Classic Poem

H UGO and O RION in a chamber. Evening . Orion:

Your eyes are hollow, your step is slow,
 And your cheek is pallid as though from toil,
Watching, or fasting, by which I know
 That you have been burning the midnight oil. Hugo:

Aye, three nights running. Orion:
'Twill never do
 To travel all day, and study all night;
Will you join in a gallop through mist and dew,
In a flight that may vie with the eagle's flight? Hugo:

With all my heart. Shall we saddle “Rollo?” Orion:

 Nay, leave him undisturb'd in his stall;
I have steeds he would hardly care to follow. Hugo:

Follow, forsooth! he can lead them all. Orion:

Touching his merits we will not quarrel,
 But let me mount you for once; enough
Of work may await your favourite sorrel,
 And the paths we must traverse to-night are rough.
But first let me mix you a beverage,
 To invigorate your enfeebled frame.
All human ills this draught can assuage. Hugo:

 It hisses and glows like liquid flame;
Say, what quack nostrum is this thou'st brewed?
 Speak out; I am learned in the chemist's lore. Orion:

There is nothing but what will do you good:
 And the drugs are simples; 'tis hellebore,
Nepenthe, upas, and dragon's blood,
 Absinthe, and mandrake, and mandragore. Hugo:

I will drink it, although, by mass and rood,
 I am just as wise as I was before.