IDYLLS OF THE KING AND OTHER POEMS " EARLY AND OCCASIONAL POEMS (1829-1852) I WHAT TIME I WASTED YOUTHFUL HOURS" WHAT time I wasted youthful hours, Show'd me vast cliffs, with crowns of towers, As towards that gracious light I bow'd, They seem'd high palaces and proud, Hid now and then with sliding cloud. He said, "The labour is not small; Yet winds the pathway free to all :Take care thou dost not fear to fall!" Keepsake, 1851. II HANDS ALL ROUND FIRST drink a health, this solemn night, God the tyrant's hope confound! To this great cause of freedom drink, my friends, A health to Europe's honest men! Heaven guard them from her tyrants' jails! From iron'd limbs and tortured nails! B We, likewise, have our evil things; Too much we make our Ledgers, Gods. God the tyrant's cause confound! To Europe's better health we drink, my friends, What health to France, if France be she, Whom martial prowess only charms? Yet tell her-Better to be free Than vanquish all the world in arms. Her frantic city's flashing heats But fire, to blast, the hopes of men. Why change the titles of your streets? You fools, you'll want them all again. Yet hands all round! God their tyrant's cause confound! To France, the wiser France, we drink, my friends, And the great name of England round and round. Gigantic daughter of the West, We drink to thee across the flood, But let thy broadsides roar with ours. God the tyrant's cause confound! To our great kinsmen of the West, my friends, O rise, our strong Atlantic sons, When war against our freedom springs! You must not mix our Queen with those God the tyrant's cause confound! And the great cause of freedom round and round. Examiner, Feb. 7, 1852. III THREE EARLY SONNETS 66 I. CHECK EVERY OUTFLASH." CHECK every outflash, every ruder sally Of thought and speech; speak low, and give up wholly This is the place. Through yonder poplar alley, Englishman's Magazine, August, 1831. 66 II. ME MY OWN FATE TO LASTING SORROW DOOMETH." ME my own Fate to lasting sorrow doometh : As round the rolling earth night follows day: III. "THERE ARE THREE THINGS." THERE are three things which fill my heart with sighs, Dimples, roselips, and eyes of any hue. There are three things beneath the blessed skies |