A Saxon Song

Tools with the comely names,    Mattock and scythe and spade,    Couth and bitter as flames,    Clean, and bowed in the blade,--A man and his tools make a man and his trade.    Breadth of the English shires,    Hummock and kame and mead,    Tang of the reeking byres,    Land of the English breed,--A man and his land make a man and his creed.    Leisurely flocks and herds,    Cool-eyed cattle that come    Mildly to wonted words,    Swine that in orchards roam,--A man and his beasts make a man and his home.    Children sturdy and flaxen    Shouting in brotherly strife,    Like the land they are Saxon,    Sons of a man and his wife,--For a man and his loves make a man and his life.