Two Poems from The Listener

In Loyal Memory of King George V

Now in the treasury and ancient store
Of England's memories is laid away,
Among the noblest of that bright array,
With all men's reverance, one memory more,
The loss of such a King; for, many a day,
And more than we have known, he turned away
Dangers that threatened England to the core.

He knew the tempest early, and when he
Came to what some think ease and ruled this realm,
More then the tempests that he met at sea
Broke on him standing lonely at the helm.
And he has steered us past the rocks where lie
Less happy empires ruined utterly.

-from The Listener, 30 January 1936