(Bretforton)
I know an inn where wood-smoke curls
From an old wide hearth,
Where the fire gleams in candlesticks
On the chimney-garth.
I know oak shelves where pewter plates
Stand in grave steel row,
Grey ghosts of harvest suppers
Unremembered now.
I know four oak beams thick as men,
With flagged floor beneath,
A high settle where the sword lay
Waiting in its sheath.
I know by the splintered sunlight
The burning brown of the woodwork
And the pewter’s stare,
That the room has a secret hidden—
Plain from flagged floor to rafters,
Yet locked in its air.