Nature selects the longest way,
\nAnd winds about in tortuous grooves;
\nA thousand years the oaks decay;
\nThe wrinkled glacier hardly moves.<\/p>\n
But here the whetted fangs of change
\nDaily devour the old demesne \u2013
\nThe busy farm, the quiet grange,
\nThe wayside inn, the village green.<\/p>\n
In gaudy yellow brick and red,
\nWith rooting pipes, like creepers rank,
\nThe shoddy terraces o’erspread
\nMeadow, and garth, and daisied bank.<\/p>\n
With shelves for rooms the houses crowd,
\nLike draughty cupboards in a row \u2013
\nIce-chests when wintry winds are loud,
\nOvens when summer breezes blow.<\/p>\n
Roused by the fee’d policeman’s knock,
\nAnd sad that day should come again,
\nUnder the stars the workmen flock
\nIn haste to reach the workmen’s train.<\/p>\n
For here dwell those who must fulfil
\nDull tasks in uncongenial spheres,
\nWho toil through dread of coming ill,
\nAnd not with hope of happier years \u2013<\/p>\n
The lowly folk who scarcely dare
\nConceive themselves perhaps misplaced,
\nWhose prize for unremitting care
\nIs only not to be disgraced.<\/p>\n
*\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *<\/p>\n
From New Ballads<\/em>, 1897.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nature selects the longest way, And winds about in tortuous grooves; A thousand years the oaks decay; The wrinkled glacier hardly moves. But here the whetted fangs of change Daily devour the old demesne \u2013 The busy farm, the quiet grange, The wayside inn, the village green. In gaudy yellow brick and red, With rooting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":1534,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1565","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.literaryplaces.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.literaryplaces.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.literaryplaces.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.literaryplaces.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.literaryplaces.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1565"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.literaryplaces.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1568,"href":"http:\/\/www.literaryplaces.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1565\/revisions\/1568"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.literaryplaces.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.literaryplaces.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}