HAD I THE POWER 23
Such songs in my flushed hours I dream (High thought) instead of armour gleam Or -warrior cantos ream by ream
To load the shelves— Songs with a lilt of words, that seem
To sing themselves.
HAD I THE POWER THAT HAVE THE
WILL
HAD I the power that have the will, The enfeebled will—a modern curse—
This book of mine should blossom still A perfect garden-ground of verse.
White placid marble gods should keep Good watch in every shadowy lawn ;
And from clean, easy-breathing sleep The birds should waken me at dawn.
—A fairy garden ;—none the less Throughout these gracious paths of mine
All day there should be free access
For stricken hearts and lives that pine;
And by the folded lawns all day—
No idle gods for such a land— All active Love should take its way
With active Labour hand in hand,