The eye shall look, the ear shall hark To the hills, the doings in the hills, And rivers mating in the dark With tokens from the hills. Now what is weak will surely go, And what is strong must prove it so. Stand fast in the lowlands, lowlands, Lowlands under the hills! The floods they shall not be afraid-- Nor the hills above 'em, nor the hills-- Of any fence which man has made Betwixt him and the hills. The waters shall not reckon twice For any work of man's device, But bid it down to the lowlands, lowlands, Lowlands under the hills! The floods shall sweep corruption clean-- By the hills, the blessing of the hills-- That more the meadows may be green New-amended from the hills. The crops and cattle shall increase, Nor little children shall not cease-- Go--plough the lowlands, lowlands, Lowlands under the hills! THE FABULISTS When all the world would have a matter hid, Since Truth is seldom friend to any crowd, Men write in fable, as old Æsop did, Jesting at that which none will name aloud. And this they needs must do, or it will fall Unless they please they are not heard at all. When desperate Folly daily laboureth To work confusion upon all we have, When diligent Sloth demandeth Freedom's death, And banded Fear commandeth Honour's grave-- Even in that certain hour before the fall Unless men please they are not heard at all. Needs must all please, yet some not all for need Needs must all toil, yet some not all for gain, But that men taking pleasure may take heed, Whom present toil shall snatch from later pain. Thus some have toiled but their reward was small Since, though they pleased, they were not heard at all. This was the lock that lay upon our lips, This was the yoke that we have undergone, Denying us all pleasant fellowships As in our time and generation. Our pleasures unpursued age past recall. And for our pains--we are not heard at all. What man hears aught except the groaning guns? What man heeds aught save what each instant brings? When each man's life all imaged life outruns, What man shall pleasure in imaginings? So it hath fallen, as it was bound to fall, We are not, nor we were not, heard at all. The Vortex (August 1914) 'Thy Lord spoke by inspiration to the Bee.' AL KORAN. I have, to my grief and loss, suppressed several notable stories of my friend, the Hon. A.M. Penfentenyou[8], once Minister of Woods and Waysides in De Thouar's first administration; later, Premier in all but name of one of Our great and growing Dominions; and now, as always, the idol of his own Province, which is two and one-half the size of England. [Footnote 8: See 'The Puzzler,' _Actions and Reactions_.]