StoryTitle("caps", "The Blooming of the White Thorn") ?>
StoryOrigin("center", SmallCapsText("Edith Matilda Thomas") ) ?>
PoemStart() ?>
PagePoem(100, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "God shield ye, comrades of the road!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " And while our way we hold,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "List while I tell how it first befell", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " In the wondrous days of old.", "") ?>
Separator(90, 5, "*") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "From off the sea, the pilgrims came,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " With sea-toil wracked and worn;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The air blew keen, and the frost was sheen,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " Upon that wintry morn.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Through Glastonbury street went they;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " And ever on, and on,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Till they pass the well of the fairy spell,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " And the oak of Avalon.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "They hear the rustling leaves and few,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " That linger on the bough;", "") ?>
PagePoem(101, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But still they fare through the bitter air,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " And climb a hill-slope now.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "On Weary-All-Hill their feet they stay", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " (Full well that Hill ye know);", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "There may they rest, by toil oppressed,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " While round them drops the snow.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And one—far gone in age was he—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " As snow, his locks were white—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The staff of thorn which he had borne,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " Did plant upon that height.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A thorn-stick dry, that pilgrim staff,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " He set it in the ground:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And, swift as sight, with blossoms white", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " The branching staff was crowned!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Each year since then (if sooth men say)", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " Upon this Blessed Morn,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Who climbs that Hill, may see at will", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " The flower upon the thorn!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Howe'er the wind may drive the sleet,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " That thorn will blooming be;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And some have seen a fair Child lean", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " From out that blossomed tree!", "") ?>
PagePoem(102, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "One moment only—then, apace,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " Both flower and leaf are shorn;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And, gaunt and chill, on Weary-All-Hill,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " There stands an ancient thorn!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "God shield ye, comrades of the road—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " With grace your spirits fill,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "That ye may see the White-thorn tree", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", " A-bloom on Weary-All-Hill!", "") ?>
PoemEnd() ?>