New-York tribune., 1901-01-21
WATcHMAN, WHAT OF THE KNIGHTf
A PLANT OF POETS UNTITLED.

A PLANT OF POETS UNTITLED.
Owen Seaman, in Punch.
1.-THE studied exclusion of the name of Mr..
Alfred Austin from the list of New Year knights
is supposed TO have aroused much Indignation in
the breast of MIR. Sw-nb-rne, at Putney. The
following lines attempt to give expression to a
sentiment that reflects great credit on the author
Of "Atalanta in Calydon."l
When the cooling OF cosmos began
With a sprinkling Of spots on the sun,
At the primal commencement of man,
When the winds and the waters were one:
From the dawn of the dalying years
There came Of the travail of Time,
Harmony hlched from the spheres,
Rhyme and the making Of rhyme.
And the ninefod heavenly brood
Bred in Olympian air
Gave ambrosial food
And to browse on the following fare:
Mirth that is misery's pillow,
And grief the bolster Of mirth
Boom of the earth-sick billow,
Ache Of the seasick earth;
Lips that are drunk with laughter.
Fulness that frets for more,
Wisdom that follows after
The wassail that went before;
Beauty that breaks at breath.
Love that is louder than strife;
Life. the cousin of death,
And death, the ditto OF life.
In the subsequent age of gold,
Ere the SAVIOR of life went wrong.
When the passions of men took mould
From the hand of the Maker Of Song;
On the wings of the North and the South
White hot the quest they came,
And the truths that dropped from his mouth
Fell their hearts like flame.
Ivy ashed to his locks.
OF pearls was his robe inwrought;
Gayly the fatted
Yielded him food for thought.
Sovereign Of kings he sat
And sang TO the lords of the isles,
BY day on gem strewn mat,
By night on the star struck tiles
He sang of the dregs of desire,
OF sin and the issue of sin,
| OF the wealth that his wandering Tyre
Had won, and worthy to win;
| Till the feasters were faint in the chest,
And the voice of the walters was dumb.
| And you heard in the course of rest
The crash of decadent crumb!
| England, What Of the gold
| OF the fine gold rotting TO rust?
| What OF your heart grown cold
| And the eyes Of you dimmed with dust?
| Where are the spoils of the bard,
Carbuncles brave his breast,
| Myrrh and emulsion of nard
For the frenzy and fringe Of his crest?
What of the Difference done
To the builder Of bounteous rhymes
| In the young years honors that run
To column or so of The Times?
Science and service Of State.
Trade and the treatment OF bile,
| Power for the parish debate,
Nerve for the damming of Nile
Hence are the sheer heights scaled
BY virtue that keeps to the path,
But never poet has nailed
Even the boon OF a Bath.
To the feet that are feathered to follow
The song gods fiuttering shift,
Empty is fame and hollow
Earth that comes with gift;
But he that fashions his lays
No nearer the MUSES. lap
Than the hall where he hangs his bays
When he washes at Cartons tap
Austin what of the Knight?
Heavy with hope deferred.
When will he solace sight,
Panoplied, plumed, and spurred?
Give guerdon of mortalsi
Zeus-gotten and cherished of Zeus.
/ fling their pay TO the portals
Hound-bound of the nethermost deuce;
With a hitch 10 my Bacchanals wreath,
I mock at the titles of man,
When at Putney aloof on the Heath
l can prance TO the ppngs Of Pan.