<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">A Neglected Garden</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line"><span class="smallcaps">Barren</span> the garden lies, undressed;</p><p class="line">Long weeds like serpents coil and squeeze</p><p class="line">Forsaken loves of faithless bees,</p><p class="line">Boughs broken, to the ground are pressed;</p><p class="line">Columbines, heartsease, picotees</p><p class="line">No more greet evening from the West,</p><p class="line">Nor lilies give their beauty to the night --</p><p class="line">Where are the roses of our lost delight?</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Deep rooted, to the sun they glow</p><p class="line">In a new world's eternal Spring;</p><p class="line">Low at our feet the tendrils cling,</p><p class="line">High as the Himalayan snow</p><p class="line">The birds among their branches sing;</p><p class="line">From crag and strand and plain they grow,</p><p class="line">France, utmost Africa, the cold North Sea,</p><p class="line">Mesopotamia and Gallipoli.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Let the neglected garden lie</p><p class="line">There is no need for English flowers,</p><p class="line">These, by a right divine, are ours,</p><p class="line">These bloom forever under every sky,</p><p class="line">Droop in no drought, thirst for no showers,</p><p class="line">These by no frosts of Autumn die,</p><p class="line">Immortal loveliness for the bleak years,</p><p class="line">Fed with our heart's blood, watered with our tears.</p></div><p class="byline">-- Eleanor Alexander.</p></body></html> · Great War