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The streams through many a lilied row

Down-carolling to the crisped sea, Low-tinkled with a bell-like flow

Atween the blossoms, We are free.'

LILIAN.

I.

AIRY, fairy Lilian,

Flitting, fairy Lilian, When I ask her if she love me, Claps her tiny hands above me,

Laughing all she can ;

She'll not tell me if she love me, Cruel little Lilian.

II.

When my passion seeks
Pleasance in love-sighs,
She, looking thro' and thro' me
Thoroughly to undo me,

Smiling, never speaks:
So innocent-arch, so cunning-simple,
From beneath her gather'd wimple
Glancing with black-beaded eyes,
Till the lightning laughters dimple

The baby-roses in her cheeks;
Then away she flies.

III.

Prythee weep, May Lilian!

Gaiety without eclipse Wearieth me, May Lilian : Thro' my very heart it thrilleth When from crimson-threaded lips Silver-treble laughter trilleth: Prythee weep, May Lilian.

IV.

Praying all I can,

If prayers will not hush thee,

Airy Lilian,

Like a rose-leaf I will crush thee,

Fairy Lilian.

ISABEL.

I

EYES not down-dropt nor over bright,

but fed

With the clear-pointed flame of chas

ity,

Clear, without heat, undying, tended by Pure vestal thoughts in the trans

lucent fane

Of her still spirit; locks not widedispread,

Madonna-wise on either side her head;

Sweet lips whereon perpetually did

reign

The summer calm of golden charity, Were fixed shadows of thy fixed mood, Revered Isabel, the crown and head, The stately flower of female fortitude, Of perfect wifehood and pure lowlihead.

11.

The intuitive decision of a bright

And thorough-edged intellect to part Error from crime; a prudence to withhold;

The laws of marriage character'd in gold

Upon the blanched tablets of her heart; A love still burning upward, giving light To read those laws; an accent very low In blandishment, but a most silver flow

Of subtle-paced counsel in distress, Right to the heart and brain, tho' undescried,

Winning its way with extreme gentleness

Thro' all the outworks of suspicious pride;

A courage to endure and to obey ;

A hate of gossip parlance, and of sway,

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MARIANA.

Mariana in the moated grange.'
Measure for Measure.

WITH blackest moss the flower-plots
Were thickly crusted, one and all:
The rusted nails fell from the knots

That held the pear to the gable-wall. The broken sheds look'd sad and strange : Unlifted was the clinking latch; Weeded and worn the ancient thatch

Upon the lonely moated grange.

She only said, 'My life is dreary,

He cometh not,' she said;

She said, 'I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!'

About a stone-cast from the wall

A sluice with blacken'd waters slept, And o'er it many, round and small,

The cluster'd marish-mosses crept. Hard by a poplar shook alway,

All silver-green with gnarled bark : For leagues no other tree did mark The level waste, the rounding gray. She only said, 'My life is dreary, He cometh not,' she said; She said, 'I am aweary, aweary, I would that I were dead!'

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Thro' light and shadow thou dost range, Sudden glances, sweet and strange, Delicious spites and darling angers, And airy forms of flitting change.

Then in madness and in bliss,
If my lips should dare to kiss
Thy taper fingers amorously,
Again thou blushest angerly;
And o'er black brows drops down

A sudden-curved frown.

II.

Smiling, frowning, evermore,
Thou art perfect in love-lore.
Revealings deep and clear are thine

Of wealthy smiles: but who may know
Whether smile or frown be fleeter ?
Whether smile or frown be sweeter,
Who may know?

Frowns perfect-sweet along the brow
Light-glooming over eyes divine,
Like little clouds sun-fringed, are thine,
Ever varying Madeline.

Thy smile and frown are not aloof

From one another,

Each to each is dearest brother;
Hues of the silken sheeny woof
Momently shot into each other.
All the mystery is thine ;
Smiling, frowning, evermore,
Thou art perfect in love-lore,
Ever varying Madeline.

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III.

A subtle, sudden flame,

By veering passion fann'd,

About thee breaks and dances: When I would kiss thy hand, The flush of anger'd shame

O'erflows thy calmer glances,
And o'er black brows drops down
A sudden-curved frown:

But when I turn away,
Thou, willing me to stay,

Wooest not, nor vainly wranglest;
But, looking fixedly the while,
All my bounding heart entanglest
In a golden-netted smile;

SECOND SONG.

TO THE SAME.

I.

THY tuwhits are lull'd, I wot,

Thy tuwhoos of yesternight,
Which upon the dark afloat,

So took echo with delight,
So took echo with delight,

That her voice untuneful grown,
Wears all day a fainter tone.

II.

I would mock thy chaunt anew But I cannot mimick it;

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