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198.

THE LATEST DECALOGUE.

THE LATEST DECALOGUE.

THOU shalt have one God only; who
Would be at the expense of two?
No graven images may be
Worshipped-except the currency.
Swear not at all-for, for thy curse
Thine enemy is none the worse.

At church on Sunday to attend

Will serve to keep the world thy friend.
Honour thy parents—that is, all

From whom advancement may befall.

Thou shalt not kill-but need'st not strive

Officiously to keep alive.

Do not adultery commit;

Advantage rarely comes of it.

Thou shalt not steal-an empty feat

When 'tis so lucrative to cheat.
Bear not false witness; let the lie
Have time on its own wings to fly.
Thou shalt not covet; but tradition
Approves all forms of competition.

Arthur Hugh Clough.

SAINT BRANDAN.

199

SAINT BRANDAN.

SAINT Brandan sails the northern main;
The brotherhoods of saints are glad.
He greets them once, he sails again.
So late!-such storms!-The Saint is mad!

He heard across the howling seas
Chime convent bells on wintry nights,
He saw on spray-swept Hebrides
Twinkle the monastery lights;

But north, still north, Saint Brandan steer'd;
And now no bells, no convents more!
The hurtling Polar lights are near'd,
The sea without a human shore.

At last (it was the Christmas night,
Stars shone after a day of storm)—
He sees float past an iceberg white,
And on it-Christ!-a living form!

That furtive mien, that scowling eye,
Of hair that red and tufted fell-
It is Oh, where shall Brandan fly?—
The traitor Judas, out of hell!

200

SAINT BRANDAN.

Palsied with terror, Brandan sate;
The moon was bright, the iceberg near.
He hears a voice sigh humbly: "Wait!
By high permission I am here.

"One moment wait, thou holy man!

On earth my crime, my death, they knew;
My name is under all men's ban;

Ah, tell them of my respite too!

"Tell them, one blessed Christmas night—
(It was the first after I came,

Breathing self-murder, frenzy, spite,
To rue my guilt in endless flame)—

"I felt, as I in torment lay

'Mid the souls plagued by heavenly power, An angel touch mine arm, and say:

Go hence, and cool thyself an hour!

"Ah, whence this mercy, Lord?' I said.
The Leper recollect, said he,
Who ask'd the passers-by for aid,
In Joppa, and thy charity.

"Then I remember'd how I went,
In Joppa, through the public street,
One morn, when the sirocco spent
Its storms of dust, with burning heat;

"And in the street a Leper sate,
Shivering with fever, naked, old;
Sand raked his sores from heel to pate,
The hot wind fever'd him five-fold.

SAINT BRANDAN.

"He gazed upon me as I pass'd,

And murmur'd: Help me, or I die!—
To the poor wretch my cloak I cast,
Saw him look eased, and hurried by.

"Oh, Brandan, think what grace divine,
What blessing must full goodness shower,
If fragment of it small, like mine,
Hath such inestimable power!

“Well-fed, well-clothed, well-friended, I
Did that chance act of good, that one!
Then went my way to kill and lie—
Forgot my good as soon as done.

"That germ of kindness, in the womb
Of mercy caught, did not expire;
Outlives my guilt, outlives my doom,
And friends me in the pit of fire.

"Once every year, when carols wake,
On earth, the Christmas night's repose,
Arising from the sinners' lake,

I journey to these healing snows.

"I stanch with ice my burning breast,
With silence balm my whirling brain.
O Brandan! to this hour of rest,
That Joppan leper's ease was pain!”.

Tears started to Saint Brandan's eyes;
He bow'd his head; he breathed a prayer.
When he look'd up-tenantless lies

The iceberg in the frosty air!

Matthew Arnold.

201

202

ABOU BEN ADHEM AND THE ANGEL.

ABOU BEN ADHEM AND THE ANGEL.

ABOU BEN ADHEM (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel, writing in a book of gold:-
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,

"What writest thou?"-The vision raised its head,
And, with a look made of all sweet accord,

Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord." "And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so," Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low, But cheerly still; and said, "I pray thee, then, Write me as one that loves his fellow-men."

The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night It came again with a great wakening light,

And showed the names whom love of God had blessed, And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.

Leigh Hunt.

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