The Way of the Winepress By John Payne: With an Introduction by Thomas Wright |
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ETIAMSI OMNES, EGO NON. |
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 | The Way of the Winepress |  |
ETIAMSI OMNES, EGO NON.
Juletta.
Why, knaves, 'tis in our power to hang ye!
Master.
Very likely:
'Tis in our power, then, to be hanged and scorn ye.
The Sea-Voyage.
Why, knaves, 'tis in our power to hang ye!
Master.
Very likely:
'Tis in our power, then, to be hanged and scorn ye.
The Sea-Voyage.
1
JOB of his grim God, “Though He slay me,” says,“Yet will I trust in Him.” — Nor ant in sand
Nor wolf in wood but would at least make stand
'Gainst the fell force that crushed his careful days
And but by death and doom itself displays.
Men only, by Faith's opiate fumes unmanned,
Thus bow the knee to kiss the blind brute hand
Of deaf Omnipotence, that begets and slays.
None such am I: love neither dread nor trust
I feel for that vast Fear that hides Heaven's light
From us, that grinds our lives into the dust
And but by scaith and slaughter shows His might:
Still, though He slay me, at my slayer grim
I'll scoff and perish proudly, scorning Him.
2
God of the groundling and the good-for-nought,Unhearkening ears and eyes devoid of gaze,
Portentous phantom, through Faith's hallowing haze
Dim-looming, deaf to reason and to thought,
That ne'er the true man succouredst in aught,
Thy favours for the flatterer kept, who sways
Thy sense obscure with incense and with praise,
My service never to Thy shrine was brought.
I know (who better?) Thine omnipotence:
Still hast Thou stood between me and the sun
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Into the darkness and the unknown sea;
Yet canst no more than slay me, when all's done;
And Life's not worth the cringing for to Thee.
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