Poems By Richard Chenevix Trench: New ed |
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LIFE AND DEATH.
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81
LIFE AND DEATH.
A PARABLE.
There went a man through Syrian land,
Leading a Camel by the hand;
The beast, made wild by some alarm,
Began to threaten sudden harm,
So fiercely snorting, that the man
With all his speed escaping ran—
He ran, and saw a well that lay,
As chance would have it, by the way:
He heard the Camel snort so near,
As almost maddened him with fear,
And crawled into the well, and there
Fell not, but dangled in mid air;
For from a fissure in the stone
Which lined its sides, a bush had grown;
To this he clung with all his might,
From thence lamenting his sad plight:
He saw, what time he looked on high,
The beast's head perilously nigh,
Ready to drag him back again;
He looked into the bottom then,
And there a Dragon he espied,
Whose horrid jaws were yawning wide,
Agape to swallow him alive,
So soon as he should there arrive.
Leading a Camel by the hand;
The beast, made wild by some alarm,
Began to threaten sudden harm,
So fiercely snorting, that the man
With all his speed escaping ran—
He ran, and saw a well that lay,
As chance would have it, by the way:
He heard the Camel snort so near,
As almost maddened him with fear,
And crawled into the well, and there
Fell not, but dangled in mid air;
For from a fissure in the stone
Which lined its sides, a bush had grown;
To this he clung with all his might,
From thence lamenting his sad plight:
He saw, what time he looked on high,
The beast's head perilously nigh,
Ready to drag him back again;
He looked into the bottom then,
And there a Dragon he espied,
Whose horrid jaws were yawning wide,
Agape to swallow him alive,
So soon as he should there arrive.
82
But as he hung two fears between,
A third by that poor wretch was seen.
For where the bush by which he clung
Had from the broken wall outsprung,
He saw two Mice precisely there,
One black, one white, a stealthy pair—
He saw the black one and the white,
How at the root by turns they bite,
They gnaw, they pull, they dig, and still
The earth that held its fibres spill,
Which as it rustling downward ran,
The Dragon to look up began,
Watching how soon the shrub and all
Its burden would together fall.
A third by that poor wretch was seen.
For where the bush by which he clung
Had from the broken wall outsprung,
He saw two Mice precisely there,
One black, one white, a stealthy pair—
He saw the black one and the white,
How at the root by turns they bite,
They gnaw, they pull, they dig, and still
The earth that held its fibres spill,
Which as it rustling downward ran,
The Dragon to look up began,
Watching how soon the shrub and all
Its burden would together fall.
The man in anguish, fear, despair,
Beleaguered, threatened everywhere,
In state of miserable doubt,
In vain for safety gazed about.
But as he looked around him so,
A twig he spied, and on it grow
Ripe berries from their laden stalk;
Then his desire he could not balk;
When these did once his eye engage,
He saw no more the Camel's rage,
Nor Dragon in the underground,
Nor game the busy Mice had found.
The beast above might snort and blow,
The Dragon watch his prey below,
The Mice gnaw near him as they pleased—
The berries eagerly he seized;
They seemed to him right good to eat;
A dainty mouthful, welcome treat,
They brought him such a keen delight,
His danger was forgotten quite.
Beleaguered, threatened everywhere,
In state of miserable doubt,
In vain for safety gazed about.
But as he looked around him so,
A twig he spied, and on it grow
Ripe berries from their laden stalk;
Then his desire he could not balk;
When these did once his eye engage,
He saw no more the Camel's rage,
Nor Dragon in the underground,
Nor game the busy Mice had found.
The beast above might snort and blow,
The Dragon watch his prey below,
The Mice gnaw near him as they pleased—
The berries eagerly he seized;
They seemed to him right good to eat;
A dainty mouthful, welcome treat,
83
His danger was forgotten quite.
But who, you ask, is this vain man,
Who thus forget his terror can?
Then learn, O friend, that man art thou!
Listen, and I will tell thee how.
The Dragon in the well beneath,
That is the yawning gulf of death;
The Camel threatening overhead,
Is life's perplexity and dread.
'Tis thou who, life and death between,
Hangest on this world's sapling green;
And they who gnaw the root, the twain
Who thee with thy support would fain
Deliver unto death a prey,—
These names the Mice have, Night and Day.
From morn to evening gnaws the white,
And would the root unfasten quite:
From evening till the morn comes back
In deepest stillness gnaws the black;
And yet, in midst of these alarms,
The berry, Pleasure, has such charms,
That thou the Camel of life's woe,
That thou the Dragon death below,
That thou the two Mice, night and day,
And all forgettest, save the way
To get most berries in thy power,
And on the grave's steep side devour.
Who thus forget his terror can?
Then learn, O friend, that man art thou!
Listen, and I will tell thee how.
The Dragon in the well beneath,
That is the yawning gulf of death;
The Camel threatening overhead,
Is life's perplexity and dread.
'Tis thou who, life and death between,
Hangest on this world's sapling green;
And they who gnaw the root, the twain
Who thee with thy support would fain
Deliver unto death a prey,—
These names the Mice have, Night and Day.
From morn to evening gnaws the white,
And would the root unfasten quite:
From evening till the morn comes back
In deepest stillness gnaws the black;
And yet, in midst of these alarms,
The berry, Pleasure, has such charms,
That thou the Camel of life's woe,
That thou the Dragon death below,
That thou the two Mice, night and day,
And all forgettest, save the way
To get most berries in thy power,
And on the grave's steep side devour.
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