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A Time will Come (1915)
A time will come, a time will come,
(Though the world will never be quite the same),
When the people sit in the summer sun,
Watching, watching the beautiful game.

A time will come, a time will come,
With fifteen stars in a green heaven,
Two to be batting, two to judge,
And round about them the fair Eleven.

A time will come, a time will come,
When the people sit with a peaceful heart,
Watching the beautiful, beautiful game,
That is battle and service and sport and art.

A time will come, a time will come,
When the crowds will gaze on the game and the green,
Soberly watching the beautiful game,
Orderly, decent, calm, serene.

The easy figures go out and in,
The click of the bat sounds clear and well,
And over the studying, critical crowds
Cricket will cast her witching spell.

Yet a time will come, a time will come,
Come to us all as we watch, and seem
To be heart and soul in the beautiful game,
When we shall remember and wistfully dream—

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Dream of the boys who never were here,
Born in the days of evil chance,
Who never knew sport or easy days,
But played their game in the fields of France.

The Wit
While the dull talk idly streams,
He sits upon the bank and dreams,
Till some careless word that's said
Finds a fellow in his head.—

He with one great bound is borne
From Dent Blanche to Matterhorn;
And his passage is so fast
Over that abyss so vast,
He has not seen how bluely shines
The deep gulf in his pelt of pines,
Nor heard the waste and watery voice
Wherewith the wind-washed pines rejoice.

In a moment's thousandth part,
In the beat of the bee's heart,
He has flown it: 'tis away
Where the kite and eagle play.
Tho' the chamois, lithe and fine,
Passes it 'twixt wake and dine;
Tho' the dun geier, gaunt and lean,
Flash across that gulf between

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Sol's first footing of his bed
And the covering of his head,
What he's compassed in one stride
Is two days for the Zermatt guide.

Arnold Wall.