| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | The Old | | By Roden Berkeley Wriothesley Noel (1834–1894) |
| | | 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. | | | | |
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