A Century of Emblems Part 8

On wooden-headed soulless guys We see such draping splendours thrust; But raise the robe, and all surprise Closes in pity and disgust.

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THE WINDMILL.

That windmill with its sails at rest A thing immovable appears, And o'er the little hamlet nest The symbol of Salvation rears.

But when its arms the breezes spurn, 'Tis Fortune's wheel we image there; Reared and depress'd they show in turn Hope, joy, dejection, and despair.

Unstable souls, the Church at peace, Seem steadfast thus in high resolve, But in her storms and perils--these Through many a shifting phase revolve.

FAIRIES AND FACTORIES.

They crush with piles and tear with thundering wheel The rainbow arches from the torrent's spray; The frightened Fairies, sure of no appeal, Pair off in mournful minuets away.

So drudging life stamps out with daily pain Our brightest, lightest fancies one by one; Oh, may we hope to see them shine again Beyond this working world, beyond the sun!

RIGHTEOUS OVERMUCH.

The youthful Furius sped so fast Before his folly's roaring wind, His wildest mates he overpa.s.s'd, And health and sense were left behind.

Now turned fanatic devotee He deems his mother church too slow, So charters some new craft that he A readier way to Heaven may go.

Take heed, my Furius, lest you sail For love and patience all too fast, Without their convoy faith may quail A prey to pirate pride at last.

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INEXPERIENCE.

Eye of stranger magnifies danger.

"Adown the dreadful glacis madly borne, Against that foaming barricado cast, The barque is doomed! and with a hissing scorn The surge will dance upon the foundering mast."

The landsman thus; the seaman smiles, quoth he, "The barque and wave, together mount and fall; The horse upholds his rider, so will she Career in triumph o'er the watery brawl.

"Oft inexperience brandeth for a bane That which for n.o.ble uses wisdom gave; The path I hail to glory or to gain To you, untried, reflects an ocean grave."

THE SUNKEN IRON-CLAD.

O concentration of brute force!

Rhinoceros of the deeps!

O ugly Delos on whose sh.o.r.es No soft Latona sleeps!

Scant room in thee for birth or love 'Mid monsters furnace-born, The iron-throated guns above, Below, the ripping horn.

Heaven grant ere long we find in thee An emblem of all war Beneath the waves of Time's deep sea Buried for evermore!

THE MASTER'S WILL.

Two Caravels to sea were gone, Two striplings pa.s.sed the city gate; A shattered hull returns alone, A brother wails a brother's fate.

But who elects for good or ill?

Distrust not mercy though bereft; Though storm winds shriek the Master's will, One taken and the other left.

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NOW OR NEVER.

He who loses luck abuses.

We stalked the great stag down the glen, Once more, alas! I failed to kill; Such is the lot of luckless men, Despite their energy and skill.

And now he's safe beyond our ken Upon the steep and misty hill.

He'll come again, but not to-day, Where meet in one the foaming burns, While I in fortune's windy play Am tossed afar from braes and ferns, So plaineth he who throws away The happy chance that ne'er returns.

LABOUR LOST.