Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.
Of an OrchardKatharine Tynan Hinkson (18611931)
G
To meditate on life and death,
With a cool well, a hive of bees,
A hermit’s grot below the trees.
Though one should wear no monkish hood;
Right good when Spring awakes her flute,
And good in yellowing time of fruit:
And see the network ’gainst the sky,
A living lace of blue and green
And boughs that let the gold between.
With honey in a quiet cell;
The ripe fruit figures goldenly
The soul’s perfection in God’s eye.
Honey and fruit: a man might come
Fed on such meats to walk abroad
And in his Orchard talk with God.