2 The intuitive decision of a bright Error from crime; a prudence to withhold; Of subtle-paced counsel in distress, 3 The mellow'd reflex of a winter moon; With swifter movement and in purer light The vexed eddies of its wayward brother : A leaning and upbearing parasite, Clothing the stem, which else had fallen quite, Of rich fruit-bunches leaning on each other- Of such a finish'd chasten'd purity. (1853) IX ELEGIACS LOWFLOWING breezes are roaming the broad valley dimmed in the gloaming: Thoro' the black-stemmed pines only the far river shines. Creeping through blossomy rushes and bowers of roseblowing bushes, Down by the poplar tall rivulets babble and fall. Barketh the shepherd-dog cheerly; the grasshopper carolleth clearly; Deeply the turtle coos; shrilly the owlet halloos ; Winds creep; dews fall chilly: in her first sleep earth breathes stilly: Over the pools in the burn watergnats murmur and mournda Sadly the far kine loweth: the glimmering water outfloweth Twin peaks shadowed with pine slope to the dark hyaline. Lowthroned Hesper is stayed between the two peaks; but the Naiad Throbbing in mild unrest holds him beneath in her breast. The antient poetess singeth, that Hesperus all things. bringeth, Smoothing the wearied mind: bring me my love, Rosalind. Thou comest morning and even; she cometh not morning or even. False-eyed Hesper, unkind, where is my sweet Rosalind? (1830) X THE "HOW" AND THE "WHY" I AM any man's suitor, If any will be my tutor : Some say this life is pleasant, Some think it speedeth fast : In time there is no present, In eternity no past. We laugh, we cry, we are born, we die, The bulrush nods unto its brother, The wheatears whisper to each other : What is it they say? What do they there? Why two and two make four? Why round is not square? Why the rock stands still, and the light clouds fly? Why the heavy oak groans, and the white willows sigh? Whether we wake, or whether we sleep? Who will riddle me the how and the why? The world is somewhat; it goes on somehow; I feel there is something; but how and what ? The little bird pipeth-" why? why?" In the summerwoods when the sun falls low What the life is? where the soul may lie? Who will riddle me the how and the what? (1830) XI ar MARIANA “Mariana in the moated grange.”—Measure for Measure. Were thickly crusted, one and all : Weeded and worn the ancient thatch Upon the lonely moated grange. She only said, "My life is dreary, Her tears fell with the dews at even; Her tears fell ere the dews were dried; When thickest dark did trance the sky, She said, "I am aweary, aweary, Upon the middle of the night, Waking she heard the night-fowl crow: Came to her without hope of change, : In sleep she seem'd to walk forlorn, She only said, "The day is dreary, About a stone-cast from the wall A sluice with blacken'd waters slept, And o'er it many, round and small, The cluster'd marish-mosses crept. Hard by a poplar shook alway, All silver-green with gnarled bark: She only said, "My life is dreary, I would that I were dead!" And ever when the moon was low, She saw the gusty shadow sway. away, And wild winds bound within their cell, Upon her bed, across her brow. She only said, "The night is dreary, He cometh not," she said; She said, "I am aweary, aweary, I would that I were dead!" All day within the dreamy house, The doors upon their hinges creak'd ; The blue fly sung in the pane; the mouse Behind the mouldering wainscot shriek'd, Or from the crevice peer'd about. Old faces glimmer'd thro' the doors, She only said, "My life is dreary, (1853) The sparrow's chirrup on the roof, The poplar made, did all confound ΤΟ XII I CLEAR-HEADED friend, whose joyful scorn, Roof not a glance so keen as thine: 2 Low-cowering shall the Sophist sit; Falsehood shall bare her plaited brow: L With shrilling shafts of subtle wit the, and soft A gentler death shall Falsel me. 3 CONFESSIONS Weak Truth a-leanjENSITIVE MIND NOT IN UNITY Thy kingly, my God! have mercy now. Until rns that girt thy brow, |