Of old upon the earth sat Justice crowned,
And truth clear-flashing from her lucent eyes
Withered the pale and festering jealousies
That in diseased hearts a harbour found;
But when the voice of hate and the shrill sound
Of rancorous spite and greed gat strength to rise,
Borne on the vaporous breath of poisoning lies,
Through realms that had shone pure with peace profound,
Then wintry grief upon her bright face froze,
And her white wings she spread, and soaring high,
Where the unsealed mountain meets the sky,
Mantled her in a robe of ageless snows:
Thence in the sobbing breeze is borne her sigh,
Thence her far voice that once was heard anigh.
[XI.]
THE WAYS OF LIFE.
Narrower day by day
Shrinks the valley we thread;
Once how many a way
Into the unknown led!
All in the morning light
Beaded with pearls of dew,
And each, to our wondering sight,
Full of enchantment new.
One on the easy plain
Loitering, one on fire
The topmost summit to gain,
And to mount from high to higher;
On by the sparkling brook,
Or climbing the steep hill-side,
Lightly our way we took,
For the world before us was wide.
Lightly the branching ways
We passed, for the gains of each
Seemed to our dreamy gaze
To linger within our reach;
And all that was bright whereon
The desires of our youth were set,
Gathered and fused in one,
In the glory of manhood met.
Little of all that we saw
The goal of our vision hath,
And closer the dark cliffs draw
Frowning about our path;
And seldom they part to disclose
Issue or choice anew,
But the track that the child once chose,
The man must still pursue.
[XII.]
To R. H. K. and J. M. K.
Summer is fled, and the skies are weeping
For withered blossom and faded scent,
And over the face of the forest is creeping
A flush of fever with pale fear blent,
And even the brows of the mountains borrow
From the gray cloud-fleeces a scarf of sorrow.