And gazed hungrily o'er, and the blood from his back drip dripped in the brine, And a sea-hawk flung down a skeleton fish as he flew, And the mother stared white on the waste of blue, And the wind drove a cloud to seaward, and the sun began to shine. 811 How LOVE LOOKED FOR HELL To heal his heart of long-time pain One day Prince Love for to travel was fain 'Now what to thee most strange may be?' Then Mind rode in and Sense rode out: First frightfully groaneth Sense. 'Where?' quoth Love 'Not far, not far,' said shivering Sense Look, King, dost see where suddenly ('Cold?' quoth Love) 'As I rode down, and the River was black, And rabble of souls,' sighed Sense, From Poems of Sidney Lanier. Copyright, 1884. 1891, by Mary D. Lanier. Published by Charles Scribner's Sons. 'Their eyes upturned and begged and burned In brimstone lakes, and a Hand above Beat back the hands that upward yearned-' 'Nay!' quoth Love 'Yea, yea, sweet Prince; thyself shalt see, At the foot of the hill a living rill ('Black?' quoth Love) 'Ay, black, but lo! the lilies grow, And yon-side where was woe, was woe,Where the rabble of souls,' cried Sense, 'Did shrivel and turn and beg and burn, Thrust back in the brimstone from aboveIs banked of violet, rose, and fern:' 'How?' quoth Love: 'For lakes of pain, yon pleasant plain Of woods and grass and yellow grain Doth ravish the soul and sense: And never a sigh beneath the sky, And folk that smile and gaze above 'But saw'st thou here, with thine own eye, Hell?' quoth Love. 'I saw true hell with mine own eye, True hell, or light hath told a lie, True, verily,' quoth stout Sense. Then Love rode round and searched the ground, The caves below, the hills above; 'But I cannot find where thou hast found Hell,' quoth Love. There, while they stood in a green wood And marvelled still on Ill and Good, Came suddenly Minister Mind. 'In the heart of sin doth hell begin: 'Tis not below, 'tis not above, It lieth within, it lieth within:' ('Where?' quoth Love) 'I saw a man sit by a corse; Hell's in the murderer's breast: remorse! 'Fixed?' quoth Love Fixed: follow me, would'st thou but see: He weepeth under yon willow tree, Fast chained to his corse,' quoth Mind. Full soon they passed, for they rode fast, Where the piteous willow bent above. 'Now shall I see at last, at last, Hell,' quoth Love. There when they came Mind suffered shame: 'These be the same and not the same,' A-wondering whispered Mind. Lo, face by face two spirits pace Where the blissful willow waves above: One saith: 'Do me a friendly grace-' ('Grace' quoth Love) 'Read me two Dreams that linger long, Dim as returns of old-time song That flicker about the mind. I dreamed (how deep in mortal sleep!) I struck thee dead, then stood above, With tears that none but dreamers weep; 'Dreams,' quoth Love; 'In dreams, again, I plucked a flower "'Twas the nettle of sin, 'twas medicine; 'Now strange,' quoth Sense, and 'Strange,' quoth Mind, 'We saw it, and yet 'tis hard to find, -But we saw it,' quoth Sense and Mind. 812 BRET HARTE [1839-1902] THE REVEILLE HARK! I hear the tramp of thousands, Ere your heritage be wasted,' said the quick alarming drum Let me of my heart take counsel: Who shall stay and reap the harvest Echoed, 'Come! Death shall reap the braver harvest,' said the solemn-sound ing drum. 'But when won the coming battle, Even greater ills become?' Answered, 'Come! You must do the sum to prove it,' said the Yankee-answering drum. 'What if, 'mid cannons' thunder, cold and numb?' When my brothers fall around me, Answered,'Come! Better there in death united, than in life a recreant,-Come!' Thus they answered,-hoping, fearing, Till a trumpet-voice proclaiming, Said, 'My chosen people, come!' Then the drum, Lo! was dumb. For the great heart of the nation, throbbing, answered, 'Lord, we come!' 813 WALT WHITMAN [1819-1892] ONE'S-SELF I SING ONE'S-SELF I sing, a simple separate person, Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse. Of physiology from top to toe I sing, Not physiognomy alone nor brain alone is worthy for the Muse-I say the Form complete is worthier far, The Female equally with the Male I sing. |