[Illustration] BISAKEL. “ISRAFEL,” BY POE, RECAST FOR A NEW ROLL. The angel Bisakel, whose wings are wheels, has the fleetest pace of all God’s creatures.――_Koran._ In heaven a spirit doth dwell Whose great wing is a wheel. None fly so wildly well As the angel Bisakel, And the giddy stars, so legends say, Slowing their course, attend the play Of his wondrous heel. Maturing her age In her highest noon, The enamelled moon Reddens with rage, And to witness, with misgivin’, (With the nautic Pleiads even, More than seven.) Pauses in heaven. And they say (the starry choir And the other gossiping things) That Bisakeli’s fire Is owing to that tire O’er which he sits and slings The trembling living wire Of those unusual wings. But surely that angel trod Treadles amazing flighty; And, for a grown-up god, Their bicycling Houris’ are His rivals――Aphrodite Transports faster than a star! The ecstasies he took With such company to deal―― His leg and style, his pure caoutchouc, With the fervour of his wheel―― Well may the stars go reel! We say thou art not wrong, Bisakeli, who despisest Feathers and psalming song; Bloom thou the laurels among, Best angel and the wisest,―― _Merrily live, and long!_ Ah, heaven is his’n, indeed―― This world is sweets _and_ sours; Our powers are puny powers, And the slowest of his perfect speed Is the swiftest of ours. If I could dwell Where Bisakel Hath dwelt, and he where I, He might not spin so wildly well Our mortal wheelery, While a better song than now might swell From my lyre within the sky―― But――how is this “for _high_”? _Lyra Bicyclica_, By J. G. Dalton, Boston, 1880. ――――:o:―――― THE STEED OF FIRE. From Poe’s “Eldorado”――Fabled Golden made true steel. Soberly dight, A modern knight, Upon a hack of hire Had journeyed long Singing a song In search of a steed of fire. But he grew old, This knight, tho’ bold, With o’er his heart a dire Dump as he found Nothing around That looked like a steed of fire And as his strength Waned, he at length Met a bicycling flyer: “Flyer,” said he, “What! can it be―― Can this be the steed of fire?” “Upon this mount We surely count, ’Tis all you can desire; Ride, boldly ride,” Cycler replied, “If you seek for a steed of fire!” He dried his tears,―― And shed his years, All on the windy wire, And sweeps along Singing much song In praise of the steed of fire. _Lyra Bicyclica_, By J. G. DALTON, Boston, Hodges & Co., 1880. ――――:o:―――― THE RAVEN. _Scene_――Study in Chief Secretary’s Lodge, Phœnix Park. [9]_G.O.T. loquitor_――