England and Yesterday

<h2>VALEDICTION (R. L. S., 1894).</h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="verse">When from the vista of the Book I shrink,</div> <div class="verse">From lauded pens that earn ignoble wage,</div> <div class="verse">Begetting nothing joyous, nothing sage,</div> <div class="verse">Nor keep with Shakespeare’s use one golden link;</div> <div class="verse">When heavily my sanguine spirits sink,</div> <div class="verse">To read too plain on each impostor page</div> <div class="verse">Only of kings the broken lineage,</div> <div class="verse">Well for my peace if then on thee I think,</div> <div class="verse"><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</SPAN></span>Louis: our priest of letters, and our knight</div> <div class="verse">With whose familiar baldric hope is girt,</div> <div class="verse">From whose young hands she bears the Grail away.</div> <div class="verse">All glad, all great! Truer because thou wert,</div> <div class="verse">I am and must be; and in thy known light</div> <div class="verse">Go down to dust, content with this my day.</div> </div></div> <hr> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />