Poems (Radford)/Out on the Moor

by Dollie Radford

Out on the Moor

I have been wandering to-day
 Out on the moor, and have seen
The country stretching far away,
 In stony slopes and wastes of green.

I watched the distant hill-tops lie
 Out in the sun-set fair and free,
Like purple clouds across the sky,
 —And further still the line of sea.

I heard the lark above me sing,
 I saw the plover flying near,
And many a little hidden spring,
 And twinkling water brown and clear.

And brightest sun and darkest shower,
 And day and night-time come to rest,
With toiling wind and tenderest flower,
 Upon the moor's untiring breast.

We falter in our smiles and tears,
 We faint with joys and sorrows won,
The moors stretch out through all the years,
 In perfect peace—till Time be done.

And peace is love, dear love I know
 There is no greater thing than this,
It is the utmost love can show,
 It is the utmost love can miss.

The love within my soul for thee,
 Before the world was had its birth,
It is the part God gives to me
 Of the great wisdom of the earth.