And then not one had cause for shame.
1816.
-----
A PARABLE.
I PICKED a
rustic nosegay lately,
And bore it
homewards, musing greatly;
When, heated by my hand, I found
The heads all drooping tow'rd the ground.
I plac'd them in a well-cool'd glass,
And what a wonder came to pass
The heads soon raised themselves once more.
The stalks were
blooming as before,
And all were in as good a case
As when they left their native place.
* * * *
So felt I, when I wond'ring heard
My song to foreign tongues transferr'd.
1828.
-----
SHOULD E'ER THE LOVELESS DAY.
SHOULD e'er the loveless day remain
Obscured by storms of hail and rain,
Thy charms thou showest never;
I tap at window, tap at door:
Come, lov'd one, come! appear once more!
Thou art as fair as ever!
1827.*
-----
A PLAN THE MUSES ENTERTAINED.
A PLAN the Muses entertain'd
Methodically to impart
To Psyche the
poetic art;
Prosaic-pure her soul remain'd.
No
wondrous sounds escaped her lyre
E'en in the fairest Summer night;
But Amor came with glance of fire,--
The lesson soon was learn'd aright.
1827.*
-----
THE DEATH OF THE FLY.
WITH
eagerness he drinks the treach'rous potion,
Nor stops to rest, by the first taste misled;
Sweet is the
draught, but soon all power of motion
He finds has from his tender members fled;
No longer has he strength to plume his wing,
No longer strength to raise his head, poor thing!
E'en in enjoyment's hour his life he loses,
His little foot to bear his weight refuses;
So on he sips, and ere his
draught is o'er,
Death veils his thousand eyes for evermore.
1810.
-----
BY THE RIVER.
WHEN by the broad
stream thou dost dwell,
Oft
shallow is its
sluggish flood;
Then, when thy fields thou tendest well,
It o'er them spreads its slime and mud.
The ships
descend ere
daylight wanes,
The
prudentfisherupward goes;
Round reef and rock ice casts its chains,
And boys at will the
pathway close.
To this attend, then, carefully,
And what thou wouldst, that execute!
Ne'er
linger, ne'er o'erhasty be,
For time moves on with measured foot.
1821.*
-----
THE FOX AND CRANE.
ONCE two persons uninvited
Came to join my dinner table;
For the nonce they lived united,
Fox and crane yclept in fable.
Civil greetings pass'd between us
Then I pluck'd some pigeons tender
For the fox of jackal-genius,
Adding grapes in full-grown splendour.
Long-neck'd flasks I put as dishes
For the crane, without delaying,
Fill'd with gold and silver fishes,
In the limpid water playing.
Had ye witness'd Reynard planted
At his flat plate, all demurely,
Ye with envy must have granted:
"Ne'er was such a gourmand, surely!"
While the bird with circumspection
On one foot, as usual, cradled,
From the flasks his fish-refection
With his bill and long neck ladled.
One the pigeons praised,--the other,
As they went, extoll'd the fishes,
Each one scoffing at his brother
For preferring
vulgar dishes.
* * *
If thou wouldst
preserve thy credit,
When thou askest folks to guzzle
At thy hoard, take care to spread it
Suited both for bill and muzzle.
1819.
-----
THE FOX AND HUNTSMAN.
HARD 'tis on a fox's traces
To arrive, midst forest-glades;
Hopeless utterly the chase is,
If his
flight the
huntsman aids.
And so 'tis with many a wonder,
(Why A B make Ab in fact,)
Over which we gape and blunder,
And our head and brains distract.
1821.*
-----
THE FROGS.
A POOL was once congeal'd with frost;
The frogs, in its deep waters lost,
No longer dared to croak or spring;
But promised, being half asleep,
If suffer'd to the air to creep,
As very nightingales to sing.
A thaw dissolved the ice so strong,--
They
proudly steer'd themselves along,
When landed, squatted on the shore,
And croak'd as loudly as before.
1821.*
-----
THE WEDDING.
A FEAST was in a village spread,--
It was a wedding-day, they said.
The parlour of the inn I found,
And saw the couples whirling round,
Each lass attended by her lad,
And all seem'd
loving,
blithe, and glad;
But on my asking for the bride,
A fellow with a stare, replied:
"'Tis not the place that point to raise!
We're only dancing in her honour;
We now have danced three nights and days,
And not bestowed one thought upon her."
* * * *
Whoe'er in life employs his eyes
Such cases oft will recognise.
1821.*
-----
BURIAL.
To the grave one day from a house they bore
A maiden;
To the window the citizens went to explore;
In splendour they lived, and with
wealth as of yore
Their banquets were laden.
Then thought they: "The maid to the tomb is now borne;
We too from our dwellings ere long must be torn,
And he that is left our
departure to mourn,
To our
riches will be the successor,
For some one must be their possessor.
1827.*
-----
THREATENING SIGNS.
IF Venus in the evening sky
Is seen in
radiant majesty,
If rod-like comets, red as blood,
Are 'mongst the constellations view'd,
Out springs the Ignoramus, yelling:
"The star's exactly o'er my dwelling!
What woeful
prospect, ah, for me!
Then calls his neighbour mournfully:
"Behold that awful sign of evil,
Portending woe to me, poor devil!
My mother's asthma ne'er will leave her,
My child is sick with wind and fever;
I dread the
illness of my wife,
A week has pass'd,
devoid of strife,--
And other things have reach'd my ear;
The Judgment Day has come, I fear!"
His neighbour answered: "Friend, you're right!
Matters look very had to-night.
Let's go a street or two, though, hence,
And gaze upon the stars from thence."--
No change appears in either case.
Let each remain then in his place,
And
wisely do the best he can,
Patient as any other man.
1821.*
-----
THE BUYERS.
To an apple-woman's stall
Once some children nimbly ran;
Longing much to purchase all,
They with
joyous haste began
Snatching up the piles there raised,
While with eager eyes they gazed
On the rosy fruit so nice;
But when they found out the price,
Down they threw the whole they'd got,
Just as if they were red hot.
* * * * *
The man who gratis will his goods supply
Will never find a lack of folks to buy!
1820.
-----
THE MOUNTAIN VILLAGE.
"THE mountain village was destroy'd;
But see how soon is fill'd the void!
Shingles and boards, as by magic arise,