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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  804. The Old

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

Roden Berkeley Wriothesley Noel. 1834–1894

804. The Old

THEY are waiting on the shore 
  For the bark to take them home: 
They will toil and grieve no more; 
  The hour for release hath come. 
 
All their long life lies behind         5
  Like a dimly blending dream: 
There is nothing left to bind 
  To the realms that only seem. 
 
They are waiting for the boat; 
  There is nothing left to do:  10
What was near them grows remote, 
  Happy silence falls like dew; 
Now the shadowy bark is come, 
  And the weary may go home. 
 
By still water they would rest  15
  In the shadow of the tree: 
After battle sleep is best, 
  After noise, tranquillity.