English

In the hour of twilight shadows
The Pilgrim sire looked out;
He thought of the " bloudy Salvages "
That lurked all round about,
Of Wituwamet's pictured knife
And Pecksuot's whooping shout;
For the baby's limbs were feeble,
Though his father's arms were stout.

His home was a freezing cabin,
Too bare for the hungry rat;
Its roof was thatched with ragged grass,
And bald enough of that;
The hole that served for casement
Was glazed with an ancient hat,
And the ice was gently thawing

Fragment I.

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Truss with your falsehoods, ye dogmatic fools!
Refuse of colleges, and dregs of schools!
Why buds the olive, and why grows the vine?
To glad our hearts, and make our faces shine:
In vain before us has th' Almighty plac'd
Delicious viands, if we dare not taste;
If 'tis damnation to admire the fair,
Why has he deck'd them with such curious care?
Their graceful limbs in nice proportion drest,

Chap. III. paraphrased

When, in a glorious terrible array,
From Paran's tow'ring height th' Almighty took his way,
Borne on a cherub's wings her rode,
Intolerable day proclaim'd the God;
No earthly cloud
Could his effulgent brightness shroud;
Glory, and Majesty, and Power,
March'd in a dreadful pomp before;
Behind a grim and meagre train,
Pining Sickness, frantic Pain,
Stalk'd wildly on! with all the dismal band
Which heaven in anger sends to scourge a guilty land.

BETWIXT A WIFE, A WIDOW, AND A MAID . WIFE .

Widow, well met; whither go you today?
Will you not to this solemn offering go?
You know it is Astrea's holy day,
The saint to whom all hearts devotion owe. WIDOW .

Marry, what else? I purposed so to do:
Do you not mark how all the wives are fine,
And how they have sent presents ready too,
To make their offering at Astrea's shrine?

See, then, the shrine and tapers burning bright!
Come, friend, and let us first ourselves advance;

Necessity, whom long I deemed my foe,
Thou cold, unsmiling, and hard-visaged dame,
Now I no longer see thy face, I know
Thou wert my friend beyond reproach or blame.

My best achievements and the fairest flights
Of my winged fancy were inspired by thee;
Thy stern voice stirred me to the mountain heights;
Thy importunings bade me do and be.

But for thy breath, the spark of living fire
Within me might have smoldered out at length;
But for thy lash which would not let me tire,

Who lives not in the heart of woman, lives
In God's heart never, though the hand may press
God's hand. Who knows not the divine caress
Knows not the holiest rapture God's touch gives.
Who wills to win the most, the most receives:
Who never knew the glory of a rose
Full little of God's inmost glory knows
Or of the height of rapture love achieves.

In holiest pureness seek the kiss divine:
Make all its perfect subtle fragrance thine:
Find God revealed in woman's wondrous face.
Did God make woman for a temptress? Nay,

The dream that we beheld will never more
On mortal wondering dazzled eyes descend.
The sea, less jewelled, will break along the shore:
Love's voice with music will less softly blend.

The rose will veil its splendour when we die.
" Something there was within its tender bloom "
Each loving heart may say, " which, living, I,
I only, saw, — that ceases at my tomb "

And woman? Did not one soul find her fair
Beyond all mortals who have lived and died?
Breathe all heaven's fragrance in her marvellous hair?

I .

Through woman still the eternal God-power pours
 Its wealth of passion and its glory of form
 God's breast is in the white breast, sweet and warm,
And subtle flower-scents from far heavenly shores
That who inhales in rapturous trance adores.
 The impassioned sense of “conjugal repose”
 God only, being perfect sex-God, knows
And gives to man from his exhaustless stores.

Dim-seen religions of ancestral lands
 Erring, it may be, none the less were nearer

What hope for England, if no man be found
With brain to succour, and with strength to lead?
Earth yet may witness, if no soul gives heed,
A once Imperial race debased, discrowned
To widen Empire to earth's furthest bound
Is not to rule, to triumph, to succeed.
We fought for Freedom? Nay, we fought for greed
Wild lust for gold runs noblest states aground.

On Empire's giddiest height to-day we stand:
Who climbs so hugely wins the whole world's hate:
One false step hurls from heaven to deepest hell

Ever, through darkness and unmeasured gloom,
When after soft arms' scent and warm embrace
I meet the eyeless mute deliberate face
That waits and threatens where no bounteous bloom
Of summer fills the fields no suns illume,
May I bear with me to the joyless place
Eternal dreams of one white goddess grace
Whom I have served, — and will serve to the tomb.

For she the queen, when once her lips have smiled,
Forbids the soul she smiles on ever to flee:
She lures him as the flowers' smile lures a child