The fields are full of summer still
And breathe again upon the air
From brown dry side of hedge and hill
More sweetness than the sense can bear.
So some old couple, who in youth
With love were filled and over-full,
And loved with strength and loved with truth,
In heavy age are beautiful.
Edward Shanks
(The previous post was a poem I’ve had on the brain all day, d’après Dave yesterday. I thought I should read one of Shanks’ collections of poems, since I don’t know anything else by him. This is my favourite of his Queen of China volume. Apparently others like it too, because it’s one of the few Shanks poems set by Gurney and Warlock. I like the Gurney setting; I perhaps should buy it and learn it…
(I also recommend The Riddle.)