Five Quatrains
I.
Romeo and Juliet.
FROM mask to mask, amid the masquerade,
Young Passion went with challenging, soft breath:
“ Art Love ? ” he whispered ; “ art thou Love, sweet maid ? ”
Then Love, with glittering eyelids, “ I am Death.”
Young Passion went with challenging, soft breath:
“ Art Love ? ” he whispered ; “ art thou Love, sweet maid ? ”
Then Love, with glittering eyelids, “ I am Death.”
II.
Circumstance.
LINKED to a clod, harassed, and sad
With sordid cares, she never knew life’s sweet
Who should have moved in marble halls and had
Kings and crown-princes at her feet.
With sordid cares, she never knew life’s sweet
Who should have moved in marble halls and had
Kings and crown-princes at her feet.
III.
Evil easier than Good.
ERE half the good I planned to do
Was done, the short-breathed day was through.
Had my intents been dark instead of fair,
I had done all, and still had time to spare.
Was done, the short-breathed day was through.
Had my intents been dark instead of fair,
I had done all, and still had time to spare.
IV.
Omar Khayyám.
(AFTER FITZGERALD.)
SULTAN and Slave alike have gone their way
With Bahrám Gúr, but whither none may say;
Yet he who charmed the wise at Naishápúr
Seven centuries since still charms the wise to-day.
With Bahrám Gúr, but whither none may say;
Yet he who charmed the wise at Naishápúr
Seven centuries since still charms the wise to-day.
V.
Two things there are with Memory will abide —
Whatever else befall — while life flows by :
That soft cold hand-touch at the altar side ;
The thrill that shook you at your child’s first cry.
Whatever else befall — while life flows by :
That soft cold hand-touch at the altar side ;
The thrill that shook you at your child’s first cry.
T. B. Aldrich.