Holy Ground
Shy maids have haunts of still delight,
The lover glades he never tells;
And one is mine where mass the bright
And odoured chimes of foxglove-bells.
A dewy, covert, silent place
Where surely long ago God walked
Close to His creature’s blinded face,
And for his finer moulding talked.
There hawthorn glows as if, white-hot,
God present, it were sacred found
To preach a creed too oft forgot—
That all we tread is holy ground.
Ah, could we but remember this,
Our thoughts would spring as purely up
To labour for our fellows’ bliss
As doth to heaven a snowdrop’s cup!
