Word from Home is an anthology of prose and verse compiled for THE KING’S FORCES by Lt. General Sir Tom Bridges and published by English University Press.

I often pick up books that look interesting and this is one such book. It came out in 1940 and has a diverse range of poems and poets. I have selected one to share today.   It is called The Sunken Garden by Walter De La Mare.

Speak not – whisper not;

Here bloweth thyme and bergamot;

Softly on the evening hour,

Secret herbs their spices shower,

Dark-spiked rosemary and myrrh,

Lean-stalked, purple lavender;

Hides within her bosom, too,

All her sorrows, bitter rue.

Breathe not – trespass not;

Of this green and darkling spot,

Latticed from the moon’s beams,

Perchance a distant dreamer dreams;

Perchance upon its darkening air,

The unseen ghosts of children fare,

Faintly swinging, sway and sweep,

Like lovely sea-flowers in the deep;

While, unmoved, to watch and ward

Amid its gloomed and daisied sward

Stands with bowed and dewy head

That one little leaden Lad.