III. Hath he not deeds to do and days to see Beats there no brain yet in the poisonous head, Throbs there no treason? if no such thing there be, If no such thought, surely this is not he. Look to the hands then; are the hands not red? What are the shadows about this man's bed? Death, was not this the cupbearer to thee? Nay, let him live then, till in this life's stead Even he shall pray for that thou hast to give ; Till seeing his hopes and not his memories fled Even he shall cry upon thee a bitter cry, That life is worse than death; then let him live, Till death seem worse than life; then let him die. IV. O watcher at the guardless gate of kings, Hast in thine hand their doomsday drink, and seest A name, a dream, a less thing than the least, If haply, or ever its cursed life have ceased, Or ever thy cold hands cover his head From sight of France and freedom and broad day, He may see these and wither and be dead. PARIS, September, 1869. XIII. THE SAVIOUR OF SOCIETY. I. O SON of man, but of what man who knows? That broughtest healing on thy leathern wings To priests, and under them didst gather kings, And madest friends to thee of all man's foes; Before thine incarnation, the tale goes, Thy virgin mother, pure of sensual stings, A raven-feathered raven-throated dove II. Thine incarnation was upon this wise, And the wise men that ask but to be fed Though the hot shambles be their board and bed And sleep on any dunghill shut their eyes, So they lie warm and fatten in the mire : And the high priest enthroned yet in thy name, Judas, baptised thee with men's blood for hire; And now thou hangest nailed to thine own shame In sight of all time, but while heaven has flame Shalt find no resurrection from hell-fire. December, 1869. XIV. MENTANA: SECOND ANNIVERSARY. Est-ce qu'il n'est pas temps que la foudre se prouve, I. By the dead body of Hope, the spotless lamb room, And by the child Despair born red therefrom As, thank the secret sire picked out to cram With spurious spawn thy misconceiving dam, Thou, like a worm from a town's common tomb, Didst creep from forth the kennel of her womb, Born to break down with catapult and ram Man's builded towers of promise, and with breath And tongue to track and hunt his hopes to death : O, by that sweet dead body abused and slain, And by that child mismothered,—dog, by all Thy curses thou hast cursed mankind withal, With what curse shall man curse thee back again? |