See also "DYING" by Roden Noel. Vic. An. page 280. The

next poem has a touch of sweetness seldom found in the

Elizabethan lyrics, and there is a strong faith which is

never seen in the Victorian lyrics.

SONG

By John Donne

(Schelling page 90)

"Sweetest love, I do not co
For weariness of thee,
Nor in hope the world can show
A fitter love for me;

But since that I

Must die at last, 'tis best
Thus to use myself in jest,
By feigned deaths to die.

Yesternight the sun went hence,
And yet is here today;
He hath no desire nor sense,
Nor half so short a way.
Then fear not me,

But believe that I shall make
Hastier journeys, since I take

More wings and spurs than he.

O how feeble is man': power,
That, if good fortune fall,
Cannot add another hour,

Nor a lost hour recall.

But come bad chance,

And we join to it our strength,
And we teach it art and length,
Itself o'er us t' advance.

When thou sigh'st, thou sigh'st no wind,
But sich'st my soul away;
When thou weep'st, unkindly kind,
My life's blood doth decay.

It cannot be

That thou lov'st me as thou say 'st,
If in thine my life thou waste,
That art the best of me.

Let not thy divining heart
Forethink me any ill.
Destiny may take thy part
And may thy fears fulfil;
But think that we

Are but turned aside to sleep:
They who another keep

Alive, ne'er parted be."

Note in the foll owing the utter lack of faith, but

the faint glimmer of desperate hope in a land of dreams.

FIRST OR LAST?

By Margaret Veley

A wife to her husband

(Vic. An. pare 294)

-
-

"My life ebbs from me I must die.
Must die it has a hostly sound,
A far-off thunder drawing nigh,
An echo as from underground.

Yes, I must die who fain would live;
You cannot give me life - alɛs!

Dear Love of mine, you can but give

One latest kiss before I pass.

Dear, we have had our summer bliss,
Kisses on cheek, and lip, and brow,
But soul to soul, as now we kiss,

I think we never kissed till now.

Give both your hands, and let the earth
Roll onward let what will be fall.

This is an hour of wondrous birth,
And can it be the end of all?

Ah, your sad face.I know you think
(Clasp me, O love, your faith is mine,
Only my weakness made me shrink)
That I am standing on the brink

Of night where never dawn will shine,
Of slumber whence I shall not wake,
Of darkness where no life will grope;
I know your hopeless creed, and take
My part therein for your dear sake,
We stand asunder if I hope.

Then follows a sweet vision of a fair land of dreams

where the two would again be united, beyond the boundery

of years.

But the vision fades for unbelief has drawn

the curtain. Again the joys of earthly life return.

"And yet your kisses wake a life

That throbs in anguish through my heart,

Leads up to wage despairing strife,

And shudders, loathing to depart.

Can such desire, be born in vain,
Crush'd by inevitable doom?

While you yet live can Love be slain?
Can Love lie dead within my tomb?
And when you die that hopeless day
When darkness comes and utmost need,
And I am dead and cold, you say,

Will Death have power to hold his prey?