Page:Soldier poets, songs of the fighting men, 1916.djvu/54

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

DYNELEY HUSSEY

Lieut. 13th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers

Youth

O LITTLE flower,
That yet dost not disclose
The secrets which thy closed bud scarce knows,
I blow upon thy petals that thine hour
Be hastened, the awakening to thy power.


Short is the time,
O flower, and full of storms;
The summer sky is dark with warlike forms
Of battling rains, and thunder-clouds that climb
Laden with danger up the blue sublime.


The night-born dew
Shall, on thy lip, be wine;
The worship of the wide stars shall be thine;
And the vast, mottled Heaven to thy view
Shall spread its cloak of cloud and changeless blue;


And thou shalt hear
Of birds sweet poetry,
And deep-droned wisdom from the noonday bee;
And gaudy butterflies shall flutter near
To whisper gallant secrets in thine ear.


50