WHY paint Death the king of térrors?
Whó so quiet, cálm and peaceful? Whó so húmble? whó so lovely?
Whó a kínder friend to mán is?
Why hung round with bláck the chámber? Whý those sád looks, sighs and sobbings? Tósses ón this coúch a féver?
Heáves this breast with ánxious thróbbings?
Ón these cheeks there glóws no ánger, Ón these pále lips writhes no ánguish; Cáre this brów no lónger wrinkles, From these lids no teárs are starting;
Foolish mourners, fór yourselves weep, Who have still with Life to struggle, Life the treacherous, únrelénting, Crúel king of pains and térrors.
Dalkey Lodge, DALKEY (IRELAND); April 2, 1855.
THERE was a time when to our view This dúll old world looked fresh and new, And you loved me and I loved you, There was a time.
There was a time when young and gay We frolicked through the livelong day, And all our whole year was one May, There wás a time.
There was a time we did not dream That things are other than they seem And with delusive lustre gleam, There was a time.
There was a time we had not yet Learned to fume and cark and fret And thankless riches hardly get, There was a time.
The child's become a man at last,
And age and death are coming fast, There was a time.
DALKEY LODGE, DALKEY (IRELAND); May 7, 1855.
"TÝRANT, I'll have my rights;" I once heard say
A village cur to a neighbouring farmer's mastiff: "One hálf that bone exact I claim as mine, Fór in God's sight all kinds of dogs are equal; Hé made us áll, we 're áll alike his children." "Take it," replied the mástiff, "with that strength Équal to mine, which that impartial God
No doubt has given thee; I impugn thy right not." Grówling he said, and Cur away sneaked prudent, And had that night gone supperless to bed,
Hád not kind Providence brought by chance that way My lady's pug with bone stolen from the larder; Which Cúr, an adept now in equity,
With sudden snatch to appropriate not demurring, Bore off and at the cabin door contented gnawed, The livelong evening, praising God and saying: "Eách has his ówn; the mastiff his, I mine; Had Gód intended Pug to have kept his bone There's not a doubt he would have made him stronger."
Dalkey Lodge, DALKEY (IRELAND); April 1, 1855.
DO good to your friend and he 'll do good to yoú, Perhaps, and if not inconvénient tó him;
But if you'd háve him réally like and love you You múst in all things swear to his opinion.
DALKEY LODGE, DALKEY (IRELAND); May 18, 1855.
"LET the law take its course," the Roman said, Sitting in judgment; and the lictors seized Forthwith the two young men, the judge's sons, And stripped them to the waist and bound and flogged. In vain turned towards the judgment-seat the youths' Wild eyes, imploring; the uplifted ax
Sévered first óne and then the other's head.
Proúd to have éxecuted Roman justice Éven on his own rebellious sons, the judge Unblénched descended from the judgment-seat; Hóme to his désolate house returned, the sire In sécret wépt his disobedient children.
Súch were the wondrous men that made Rome Rome.
DALKEY LODGE, DALKEY (IRELAND); April 12, 1855.
DRAW back from the mirror; your image recédes, And at lást disappears in the infinite distance; Approach; and, behold! from the depths of the mirror A still brightening image comes fórward to meet you: So, sad Mém'ry's eye follows the flight of the pást; So, brightening, to Hópe's eye, approaches the future. Dalkey Lodge, DALKEY (IRELAND); April 2, 1855.
MY SISTER MARY'S DOG RAP,
WRITTEN THE HOUR HE DIED.
SELDOM lived dog or man more peaceful life, More free from envy, bitterness, and strife ; Séldom died dog or man more placid death, Or struggled less in yielding up the breath; Séldom left dog or man a friend behind
More trué, Rap, than thy mistress or more kind. So peaceful I would live, so placid die, And, dying, hear the same survivor sigh, And dead, not far off in the earth be laid, Under th' ancestral elm and yew-tree shade. DALKEY LODGE, DALKEY; Dec. 17, 1854.
ÚNDERNEATH this mouldering heáp Lies sóme poor clay
That once like theé could laúgh and weép, And hád its dáy.
if by the world thou árt despised, A while here stay;
If pampered by the world and prized, Away! away!
DALKEY LODGE, DALKEY; May 6, 1855.
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