LIST OF PREVIOUS EDITIONS SHORTER POEMS. Geo. Bell & Sons, 1. Bks. I-IV. Clarendon Press. Oct. 1890. Reprinted, Nov. 1890, 1891, 1894. Private Press of H. Daniel. Oxford, 2. Bks. I-V. 1894. 3. Do. do. Clarendon Press. George Bell & Sons, 1896. 4. Cheap issue of 3. 1899. Reprinted, 1899. NEW POEMS. Collected here for the first time. For account of earlier issues of first four books of Shorter Poems, and of some of the poems contained in the New Poems, see notes at end of this volume. BOOK I I ELEGY CLEAR and gentle stream! Known and loved so long That hast heard the song, And the idle dream Of my boyish day; Where my old seat was Where the long boughs knit Over stream and grass A translucent eaves: Where back eddies play Shipwreck with the leaves, And the proud swans stray, Sailing one by one Out of stream and sun, And the fish lie cool In their chosen pool. Many an afternoon Idly at its hour, First the deep bell hums From the minster tower, And then evening comes, Creeping up the glade, And the tardy boon, Of her brightening moon. |