IN THE BELFRY WRITTEN UNDER RETHEL'S "DEATH, THE FRIEND TOLL! 'OLL! Is it night, or daylight yet? Somewhere the birds seem singing still, Though surely now the sun has set. Toll! But who tolls the Bell once more? He must have climbed the parapet. Who can it be ?-the Bernardine, This must be He who, legend saith, Good-bye, old Bell! So let it be. IN MANUS TUas, Domine! ARS VICTRIX (IMITATED FROM THÉOPHILE GAUTIER) YES; ES; when the ways oppose- Fairer the work out-grows,— O POET, then, forbear The loosely sandalled verse, The buskin-strait and terse; Leave to the tyro's hand The limp and shapeless style, SCULPTOR, do thou discard The yielding clay,-consign To Paros marble hard The beauty of thy line;— Model thy Satyr's face PAINTER, that still must mix Thou in the furnace fix Let the smooth tile receive Coiled in a wash of wine. All passes. ART alone Enduring stays to us; The Bust outlasts the throne,The Coin, Tiberius; Even the gods must go; Only the lofty Rhyme Not countless years o'erthrow,Not long array of time. Paint, chisel, then, or write; |