For All Prisoners And Captives

OVER the English trees and the English meadows Twilight is falling clear, But my heart walks far in the homeless winds and the shadows For those who are not here. Youth and pleasure and peace and the strong flesh clothing The freeman's soul, they gave; Beauty they gave for a scar and honour for loathing And life for a living grave. But not of the least they gave was the English, mellow Sunlight on beech leaves spread, And the Squirrel flickering earthward to find his fellow Where the chestnut husks lie dead. And not of the least they lost was the calm star climbing Over the elm tree's height, And the heron high in the mists, and the hoar frost riming The ivy leaves at night. Night and the early moon, and the dead leaves burning, And England secure and free By the price of uncounted heartbreaks toward her turning Across her kindred sea. Night, and the smell of the earth, and the blue reek lifting Straight as a prayer from the plain. Loose them, O Sleep, to the sun and the beech leaves drifting And the stubble fields again! Night, and the robins still, and the long smoke folding, The fallow on either hand, And the spirits of those who sorrow afar, beholding In dreams their native land.