University of Virginia Library


143

XX. TO------.

Armoury of impenetrable mail
Is thine; and hath been ever from the womb:
Loosen not, till thou loosenest for the tomb
The sevenfold harness of that iron scale:
For many are there watchful to assail
The mighty, and to speed the flying doom
In all those fits of weakness or of gloom
Which o'er the loftiest head at times prevail.
Not only Passion's Furies—Jealousies,
The heart's Hell-fires; Suspicion, Fear, and Hate:
But Languors unheroic; Sympathies
That, promising to soften, enervate;
Desires that over earth and ocean roam;
And Love, which here beneath should never make her home.