The Land of Grimney - The Illustrated Adventures of Cora Pearl, aged 12

I said ages ago that I would post a few poems from my Friend's Grandfather's poetry book,
The Perfect Round with notes from his daughters Hilary Loder & Christine Peace

Here's one named PENDANT (1917)

They brought me from the battle-front
(The silly, interfering fools)
They tried on me their latest tools -
I knew not were they bright or blunt.

While underneath the pillow I
Had put your words in silent pain,
Thro' all their probing I was fain
In unfelt agony to lie.

Stabbed at my heart your bitter sting:
'I'm sorry, dear it had to be;
Life was so lonely here for me -
Except you kill them birds will sing.'

Ah! when you sing small wonder they
That hear you, turn aside to see;
What wonder that you do not flee
When Love is Love, and May is May!

And while the ghosts of yesteryear
Are marshalling a million lies,
The silly fools anaesthetise
The flesh that will not yield a tear.

Poem commentary in the book; through the horror of the trenches and the living hell of the war, from seeing his comrades and the enemy killed - to be wounded and then to receive the letter which he had put under his pillow, must indeed, have been devastating.
So many lives were lost, ruined, interrupted and destroyed by the war, but the comradeship and courage that kept the men going in the face of a world gone mad is food for thought.

THE PERFECT ROUND
(within part three: 1919-1937)

There is a rhythmic Unity of Aim
That moulds the pebble on the parent beach
And sways the frond athwart the utmost reach
Of all Life's waters; that, when Flood and Flame
From old identical Earth-dust proclaim
The coming of things new, puts bloom on peach
And sets the sign of Kind on all to teach
That Difference leads diversely to the Same.

The dew-pearl on the fragrant apple's rind
Was yestereve the rain upon the hill;
When the lone curlew cries along the wind
A moan escapes to mark some human ill:
Where the dim ways of Hell converge and start
We see at last the High Heaven's counterpart.

How proud those girls must be SMacca!

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http://barbarafromplanetzorg.wordpress.com

Thanks Meadow - It is a fabulous little book

Selwyn (1888-1966) never managed to get it published whilst he was alive (shame) and so his family did this on his behalf - book first published in 2007 so if you want to buy this delightful book it is £9.99 and ISBN numbers are:

isbn-10:1-898546-38-X
isbn-13:978-1-898546-38-2

one of his poems is ten ickle pages long!