Such oft is Life! that, standing with despair,
Looks on some crime,—as looked the conqueror
Of Rosamond,—ere goaded on to dare
Fate through the stern arbitrament of war:
Death smiles within the danger of her hair;
Defeat, more deadly than the wild Avar,
Looks, armored, from her eyes; and in her mouth
An exarch marshals legions from the south.
Yet, should he so prevail against her might—
Her woman Pride, her hosts of beautiful
Angers and scorns—that she be forced, some night,
To pledge him faith in Hate’s full cup, a skull—
What though he sees Revenge writ, fiery white,
Upon her brow! revenge, that hides a dull
Poison for sleep, or dagger all prepared!—
Life writes not Failure where Fate writes He dared.
MNEMONICS
It shall not be forgotten
Of any one who sees,—
The sorrel-flow’r amid the moss,
The wind-flow’r ’mid the trees.
Though I can but remember
All flowers by her face,
That flow’r, which is my life’s perfume,
Kin to the wild-flow’r race.
It shall not be forgotten
Of any one who looks,—
The evening-star above the hills,
Its image in the brooks.
Though I can but remember
All planets by her eyes,
Those stars, which are my destiny,
Bright sisters to the skies’.
And, oh, the song that follows
The wing-beat of the bird!—
It shall not be forgotten
When once such song is heard.
Though I can but remember
All music by her words,
Her voice, which is my heart’s response,
Kin to the building bird’s.
How can they be forgotten,
The fair and fugitive,
When in all birds and stars and flowers
Love’s intimations live!