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On earth shall scorn thee, and the damn'd below.

Helen. Delay not either fate. If death is mercy,

Send me among the captives; so that Zeus

May see his offspring led in chains away, And thy hard brother, pointing with his sword [shore,

At the last wretch that crouches on the Cry, "She alone shall never sail for Greece!"

Menelaus. Hast thou more words? Her voice is musical As the young maids who sing to Artemis: How glossy is that yellow braid my grasp Seiz'd and let loose! Ah! can then years

have past

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With wing at either shoulder,
And smile that never left thy mouth
Until the Hours grew colder:

Then somewhat seem'd to whisper near
That thou and I must part;

I doubted it: I felt no fear,
No weight upon the heart:
If aught befell it. Love was by
And roll'd it off again;
So, if there ever was a sigh,
'Twas not a sigh of pain.

I may not call thee back; but thou
Returnest when the hand

Of gentle Sleep waves o'er my brow
His poppy-crested wand;

Then smiling eyes bend over mine,
Then lips once pressed invite;
But sleep hath given a silent sign,
And both, alas! take flight.

1853.

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I was indocile at an age

When better boys were taught, But thou at length hast made me sage, If I am sage in aught.

Little I know from other men,

Too little they from me,
But thou hast pointed well the pen
That writes these lines to thee.

Thanks for expelling Fear and Hope,
One vile, the other vain;
One's scourge, the other's telescope,
I shall not see again :

Rather what lies before my feet
My notice shall engage—

He who hath braved Youth's dizzy heat
Dreads not the frost of Age.

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ON SOUTHEY'S DEATH

FRIENDS! hear the words my wandering thoughts would say,

And cast them into shape some other day.

Southey, my friend of forty years, is gone,

And, shattered by the fall, I stand alone. 1858.

HEART'S-EASE

THERE is a flower I wish to wear,
But not until first worn by you.
Heart's-ease. . of all earth's flowers
most rare;

Bring it; and bring enough for two. 1858.

THE THREE ROSES1

WHEN the buds began to burst,
Long ago, with Rose the First,
I was walking; joyous then
Far above all other men,
Till before us up there stood
Britonferry's oaken wood,
Whispering, "Happy as thou art,
Happiness and thou must part.”
Many summers have gone by
Since a Second Rose and I

(Rose from that same stem) have told
This and other tales of old.
She upon her wedding-day

Carried home my tenderest lay:

From her lap I now have heard
Gleeful, chirping, Rose the Third,
Not for her this hand of mine

Rhyme with nuptial wreath shall twine;
Cold and torpid it must lie,

Mute the tongue and closed the eye. 1858.

LATELY OUR SONGSTERS LOITERED IN GREEN LANES

LATELY our songsters loiter'd in green lanes,

Content to catch the ballads of the plains;

I fancied I had strength enough to climb

A loftier station at no distant time, And might securely from intrusion doze Upon the flowers thro' which Ilissus flows.

1 See pages 428 and 441. "Rose the Third" was the daughter of " the Second Rose," and thus the grand-niece of Rose Aylmer.

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