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Birds in a May-bush we were! right merry!
All night we kiss'd, we juggled all day.

Joy was the heart of Juggling Jerry!
Now from his old girl he's juggled away.

IX
It's past parsons to console us:

No, nor no doctor fetch for me:
I can die without my bolus;

Two of a trade, lass, never agree!
Parson and Doctor!--don't they love rarely,

Fighting the devil in other men's fields!
Stand up yourself and match him fairly:

Then see how the rascal yields!
X

I, lass, have lived no gipsy, flaunting
Finery while his poor helpmate grubs:

Coin I've stored, and you won't be wanting:
You shan't beg from the troughs and tubs.

Nobly you've stuck to me, though in his kitchen
Many a Marquis would hail you Cook!

Palaces you could have ruled and grown rich in,
But our old Jerry you never forsook.

XI
Hand up the chirper! ripe ale winks in it;

Let's have comfort and be at peace.
Once a stout draught made me light as a linnet.

Cheer up! the Lord must have his lease.
May be--for none see in that black hollow -

It's just a place where we're held in pawn,
And, when the Great Juggler makes as to swallow,

It's just the sword-trick--I ain't quite gone!
XII

Yonder came smells of the gorse, so nutty,
Gold-like and warm: it's the prime of May.

Better than mortar, brick and putty,
Is God's house on a blowing day.

Lean me more up the mound; now I feel it:
All the old heath-smells! Ain't it strange?

There's the world laughing, as if to conceal it,
But He's by us, juggling the change.

XIII
I mind it well, by the sea-beach lying,

Once--it's long gone--when two gulls we beheld,
Which, as the moon got up, were flying

Down a big wave that sparked and swelled.
Crack, went a gun: one fell: the second

Wheeled round him twice, and was off for new luck:
There in the dark her white wing beckon'd:-

Drop me a kiss--I'm the bird dead-struck!
THE CROWN OF LOVE

O might I load my arms with thee,
Like that young lover of Romance

Who loved and gained so gloriously
The fair Princess of France!

Because he dared to love so high,
He, bearing her dear weight, shall speed

To where the mountain touched on sky:
So the proud king decreed.

Unhalting he must bear her on,
Nor pause a space to gather breath,

And on the height she will be won;
And she was won in death!

Red the far summit flames with morn,
While in the plain a glistening Court

Surrounds the king who practised scorn
Through such a mask of sport.

She leans into his arms; she lets
Her lovely shape be clasped: he fares.

God speed him whole! The knights make bets:
The ladies lift soft prayers.

O have you seen the deer at chase?
O have you seen the wounded kite?

So boundingly he runs the race,
So wavering grows his flight.

- My lover! linger here, and slake
Thy thirst, or me thou wilt not win.

- See'st thou the tumbled heavens? they break!
They beckon us up and in.

- Ah, hero-love! unloose thy hold:
O drop me like a cursed thing.

- See'st thou the crowded swards of gold?
They wave to us Rose and Ring.

- O death-white mouth! O cast me down!
Thou diest? Then with thee I die.

- See'st thou the angels with their Crown?
We twain have reached the sky.

THE HEAD OF BRAN THE BLEST
I

When the Head of Bran
Was firm on British shoulders,

God made a man!
Cried all beholders.

Steel could not resist
The weight his arm would rattle;

He, with naked fist,
Has brain'd a knight in battle.

He marched on the foe,
And never counted numbers;

Foreign widows know
The hosts he sent to slumbers.

As a street you scan,
That's towered by the steeple,

So the Head of Bran
Rose o'er his people.

II
'Death's my neighbour,'

Quoth Bran the Blest;
'Christian labour

Brings Christian rest.
From the trunk sever

The Head of Bran,
That which never

Has bent to man!
'That which never

To men has bowed
Shall live ever

To shame the shroud:
Shall live ever

To face the foe;
Sever it, sever,

And with one blow.
'Be it written,

That all I wrought
Was for Britain,

In deed and thought:
Be it written,

That while I die,
Glory to Britain!

Is my last cry.
'Glory to Britain!

Death echoes me round.
Glory to Britain!

The world shall resound.
Glory to Britain!

In ruin and fall,
Glory to Britain!

Is heard over all.'
IIII

Burn, Sun, down the sea!
Bran lies low with thee.

Burst, Morn, from the main!
Bran so shall rise again.

Blow, Wind, from the field!
Bran's Head is the Briton's shield.

Beam, Star, in the West!
Bright burns the Head of Bran the Blest.

IV
Crimson-footed, like the stork,

From great ruts of slaughter,
Warriors of the Golden Torque

Cross the lifting water.
Princes seven, enchaining hands,

Bear the live head homeward.
Lo! it speaks, and still commands:

Gazing out far foamward.
Fiery words of lightning sense

Down the hollows thunder;
Forest hostels know not whence

Comes the speech, and wonder.
City-Castles, on the steep,

Where the faithful Seven
House at midnight, hear, in sleep,

Laughter under heaven.
Lilies, swimming on the mere,

In the castle shadow,
Under draw their heads, and Fear

Walks the misty meadow.
Tremble not! it is not Death

Pledging dark espousal:
'Tis the Head of endless breath,

Challenging carousal!
Brim the horn! a health is drunk,

Now, that shall keep going:
Life is but the pebble sunk;

Deeds, the circle growing!
Fill, and pledge the Head of Bran!

While his lead they follow,
Long shall heads in Britain plan

Speech Death cannot swallow!
THE MEETING

The old coach-road through a common of furze,
With knolls of pine, ran white;

Berries of autumn, with thistles, and burrs,
And spider-threads, droop'd in the light.

The light in a thin blue veil peered sick;
The sheep grazed close and still;

The smoke of a farm by a yellow rick
Curled lazily under a hill.

No fly shook the round of the silver net;
No insect the swift bird chased;

Only two travellers moved and met
Across that hazy waste.

One was a girl with a babe that throve,
Her ruin and her bliss;

One was a youth with a lawless love,
Who clasped it the more for this.

The girl for her babe hummed prayerful speech;
The youth for his love did pray;

Each cast a wistful look on each,
And either went their way.

THE BEGGAR'S SOLILOQUY


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