SOON

HUMANITY
THERE is a soul above the soul of each,

a
A mightier soul, which yet to each be-

longs : There is a sound made of all human

speech, And numerous as the concourse of all

songs : And in that soul lives each, in each that

soul,
Though all the ages are its lifetime vast;
Each soul that dies, in its most sacred

whole
Receiveth life that shall forever last.
And thus forever with a wider span
Humanity o'erarches time and death ;
Man can elect the universal man,
And live in life that ends not with his

breath :
And gather glory that increases still
Till Time his glass with Death's last dust

shall fill.

Of the same wings that soar'd:

ceasest thou
The
song

that grew invisible with joys. Love bids thy fall begin; and thou art now Dropp'd back to earth, and of the earth

again, Because that love hath made thy heart to

bow. Thou hast thy mate, thy nest on lowly

plain, Thy timid heart by law ineffable Is drawn from the high heavens where thou

shouldst reign ; Earth summons thee by her most tender

spell; For thee there is a silence and a song : Thy silence in the shadowy earth must

dwell,
Thy song in the bright heavens cannot be

long
- And best to thee those fates

may

I

compare Where weakness strives to answer bidding

strong

THE SKYLARK

FROM “MANO: A POETICAL OF A VISION OF HELL, WHICH A MONK
HISTORY”

HAD
Out of this town there riseth a high hill,

About whose sides live many anchorites Thou only bird that singest as thou flyest, In cells cut in the rock with curious skill, Heaven-mounting lark, that measurest And laid in terraces along the heights ; with thy wing

This holy hill with that where stands the The airy zones, till thou art lost in highest !

town Upon the branch the laughing thrushes The ancient Roman aqueduct unites ; cling,

And passing o'er the vale her chain of About her home the humble linnet wheels,

stone Around the tower the gather'd starlings Cuts it in two with line indelible ; swing ;

A work right marvellous to gaze upon. These mix their songs and weave their To one of those grave hermits there figur'd reels :

befell Thou risest in thy lonely joy away,

A curious thing, whereof the fame was new From the first rapturous note that from In our sojourn ; the which I here will tell. thee steals,

He found himself when night had shed Quick, quick, and quicker, till the exalted

her dew, lay

In a long valley, narrow, deep, and straight, Is steadied in the golden breadths of light, Like that which lay all day beneath his 'Mid mildest clouds that bid thy pinions

view. stay.

On each hand mountains rose precipitate, The heavens that give would yet sus- Whose tops for darkness he could nowise tain thy flight,

see, And o'er the earth for ever cast thy voice, Though wistful that high gloom to peneIf but to gain were still to keep the height. But soon thou sinkest on the fluttering And through this hollow, one, who poise

brink :

Of calm and quiet mien, was leading him Now while his mind was fill'd with ruth In friendly converse and society :

and fear, But whom he wist not : neither could be And with great horror stood his eyeballs trim

steep, Memory's spent torch to know what things Deeming that hell before him did apwere said,

pear, Nor about what, in that long way and And souls in torment toss'd from brink to

dim. But as the valley still before him spread, Upon him look'd the one who set him He saw a line, that did the same divide

there, Across in halves : which made him feel And said : “This is not hell, as thou dost great dread.

think, For he beheld fire burning on one side Neither those torments of the cold and Unto the mountains from the midmost

heat vale ;

Are those wherewith the damned wail and On the other, ice the empire did discide,

shrink." Fed from the opposing hill with snow And there with from that place he turn'd and hail.

his feet ; So dreary was that haunt of fire and And sometime on they walk'd, the while cold,

this man That nought on earth to equal might In anguish shuddering did the effect reavail.

peat : Fire ended where began the frozen Such spasms of horror through his body mould;

ran, Both in extreme at their conjunction: Walking with stumbling, and with glazed So close were they, no severance might be

eyes told :

Whither he knew not led, ghastly and wan. No thinnest line of separation,

Then said the other : “In those agonies Like that which is by painter drawn to No more than hell's beginning know : bepart

hold, One color in his piece from other one, The doom of hell itself is otherwise." So fine as that which held these realms Therewith he drew aside his vesture's apart.

fold, And through the vale the souls of men in And show'd his heart : than fire more hot pain

it burn'd From one to the other side did leap and One half : the rest was ice than ice more dart,

cold. From heat to cold, from cold to heat A moment show'd he this : and then he again :

turn'd, And not an instant through their anguish And in his going all the vision went : great

And he, who in his mind these things disIn either element might they remain.

cern’d, So great the multitude thus toss’d by Came to himself with long astonishment.

fate, That as a mist they seem'd in the dark

OF TEMPERANCE IN FORTUNE air. No shrimper, who at half-tide takes his HAPPY the man who so hath Fortune tried freight,

That likewise he her

poor

relation When high his pole-net seaward he doth

knows : bear,

To whom both much is given and denied : Ever beheld so thick a swarm to leap

To riches and to poverty he owes Out of the brine on evening still and An equal debt : of both he makes acquist, fair,

And moderate in all his mind he shows. Waking a mist mile-long 'twixt shore But ill befalls the man who hath not and deep.

miss'd

Aught of his heart's desires, in plenty They burst in tumults, swollen with bloody nurs'd :

shame, For evil things he knows not to resist : Which old exploits aggrieve and not asAnd, aiding their assault, himself is

suage. worst

Past temperance doth the present feast Against himself, with self-destructive

inflame; rage.

Past grandeur like too heavy armor But states are with another evil curs'd,

weighs : For, falling into luxury with age,

Great without virtue is an evil name.

Until I thought of your dear head,
Bow'd to the gillyflower bed,
The yellow flowers stain'd with red ;

Hah! hah! la belle jaune giroflée.
Crash ! how the swords met, “ giroflée!'
The fierce tune in my helm would play,
“ La belle! la belle jaune giroflée!”

Hah! hah! la belle jaune giroflée.

Once more the great swords met again,
“ La belle ! la belle !” but who fell then
Le Sieur Guillaume, who struck down

ten ;-
Hah! hah! la belle jaune giroflée.

My hand was steady, too, to take
My axe from round my neck, and break
John's steel-coat up for my love's sake.

Hah! hah! la belle jaune giroflée.
When I stood in my tent again,
Arming afresh, I felt a pain
Take hold of

me,

I

was so fain-
Hah! hah! la belle jaune giroflée –
To hear: “Honneur aux fils des preux ! ”
Right in my ears again, and shew
The gillyflower blossom'd new.

Hah! hah! la belle jaune giroflée.

And as, with maz'd and unarm'd face,
Toward my own crown and the Queen's

place
They led me at a gentle pace,

Hah! hah! la belle jaune giroflée,

The Sieur Guillaume against me came,
His tabard bore three points of flame

I almost saw your quiet head
Bow'd o'er the gillyflower bed,
The yellow flowers stain'd with red, -

Häh! hah! la belle jaune giroflée.