A SHOAL of idlers, from a merchant craft Anchor'd off Alexandria, went ashore, And mounting asses in their headlong glee, Round Pompey's Pillar rode with hoots and taunts, As men oft say, "What art thou more than

we?" Next in a boat they floated up the Nile, Singing and drinking, swearing senseless oaths,

Shouting, and laughing most derisively
At all majestic scenes. A bank they reach'd,
And clambering up, play'd gambols among
tombs ;

And in portentous ruins (through whose depths,

The mighty twilight of departed Gods, Both sun and moon glanced furtive, as in awe)

They hid, and whoop'd, and spat on sacred things.

At length, beneath the blazing sun they lounged

Near a great Pyramid. Awhile they stood With stupid stare, until resentment grew, In the recoil of meanness from the vast ; And gathering stones, they with coarse oaths and jibes

(As they would say, "What art thou more than we?"

Pelted the Pyramid! But soon these men, Hot and exhausted, sat them down tc

Rich yellow lawns embrown'd by soft degrees;

Plots of intense gold freak'd with shady nuts.

A dead hot silence tranced sea, land, and sky:

And now a long canoe came gliding forth, Wherein there sat an old man fierce and swarth,

Tiger-faced, black-fang'd, and with jaundiced eye.

Pure white, with pale blue chequer'd, and red fold

Of head-cloth 'neath straw brim, this Master wore ;

While in the sun-glare stood with highrais'd oar

A naked Image all of burnish'd gold.

Golden his bones - high-valued in the mart, His minted muscles, and his glossy skin; Golden his life of action - but within The slave is human in a bleeding heart.

THE PLOUGH

A LANDSCAPE IN BERKSHIRE

ABOVE yon sombre swell of land

Thou seest the dawn's grave orange hue, With one pale streak like yellow sand, And over that a vein of blue.

The air is cold above the woods; All silent is the earth and sky, Except with his own lonely moods The blackbird holds a colloquy.

Over the broad hill creeps a beam,
Like hope that gilds a good man's brow,
And now ascends the nostril-stream
Of stalwart horses come to plough.

Ye rigid Ploughmen, bear in mind Your labor is for future hours! Advance spare not -nor look behind : Plough deep and straight with all your powers.

DREAM-PEDLARY

If there were dreams to sell, What would you buy? Some cost a passing bell; Some a light sigh,

That shakes from Life's fresh crown

Only a rose-leaf down.

If there were dreams to sell,
Merry and sad to tell,
And the crier rung the bell,
What would you buy?

A cottage lone and still,
With bowers nigh,
Shadowy, my woes to still,
Until I die.

Such pearl from Life's fresh crown
Fain would I shake me down.
Were dreams to have at will,
This would best heal my ill,
This would I buy.

But there were dreams to sell
Ill didst thou buy ;
Life is a dream, they tell,
Waking, to die.
Dreaming a dream to prize,
Is wishing ghosts to rise;
And, if I had the spell
To call the buried well,

Which one would I?

If there are ghosts to raise,
What shall I call
Out of hell's murky haze,
Heaven's blue pall?
Raise my lov'd long-lost boy
To lead me to his joy.
There are no ghosts to raise ;
Out of death lead no ways;
Vain is the call.

Know'st thou not ghosts to sue?
No love thou hast.
Else lie, as I will do,

And breathe thy last.
So out of Life's fresh crown
Fall like a rose-leaf down.
Thus are the ghosts to woo;
Thus are all dreams made true,
Ever to last!

BALLAD OF HUMAN LIFE

WHEN we were girl and boy together,
We toss'd about the flowers
And wreath'd the blushing hours
Into a posy green and sweet.

I sought the youngest, best,
And never was at rest

Till I had laid them at thy fairy feet.
But the days of childhood they were fleet,
And the blooming sweet-briar-breath'd
weather,

When we were boy and girl together.

Then we were lad and lass together,
And sought the kiss of night
Before we felt aright,
Sitting and singing soft and sweet.
The dearest thought of heart
With thee 't was joy to part,
And the greater half was thine, as meet.
Still my eyelid 's dewy, my veins they beat

At the starry summer-evening weather,
When we were lad and lass together.

And we are man and wife together,
Although thy breast, once bold
With song, be clos'd and cold

Beneath flowers' roots and birds' light feet.
Yet sit I by thy tomb,

And dissipate the gloom

With songs of loving faith and sorrow sweet. And fate and darkling grave kind dreams do cheat,

That, while fair life, young hope, despair and death are,

We're boy and girl, and lass and lad, and man and wife together.

SONGS FROM "DEATH'S JEST

BOOK" I

TO SEA, TO SEA!

To sea, to sea! The calm is o'er ;
The wanton water leaps in sport,
And rattles down the pebbly shore;

The dolphin wheels, the sea-cows snort, And unseen Mermaids' pearly song Comes bubbling up, the weeds among. Fling broad the sail, dip deep the oar: To sea, to sea! the calm is o'er.

ATHULF'S DEATH SONG

A CYPRESS-BOUGH, and a rose-wreath sweet,
A wedding-robe, and a winding-sheet,
A bridal-bed and a bier.
Thine be the kisses, maid,
And smiling Love's alarms;
And thou, pale youth, be laid
In the grave's cold arms.
Each in his own charms,

Death and Hymen both are here;
So up with scythe and torch,
And to the old church porch,
While all the bells ring clear:
And rosy, rosy the bed shall bloom,
And earthy, earthy heap up the tomb.

Now tremble dimples on your cheek,
Sweet be your lips to taste and speak,
For he who kisses is near :