If she knew how she came to drop so soundly To breathe the fresh air from the balcony, While in the midst, on the seat of state, On the lady's head and face intent : For, coiled at her feet like a child at ease, The lady sat between her knees, And o'er them the lady's clasped hands met, And on those hands her chin was set, And her upturned face met the face of the crone As if she could double and quadruple As up They moved to measure, or like bell-clappers. Over each shoulder, loose and abundant, As her head thrown back showed the white throat curving; And the very tresses shared in the pleasure, Moving to the mystic measure, Bounding as the bosom bounded. I stopped short, more and more confounded, When all at once a hand detained me, : "And so at last we find my tribe, "And so I set thee in the midst, "I trace them the vein and the other vein "Like the spots that snap and burst and flee, "And on that round young cheek of thine "I make them recognise the tinge, "As when of the costly scarlet wine "They drip so much as will impinge "And spread in a thinnest scale afloat “One thick gold drop from the olive's coat "Over a silver plate whose sheen "Still thro' the mixture shall be seen. "For so I prove thee, to one and all, "Fit, when my people ope their breast, "To see the sign, and hear the call, "And take the vow, and stand the test "Which adds one more child to the rest"When the breast is bare and the arms are wide, "And the world is left outside. "For there is probation to decree, "And many and long must the trials be "Thou shalt victoriously endure, "If that brow is true and those eyes are sure. “ Like a jewel-finder's fierce assay "Of the prize he dug from its mountain-tomb,—— "Let once the vindicating ray "Leap out amid the anxious gloom, "And the prize falls on its finder's heart : 66 So, trial after trial past, "Wilt thou fall at the very last "Breathless, half in trance "With the thrill of the great deliverance, "Into our arms for evermore; "And thou shalt know, those arms once curled "About thee, what we knew before, “How love is the only good in the world. "Henceforth be loved as heart can love, "Or brain devise, or hand approve! "Stand up, look below, "It is our life at thy feet we throw "To step with into light and joy; "Not a power of life but we employ "To satisfy thy nature's want. "Art thou the tree that props the plant, "Or the climbing plant that seeks the tree"Canst thou help us, must we help thee? "If any two creatures grew into one, "They would do more than the world has done ; "So, to approach at least that end, "Shall some one deck thee over and down, "Die on thy boughs and disappear "While not a leaf of thine is sere? "Thy future portion, sure and well : "But those passionate eyes speak true, speak true, "Let them say what thou shalt do! (6 Only be sure thy daily life, "In its peace or in its strife, "And hope for it, or doubt, or fear. "With our blame, with our praise, "Our shame to feel, our pride to show, "Glad, angry-but indifferent, no! "Whether it be thy lot to go, "For the good of us all, where the haters meet, "In the crowded city's horrible street; “Or thou step alone through the lone morass "Where never sound yet was "Save the dry quick clap of the stork's bill, "For the air is still, and the water still, "When the blue breast of the dripping coot "Dives under, and all is mute. "So, at the last shall come old age, “Decrepit as befits that stage ; "How else wouldst thou retire apart "With the hoarded memories of thy heart, "And gather all to the very least "Of the fragments of life's earlier feast, "Let fall through eagerness to find |