EPITAPHIUM EROTII 132 DE M. ANTONIO 133 AD MAGISTRUM LUDI 133 AD NEPOTEM 134 IN CHARIDEMUM 135 DE LIGURRA 135 IN LUPUM 136 AD QUINTILIANUM 137 DE HORTIS JULII MARTIALIS 137 AD MARTIALEM 139 IN MAXIMUM 139 AD OLUM 140 DE CŒNATIONE MICÆ 140 DE EROTIO PUELLA 141 AD PISCATOREM 141 PRAYER I ASK good things that I detest, With speeches fair; Heed not, I pray Thee, Lord, my breast, But hear my prayer. I say ill things I would not say— Things unaware: Regard my breast, Lord, in Thy day, And not my prayer. My heart is evil in Thy sight: My good thoughts flee: O Lord, I cannot wish aright— Wish Thou for me. O bend my words and acts to Thee, However ill, That I, whate’er I say or be, May serve Thee still. O let my thoughts abide in Thee Lest I should fall: Show me Thyself in all I see, Thou Lord of all. LO! IN THINE HONEST EYES I READ LO! in thine honest eyes I read The auspicious beacon that shall lead, After long sailing in deep seas, To quiet havens in June ease. Thy voice sings like an inland bird First by the seaworn sailor heard; And like road sheltered from life’s sea Thine honest heart is unto me. THOUGH DEEP INDIFFERENCE SHOULD DROWSE THOUGH deep indifference should drowse The sluggish life beneath my brows, And all the external things I see Grow snow-showers in the street to me, Yet inmost in my stormy sense Thy looks shall be an influence. Though other loves may come and go And long years sever us below, Shall the thin ice that grows above Freeze the deep centre-well of love? No, still below light amours, thou Shalt rule me as thou rul’st me now. Year following year shall only set Fresh gems upon thy coronet; And Time, grown lover, shall delight To beautify thee in my sight; And thou shalt ever rule in me Crowned with the light of memory. MY HEART, WHEN FIRST THE BLACK-BIRD SINGS MY heart, when first the blackbird sings, My heart drinks in the song: Cool pleasure fills my bosom through And spreads each nerve along. My bosom eddies quietly, My heart is stirred and cool As when a wind-moved briar sweeps A stone into a pool