<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN>
<h1>GREYBEARDS AT PLAY</h1>
<h2>LITERATURE AND ART FOR OLD GENTLEMEN</h2>
<h3>RHYMES AND SKETCHES<br/> BY GILBERT CHESTERTON</h3>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<h6 class="pg">London: R. Brimley Johnson<br/>
8, York Buildings, Adelphi</h6>
<p> </p>
<h4>MCM</h4>
<hr />
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="pagev" id="pagev"></SPAN>[pg v]</span>
<h2>A DEDICATION</h2>
<h3>TO E.C.B.</h3>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>He was, through boyhood's storm and shower,</p>
<p class="i2">My best, my nearest friend;</p>
<p>We wore one hat, smoked one cigar,</p>
<p class="i2">One standing at each end.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>We were two hearts with single hope,</p>
<p class="i2">Two faces in one hood;</p>
<p>I knew the secrets of his youth;</p>
<p class="i2">I watched his every mood.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>The little things that none but I</p>
<p class="i2">Saw were beyond his wont,</p>
<p>The streaming hair, the tie behind,</p>
<p class="i2">The coat tails worn in front.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="pagevi" id="pagevi"></SPAN>[pg vi]</span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza"></div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>I marked the absent-minded scream,</p>
<p class="i2">The little nervous trick</p>
<p>Of rolling in the grate, with eyes</p>
<p class="i2">By friendship's light made quick.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>But youth's black storms are gone and past,</p>
<p class="i2">Bare is each aged brow;</p>
<p>And, since with age we're growing bald,</p>
<p class="i2">Let us be babies now.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>Learning we knew; but still to-day,</p>
<p class="i2">With spelling-book devotion,</p>
<p>Words of one syllable we seek</p>
<p class="i2">In moments of emotion.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="pagevii" id="pagevii"></SPAN>[pg vii]</span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza"></div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>Riches we knew; and well dressed dolls—</p>
<p class="i2">Dolls living—who expressed</p>
<p>No filial thoughts, however much</p>
<p class="i2">You thumped them in the chest.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>Old happiness is grey as we,</p>
<p class="i2">And we may still outstrip her;</p>
<p>If we be slippered pantaloons,</p>
<p class="i2">Oh let us hunt the slipper!</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>The old world glows with colours clear;</p>
<p class="i2">And if, as saith the saint,</p>
<p>The world is but a painted show,</p>
<p class="i2">Oh let us lick the paint!</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="pageviii" id="pageviii"></SPAN>[pg viii]</span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza"></div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>Far, far behind are morbid hours,</p>
<p class="i2">And lonely hearts that bleed.</p>
<p>Far, far behind us are the days,</p>
<p class="i2">When we were old indeed.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>Leave we the child: he is immersed</p>
<p class="i2">With scientists and mystics:</p>
<p>With deep prophetic voice he cries</p>
<p class="i2">Canadian food statistics.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>But now I know how few and small,</p>
<p class="i2">The things we crave need be—</p>
<p>Toys and the universe and you—</p>
<p class="i2">A little friend to tea.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="pageix" id="pageix"></SPAN>[pg ix]</span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza"></div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>Behold the simple sum of things,</p>
<p class="i2">Where, in one splendour spun,</p>
<p>The stars go round the Mulberry Bush,</p>
<p class="i2">The Burning Bush, the Sun.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>Now we are old and wise and grey,</p>
<p class="i2">And shaky at the knees;</p>
<p>Now is the true time to delight</p>
<p class="i2">In picture books like these.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>Hoary and bent I dance one hour:</p>
<p class="i2">What though I die at morn?</p>
<p>There is a shout among the stars,</p>
<p class="i2">"To-night a child is born."</p>
</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<hr />
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="pagex" id="pagex"></SPAN>[pg x]</span>
<h3>CONTENTS.</h3>
<p>THE ONENESS OF THE PHILOSOPHER WITH NATURE
<SPAN href="#page1">1</SPAN></p>
<p>OF THE DANGERS ATTENDING ALTRUISM ON THE HIGH SEAS
<SPAN href="#page45">45</SPAN></p>
<p>ON THE DISASTROUS SPREAD OF ÆSTHETICISM IN ALL CLASSES
<SPAN href="#page71">71</SPAN></p>
<p>ENVOY <SPAN href="#page100">100</SPAN></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<hr />
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page1" id="page1"></SPAN></span>
<h2>THE ONENESS<br/> OF THE PHILOSOPHER<br/> WITH NATURE.</h2><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page2" id="page2"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>I love to see the little stars</p>
<p class="i2">All dancing to one tune;</p>
<p>I think quite highly of the Sun,</p>
<p class="i2">And kindly of the Moon.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page3" id="page3"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/11.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/11.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page6" id="page6"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>The million forests of the Earth</p>
<p class="i2">Come trooping in to tea.</p>
<p>The great Niagara waterfall</p>
<p class="i2">Is never shy with me.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page7" id="page7"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/13.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/13.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page10" id="page10"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>I am the tiger's confidant,</p>
<p class="i2">And never mention names:</p>
