Each plant, each honied morsel, in this lower sphere, A term has, fixed, him to affect who tastes the cheer. What ages of submission to sun’s influence, E’er ruby can acquire ripe tinge, bright effulgence! The salad cress is ready in a month or two; 350 The rose requires some years before it shows its hue. To this end has the Lord, whose name be ever blessed, In holy writ declared: “Appointed term.”[307] We’ve cessed. Hast thou this heard? Read, mark, and learn with diligence! Life’s water is it. Hast thou drunk? Health spring from thence! Those _words_ thou mayst consider life’s fount, if thou list; Their _sense_ it is important thou shouldst not have missed. One other theme, my friend, fix firmly in thy mind. ’Tis patent as thy soul; as subtle thou’lt it find. 355 At times as venomous as adder’s fatal fang; At times as healthful as the food from heaven that sprang. Now lethal; now again remedial, by God’s will. At one time blasphemy; then, holy rapture’s thrill. Thus will it, now, be fatal to a human soul; And then, again, a remedy for all that’s foul: “The juice of unripe grapes is sour, as is well known; But when the fruit has ripened, sweet and fragrant grown, In wine-jar when fermented, nauseous and unclean; When vinegar, again, most wholesome is it seen.” 360 If saint a poison swallow, wholesome it will prove; But if disciple taste it, death will him remove. “Lord, grant unto me,” was the prayer of Solomon, “The power and kingdom solely (not to Abaddon); This favour grant not unto other after me!”[308] Which reads like envy. Such, however, it can’t be. Put not, in heart, construction that must disagree Upon those words so read: “to other after me.” He saw a thousand dangers in the sway conferred; Saw that earth’s empire is a snare to be abhorred; 365 A danger to one’s life, one’s faith, one’s inner self; Such trial has no equal on the whole world’s shelf. E’en Solomon sagacity did much require, To shield him from mistakes in all his vast empire. The wondrous power he wielded could alone suffice, To quell rebellion’s perils, rising in a trice. So when he rested from due ordering his wide realm, He felt that other kings misrule might overwhelm. Then interceded he: “This rule, this much-prized flower, Vouchsafe to none, save with the selfsame power. 370 To whom Thou mayest it grant upon these very terms, He’s Solomon, he is myself, my sway confirms. He’ll not come after me, he’ll reign with me indeed; With me and in me, free from rival’s dreaded meed.” This to expound appeared a duty paramount; Return we, and our tale of man and wife recount.