<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="" class="head">Plymouth Mists</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">TEAR-DIMMED eyes my loved one lifted.</p><p class="line">When she said good-bye to me;</p><p class="line">Sweet, grey eyes, where colours shifted</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Like the shadows on the sea:</p><p class="line">O'er the cliffs of Devon, keeping</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Guard, like eyes, o'er Devon's mouth.</p><p class="line">Sad, grey mists came stilly creeping.</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Sorrow-laden, from the South.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Through the weary weight of sadness,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">And the numbness of despair,</p><p class="line">Came a thought that turned to gladness</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Even the pain I could not bear:</p><p class="line">Those proud cliffs were calling clearly,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">As Drake heard them in his day:—</p><p class="line">" England knows you love her dearly,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Weeps to send you far away"</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">'Neath this brazen, blazing lieaven,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">In a wilderness of sand.</p><p class="line">Daily England's lives are given</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">For her newest, oldest laud;</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Does there come a dream, consoling</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Those who die on foreign ground.</p><p class="line">Of the sea-mists, slowly rolling</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Homewards over Plymouth Sound?</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Should I die, I'll see them drifting</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Through the mirage, ere I go;</p><p class="line">Maybe, if the mists are lifting,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">I'll see sunshine on the Hoe!</p><p class="line">Should I live, when this is over.</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">And we've done what is to do,</p><p class="line">England, smile to greet your lover.</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">When he hurries home to you!</p></div><p>Basra, December, 1916.</p></body></html> · Great War