No where by thee my steps shall be, For ever and for ever. But here will sigh thine alder tree, A thousand suns will stream on thee, THE BEGGAR MAID. HER arms across her breast she laid; She was more fair than words can say: Bare-footed came the beggar maid In robe and crown the king stept down, To meet and greet her on her way; "It is no wonder," said the lords, "She is more beautiful than day." As shines the moon in clouded skies, She in her poor attire was seen: One praised her ankles, one her eyes, One her dark hair and lovesome mien. So sweet a face, such angel grace, This beggar maid shall be my Low voluptuous music winding trembled, Wov'n in circles: they that heard it sigh'd, Panted hand in hand with faces pale, Swung themselves, and in low tones replied; Till the fountain spouted, showering wide Sleet of diamond-drift and pearly hail; Then the music touch'd the gates and died; Rose again from where it seem'd to fail, Storm'd in orbs of song, a growing gale; Till thronging in and in, to where they waited, As 'twere a hundred-throated nightingale, The strong tempestuous treblo throbb'd and palpitated: Ran into its giddiest whirl of sound, Caught the sparkles, and in circles,” Purple gauzes, golden hazes, liquid And then I look'd up toward a mountain-tract, That girt the region with high cliff and lawn: I saw that every morning, far withdrawn Beyond the darkness and the cataract, God made himself an awful rose of dawn, Unheeded and detaching, fold by fold, From those still heights, and, slowly drawing near, A vapor heavy, hueless, formless, cold, Came floating on for many a month and year, Unheeded and I thought I would have spoken, And warn'd that madman ere it grew too late: But, as in dreams, I could not. Mine was broken. When that cold vapor touch'd the palace gate, And link'd again. I saw within my head A gray and gap-tooth'd man as lean as death, Who slowly rode across a wither'd heath, And lighted at a ruin'd inn, and said: IV. "Wrinkled ostler, grim and thin! See that shee.s are on my bed; Let us hob-and-nob with Death, That my youth was half divine. And the leaf is stamp'd in clay, What for order or degree? Let me loose thy tongue with wine: Callest thou that thing a leg? Which is thinnest ? thine or mine? Every moment one is born. "Name and fame! to fly sublime Thro' the courts, the camps, the schools, Is to be the ball of Time, Bandied by the hands of fools. How she mouths behind my back. Mix'd with cunning sparks of hell. "Fill the cup, and fill the can: Every moment one is born. For they know not what they mean "He that roars for liberty Faster binds a tyrant's power; "No, I love not what is new She is of an ancient house: And I think we know the huo Of that cap upon her brows. "Let her go! her thirst she slakes Where the bloody conduit runs: Then her sweetest meal she makes On the first-born of her sons. "Drink to lofty hopes that coolVisions of a perfect State: Drink we, last, the public fool, Frantic love and frantic hate. "('hant me now some wicked stave, Till thy drooping courage rise, And the glow-worm of the grave Glimmer in thy rheumy eyes. "Fear not thou to loose thy tongue; Set thy hoary fancies free; What is loathsome to the young Savors well to thee and me. "Change, reverting to the years, When thy nerves could understand What there is in loving tears, And the warmth of hand in hand. And the dead begin to dance. Hollow hearts and empty heads ! "Death is king, and Vivat Rex! Tread a measure on the stones, ODE.-INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION. Madam-if I know your sex, From the fashion of your bones, "No, I cannot praise the fire In your eye-nor yet your lip: All the more do I admire Joints of cunning workmanship. "Lo! God's likeness the ground plan Neither modell'd, glazed, or framed: Buss me, thou rough sketch of man, Far too naked to be shamed! "Drink to Fortune, drink to Chance, While we keep a little breath! Drink to heavy Ignorance! Hob-and-nob with brother Death! "Thou art mazed, the night is long, And the longer night is near: What! I am not all as wrong As a bitter jest is dear. "Youthful hopes, by scores, to all. When the locks are crisp and curl'd; Unto me my maudlin gall And my mockeries of the world. "Fill the cup, and fill the can! Mingle madness, mingle georn! Dregs of life, and lees of man: Yet we will not die forlorn!" To trample round my fallen head, 83 And Vex the unhappy dust thou wouldst not save. There let the wind sweep and the plover cry: But thou, go by. Child, if it were thine error or thy crime I care no longer, being all unblest: Wed whom thou wilt, but I am sick of Time, And I desire to rest. Pass on, weak heart, and leave me where I lie: Go by, go by. THE EAGLE FRAGMENT. IIE clasps the crag with hooked hands; Move eastward, happy earth, and leavo Yon orange sunset waning slow: From fringes of the faded eye, O, happy planet, eastward go; Till over thy dark shoulder glow INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION. UPLIFT a thousand voices full and sweet, In this wide hall with earth's invention stored, And praise th' invisible universal Lord, Who lets once more in peace the nations meet, Where Science, Art, and Labor have outpour'd Their myriad horns of plenty at our feet. O silent father of our Kings to be The world-compelling plan was thine, Steel and gold, and corn and wine, |