 | The Autumn Garden |  |
98
Experiments
I. Choriambics
To the late J. B. L.-W.
Warren, waken to verse! chant to us some new song!
Greece, Rome call not in vain, heroes of old, and gods;
Egypt, rending her veil, cries
“See where laughter has reigned, and tears!”
Greece, Rome call not in vain, heroes of old, and gods;
Egypt, rending her veil, cries
“See where laughter has reigned, and tears!”
Chant thou, till, in our hearts, veiled by the sands of time,
Sorrow, beauty and love, stirred by the antique shell
More than mortally stricken,
Echo, e'en as tho' Pindar sang.
Sorrow, beauty and love, stirred by the antique shell
More than mortally stricken,
Echo, e'en as tho' Pindar sang.
1878.
99
II. The Bob-Wheel
To the late W. C. M.
A bob-wheel Monkhouse bids me try,
Ten rhymes on two, besides the “bob”!
I hesitate, and start, and sigh:
The fear of failure makes me throb.
Can such a breathless bard as I
On these frail pinions heavenward fly?
Some dædal wizard let me rob!
Courage! the rhymes are gliding by;
'Tis almost done! See, knob by knob,
The bob-wheel turns!
Put something, Cosmo, in my fob,—
His wage the poet earns.
1880.
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