| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. | | | | The Farm on the Links | | | | Rosamund Marriott Watson (b. 1860) | | | | | | GRAY o’er the pallid links, haggard and forsaken, | | | Still the old roof-tree hangs rotting overhead, | | | Still the black windows stare sullenly to seaward, | | | Still the blank doorway gapes, open to the dead; | | | | | What is it cries with the crying of the curlews? | 5 | | What comes apace on those fearful, stealthy feet, | | | Back from the chill sea-deeps, gliding o’er the sand-dunes, | | | Home to the old home, once again to meet? | | | | | What is to say as they gather round the hearth-stone, | | | Flameless and dull as the feuds and fears of old? | 10 | | Laughing and fleering still, menacing and mocking, | | | Sadder than death itself, harsher than the cold. | | | | | Woe for the ruined hearth, black with dule and evil, | | | Woe for the wrong and the hate too deep to die! | | | Woe for the deeds of the dreary days past over, | 15 | | Woe for the grief of the gloomy days gone by! | | | | | Where do they come from? furtive and despairing, | | | Where are they bound for? those that gather there, | | | Slow, with the sea-wind sobbing through the chambers,— | | | Soft, with the salt mist stealing up the stair? | 20 | | | | Names that are nameless now, names of dread and loathing, | | | Banned and forbidden yet, dark with spot and stain: | | | Only the old house watches and remembers, | | | Only the old home welcomes them again. | | | | |
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