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I am a Goddess of the ambrosial courts,
And save by Here, Queen of Pride, surpassed
By none whose temples whiten this the world.
Thro' Heaven I roll my lucid moon along;...

I.
That was I, you heard last night,
When there rose no moon at all,
Nor, to pierce the strained and tight
Tent of heaven, a planet small:
Life was dead and so was light.

II....

TO MRS. ARTHUR BRONSON
...

Referring to the third verse of this poem, the Pall Mall Gazette of February 1, 1890, said: 'One evening, just before his death-illness, the poet was reading this from a proof to his daughter-in-law and sister. He said: 'It alm...

'The Poet's age is sad: for why?
In youth, the natural world could show
No common object but his eye
At once involved with alien glow,
His own soul's iris-bow.

'And now a flower is just a flower:...

What a pretty tale you told me
Once upon a time
Said you found it somewhere (scold me!)
Was it prose or was it rhyme,
Greek or Latin? Greek, you said,
While your shoulder propped my head.
...

I

Oh Galuppi, Baldassaro, this is very sad to find!
I can hardly misconceive you; it would prove me deaf and blind;
But although I take your meaning, 'tis with such a heavy mind!

II
...

The figure that thou here seest . . . Tut!
Was it for gentle Shakespeare put?
- B. JORSON. (Adapted.)



I 'next poet?' No, my hearties,
I nor am nor fain would be!...

O the old wall here! How I could pass
Life in a long midsummer day,
My feet confined to a plot of grass,
My eyes from a wall not once away!

And lush and lithe do the creepers clothe...

I.

Let's contend no more, Love,
Strive nor weep:
All be as before, Love,
Only sleep!

II.

What so wild as words are?
I and thou
In debate, as birds are,...

Last night I saw you in my sleep:
And how your charm of face was changed!
I asked, 'Some love, some faith you keep?'
You answered, 'Faith gone, love estranged.'

Whereat I woke, a twofold bliss:...

You in the flesh and here,
Your very self! Now, wait!
One word! May I hope or fear?
Must I speak in love or hate?
Stay while I ruminate!

The fact and each circumstance...

This was my dream: I saw a Forest
Old as the earth, no track nor trace
Of unmade man. Thou, Soul, explorest,
Though in a trembling rapture, space
Immeasurable! Shrubs, turned trees,...

It happened thus: my slab, though new,
Was getting weather-stained, beside,
Herbage, balm, peppermint, o'ergrew
Letter and letter: till you tried
Somewhat, the Name was scarce descried.
...

This strange thing happened to a painter once:
Viterbo boasts the man among her sons
Of note, I seem to think: his ready tool
Picked up its precepts in Cortona's school...

I.
Let them fight it out, friend! things have gone too far.
God must judge the couple: leave them as they are
Whichever one's the guiltless, to his glory,
And whichever one the guilt's with, to my story!...

'Would a man 'scape the rod?'
Rabbi Ben Karshook saith,
'See that he turn to God
The day before his death.'

'Ay could a man enquire
When it shall come!' I say,
The Rabbi's eye shoots fire...

We were two lovers; let me lie by her,
My tomb beside her tomb. On hers inscribe,
'I loved him; but my reason bade prefer
Duty to love, reject the tempter's bribe
Of rose and lily when each path diverged,...

No more wine? then we'll push back chairs and talk.
A final glass for me, tho'; cool, i'faith!
We ought to have our Abbey back, you see.
It's different, preaching in basilicas,...

I.

How well I know what I mean to do
When the long dark autumn-evenings come:
And where, my soul, is thy pleasant hue?
With the music of all thy voices, dumb
In life's November too!

II....