I

The R HYME

Fair Babe, I bless thee who thou art,
God and His Kingdom's counterpart.

I worship, laud, and magnify thee,
and, Holy! Holy! cry thee.

Hereafter, as old rhyme hath sung,
Thou'lt taste both joy and sorrow among .
And, last, translated with his Saints,
Thou'lt live in Him who in thee paints
His own divine delineaments,
The Idol of our earthly sense.

II.

The R IDDLE

Simichidas, thou love-demented loon!
What haste is this, when no man's need doth call?
Surely the gods have witched thee. 'Tis high noon.
No creature else hath any strength at all;
The spotted lizard sleeps upon the wall;
The skiey larks drop earthward for the boon
Of one still hour; the ants forget to crawl.
Naught stirs except the stones beneath thy shoon.
Nay, but I know; not love impels thee thus;
Thy journey's end will bring a baser gain.
Some burgher's feast or vintner's overplus
Of trodden grapes — for these thy feet are fain.

I thought upon my lady as I strode
Last night from labour, and bemoaned my lot,
Uncertain if she loves or loves me not,
Who gives no sign or token; till the road
Bent round and took me past my Love's abode.
And then some happy chance, I know not what,
Moved me to try a spell long time forgot,
By which Love's issue may be clear foreshowed.
I plucked a poppy from the wayside grass
And struck it sharply on my naked arm,
Striving to burst its inner heart. Alas!
The petals only clung in painless calm.
And then I knew how this could never be,

Good Tityros, attend these goats awhile,
And let me seek where Amaryllis hides,
Crannied, I guess, beneath that rocky pile
With fern atop and ivy-mantled sides.
'T is there most days the merry girl abides,
And flashes from her cave a sudden smile,
Which like a pharos-flame her lover guides
And makes him hope he looks not wholly vile.
If thou canst guard the flock while I am gone,
I will but notice how my lady fares,
Then hasten back and take the crook anon.
The goats are tame — the least of all my cares,

Whilom Love was like a fire, and warmth and comfort it bespoke;
But, alas! it now is quenched, and only bites us, like the smoke.

That haughty tyranny of thine,
That neck unbending, Love shall take,
I vow, and victim of thee make
In harsh subjection to repine.
Live out thy vain and care-free days,
Love's bitter ways
Shall charge the measure of my score,
When of thy sorrow none shall more
Take any notice whoso pays.

When through the golden locks that crown
Thy brows the scattered snows shall run,
And thy twin daystars have begun
To dim their lights of old renown;
When the first wrinkle line shall sear
Thy visage clear,

Those charming eyes within whose starry sphere
Love whilom sat, and smiled the hours away,—
Those braids of light, that shamed the beams of day,—
That hand benignant, and that heart sincere,—
Those virgin cheeks, which did so late appear
Like snow-banks scattered with the blooms of May,
Turned to a little cold and worthless clay,
Are gone, forever gone, and perished here,

But not unbathed by Memory's warmest tear!
Death thou hast torn, in one unpitying hour,
That fragrant plant, to which, while scarce a flower,

In the mid hours of the night when the Bear had turned around the hand of Bootes, and all the race of those who have speech lay silent, crafty Love beat on the fastenings of my door. I called out: " Who knocks at my door? Who are you who break my dreams? "
And Love said: " Open! It is a child, do not be afraid. I am drenched with wandering in the moonless night. "

I thought in a dream that Love with wings upon his shoulders and lead about his lovely feet, sped by and lighted down.
What does this mean? I think it means that after wandering in Love with many I am now taken from all others and bound hand and foot in this.

It is bitter not to be kissed, it is bitter to be kissed; but bitterer than all things is to lose one's love.
Love now has no child; O cunning one, old custom is disdained—they care only for money.
May he perish who first loved money! Through him there are no brothers, through him no fathers; enemies, murders, because of him.
And this is the worst—through him we that are lovers are destroyed.