| |
| “HAVE you been with the King to Rome, | |
| Brother, big brother?” | |
| “I’ve been there and I’ve come home. | |
| Back to your play, little brother.” | |
| |
| “Oh, how high is Cæsar’s house, | 5 |
| Brother, big brother?” | |
| “Goats about the doorways browse; | |
| Night-hawks nest in the burnt roof-tree. | |
| Home of the wild bird and home of the bee, | |
| A thousand chambers of marble lie | 10 |
| Wide to the sun and the wind and the sky. | |
| Poppies we find amongst our wheat | |
| Grow on Cæsar’s banquet seat. | |
| Cattle crop and neat-herds drowse | |
| On the floors of Cæsar’s house.” | 15 |
| |
| “But what has become of Cæsar’s gold, | |
| Brother, big brother?” | |
| “The times are bad and the world is old— | |
| Who knows the where of the Cæsar’s gold? | |
| Night comes black o’er the Cæsar’s hill; | 20 |
| The wells are deep and the tales are ill; | |
| Fireflies gleam in the damp and mold— | |
| All that is left of the Cæsar’s gold. | |
| Back to your play, little brother.” | |
| |
| “What has become of the Cæsar’s men, | 25 |
| Brother, big brother?” | |
| “Dogs in the kennel and wolf in the den | |
| Howl for the fate of the Cæsar’s men, | |
| Slain in Asia, slain in Gaul, | |
| By Dacian border and Persian wall. | 30 |
| Rhineland orchard and Danube fen | |
| Fatten their roots on Cæsar’s men.” | |
| |
| “Why is the world so sad and wide, | |
| Brother, big brother?” | |
| “Saxon boys by their fields that bide | 35 |
| Need not know if the world is wide. | |
| Climb no mountain but Shere-end Hill, | |
| Cross no water but goes to mill. | |
| Ox in the stable and cow in the byre, | |
| Smell of the wood-smoke and sleep by the fire; | 40 |
| Sun-up in seed-time—a likely lad | |
| Hurts not his head that the world is sad. | |
| Back to your play, little brother.” | |
| |
