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| BENEATH fair Magdalen’s storied towers | |
| I wander in a dream, | |
| And hear the mellow chimes float out | |
| O’er Cherwell’s ice-bound stream. | |
| |
| Throstle and blackbird stiff with cold | 5 |
| Hop on the frozen grass; | |
| Among the aged, upright oaks | |
| The dun deer slowly pass. | |
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| The chapel organ rolls and swells, | |
| And voices still praise God; | 10 |
| But ah! the thought of youthful friends | |
| Who lie beneath the sod. | |
| |
| Now wounded men with gallant eyes | |
| Go hobbling down the street, | |
| And nurses from the hospitals | 15 |
| Speed by with tireless feet. | |
| |
| The town is full of uniforms, | |
| And through the stormy sky, | |
| Frightening the rooks from the tallest trees, | |
| The aeroplanes roar by. | 20 |
| |
| The older faces still are here, | |
| More grave and true and kind, | |
| Ennobled by the steadfast toil | |
| Of patient heart and mind. | |
| |
| And old-time friends are dearer grown | 25 |
| To fill a double place: | |
| Unshaken faith makes glorious | |
| Each forward-looking face. | |
| |
| Old Oxford walls are grey and worn: | |
| She knows the truth of tears, | 30 |
| But to-day she stands in her ancient pride | |
| Crowned with eternal years. | |
| |
| Gone are her sons: yet her heart is glad | |
| In the glory of their youth, | |
| For she brought them forth to live or die | 35 |
| By freedom, justice, truth. | |
| |
| Cold moonlight falls on silent towers; | |
| The young ghosts walk with the old; | |
| But Oxford dreams of the dawn of May | |
And her heart is free and bold.
Magdalen College,
January, 1917 | 40 |
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