248. The Wind on the Downs by Marian Allen
b'M Allen read by Classic Poetry Aloud:\\nhttp://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/\\nGiving voice to the poetry of the past.\\n \\n---------------------------------------------\\n \\nThe Wind on the Downs\\nby Marian Allen\\n\\nI like to think of you as brown and tall,\\nAs strong and living as you used to be,\\nIn khaki tunic, Sam Brown belt and all,\\nAnd standing there and laughing down at me.\\nBecause they tell me, dear, that you are dead,\\nBecause I can no longer see your face,\\nYou have not died, it is not true, instead\\nYou seek adventure in some other place.\\nThat you are round about me, I believe;\\nI hear you laughing as you used to do,\\nYet loving all the things I think of you;\\nAnd knowing you are happy, should I grieve?\\nYou follow and are watchful where I go;\\nHow should you leave me, having loved me so?\\n\\n\\nWe walked along the tow-path, you and I,\\nBeside the sluggish-moving, still canal;\\nIt seemed impossible that you should die;\\nI think of you the same and always shall.\\nWe thought of many things and spoke of few,\\nAnd life lay all uncertainly before,\\nAnd now I walk alone and think of you,\\nAnd wonder what new kingdoms you explore.\\nOver the railway line, across the grass,\\nWhile up above the golden wings are spread,\\nFlying, ever flying overhead,\\nHere still I see your khaki figure pass,\\nAnd when I leave the meadow, almost wait\\nThat you should open first the wooden gate.'