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The staring eye glazed o'er with sapless days,
The long mechanic pacings to and fro,

The set gray life, and apathetic end.

But am I not the nobler thro' thy love?

O three times less unworthy! likewise thou

Art more thro' Love, and greater than thy years.
The Sun will run his orbit, and the Moon

Her circle. Wait, and Love himself will bring
The drooping flower of knowledge changed to fruit
Of wisdom. Wait: my faith is large in Time,
And that which shapes it to some perfect end.

Will some one say, then why not ill for good? Why took ye not your pastime. To that man My work shall answer, since I knew the right And did it; for a man is not as God,

But then most Godlike being most a man.

- So let me think 'tis well for thee and me

Ill-fated that I am, what lot is mine

Whose foresight preaches peace, my heart so slow To feel it for how hard it seem'd to me,

When eyes, love-languid thro' half-tears, would dwell One earnest, earnest moment upon mine,

Then not to dare to see! when thy low voice,
Faltering, would break its syllables, to keep
My own full-tuned, - hold passion in a leash,
And not leap forth and fall about thy neck,
And on thy bosom, (deep-desired relief!)
Rain out the heavy mist of tears, that weigh'd
Upon my brain, my senses and my soul !

For Love himself took part against himself
To warn us off, and Duty loved of Love

O this world's curse,

- beloved but hated

came

Like Death betwixt thy dear embrace and mine,

And crying, "Who is this? behold thy bride,"
She push'd me from thee.

If the sense is hard

To alien ears, I did not speak to these

No, not to thee, but to thyself in me:

Hard is my doom and thine: thou knowest it all.
Could love part thus? was it not well to speak,
To have spoken once? It could not but be well.
The slow sweet hours that bring us all things good,
The slow sad hours that bring us all things ill,

And all things from evil, brought the night

In which we sat together and alone,

And to the want, that hollow'd all the heart,
Gave utterance by the yearning of an eye,
That burn'd upon its object thro' such tears
As flow but once a life.

The trance gave way

To those caresses, when a hundred times

In that last kiss, which never was the last,
Farewell, like endless welcome, lived and died.
Then follow'd counsel, comfort, and the words
That make a man feel strong in speaking truth;
Till now the dark was worn, and overhead

The lights of sunset and of sunrise mix'd

In that brief night; the summer night, that paused
Among her stars to hear us; stars that hung

Love-charm'd to listen: all the wheels of Time
Spun round in station, but the end had come.

O then like those, that clench their nerves to rush Upon their dissolution, we two rose,

There

closing like an individual life

In one blind cry of passion and of pain,

Like bitter accusation ev'n to death,

Caught up the whole of love and utter'd it,

And bade adieu for ever.

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Shall sharpest pathos blight us, knowing all

Life needs for life is possible to will

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Live happy! tend thy flowers: be tended by
My blessing! should my shadow cross thy thoughts
Too sadly for their peace, so put it back

Far calmer hours in memory's darkest hold,
If unforgotten! should it cross thy dreams,
So might it come like one that looks content,
With quiet eyes unfaithful to the truth,
And point thee forward to a distant light,
Or seem to lift a burthen from thy heart
And leave thee freër, till thou wake refresh'd,
Then when the first low matin-chirp hath grown
Full quire, and morning driv'n her plow of pearl
Far furrowing into light the mounded rack,

Beyond the fair green field and eastern sea.

ULYSSES.

IT little profits that an idle king,

By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,

That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.

I cannot rest from travel; I will drink

Life to the lees: all times I have enjoy'd

Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,

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