Class JR^L^ Book .S^J.--. CopightN" COPVRIGHT DEPOSir. A BROWNING CALENDAR COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMPANY PUBLISHED, SEPTEMBER, 1904 LIBRARY of CONGRESS Two GoDtes Received JUN 24 1904 A Ooo.vnjrht Entry ft LASS Ol XXo. Na X ^ / COPY B "? .^7 D. B. UPDIKE, THE MERRYMOUNT PRESS, BOSTON :r: A ^;r<:f; ; ~« * t , • * JANUARY JANUARY FIRST THEN life is — to wake not sleep, Rise and not rest, but press From earth's level where blindly creep Things perfeded, more or less, To the heaven's height, far and steep. REVERIE JANUARY SECOND It was eve, The second of the year, and oh so cold ! Ever and anon there flittered through the air A snow-flake, and a scanty couch of snow Crusted the grass-walk and the garden-mould. THE RING AND THE BOOK JANUARY THIRD Nine days o' the Birth-Feast did I pause and pray To enter into no temptation more. THE RING AND THE BOOK JANUARY FOURTH Be love your light and trust your guide. FERISHTAh's FANCIES [ • ] JANUARY FIFTH Let earth's old life once more enmesh us. ASOLANDO JANUARY SIXTH So did the star rise, soon to lead my step, Lead on, nor pause before it should stand still Above the House o' the Babe. THE RING AND THE BOOK JANUARY SEVENTH Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp. Or what 's a heaven for? ANDREA DEL SARTO JANUARY EIGHTH God gives each man one life, like a lamp, then gives That lamp due measure of oil: lamp lighted — hold high, wave wide Its comfort for others to share! once quench it, what help is left? DRAMATIC IDYLS JANUARY NINTH My business is not to remake myself, But make the absolute best of what God made. BISHOP BLOUGRAm's APOLOGY JANUARY TENTH Have people time and patience Nowadays for thoughts in rhyme? THE TWO POETS OF CROISIC [ ^ ] JANUARY ELEVENTH Work freely done should balance happiness Fully enjoyed. A FORGIVENESS JANUARY TWELFTH Govern for the many first, The poor mean multitude, all mouths and eyes: Bid the few, better favoured in the brain, Be patient, nor presume on privilege. PRINCE HOHENSTIEL-SCHWANGAU JANUARY THIRTEENTH Love should be absolute love, Faith is in fulness or naught. JOCOSERIA JANUARY FOURTEENTH Patience and self-devotion, fortitude. Simplicity and utter truthfulness. KING VICTOR AND KING CHARLES JANUARY FIFTEENTH Ah, but the best Somehov^^ eludes us ever, still might be, And is not. SORDELLO JANUARY SIXTEENTH This world 's no blot for us. Nor blank; it means intensely, and means good. FRA LIPPO LIPPI [ 3 ] JANUARY SEVENTEENTH Bravely bustle through thy being, busy thee for ill or good. Reap this life's success or failure! Soon shall things be unperplexed And the right and wrong, now tangled, lie unrav- elled in the next. LA SAISIAZ JANUARY EIGHTEENTH Look up, advance! All now is possible. Fad's grandeur, no false dreaming! LURIA JANUARY NINETEENTH Be a man! Bear thine own burden, never think to thrust Thy fate upon another. balaustion's adventure JANUARY TWENTIETH A61 by the present life! THE RING AND THE BOOK JANUARY TWENTY-FIRST Who 's alive? Our men scarce seem in earnest now. Distinguished names! — but 'tis, somehow, As if they played at being names Still more distinguished, like the games Of children. WARING [ + ] JANUARY TWENTY-SECOND Evil or good may be better or worse In the human heart, but the mixture of each Is a marvel and a curse. GOLD HAIR JANUARY TWENTY-THIRD Good, to forgive; Best, to forget! LA SAISIAZ JANUARY TWENTY-FOURTH Oh, Day, if I squander a wavelet of thee, A mite of my twelve hours' treasure. The least of thy gazes or glances. My Day, if I squander such labour or leisure. Then shame fall on Asolo, mischief on me! PIPPA PASSES JANUARY TWENTY-FIFTH So, through the thunder comes a human voice Saying, "Oh heart I made, a heart beats here! Face, my hands fashioned, see it in myself! Thou hast no power, nor mayst conceive of mine. But love I gave thee, with myself to love. And thou must love me who have died for thee!" JANUARY TWENTY-SIXTH One of God's large ones. [ 5 ] AN EPISTLE SORDELLO JANUARY TWENTY-SEVENTH Ere stars were thundergirt, or piled The heavens, God thought on me his child; Ordained a life for me, arrayed Its circumstances every one To the minutest. JOHANNES AGRICOLA IN MEDITATION JANUARY TWENTY-EIGHTH Doing the King's vv^ork all the dim day long. HOW IT STRIKES A CONTEMPORARY JANUARY TWENTY-NINTH Prison-roof shall break one day and Heaven beam o'erhead. THE INN ALBUM JANUARY THIRTIETH I find earth not grey but rosy, Heaven not grim but fair of hue. AT THE "mermaid" JANUARY THIRTY-FIRST Life is probation and the earth no goal But starting point of man. THE ring and the BOOK [6] FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FIRST REJOICE that man is hurled From change to change