Rhymes from a Suburb

This is first known published work by Lord Dunsany.

When smoke into aether went,

And dust along the highway whirled

With breezes from the downs of Kent,

And mists about the houses curled,

Winds came at times and brought the scent

Of roses from the outer world.

But when the snow-clouds veiled the sky,

And dreary was the town of Lee,

And carts unseen went rumbling by,

And all was dull as death could be,

There came a whirring and a cry,

And geese went over to the sea;

And brought us glimpses as they flew

Of that which lived beyond the town,

Where rushes by the waters grew

And all the hills went sloping down

To meet the moor, where ever blew

The wind that turns the woodlands brown.

By Edward Plunkett

for Pall Mall Magazine No. 53 (September 1897)