All white with daisies as green tide with surf, (No star-bedizened belt of white Orion's Holds lovelier constellations than this turf) Past little closes set with dandelions
(And set so full that yellow ousts the green And brags of victory shouting to the sun) I urged me till beneath the sky's hot sheen These heights of stony solitude were won.
Here on the crack'd white clods I stand elated Whose iron verge scarce crumbles at my heels So hath the effulgent ether indurated The slot of horse-hoofs and the track of wheels;
And now, and now, the spirit no longer spent In ease that overtops itself, takes grace, Cleansed by the sweat of that divine ascent, Exulting in the harsh unshaded place.
For here where God hath been so hard to shackle The martyred earth He hath His first acclaim, Still the parched flowers burn round His tabernacle, The unwatered hills are vocal with His Name.
When milder days are well begun, And window-sills are warm in the sun, And grannies in white mufflers meet Friends at the turn of every street,
When at the doctor's door you dread Upon his spaniel's ears to tread Who by the scraper lays to doze His ginger lovelocks and his nose,
When the oldest alms-folk rise and peer Out of their painted doors, to hear The bellman's speech ere he be gone-- Then April comes to Abingdon.
Decorum and the butcher's cat Are seldom far apart-- From dawn when clouds surmount the air, Piled like a beauty's powdered hair, Till dusk, when down the misty square Rumbles the latest cart
He sits in coat of white and grey Where the rude cleaver's shock Horrid from time to time descends, And his imposing presence lends Grace to a platform that extends Beneath the chopping-block.
How tranquil are his close-piled cheeks, His paws, sequestered warm! An oak-grained panel backs his head And all the stock-in-trade is spread, A symphony in white and red, Round his harmonious form.
The butcher's brave cerulean garb Flutters before his face, The cleaver dints his little roof Of furrowed wood; remote, aloof, He sits superb and panic proof In his accustomed place.
Threading the columned County Hall, Midmost before his eyes, Alerter dog and loitering maid Cross from the sunlight to the shade, And small amenities of trade Under the gables rise;