Each baron at the banquet sleeps,
Grave faces gather'd in a ring.
His state the king reposing keeps.
He must have been a jovial king.

6.

All round a hedge upshoots, and shows
At distance like a little wood;
Thorns, ivies, woodbine, misletoes,

And grapes with bunches red as blood;
All creeping plants, a wall of green
Close-matted, bur and brake and brier,
And glimpsing over these, just seen,
High up, the topmost palace-spire.

7.

When will the hundred summers die,
And thought and time be born again,
And newer knowledge, drawing nigh,
Bring truth that sways the soul of men?
Here all things in their place remain,
As all were order'd, ages since.

Come, Care and Pleasure, Hope and Pain,
And bring the fated fairy Prince.

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY.

1.

YEAR after year unto her feet,
She lying on her couch alone,
Across the purpled coverlet,

The maiden's jet-black hair has grown, On either side her tranced form

Forth streaming from a braid of pearl : The slumbrous light is rich and warm, And moves not on the rounded curl.

2.

The silk star-broider'd coverlid

Unto her limbs itself doth mould

Languidly ever; and, amid

Her full black ringlets downward roll'd, Glows forth each softly shadow'd arm With bracelets of the diamond bright:

Her constant beauty doth inform

Stillness with love, and day with light.

3.

She sleeps her breathings are not heard

:

In palace chambers far apart.

The fragrant tresses are not stirr'd

That lie upon her charmed heart. She sleeps on either hand upswells

The gold-fringed pillow lightly prest : She sleeps, nor dreams, but ever dwells A perfect form in perfect rest.

THE ARRIVAL.

1.

ALL precious things, discover'd late,
To those that seek them issue forth;
For love in sequel works with fate,
And draws the veil from hidden worth.
He travels far from other skies-

His mantle glitters on the rocks
A fairy Prince, with joyful eyes,
And lighter-footed than the fox.

2.

--

The bodies and the bones of those
That strove in other days to pass,
Are wither'd in the thorny close,

Or scatter'd blanching on the grass.
He gazes on the silent dead:

They perish'd in their daring deeds." This proverb flashes thro' his head,

"The many fail: the one succeeds."

3.

He comes, scarce knowing what he seeks: He breaks the hedge: he enters there: The color flies into his cheeks:

He trusts to light on something fair; For all his life the charm did talk

About his path, and hover near With words of promise in his walk, And whisper'd voices at his ear.

4.

More close and close his footsteps wind: The Magic Music in his heart

Beats quick and quicker, till he find

The quiet chamber far apart.

His spirit flutters like a lark,

He stoops — to kiss her

on his knee.

"Love, if thy tresses be so dark,

How dark those hidden eyes must be!"

THE REVIVAL.

1.

'A TOUCH, a kiss! the charm was snapt.
There rose a noise of striking clocks,
And feet that ran, and doors that clapt,
And barking dogs, and crowing cocks;
A fuller light illumined all,

A breeze thro' all the garden swept,
A sudden hubbub shook the hall,
And sixty feet the fountain leapt.

2.

The hedge broke in, the banner blew,
The butler drank, the steward scrawl'd,
The fire shot up, the martin flew,

The parrot scream'd, the peacock squall'd, The maid and page renew'd their strife,

The palace bang'd, and buzz'd, and clackt, And all the long-pent stream of life Dash'd downward in a cataract. 3.

And last with these the king awoke,

And in his chair himself uprear'd,

And yawn'd, and rubb'd his face, and spoke, 'By holy rood, a royal beard!

How say you? we have slept, my lords.
My beard has grown into my lap.”

The barons swore, with many words,
'T was but an after-dinner's nap.

4.

"Pardy," return'd the king, "but still My joints are somewhat stiff or so. My lord, and shall we pass the bill

I mention'd half an hour ago?" The chancellor, sedate and vain,

In courteous words return'd reply: But dallied with his golden chain, And, smiling, put the question by.

THE DEPARTURE.

1.

AND on her lover's arm she leant,
And round her waist she felt it fold,
And far across the hills they went
In that new world which is the old:
Across the hills, and far away

Beyond their utmost purple rim,
And deep into the dying day
The happy princess follow'd him.

2.

"I'd sleep another hundred years, O love, for such another kiss;" "O wake forever, love," she hears,

"O love, 't was such as this and this."

And o'er them many a sliding star,

And many a merry wind was borne, And, stream'd thro' many a golden bar, The twilight melted into morn.

“O happy kiss, that woke thy sleep!"

"O love, thy kiss would wake the dead!" And o'er them many a flowing range

Of vapor buoy'd the crescent-bark,

And, rapt thro' many a rosy change,
The twilight died into the dark.

4.

"A hundred summers! can it be?

And whither goest thou, tell me where?"

"O seek my father's court with me,

For there are greater wonders there."

And o'er the hills, and far away
Beyond their utmost purple rim,
Beyond the night, across the day,

Thro' all the world she follow'd him.

MORAL.
1.

So, Lady Flora, take my lay,
And if you find no moral there,
Go, look in any glass and say,

What moral is in being fair.
Oh, to what uses shall we put

The wildweed-flower that simply blows? And is there any moral shut

Within the bosom of the rose?

2.

But any man that walks the mead,

In bud or blade, or bloom, may find,

According as his humors lead,

A meaning suited to his mind.

And liberal applications lie

In Art like Nature, dearest friend;

So 't were to cramp its use, if I

Should hook it to some useful end.

L'ENVOI

1.

A random string

You shake your head.

Your finer female sense offends.

Well

were it not a pleasant thing

To fall asleep with all one's friends;

To pass

with all our social ties

To silence from the paths of men; And every hundred years to rise

And learn the world, and sleep again; To sleep thro' terms of mighty wars, And wake on science grown to more, On secrets of the brain, the stars,

As wild as aught of fairy lore; And all that else the years will show, The Poet-forms of stronger hours, The vast Republics that may grow,

The Federations and the Powers; Titanic forces taking birth

In divers seasons, divers climes; For we are Ancients of the earth, And in the morning of the times.