And a mighty wind had swept the leaves, And still the corse was bare! "Then down I cast me on my face, For I knew my secret then was one "So wills the fierce avenging sprite, And years have rotted off his flesh,- 186 192 198 "O God! that horrid, horrid dream Besets me now awake! Again-again, with dizzy brain, The human life I take; And my red right hand grows raging hot, Like Cranmer's at the stake. "And still no peace for the restless clay Will wave or mould allow; The horrid thing pursues my soul, It stands before me now!" The fearful boy looked up, and saw 204 210 1829. That very night, while gentle sleep The urchin eyelids kissed, Two stern-faced men set out from Lynn 216 Thomas Hood. THE STATUE AND THE BUST THERE's a palace in Florence, the world knows well, And a statue watches it from the square, And this story of both do our townsmen tell. 3 Ages ago, a lady there, At the farthest window facing the East The bridesmaids' prattle around her ceased; creased They felt by its beats her heart expand- 9 12 That selfsame instant, underneath, The Duke rode past in his idle way, Empty and fine like a swordless sheath. 15 Gay he rode, with a friend as gay, Till he threw his head back-" Who is she?" A bride the Riccardi brings home to-day." 18 Hair in heaps lay heavily Over a pale brow spirit-pure Carved like the heart of the coal-black tree, 21 Crisped like a war steed's encolure- 24 And lo, a blade for a knight's emprise He looked at her as a lover can; She looked at him, as one who awakes: 30 Now, love so ordered for both their sakes, (For Via Larga is three-parts light, But the palace overshadows one, Because of a crime, which may God requite! 36 To Florence and God the wrong was done 39 The Duke (with the statue's face in the square) Turned in the midst of his multitude At the bright approach of the bridal pair. Face to face the lovers stood A single minute and no more, While the bridegroom bent as a man subdued Bowed till his bonnet brushed the floor- In a minute can lovers exchange a word? That was the bridegroom. At day's brink Calmly he said that her lot was cast, That the door she had passed was shut on her The world meanwhile, its noise and stir, 42 Since passing the door might lead to a feast, And a feast might lead to so much beside, He, of many evils, chose the least. 63 "Freely I choose too," said the bride"Your window and its world suffice," 'Replied the tongue, while the heart replied-- 66 "If I spend the night with that devil twice, May his window serve as my loop of hell Whence a damned soul looks on paradise! "I fly to the Duke who loves me well, Sit by his side and laugh at sorrow Ere I count another ave-bell. · "T is only the coat of a page to borrow, 69 72 And tie my hair in a horse-boy's trim, (She checked herself and her eye grew dim) "My father tarries to bless my state: I must keep it one day more for him. "Is one day more so long to wait? Moreover the Duke rides past, I know; She turned on her side and slept. Just so! 78 81 84 |