Part 31 (1/2)

How well I knew this stealthy wolf would howl, When in the eagle talons ta'en in air!

Aglow, I s.n.a.t.c.hed thee from thy prey--thou fowl-- I held thee, abject conqueror, just where All see the stigma of a fitting name As deeply red as deeply black thy shame!

And though thy matchless impudence may frame Some mask of seeming courage--spite thy sneer, And thou a.s.surest sloth and skunk: ”It does not smart!”

Thou feel'st it burning, in and in,--and fear None will forget it till shall fall the deadly dart!

FACT OR FABLE?

(BISMARCK AND NAPOLEON III.)

_(”Un jour, sentant un royal appet.i.t.”)_

[Bk. III. iii., Jersey, September, 1852.]

One fasting day, itched by his appet.i.te, A monkey took a fallen tiger's hide, And, where the wearer had been savage, tried To overpa.s.s his model. Scratch and bite Gave place, however, to mere gnash of teeth and screams, But, as he prowled, he made his hearers fly With crying often: ”See the Terror of your dreams!”

Till, for too long, none ventured thither nigh.

Left undisturbed to s.n.a.t.c.h, and clog his brambled den, With sleepers' bones and plumes of daunted doves, And other spoil of beasts as timid as the men, Who shrank when he mock-roared, from glens and groves-- He begged his fellows view the crannies crammed with pelf Sordid and tawdry, stained and tinselled things, As ample proof he was the Royal Tiger's self!

Year in, year out, thus still he purrs and sings Till tramps a butcher by--he risks his head-- In darts the hand and crushes out the yell, And plucks the hide--as from a nut the sh.e.l.l-- He holds him nude, and sneers: ”An ape you dread!”

H.L.W.

A LAMENT.

_(”Sentiers ou l'herbe se balance.”)_

[Bk. III. xi., July, 1853.]

O paths whereon wild gra.s.ses wave!

O valleys! hillsides! forests h.o.a.r!

Why are ye silent as the grave?

For One, who came, and comes no more!

Why is thy window closed of late?

And why thy garden in its sear?

O house! where doth thy master wait?

I only know he is not here.

Good dog! thou watchest; yet no hand Will feed thee. In the house is none.