<p>The lion drops the formal "Sir,"</p>
<p class="i2">And lets me call him James.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page11" id="page11"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/15.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/15.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page14" id="page14"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>Into my ear the blushing Whale</p>
<p class="i2">Stammers his love. I know</p>
<p>Why the Rhinoceros is sad,</p>
<p class="i2">—Ah, child! 'twas long ago.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page15" id="page15"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/17.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/17.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page18" id="page18"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>I am akin to all the Earth</p>
<p class="i2">By many a tribal sign:</p>
<p>The aged Pig will often wear</p>
<p class="i2">That sad, sweet smile of mine.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page19" id="page19"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/19.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/19.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page22" id="page22"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>My niece, the Barnacle, has got</p>
<p class="i2">My piercing eyes of black;</p>
<p>The Elephant has got my nose,</p>
<p class="i2">I do not want it back.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page23" id="page23"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/21.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/21.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page26" id="page26"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>I know the strange tale of the Slug;</p>
<p class="i2">The Early Sin—the Fall—</p>
<p>The Sleep—the Vision—and the
Vow—</p>
<p class="i2">The Quest—the Crown—the
Call.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page27" id="page27"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/23.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/23.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page30" id="page30"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>And I have loved the Octopus,</p>
<p class="i2">Since we were boys together.</p>
<p>I love the Vulture and the Shark:</p>
<p class="i2">I even love the weather.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page31" id="page31"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/25.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/25.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page34" id="page34"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>I love to bask in sunny fields,</p>
<p class="i2">And when that hope is vain,</p>
<p>I go and bask in Baker Street,</p>
<p class="i2">All in the pouring rain.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page35" id="page35"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/27.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/27.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page38" id="page38"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>Come snow! where fly, by some strange law,</p>
<p class="i2">Hard snowballs—without
noise—</p>
<p>Through streets untenanted, except</p>
<p class="i2">By good unconscious boys.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page39" id="page39"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/29.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/29.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page41" id="page41"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>Come fog! exultant mystery—</p>
<p class="i2">Where, in strange darkness rolled,</p>
<p>The end of my own nose becomes</p>
<p class="i2">A lovely legend old.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page42" id="page42"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>Come snow, and hail, and thunderbolts,</p>
<p class="i2">Sleet, fire, and general fuss;</p>
<p>Come to my arms, come all at once—</p>
<p class="i2">Oh photograph me thus!</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page43" id="page43"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/32.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/32.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<hr />
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page45" id="page45"></SPAN></span>
<h2>OF THE DANGERS<br/> ATTENDING ALTRUISM ON<br/> THE HIGH SEAS.</h2><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page46" id="page46"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>Observe these Pirates bold and gay,</p>
<p class="i2">That sail a gory sea:</p>
<p>Notice their bright expression:—</p>
<p class="i2">The handsome one is me.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page47" id="page47"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/35.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/35.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page49" id="page49"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>We plundered ships and harbours,</p>
<p class="i2">We spoiled the Spanish main;</p>
<p>But Nemesis watched over us,</p>
<p class="i2">For it began to rain.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>Oh all well-meaning folk take heed!</p>
<p class="i2">Our Captain's fate was sore;</p>
<p>A more well-meaning Pirate,</p>
<p class="i2">Had never dripped with gore.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page50" id="page50"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>The rain was pouring long and loud,</p>
<p class="i2">The sea was drear and dim;</p>
<p>A little fish was floating there:</p>
<p class="i2">Our Captain pitied him.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page51" id="page51"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/38.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/38.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page53" id="page53"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>"How sad," he said, and dropped a tear</p>
<p class="i2">Splash on the cabin roof,</p>
<p>"That we are dry, while he is there</p>
