class="line">I waved my crook and cried farewell; </p><p class="line">All young they were, and strong, and kind- </p><p class="line">I stayed at home my sheep to mind.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"One fell in Belgium, and one </p><p class="line">Lies 'neath a farther fiercer sun. </p><p class="line">One perished in his first advance, </p><p class="line">And gave his blood to gentle France. </p><p class="line">One sleeps within the ocean's brim, </p><p class="line">And only God has news of him. </p><p class="line">All, all are fallen, every one, </p><p class="line">My eldest to my youngest son.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"There's tending to be done at morn, </p><p class="line">And when the weak young lambs are born; </p><p class="line">On all the countryside there streams </p><p class="line">The light of Spring with its young dreams. </p><p class="line">There's some that stay that fain would go-</p><p class="line">It pleases God to have it so. </p><p class="line">His will it was to take and keep, </p><p class="line">And leave me here to mind my sheep."</p></div><p class="byline">Agnes Grozier Herbertson".</p>(The <em>Windsor Magazine</em>, July, 1915</body></html> · Great War