When the Earth was sick and the Skies were grey, And the woods were rotted with rain, The Dead Man rode through the autumn day To visit his love again. His love she neither saw nor heard, So heavy was her shame; And tho' the babe within her stirred She knew not that he came. _The Other Man._ Cry 'Murder' in the market-place, and each Will turn upon his neighbour anxious eyes Asking;--'Art thou the man?' We hunted Cain Some centuries ago across the world. This bred the fear our own misdeeds maintain To-day. _His Wedded Wife._ Go, stalk the red deer o'er the heather, Ride, follow the fox if you can! But, for pleasure and profit together, Allow me the hunting of Man-- The chase of the Human, the search for the Soul To its ruin--the hunting of Man. _Pig._ 'Stopped in the straight when the race was his own! Look at him cutting it--cur to the bone!' Ask ere the youngster be rated and chidden What did he carry and how was he ridden? Maybe they used him too much at the start; Maybe Fate's weight-cloths are breaking his heart. _In the Pride of his Youth._ 'And some are sulky, while some will plunge. _(So ho! Steady! Stand still, you!)_ Some you must gentle, and some you must lunge. _(There! There! Who wants to kill you?)_ Some--there are losses in every trade-- Will break their hearts ere bitted and made, Will fight like fiends as the rope cuts hard, And die dumb-mad in the breaking-yard.' _Thrown Away._ The World hath set its heavy yoke Upon the old white-bearded folk Who strive to please the King. God's mercy is upon the young, God's wisdom in the baby tongue That fears not anything. _Tod's Amendment._ Not though you die to-night, O Sweet, and wail, A spectre at my door, Shall mortal Fear make Love immortal fail-- I shall but love you more, Who, from Death's House returning, give me still One moment's comfort in my matchless ill. _By Word of Mouth._ They burnt a corpse upon the sand-- The light shone out afar; It guided home the plunging boats That beat from Zanzibar. Spirit of Fire, where'er Thy altars rise, Thou art the Light of Guidance to our eyes! _In Error._ Ride with an idle whip, ride with an unused heel. But, once in a way, there will come a day When the colt must be taught to feel The lash that falls, and the curb that galls, and the sting of the rowelled steel. _The Conversion of Aurelian McGoggin._ It was not in the open fight We threw away the sword, But in the lonely watching In the darkness by the ford. The waters lapped, the night-wind blew, Full-armed the Fear was born and grew, From panic in the night. _The Rout of the White Hussars._ In the daytime, when she moved about me, In the night, when she was sleeping at my side,-- I was wearied, I was wearied of her presence. Day by day and night by night I grew to hate her-- Would God that she or I had died! _The Bronckhorst Divorce Case._