<p class="i2">Without a waterproof.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>"We'll get him up on board at once;</p>
<p class="i2">For Science teaches me,</p>
<p>He will be wet if he remains</p>
<p class="i2">Much longer in the sea."</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page54" id="page54"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>They fished him out; the First Mate wept,</p>
<p class="i2">And came with rugs and ale:</p>
<p>The Boatswain brought him one golosh,</p>
<p class="i2">And fixed it on his tail.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page55" id="page55"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/41.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/41.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page58" id="page58"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>But yet he never loved the ship;</p>
<p class="i2">Against the mast he'd lean;</p>
<p>If spoken to, he coughed and smiled,</p>
<p class="i2">And blushed a pallid green.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>Though plied with hardbake, beef and beer,</p>
<p class="i2">He showed no wish to sup:</p>
<p>The neatest riddles they could ask,</p>
<p class="i2">He always gave them up.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page59" id="page59"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/43.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/43.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page62" id="page62"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>They seized him and court-martialled him,</p>
<p class="i2">In some excess of spleen,</p>
<p>For lack of social sympathy,</p>
<p class="i2">(Victoria xii. 18).</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>They gathered every evidence</p>
<p class="i2">That might remove a doubt:</p>
<p>They wrote a postcard in his name,</p>
<p class="i2">And partly scratched it out.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>Till, when his guilt was clear as day,</p>
<p class="i2">With all formality</p>
<p>They doomed the traitor to be drowned,</p>
<p class="i2">And threw him in the sea.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page63" id="page63"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/45.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/45.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page66" id="page66"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>The flashing sunset, as he sank,</p>
<p class="i2">Made every scale a gem;</p>
<p>And, turning with a graceful bow,</p>
<p class="i2">He kissed his fin to them.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page67" id="page67"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/47.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/47.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page69" id="page69"></SPAN></span>
<h3>MORAL.</h3>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>I am, I think I have remarked,</p>
<p class="i2">Terrifically old,</p>
<p>(The second Ice-age was a farce,</p>
<p class="i2">The first was rather cold.)</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>A friend of mine, a trilobite</p>
<p class="i2">Had gathered in his youth,</p>
<p>When trilobites <i>were</i> trilobites,</p>
<p class="i2">This all-important truth.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page70" id="page70"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>We aged ones play solemn parts—</p>
<p class="i2">
Sire—guardian—uncle—king.</p>
<p>Affection is the salt of life,</p>
<p class="i2">Kindness a noble thing.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>The old alone may comprehend</p>
<p class="i2">A sense in my decree;</p>
<p>But—if you find a fish on land,</p>
<p class="i2">Oh throw it in the sea.</p>
</div>
</div>
<hr />
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page71" id="page71"></SPAN></span>
<h2>ON THE DISASTROUS SPREAD<br/> OF ÆSTHETICISM IN ALL<br/> CLASSES.</h2><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page72" id="page72"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>Impetuously I sprang from bed,</p>
<p class="i2">Long before lunch was up,</p>
<p>That I might drain the dizzy dew</p>
<p class="i2">From day's first golden cup.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page73" id="page73"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/52.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/52.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page75" id="page75"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>In swift devouring ecstacy</p>
<p class="i2">Each toil in turn was done;</p>
<p>I had done lying on the lawn</p>
<p class="i2">Three minutes after one.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>For me, as Mr. Wordsworth says,</p>
<p class="i2">The duties shine like stars;</p>
<p>I formed my uncle's character,</p>
<p class="i2">Decreasing his cigars.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page76" id="page76"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>But could my kind engross me? No!</p>
<p class="i2">Stern Art—what sons escape her?</p>
<p>Soon I was drawing Gladstone's nose</p>
<p class="i2">On scraps of blotting paper.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page77" id="page77"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/55.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/55.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page80" id="page80"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>Then on—to play one-fingered tunes</p>
<p class="i2">Upon my aunt's piano.</p>
<p>In short, I have a headlong soul,</p>
<p class="i2">I much resemble Hanno.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>(Forgive the entrance of the not</p>
<p class="i2">Too cogent Carthaginian.</p>
<p>It may have been to make a rhyme;</p>
<p class="i2">I lean to that opinion).</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page81" id="page81"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/57.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/57.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page83" id="page83"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>Then my great work of book research</p>
