Mikeharvey
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from 'The Everlasting Mercy' by John MasefieldThese lines are the concluding lines of John Masefield’s long narrative poem ‘The Everlasting Mercy’. I first read them over fifty years ago and still love them.
How swift the summer goes,
Forget-me-not, pink, rose,
The young grass when I started
And now the hay is carted,
And now my song is ended,
And all the summer spended;
The blackbird’s second brood
Routs beech-leaves in the wood,
The pink and rose have speeded,
Forget-me-not has seeded.
Only the winds that blew,
The rain that makes things new,
The earth that hides things old,
And blessings manifold.
O lovely lily clean,
O lily springing green,
O lily bursting white,
Dear lily of delight,
Spring in my heart again
That I may flower to men.
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