BALLADE OF THE UNCHANGING BELOVED
Reading edition
(TO I——a)
When rumour fain would fright my ear With the destruction and decay Of things familiar and dear, And vaunt of a swift-running day That sweeps the fair old Past away; Whatever else be strange and new, All other things may go or stay, So that there be no change in you.
These loud mutations others fear Find me high-fortressed 'gainst dismay, They trouble not the tranquil sphere That hallows with immortal ray The world where love and lovers stray In glittering gardens soft with dew— O let them break and burn and slay, So that there be no change in you.
Let rapine its republics rear, And murder its red sceptre sway, Their blood-stained riot comes not near The quiet haven where we pray, And work and love and laugh and play; Unchanged, our skies are ever blue, Nothing can change, for all they say,— So that there be no change in you.
ENVOI
Princess, let wild men brag and bray, The pure, the beautiful, the true. Change not, and changeless we as they— So that there be no change in you.