THE TWO GOATS.

Two goats met on an Alpine ridge,
Sharp, sheer, and horrible to see;
One crouched and formed a living bridge,
And so they passed unscathed and free.
That both might prosper one must bend,
Oh, learn the lesson, reader mine!
So shalt thou compass mercy's end,
And so conform to love divine.

THE ARAB WELL.

Ah me! it is a cruel spell
For Truth as for mankind,
If to the depth of yonder well
The goddess be consigned.
For there the sex in daily rout
With scandal taint the air;
No lying rumour runs about
But hath a mother there.
Dumb Truth the while in that dark place
A laughing-stock is laid;
They dash the bucket in her face,
Widow, and wife, and maid.

THE DEAD CROCODILE.

Upon the bank of ancient Nile,
A shoal of Arab boys
Belaboured a dead crocodile,
With oriental noise.
They cursed his mother and his beard,
They cursed his spotted sire,
They kicked, and smote, and spat, and jeered,
And pelted him with mire.
They lashed a cord around his jaws,
They sat astride his back,
They twisted round his webbed claws,
And made the sinews crack.
When all at once the cold dead thing,
As by Galvani's art,
Its flabby tail appeared to swing
With momentary start.
Away, away, fled every one,
Round corners and up trees,
And left the monster all alone
In death's unbroken peace.
Emblem of cowardice is here,
Patent to mind and eye:
What they deserve such wretches fear,
Without a danger nigh.