Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Ernest Rhys b. 1860

Song of the Wulfshaw Larches

HEART of Earth, let us be gone,

From this rock where we have stayed

While the sun has risen and shone

Ten thousand times, and thrown our shade

Always in the self-same place.

Now the night draws on apace:

The day is dying on the height,

The wind brings cold sea-fragrance here,

And cries, and restless murmurings,

Now night is near,—

Of wings and feet that take to flight,

Of furry feet and feathery wings

That take their joyous flight at will

Away and over the hiding hill,

And into the land where the sun has fled.

O let us go, as they have sped,—

The soft swift shapes that left us here,

The gentle things that came and went

And left us in imprisonment!

Let us be gone, as they have gone,

Away, and into the hidden lands;—

From rock and turf our roots uptear,

Break from the clinging keeping bands,

Out of this long imprisoning break;

At last, our sunward journey take,

And far, to-night, and farther on,—

Heart or Earth, let us be gone!