Near and Far (Blunden)/The Study

by Edmund Blunden

The Study

While I sit penning plans of dead affairs,And hardly pause but when some wilder gustDrives the mist shower with a more savage thrustAgainst my window, hark! what sweeter caresFind a shy voice, that makes my writing cease,And in this room of shelves, and books,and files,The ranked and crested past, what pleasure smiles!The dead withdraw, the living shares their peace.

For down my chimney with the dripping rainCome tiny trills and chirps and silvery notesLike whistling mice; it's nesting-time again;There in the dimness gape what eager throatsOf the new brood, who through this tempest dunKnow they are for the singing and the sun!