Poems By the Way Part 16

And Gregory the Wright was one Of the valiant men beneath the sun,

And what he bade us that we did For ne'er he kept his counsel hid.

So out we went, and the clattering latch Woke up the swallows under the thatch.

It was dark in the porch, but our scythes we felt, And thrust the whetstone under the belt.

Through the cold garden boughs we went Where the tumbling roses shed their scent.

Then out a-gates and away we strode O'er the dewy straws on the dusty road,

And there was the mead by the town-reeve's close Where the hedge was sweet with the wilding rose.

Then into the mowing gra.s.s we went Ere the very last of the night was spent.

Young was the moon, and he was gone, So we whet our scythes by the stars alone:

But or ever the long blades felt the hay Afar in the East the dawn was grey.

Or ever we struck our earliest stroke The thrush in the hawthorn-bush awoke.

While yet the bloom of the swathe was dim The black-bird's bill had answered him.

Ere half of the road to the river was shorn The sunbeam smote the twisted thorn.

Now wide was the way 'twixt the standing gra.s.s For the townsfolk unto the mote to pa.s.s,

And so when all our work was done We sat to breakfast in the sun,

While down in the stream the dragon-fly 'Twixt the quivering rushes flickered by;

And though our knives shone sharp and white The swift bleak heeded not the sight.

So when the bread was done away We looked along the new-shorn hay,

And heard the voice of the gathering-horn Come over the garden and the corn;

For the wind was in the blossoming wheat And drave the bees in the lime-boughs sweet.

Then loud was the horn's voice drawing near, And it hid the talk of the prattling weir.

And now was the horn on the pathway wide That we had shorn to the river-side.

So up we stood, and wide around We sheared a s.p.a.ce by the Elders' Mound;

And at the feet thereof it was That highest grew the June-tide gra.s.s;

And over all the mound it grew With clover blent, and dark of hue.

But never aught of the Elders' Hay To rick or barn was borne away.

But it was bound and burned to ash In the barren close by the reedy plash.

For 'neath that mound the valiant dead Lay hearkening words of valiance said

When wise men stood on the Elders' Mound, And the swords were s.h.i.+ning bright around.

And now we saw the banners borne On the first of the way that we had shorn; So we laid the scythe upon the sward And girt us to the battle-sword.

For after the banners well we knew Were the Freemen wending two and two.

There then that high-way of the scythe With many a hue was brave and blythe.

And first below the Silver Chief Upon the green was the golden sheaf.

And on the next that went by it The White Hart in the Park did sit.

Then on the red the White Wings flew, And on the White was the Cloud-fleck blue.

Last went the Anchor of the Wrights Beside the s.h.i.+p of the Faring-Knights.

Then thronged the folk the June-tide field With naked sword and painted s.h.i.+eld,

Till they came adown to the river-side, And there by the mound did they abide.

Now when the swords stood thick and white As the mace reeds stand in the streamless bight,

There rose a man on the mound alone And over his head was the grey mail done.

When over the new-shorn place of the field Was nought but the steel hood and the s.h.i.+eld.

The face on the mound shone ruddy and hale, But the h.o.a.r hair showed from the h.o.a.ry mail.

And there rose a hand by the ruddy face And shook a sword o'er the peopled place.

And there came a voice from the mound and said: "O sons, the days of my youth are dead,

And gone are the faces I have known In the street and the booths of the goodly town.

O sons, full many a flock have I seen Feed down this water-girdled green.