As a queenly daffodil in the springtide of its bloom, Falls, whelmed beneath the plough-share, and wondering at its doom; Or as a scarlet poppy, laying weary neck on earth, Yields its breath to the full shower it welcomed at its birth; So, all too fair to die, star of a life, Euryalus Left for Nisus nought but despair, with dire revenge; and thus Sank Pallas, young and brave;—as, under a girl’s heedless feet, Drop violets, soft and shy, or hyacinths, faint and sweet, Appealing from Fate to Heav’n, with all of their grace and sheen, Telling—the more that life has fled—of what its charms have been; Or as Babe on its Mother’s breast, who cannot, will not, think Rosy lips half open are cold, and presses them to drink. Things Æneidos, Bk. I. v. 462 _Sunt lacryma rerum, et mentem mortalia tangunt_ There is spirit immortal that mounts up on high, Yet reaches longing hands back to hopes left to die; There are things that are tears; there are tears that are things; There are tears that are water, and tears that are wings! LUCRETIUS Hymn to Venus TITI LUCRETII CARI De Rerum Natura, Bk. I. vv. 1-48 Goddess! in whom our Rome is proud to trace Nursing Mother of an Imperial race; Who ’neath the constellations, as they range, Heav’n’s standard-bearers, in soft interchange Of night’s watches, rulest how, when, and where. In Ocean’s finny depths, in upper air, And teeming soil, Life, urgent to be born, Shall at thy smile burst forth to greet the morn, All without thee was gusty darkness; then A sudden rapture stirs in Gods and Men! Thou comest! Winds fall; the sky no more low’rs: Earth embroiders herself with fragrant flow’rs; Billows that had been rolling mountains high, Ripple laughter to greet a sapphire sky. Wherever thou art is spring; thine the key That sets the prisoned wanton west-wind free To beat time to thy approach; and note how Birds, thy heralds, by fits skim to and fro; While, more fiercely-smitten, herds that had been Content to graze their pastures rich and green, Toss hoofs and horns, breast headlong streams; and where It pleases Thee follow, whitherso’er! Venus, all provident, and kind, and wise, Nought in sea, torrent, hill escapes thy eyes; No green plain, no tree that invites a nest. With soothing touch in every breathing breast Thou layest seed of love, yet with such skill, A forethought so unerring, and a will So tenderly sure, that never a spark Strays from its order, but knows each its mark; Kind choosing kind, species species, race race, Till Being grows, age to age, in emulous grace! Alone thou steerest Nature on her course! Failing Thee, lost the aye marshalling force To wash blind atoms on the shores of Light, Where each shall take up Life in its due right, To use it at its best, and for the best, Joy for itself, harmony for the rest?