In thinking of his lost renown.
A Roman Caesar is held down
Under this hump.
Saint. God tries each man
According to a different plan.
I shall not cease to bless because
I lay about me with the taws
That night and morning I may thrash
Greek Alexander from my flesh,
Augustus Caesar, and after these
That great rogue Alcibiades.
Hunchback. To all that in your flesh have stood
And blessed, I give my gratitude,
Honoured by all in their degrees,
But most to Alcibiades.
Cannot lacerate his breast.Imitate him if you dare,World-besotted traveller; heServed human liberty.
SURELY among a rich man s flowering lawns,Amid the rustle of his planted hills,Life overflows without ambitious pains;And rains down life until the basin spills,And mounts more dizzy high the more it rainsAs though to choose whatever shape it willsAnd never stoop to a mechanicalOr servile shape, at others’ beck and call.Mere dreams, mere dreams!…
Might of the Church and the State,Their mobs put under their feet.O but heart’s wine shall run pure,Mind’s bread grow sweet.That were a cowardly song,Wander in dreams no more;What if the Church and the StateAre the mob that howls at the door!Wine shall run thick to the end,Bread taste sour.
White woman that passion has wornAs the tide wears the dove-grey sands,And with heart more old than the hornThat is brimmed from the pale fire of time:White woman with numberless dreams,I bring you my passionate rhyme.
Stranger with strangcr.On my cold breast?What’s left to Sigh for?Strange night has come;God’s love has hidden himOut of all harm,Pleasure has made himWeak as a worm.
Of the Moroccan flocks and herdsCross the narrow Straits to lightIn the rich midnight of the garden treesTill the dawn break upon those mingled seas.Often at evening when a boyWould I carry to a friend –Hoping more substantial joyDid an older mind commend –Not such as are in Newton’s metaphor,But actual shells of Rosses’ level…