<p class="i2">Till dusk I took in hand—</p>
<p>The forming of a final, sound</p>
<p class="i2">Opinion on <i>The Strand</i>.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>But when I quenched the midnight oil,</p>
<p class="i2">And closed <i>The Referee</i>,</p>
<p>Whose thirty volumes folio</p>
<p class="i2">I take to bed with me,</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>I had a rather funny dream,</p>
<p class="i2">Intense, that is, and mystic;</p>
<p>I dreamed that, with one leap and yell,</p>
<p class="i2">The world became artistic.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page84" id="page84"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>The Shopmen, when their souls were still,</p>
<p class="i2">Declined to open shops—</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page85" id="page85"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/60.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/60.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page88" id="page88"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>And Cooks recorded frames of mind</p>
<p class="i2">In sad and subtle chops.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page89" id="page89"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/62.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/62.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page91" id="page91"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>The stars were weary of routine:</p>
<p class="i2">The trees in the plantation</p>
<p>Were growing every fruit at once,</p>
<p class="i2">In search of a sensation.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>The moon went for a moonlight stroll,</p>
<p class="i2">And tried to be a bard,</p>
<p>And gazed enraptured at itself:</p>
<p class="i2">I left it trying hard.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page92" id="page92"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>The sea had nothing but a mood</p>
<p class="i2">Of 'vague ironic gloom,'</p>
<p>With which t'explain its presence in</p>
<p class="i2">My upstairs drawing-room.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page93" id="page93"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/65.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/65.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page96" id="page96"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>The sun had read a little book</p>
<p class="i2">That struck him with a notion:</p>
<p>He drowned himself and all his fires</p>
<p class="i2">Deep in the hissing ocean.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>Then all was dark, lawless, and lost:</p>
<p class="i2">I heard great devilish wings:</p>
<p>I knew that Art had won, and snapt</p>
<p class="i2">The Covenant of Things.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page97" id="page97"></SPAN></span>
<div class="figcenter"
style="width:100%;">
<SPAN href="images/67.png"><ANTIMG width-obs="60%"
src="images/67.png" alt="" /></SPAN></div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page99" id="page99"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>I cried aloud, and I awoke,</p>
<p class="i2">New labours in my head.</p>
<p>I set my teeth, and manfully</p>
<p class="i2">Began to lie in bed.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>Toiling, rejoicing, sorrowing,</p>
<p class="i2">So I my life conduct.</p>
<p>Each morning see some task begun,</p>
<p class="i2">Each evening see it chucked.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>But still, in sudden moods of dusk,</p>
<p class="i2">I hear those great weird wings,</p>
<p>Feel vaguely thankful to the vast</p>
<p class="i2">Stupidity of things.</p>
</div>
</div>
<hr />
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page100" id="page100"></SPAN></span>
<h2>ENVOY.</h2>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>Clear was the night: the moon was young:</p>
<p class="i2">The larkspurs in the plots</p>
<p>Mingled their orange with the gold</p>
<p class="i2">Of the forget-me-nots.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>The poppies seemed a silver mist:</p>
<p class="i2">So darkly fell the gloom.</p>
<p>You scarce had guessed yon crimson streaks</p>
<p class="i2">Were buttercups in bloom.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>But one thing moved: a little child</p>
<p class="i2">Crashed through the flower and fern:</p>
<p>And all my soul rose up to greet</p>
<p class="i2">The sage of whom I learn.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page101" id="page101"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>I looked into his awful eyes:</p>
<p class="i2">I waited his decree:</p>
<p>I made ingenious attempts</p>
<p class="i2">To sit upon his knee.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>The babe upraised his wondering eyes,</p>
<p class="i2">And timidly he said,</p>
<p>"A trend towards experiment</p>
<p class="i2">In modern minds is bred.</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>"I feel the will to roam, to learn</p>
<p class="i2">By test, experience, <i>nous</i>,</p>
<p>That fire is hot and ocean deep,</p>
<p class="i2">And wolves carnivorous.</p>
</div>
</div>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page102" id="page102"></SPAN></span>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<p>"My brain demands complexity."</p>
<p class="i2">The lisping cherub cried.</p>
<p>I looked at him, and only said,</p>
<p class="i2">"Go on. The world is wide."</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>A tear rolled down his pinafore,</p>
<p class="i2">"Yet from my life must pass</p>
<p>The simple love of sun and moon,</p>
<p class="i2">The old games in the grass;</p>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<p>"Now that my back is to my home</p>
<p class="i2">Could these again be found?"</p>
<p>I looked on him, and only said,</p>
<p class="i2">"Go on. The world is round."</p>
</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
<hr class="full" />
<SPAN name="endofbook"></SPAN>
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