Henry Ryland WMPExercise Poetry

The Gardens of the Soul From the Dark Ages and Other Poems Transcribed from the 1908 Longman's Green & Company Edition by David Price In a restless land beside a river Stands a stone enclosure tall Rich the finder is and rich the giver Of the key to pierce that wall Once within you drink the clearest pleasures And your sorrow change for ease Ancient bards enchant you with their measures Sweetly sighs the highland breeze Next amid the orange trees and cedars Bearded Homer deigns to roam Musing tales of marching argued leaders And Ulysses welcomed home Here where daffodils their crowns are bending On a lawn of English green Milton gravely sits to tell the ending Of angelic strifes unseen Here the almond bloom forever blushes And Italian fountains rise While the wine of dawn their dewdrops flushes Dante speaks of paradise But beyond where any poet paces Grows a gnarled grey olive grove Where the furthest stars have veiled their bases Weeping for eternal love