Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HEART OF HAMPSHIRE, by CHARLES WILLIAM BRODRIBB


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HEART OF HAMPSHIRE, by                
First Line: O heart of hampshire, primrose-paved woods
Last Line: Time hath, unthanked of me, had grace to spare.
Subject(s): Hampshire, England


O Heart of Hampshire, primrose-paved woods,
I have revisited your solitudes
And know them not less lovely than before.
But fears I had, for roads have learnt to roar
With wildest traffickers since I saw you last,
And I had half believed you by their blast
Tamed to a suburb; for the town hath spread
Sprinkling its cheap-built villas of bright red
Wide over fields of old, and in the street
A vile electric theatre stares to greet
Sight that had searched for candles or the sky.
Yet faring onwards, Heart of Hampshire, I
Found thee unsullied, though the upland road,
Where flint and chalk gleamed white and snails abode,
Be now made dull with concrete: O bleak hill,
Steep once to me, be steep to others still!
Where through sonorous copses not yet green,
Beyond thy brow, the April wind blows keen,
Defend what thou concealest, hold afar
Whate'er of man's deformity might mar
Those plunging woods whose floor is primrose-pied,
But lacks the warmer growth, else unespied
But here and there for ancient clustered yew;
And keep unharmed the beechen avenue,
Which through these twenty winters standing bare
Time hath, unthanked of me, had grace to spare.





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