ADDITIONAL POEMS 289 I strove with none, for none was worth my strife; W. S. LANDOR. 290 ROSE AYLMER Ah what avails the sceptred race! Rose Aylmer, whom these wakeful eyes A night of memories and of sighs I consecrate to thee. W. S. LANDOR. 291 THE MAID'S LAMENT I loved him not; and yet now he is gone I checked him while he spoke; yet could he speak, For reasons not to love him once I sought, To vex myself and him: I now would give Who lately lived for me, and, when he found He hid his face amid the shades of death. Who wasted his for me: but mine returns, With stifling heat, heaving it up in sleep, Tears that had melted his soft heart: for years Merciful God! such was his latest prayer, Quieter is his breath, his breast more cold, 10 15 20 Where children spell, athwart the churchyard gate, Pray for him, gentle souls, whoe'er you be, 292 W. S. LANDOR. TO ROBERT BROWNING There is delight in singing, tho' none hear 25 And see the praised far off him, far above. Shakespeare is not our poet, but the world's, 5 Therefore on him no speech! and brief for thee, Browning! Since Chaucer was alive and hale, No man hath walked along our roads with step So active, so inquiring eye, or tongue So varied in discourse. But warmer climes 10 The Siren waits thee, singing song for song. 293 will speak Proud word you never spoke, but you 'This man loved me !' then rise and trip away. W. S. LANDOR. 294 Well I remember how you smiled 295 W. S. LANDOR. TO A WATERFOWL Whither, midst falling dew, 5 While glow the heavens with the last steps of day, Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue Thy solitary way? Vainly the fowler's eye Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, As, darkly seen against the crimson sky, Thy figure floats along. Seek'st thou the plashy brink Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide, There is a Power whose care Teaches thy way along that pathless coast,— Lone wandering, but not lost. 5 10 15 All day thy wings have fanned, At that far height, the cold thin atmosphere ; And soon that toil shall end; 20 Soon shalt thou find a summer home and rest, And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend, Soon, o'er thy sheltered nest. Thou'rt gone, the abyss of heaven Hath swallowed up thy form; yet on my heart Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given, And shall not soon depart. He who, from zone to zone, 25 Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, In the long way that I must tread alone, Will lead my steps aright. 296 RONDEAU 31 W. C. BRYANT. Jenny kissed me when we met, Jumping from the chair she sat in ; Say I'm weary, say I'm sad, 5 Say that health and wealth have missed me, Say I'm growing old, but add, Jenny kiss'd me. 297 J. H. LEIGH HUNT. THE WAR SONG OF DINAS VAWR The mountain sheep are sweeter, We made an expedition; We met a host, and quelled it ; We forced a strong position, And killed the men who held it. 5 |