Volume Iv Part 47 (1/2)

Ask a man what he thinks, and get from a man what he feels; G.o.d, once caught in the fact, shows you a fair pair of heels.

Body and spirit are twins: G.o.d only knows which is which; The soul squats down in the flesh, like a tinker drunk in a ditch.

One and two are not one: but one and nothing is two; Truth can hardly be false, if falsehood cannot be true.

Once the mastodon was: pterodactyls were common as c.o.c.ks; Then the mammoth was G.o.d; now is He a prize ox.

Parallels all things are: yet many of these are askew.

You are certainly I: but certainly I am not you.

Springs the rock from the plain, shoots the stream from the rock; c.o.c.ks exist for the hen: but hens exist for the c.o.c.k.

G.o.d, whom we see not, is: and G.o.d, who is not, we see; Fiddle, we know, is diddle; and diddle, we take it, is dee.

Algernon Charles Swinburne [1837-1909]

THE WILLOW-TREE After Hood

Long by the willow-trees Vainly they sought her, Wild rang the mother's screams O'er the gray water: ”Where is my lovely one?

Where is my daughter?

”Rouse thee, Sir Constable-- Rouse thee and look; Fisherman, bring your net, Boatman, your hook.

Beat in the lily-beds, Dive in the brook!”

Vainly the constable Shouted and called her; Vainly the fisherman Beat the green alder; Vainly he flung the net, Never it hauled her!

Mother beside the fire Sat, her nightcap in; Father, in easy chair, Gloomily napping, When at the window-sill Came a light tapping!

And a pale countenance Looked through the cas.e.m.e.nt.

Loud beat the mother's heart, Sick with amazement, And at the vision which Came to surprise her, Shrieked in an agony-- ”Lor'! it's Elizar!”

Yes, 'twas Elizabeth-- Yes, 'twas their girl; Pale was her cheek, and her Hair out of curl.

”Mother,” the loving one, Blus.h.i.+ng exclaimed, ”Let not your innocent Lizzy be blamed.

”Yesterday, going to Aunt Jones's to tea, Mother, dear mother, I Forgot the door-key!

And as the night was cold And the way steep, Mrs. Jones kept me to Breakfast and sleep.”

Whether her Pa and Ma Fully believed her, That we shall never know, Stern they received her; And for the work of that Cruel, though short, night Sent her to bed without Tea for a fortnight.

MORAL Hey diddle diddlety, Cat and the fiddlety, Maidens of England, take caution by she!

Let love and suicide Never tempt you aside, And always remember to take the door-key.

William Makepeace Thackeray [1811-1863]

POETS AND LINNETS After Robert Browning