And every lurch my darling thrilled
With light fear smiling at itself:
And, dashing past the Arrogant,
Asleep upon the restless wave
After its cruise in the Levant,
We reached the Wolf; and signal gave
For help to board: with caution meet,
My bride was placed within the chair,
The red-flag wrapped about her feet,
And so swung laughing through the air
'Look, Love,” she said, "there's Frederick Graham, "My Cousin, whom you met, you know.”
And, seeing us, the brave man came,
And made his frank and courteous bow,
And gave my hand a sailor's shake,
And said, "You asked me to the Hurst: "I never thought my luck would make
'You and your wife my guests the first." And Honour, cruel, "Nor did we :
"Have you not lately changed your ship?" "Yes: I'm Commander, now," said he, With a slight quiver of the lip. We saw the vessel, shown with pride;
Took luncheon; I must eat his salt!
Parting he said (I think my bride
Found him unselfish to a fault),
His wish he saw had come to pass
(And so, indeed, her face expressed),
That that should be, whate'er it was,
Which made his Cousin happiest.
We left him looking from above,
Rich bankrupt! for he could afford
To say most proudly that his love
Was virtue and its own reward.
But others loved as well as he
(Thought I, half-angered), and, if fate, Unfair, had only fashioned me As hapless, I had been as great.
As souls, ambitious, but low-born,
If greatly raised by luck or wit,
All pride of place will proudly scorn,
And live as they'd been used to it,
So we two wore our strange estate:
Familiar, unaffected, free,
We talked, until the dusk grew
Of this and that; but, after tea,
As doubtful if a lot so sweet
As ours was ours in very sooth,
Like children, to promote conceit,
We feigned that it was not the truth; And she assumed the maiden coy,
And I adored remorseless charms, And then we clapped our hands for joy, And ran into each other's arms.
WOMANHOOD.
BE man's hard virtues highly wrought,
But let my gentle Mistress be,
In every look, word, deed, and thought,
Nothing but sweet and womanly!
Her virtues please my virtuous mood,
But what at all times I admire
Is, not that she is wise or good,
But just the thing which I desire.
With versatility to bring
Her mental tone to any strain,
If oft'nest she is any thing,
Be it thoughtless, talkative, and vain.
That seems in her supremest grace
Which, virtue or not, apprises me
That my familiar arms embrace
Unfathomable mystery.
QUA CURSUM VENTUS.
AS ships, becalmed at eve, that lay
With canvas drooping, side by side,
Two towers of sail at dawn of day
Are scarce, long leagues apart, descried;
When fell the night, upsprung the breeze,
And all the darkling hours they plied,
Nor dreamt but each the self-same seas
By each was cleaving, side by side:
E'en so but why the tale reveal
Of those whom, year by year unchanged, Brief absence joined anew to feel,
Astounded, soul from soul estranged?
At dead of night their sails were filled,
And onward each rejoicing steered :
Ah, neither blame, for neither willed,
Or wist, what first with dawn appeared!
To veer, how vain! On, onward strain,
Brave barks! In light, in darkness too,
Through winds and tides one compass guides,-
To that, and your own selves, be true.
But O blithe breeze, and O great seas,
Though ne'er, that earliest parting past,
On your wide plain they join again,
Together lead them home at last!
One port, methought, alike they sought,
One purpose hold where'er they fare,-
O bounding breeze, O rushing seas,
At last, at last, unite them there!
[EARKEN to me, ye mothers of my tent:
Ye wives of Lamech, hearken to my speech: Adah, let Jubal hither lead his goats;
And Tubal Cain, O Zillah, hush the forge;
Naamah her wheel shall ply beside, and thou,
My Jubal, touch, before I speak, the string.
Yea, Jubal, touch, before I speak, the string.
Hear ye my voice, beloved of my tent,
Dear ones of Lamech, listen to my speech.
For Eve made answer,
O, if I cursed thee, O my child, I sinned,
'Cain, my son, my own,
And He that heard me, heard, and said me nay:
My first, my only one, thou shalt not go."
And Adam answered also, Cain, my son,
He that is gone forgiveth, we forgive:
Rob not thy mother of two sons at once;
My child, abide with us and comfort us."
Hear ye my voice; Adah and Zillah, hear;
Ye wives of Lamech, listen to my speech.
For Cain replied not. But, an hour more, sat Where the night through he sat; his knit brows seen Scarce seen, amid the foldings of his limbs.
But when the sun was bright upon the field,
To Adam still, and Eve still waiting by,
And weeping, lift he up his voice and spake.
Cain said, "The sun is risen upon the earth;
The day demands my going, and I go.-
As you from Paradise, so 1 from you:
As you to exile, into exile I:
My father and my mother, I depart.
As betwixt you and Paradise of old,
So betwixt me, my parents, now, and you,
Cherubim I discern, and in their hand
A flaming sword that turneth every way,
To keep the way of my one tree of life,
The way my spirit yearns to, of my love.
Yet not, O Adam and O Eve, fear not.
For He that asked me, Where is Abel?
Who called me cursed from the earth, and said,
A fugitive and vagabond thou art,
He also said, when fear had slain my soul,
There shall not touch thee man nor beast.
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