From “Lucile”
O HOUR of all hours, the most blest upon earth,
Blest hour of our dinners!
The land of his birth;
The face of his first love; the bills that he owes;
The twaddle of friends, and venom of foes;
The sermon he heard when to church he last went;
The money he borrowed, the money he spent;
All of these things...
-
-
From “Modern Love”
AT dinner she is hostess, I am host.
Went the feast ever cheerfuller? She keeps
The topic over intellectual deeps
In buoyancy afloat. They see no ghost.
With sparkling surface-eyes we ply the ball:
It is in truth a most contagious game;
HIDING THE SKELETON shall be its name.
Such play as this the devils might... -
From the Greek by Abraham Cowley
FILL the bowl with rosy wine!
Around our temples roses twine!
And let us cheerfully awhile,
Like the wine and roses, smile.
Crowned with roses, we contemn
Gyges’ wealthy diadem.
To-day is ours, what do we fear?
To-day is ours; we have it here:
Let ’s treat it kindly, that it may
... -
This Indian weed, now withered quite,
Though green at noon, cut down at night,
Shows thy decay,—
All flesh is hay:
Thus think, and drink 1 tobacco.The pipe, so lily-like and weak,
...
Does thus thy mortal state bespeak;
Thou art e’en such,—
Gone with a touch:
Thus think, and drink tobacco. -
Was this small plant for thee cut down?
So was the plant of great renown,
Which Mercy sends
For nobler ends.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.Doth juice medicinal proceed
From such a naughty foreign weed?
Then what ’s the power
Of Jesse’s flower?
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.The...
-
Anonymous translation from the Italian
IF every man’s internal care
Were written on his brow,
How many would our pity share
Who raise our envy now?The fatal secret, when revealed,
Of every aching breast,
Would prove that only while concealed
Their lot appeared the best. -
Hence, vain deluding joys,
The brood of Folly without father bred!
How little you bestead,
Or fill the fixèd mind with all your toys!
Dwell in some idle brain,
And fancies fond with gaudy shapes possess,
As thick and numberless
As the gay motes that people the sunbeams,—
Or likest hovering dreams,
The tickle... -
The Shades of night were falling fast,
As though an Alpine village passed
A youth, who bore, ’mid snow and ice,
A banner with the strange device—
Excelsior!His brow was sad; his eye beneath
Flashed like a falchion from its sheath;
And like a silver clarion rung
The accents of that unknown tongue—... -
I hear in my heart, I hear in its ominous pulses,
All day, the commotion of sinewy, mane-tossing horses;
All night, from their cells, the importunate tramping and neighing.Cowards and laggards fall back; but alert to the saddle,
Straight, grim, and abreast, vault our weather-worn, galloping legion,
With stirrup-cup each to the one gracious woman that... -
We are two travellers, Roger and I.
...
Roger ’s my dog:—come here, you scamp!
Jump for the gentlemen,—mind your eye!
Over the table,—look out for the lamp!—
The rogue is growing a little old;
Five years we ’ve tramped through wind and weather,
And slept out-doors when nights were cold,
And ate and drank—and starved together.