for Donald Davie's 70th birthday: To a Yorkshireman In Devon

Eden was never Abyssinian -
In spite of Milton and received opinion.
He chose, at last, the paradise within.
'Within'⁷, without the rest of it, sounds thin -
Even to one like me who, as you say,
Has gilded rural scenes inordinately:
I could not live only on leaves and grass
For all my equanimity, but let that pass.
Gurney thanked God for Gloucestershire. You see
At once how a mere county boundary
Could not explain the intentions of the Lord.
And yet, is it, Donald, utterly absurd
Like Edward Thomas to accept a war
Convinced it was Eden you were fighting for? -
That Eden Gurney found on midnight walks
Glimmering along boughs, up nettle stalks,
Through constellations that the Romans knew
...