IN THE TOWN
Reading edition
By the same Author.
THE LOIRE.
WAYS OF ESCAPE.
DREAM CITIES.
IT’S AN ILL WIND.
ON THE ROAD: A BOOK OF TRAVEL SONGS
IN THE TOWN
A Book of London Verses
By DOUGLAS GOLDRING
London SELWYN AND BLOUNT 27 Chancery Lane, W.C. 1916
Twenty of the verses in this book are now printed for the first time, a few have appeared in magazines, and the remainder are taken from an earlier volume called “Streets.”
PRINTED BY THE WESTMINSTER PRESS 411A HARROW ROAD, LONDON, W
This great grey city that bred me and mine— Supreme, mysterious, dirty and divine— Is made up all of contrast, light and gloom. It has green hills and parks where flowers bloom; And shadowed pathways where young lips are shy And warm hands tangle while the night slips by; Deserts of humble brick, resigned and drear; And crowded centres, full of light and cheer; Thronged streets where jostle theatre and hotel, And stately terraces where rich folk dwell.... It has black alleys, and most dismal plains Crossed by long, steady, fire-emitting trains; Foul slums and palaces, prisons and spires And suburbs where the jaundiced clerk expires. But love and hope are always with us, too: And such bright eyes, to make the sky seem blue! All of my life I have spent up and down Adventurously, in this unending town, And magic things have seen at Fortune Green And fairies loitering in a grove at Sheen; Chelsea made crimson in the sunset’s glare; The dawn transfiguring even Russell Square.... And I have watched, all through a summer’s day, The brown-winged barges loaded up with hay, And seen the heavy cargo-steamers slide Past Woolwich Ferry, with the flowing tide; Found joy in travel on a motor ’bus, And glowing worlds Within the Radius! And so, for songs, my heart must needs repeat The cries and whispers of the London street.