A London Idyll

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Title:     A London Idyll
Author: John Presland [More Titles by Presland]

I

A heavy sky, and a drizzling rain
And the lamps in rigid rows;
Long smears of light all down the street
Where a lean cat stalking goes;

Blank, save a glimmer here and there
The gaunt dark houses stand--
And a man and a girl against the gate
Whispering, hand in hand.

There is a little dripping sound
Of rain from off the roof;
And gleaming like black armour goes
The policeman's waterproof.

He crosses the road to give them room
As he takes his evening beat;
He also knows that heaven may look
Like a rainy London street.




A LONDON IDYLL

II

Just to all of us once there comes
This splendour and wonder of love,
When the earth is transmuted to silver and gold,
And heaven opens above;

When all we have ever seen with our eyes,
Daily, under the sun,
Seems like a miracle, happening again
To us two, instead of to one.

When there is nothing so ugly or mean,
But somehow shimmers and glows
In that light, whose spring is within our hearts
And whose stream o'er the wide earth flows.

When the spirit of us that is prisoned within
Seems at last to have wings,
And, soaring, looks with no common eyes
On no other than common things;

When we may freely enter and share
Heaven's splendour and mirth--
Just for a moment to all of us comes
This glory of love upon earth.

[The end]
John Presland's poem: London Idyll

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