XLVIII.

ASHES.

Under the grate the ashes lie
Until the dustman passes by:
Does it occur to young or old
These ashes were not always cold?

They are the same that shone so bright
And warm'd so many but last night;

They may even now some thought suggest,
Some simile. . but let it rest.

VOL. VIII.

XLIX.

THE GRATEFUL HEART.

The grateful heart for all things blesses;
Not only joy, but grief endears:
I love you for your few caresses,
I love you for my many tears.

L.

DECLINE OF LIFE.

How calm, O life, is thy decline!
Ah! it is only when the sun

His hot and headstrong course hath run,
Heaven's guiding stars serenely shine.

LI.

TO THE CYCLAMEN.

Thou Cyclamen of crumpled horn

Toss not thy head aside;

Repose it where the Loves were born,
In that warm dell abide.

Whatever flowers, on mountain, field,

Or garden, may arise,

Thine only that pure odour yield

Which never can suffice.

Emblem of her I've loved so long,
Go, carry her this little song.

LII.

LATE LOVE.

Sitting up late, incautious Love takes cold,
The wiser give him over ere grown old.

T

LIII.

A SENSIBLE GIRL'S REPLY TO MOORE'S

"Our couch shall be roses all spangled with dew." It would give me rheumatics, and so it would you.

LIV.

TO A YOUNG POET.

The camel at the city-gate

Bends his flat head, and there must wait.
Thin in the desert is the palm,

And pierced the thorn to give its balm.
The Land of Promise thou shalt see,
I swear it, by myself and thee;
Rise, cheer thee up, and look around,
All earth is not for deer and hound;
Worms revel in the slime of kings,
But perish where the laurel springs.

LV.

WISE AND UNWISE.

To love and to be loved the wise would give
All that for which alone the unwise live.

LVI.

FIRMNESS.

Firmer the tree when winter whirls the leaves;

And should not we

Be like the tree?

Winter is sure, but often spring deceives.

LVII.

PITY AND COMPASSION.

Let pity and compassion be outspread,
Early as prayer, above the boyish head,
There take full swoop, there find unbroken rest!
No blessing ever leaves the human breast

Without returning to it, soon or late,

And driving back the strides of adverse fate.

LVIII.

LIFE'S ROMANCE.

Life's torn Romance we thumb throughout the day: Cast it aside: 'tis better this be done

Ere fall between its leaves the dust that none

Can blow away.

LIX.

THE CRIMEAN HEROES.

Hail, ye indomitable heroes, hail!
Despite of all your generals ye prevail.

LX.

OBSERVING A VULGAR NAME ON THE PLINTH OF AN ANCIENT STATUE.

Barbarians must we always be?

Wild hunters in pursuit of fame?
Must there be nowhere stone or tree
Ungasht with some ignoble name?
O Venus! in thy Tuscan dome

May every God watch over thee!
Apollo bend thy bow o'er Rome
And guard thy sister's chastity.
Let Britons paint their bodies blue
As formerly, but touch not you.

LXI.

THE BIBLE.

The Bible is the Earth; and we begin
To learn a little of what lies within.

LXII.

SYMPATHY.

When our eyes melt not with another's woes
Methinks 'tis time they should for ever close.

LXIII.

TO SOUTHEY.

Ah Southey! how we stumble on thro' life
Among the broken images of dreams,
Not one of them to be rais'd up again!

LXIV.

WHO ARE THE BEST LABOURERS ?

You in good blinkers can see nothing shocking,
I shy and start before a crimson stocking;
I think what dippings and how deep have dyed
Those courtly trappings of unchristian pride;
Then, looking into the next field, perceive
Men work the better for less width of sleeve.

LXV.

FRIENDSHIP.

There is a flame that flickers over us,
Paler, yet not unlike the flame of love:
It never burns the hand: below the urn
That holds it, FRIENDSHIP is the word I read.

LXVI.

TO ONE UNEQUALLY MATCHED.

Bear it, O matcht unequally, you must,
And in your strength and virtue firmly trust.
The Power that rules our destinies decreed
One heart should harden and another bleed.

LXVII.

FAULTS ACKNOWLEDGED.

The soft I own to; then of fun
I must acknowledge I have none,
And am the only man that ever
Doubted if he, in wit, was clever.

LXVIII.

LIFE HURRIES BY.

Life hurries by, and who can stay
One winged Hour upon her way?
The broken trellis then restore

And train the woodbine round the door.

LXIX.

WHAT SIGHS DO.

Each year bears something from us as it flies, We only blow it farther with our sighs.

LXX.

ON FREEDOM.

Let Freedom on thy breast descend,
O Earth! and love thy truest friend,
For wayward as his flights may be,
He never was unkind to thee.

LXXI.

WHERE ARE SIGHS?

Unless my senses are more dull
Sighs are become less plentiful.
Where are they all? these many years
Only my own have reacht my ears.

LXXII.

PROMISE.

I may not add to youth's brief days,
Nor bid the fleeting hours stand still;
No, Rose; but I can waft your praise
To distant ages, and I will.
Forgotten be my name if yours
In its fresh purity endures.

LXXIII.

WHAT IS DEPLORABLE.

It is deplorable to fear an enemy,
But more deplorable to fear a friend,
As wicked men must do, and good men may.

LXXIV.

WHY NEVER SEEN.

You ask me why I'm "never seen."
Except by you, perhaps you mean.
Without the gazes of the crowd
I can be (while you let me) proud.
Society props slender folk,

In the deep forest swells the oak.

LXXV.

CREEDS.

A

We have outlived low Creeds; the high remains.
One, that our God is good, the soul sustains.
Revenge he leaves among the blind below,
Who miss the object when they aim the blow.
Far, not too far, it pleases Him to place
Hope for the humble, terror for the base.