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XI. |
COMPENSATION. |
For each ecstatic instant |
We must an anguish pay |
In keen and quivering ratio |
To the ecstasy. |
For each beloved hour |
Sharp pittances of years, |
Bitter contested farthings |
And coffers heaped with tears. |
XII. |
THE MARTYRS. |
Through the straight pass of suffering |
The martyrs even trod, |
Their feet upon temptation, |
Their faces upon God. |
A stately, shriven company; |
Convulsion playing round, |
Harmless as streaks of meteor |
Upon a planet's bound. |
Their faith the everlasting troth; |
Their expectation fair; |
The needle to the north degree |
Wades so, through polar air. |
XIII. |
A PRAYER. |
I meant to have but modest needs, |
Such as content, and heaven; |
Within my income these could lie, |
And life and I keep even. |
But since the last included both, |
It would suffice my prayer |
But just for one to stipulate, |
And grace would grant the pair. |
And so, upon this wise I prayed, -- |
Great Spirit, give to me |
A heaven not so large as yours, |
But large enough for me. |
A smile suffused Jehovah's face; |
The cherubim withdrew; |
Grave saints stole out to look at me, |
And showed their dimples, too. |
I left the place with all my might, -- |
My prayer away I threw; |
The quiet ages picked it up, |
And Judgment twinkled, too, |
That one so honest be extant |
As take the tale for true |
That "Whatsoever you shall ask, |
Itself be given you." |
But I, grown shrewder, scan the skies |
With a suspicious air, -- |
As children, swindled for the first, |
All swindlers be, infer. |
XIV. |
The thought beneath so slight a film |
Is more distinctly seen, -- |
As laces just reveal the surge, |
Or mists the Apennine. |
XV. |
The soul unto itself |
Is an imperial friend, -- |
Or the most agonizing spy |
An enemy could send. |
Secure against its own, |
No treason it can fear; |
Itself its sovereign, of itself |
The soul should stand in awe. |
XVI. |
Surgeons must be very careful |
When they take the knife! |
Underneath their fine incisions |
Stirs the culprit, -- Life! |
XVII. |
THE RAILWAY TRAIN. |
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