The Ballad of St. Barbara and other verses/On the Downs
ON THE DOWNS
When you came over the top of the worldIn the great day on the Downs,The air was crisp and the clouds were curled,When you came over the top of the world,And under your feet were spire and streetAnd seven English towns.
And I could not think that the pride was perishedAs you came over the down;Liberty, chivalry, all we cherished,Lost in a rattle of pelf and perished;Or the land we love that you walked aboveWithering town by town.
For you came out on the dome of the earthLike a vision of victory.Out on the great green dome of the earthAs the great blue dome of the sky for girth,And under your feet the shires could meetAnd your eyes went out to sea.
Under your feet the towns were seven,Alive and alone on high, Your back to the broad white wall of heaven;You were one and the towns were seven,Single and one as the soaring sunAnd your head upheld the sky.
And I thought of a thundering flag unfurledAnd the roar of the burghers' bell:Beacons crackled and bolts were hurledAs you came over the top of the world;And under your feet were chance and cheatAnd the slime of the slopes of hell.
It has not been as the great wind spokeOn the great green down that day:We have seen, wherever the wide wind spoke,Slavery slaying the English folk:The robbers of land we have seen commandThe rulers of land obey.
We have seen the gigantic golden wormsIn the garden of paradise:We have seen the great and the wise make termsWith the peace of snakes and the pride of worms,And them that plant make covenantWith the locust and the lice.
And the wind blows and the world goes onAnd the world can say that we,Who stood on the cliffs where the quarries shone,Stood upon clouds that the sun shone on:And the clouds dissunder and drown in thunderThe news that will never be.
Lady of all that have loved the people,Light over roads astray,Maze of steading and street and steeple,Great as a heart that has loved the people:Stand on the crown of the soaring down,Lift up your arms and pray.
Only you I have not forgottenFor wreck of the world's renown,Rending and ending of things gone rotten,Only the face of you unforgotten:And your head upthrown in the skies aloneAs you came over the down.