Poem by Robert Seymour Bridges

Shorter Poems. Book IV. 12. “The Hill Pines Were Sighing”

The hill pines were sighing,
O'ercast and chill was the day:
A mist in the valley lying
Blotted the pleasant May.

But deep in the glen's bosom
Summer slept in the fire
Of the odorous gorse-blossom
And the hot scent of the brier.

A ribald cuckoo clamoured,
And out of the copse the stroke
Of the iron axe that hammered
The iron heart of the oak.

Anon a sound appalling,
As a hundred years of pride
Crashed, in the silence falling;
And the shadowy pine-trees sighed.

1. Shorter Poems. Book IV. 7. “Gáy Róbin Is Seen No More”
2. Shorter Poems. Book II. 11. Dejection
3. Shorter Poems. Book V. 13. “A Song of My Heart, as the Sun Peered o’er the Sea”
4. Shorter Poems. Book V. 3. “Since to Be Loved Endures”
5. Shorter Poems. Book V. 15. “The north wind came up yesternight”

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