<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="" class="head">To J. F. White (Art Critic) When Dying</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">SINCE thou hast beauty all life long,</p><p class="line">In sun and shade,</p><p class="line">Followed, and worshipped, and obeyed,</p><p class="line">Beauty will make thy spirit strong</p><p class="line">And unafraid.</p><p class="line">Beauty will glorify the gloom,</p><p class="line">Beauty will show the unborn light</p><p class="line">Leaping within the laden womb</p><p class="line">Of weary night,</p><p class="line">Beauty will make the silence song,</p><p class="line">Beauty will make the darkness bright.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Hast thou not heard the loving Heart</p><p class="line">Whose music passes Music's art?</p><p class="line">Hast thou not seen a white Hand flit</p><p class="line">Across the darkness, lighting it?</p><p class="line">Peace surely waits beyond the pain,</p><p class="line">And calm beyond the troubled bar;</p><p class="line">We must believe that death is good,</p><p class="line">We blossoms of a dying star.</p><p class="line">And surely He is kind and wise,</p><p class="line">Who made such Beauty for thine eyes.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">We watched thee sow, we watched thee reap</p><p class="line">Wisdom and Honour day by day,</p><p class="line">And now when comes white-lidded Sleep</p><p class="line">To lead thee down the Lonely Way,</p><p class="line">We will not sigh, we will not weep,</p><p class="line">For Beauty's thoughts are wise and deep.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">What though the night be dark and dumb?</p><p class="line">Out of the night</p><p class="line">Will issue light,</p><p class="line">And song will from the silence come.</p><p class="line">So lie at rest</p><p class="line">On Beauty's breast,</p><p class="line">Who maketh Beauty knoweth best.</p></div></body></html> · Great War