unceasingly, His soul's wings never furled! JAMES lee's wife FEBRUARY SECOND Praise and glory of white womanhood. THE RING AND THE BOOK FEBRUARY THIRD Man should be humble ; you are very proud: And God, dethroned, has doleful plagues for such ! PARACELSUS FEBRUARY FOURTH While small birds said to themselves What should soon be a6lual song. WARING FEBRUARY FIFTH Too much love there can never be. CHRISTMAS EVE [ 7 ] FEBRUARY SIXTH So sage and certain, frank and free, About what 's under lock and key — Man's soul! DRAMATIC IDYLS FEBRUARY SEVENTH Mankind is ignorant, and man am I! Call ignorance my sorrow, not my sin. THE RING AND THE BOOK FEBRUARY EIGHTH Life's a little thing! Such as it is, then, pass life pleasantly From day to night, nor once grieve all the while! ARISTOPHANES* APOLOGY FEBRUARY NINTH Men should, for love's sake, in love's strength be- lieve. A DEATH IN THE DESERT FEBRUARY TENTH Oh, live and love worthily, bear and be bold ! Whom Summer made friends of, let Winter estrange ! JAMES lee's WIFE FEBRUARY ELEVENTH How thanklessly you view things! There the root Of the evil, source of the entire mistake: You see no worth i' the world, nature and life. Unless we change what is to what may be. PRINCE HOHENSTIEL-SCHWANGAU [ 8 ] FEBRUARY TWELFTH Love was the startling thing, the new: Love was the all-sufficient too; And seeing that, you see the rest. CHRISTMAS EVE FEBRUARY THIRTEENTH He will live, nay, it pleaseth him to live So long as God please, and just how God please. He even seeketh not to please God more (Which meaneth, otherwise) than as God please. AN EPISTLE FEBRUARY FOURTEENTH For Spring bade the sparrows pair, And the boys and girls gave guesses. And stalls in our street looked rare With bulrush and water-cresses. YOUTH AND ART FEBRUARY FIFTEENTH Man is not God but hath God's end to serve, A master to obey, a course to take. Somewhat to cast off, somewhat to become? Grant this, then man must pass from old to new, From vain to real, from mistake to fa6l. From what once seemed good, to what now proves best. A DEATH IN THE DESERT FEBRUARY SIXTEENTH And since I am but man, I dare not do God's work Until assured I see with God. THE RING AND THE BOOK [9] FEBRUARY SEVENTEENTH , Life means — learning to abhor The false, and love the true, truth Treasured snatch by snatch. FIFINE AT THE FAIR FEBRUARY EIGHTEENTH Oh, save that brow its virgin dimness, Keep that foot its lady primness. Let those ankles never sw^erve From their exquisite reserve. PIPPA PASSES FEBRUARY NINETEENTH I know thee, who hast kept my path, and made Light for me in the darkness, tempering sorrow So that it reached me like a solemn joy. PARACELSUS FEBRUARY TWENTIETH I count life just a stuff To try the soul's strength on, educe the man. IN A BALCONY FEBRUARY TWENTY-FIRST Faith is my waking life: One sleeps, indeed, and dreams at intervals. We know, but waking 's the main point with us. BISHOP BLOUGRAm's APOLOGY [ 10 ] FEBRUARY TWENTY-SECOND Oh, if we draw a circle premature, Heedless of far gain, Greedy for quick returns of profit, sure Bad is our bargain. A grammarian's funeral FEBRUARY TWENTY-THIRD God, whom I praise; how could I praise. If such as I might understand. Make out and reckon on his ways? JOHANNES AGRICOLA IN MEDITATION FEBRUARY TWENTY-FOURTH Such a spirit Shall hold the path from which our staunchest broke; Stand firm where every famed precursor fell. luria FEBRUARY TWENTY-FIFTH You 're my friend — What a thing friendship is, world without end! How it gives the heart and soul a stir-up! THE FLIGHT OF THE DUCHESS FEBRUARY TWENTY-SIXTH Faith That, some far day, were found Ripeness in things now rathe. Wrong righted, each chain unbound. Renewal born out of scathe. REVERIE [ " ] FEBRUARY TWENTY-SEVENTH As man, With a man's will, when I say " I intend," I can intend up to a certain point, No farther. KING VICTOR AND KING CHARLES FEBRUARY TWENTY-EIGHTH Say, does the seed scorn earth and seek the sun? Surely it has no other end and aim Than to drop, once more die into the ground. Taste cold and darkness and oblivion there: And thence rise, tree-like grow through pain to More joy and most joy, — do man good again. balaustion's adventure FEBRUARY TWENTY-NINTH So, life can boast its day, like leap-year, Stolen from death! ST. martin's summer [ 12 ] MARCH MARCH FIRST GIVE yourself, excluding aught beside, To the day's task. SORDELLO MARCH SECOND Truth remains true, the fault 's in the prover. CHRISTMAS EVE MARCH THIRD In March, a double rainbow stopped the storm. PIPPA PASSES MARCH FOURTH A warm March day, just that! Just so much sunshine as the cottage child Basks in delighted, while the cottager Takes off his bonnet, as he ceases work. To catch the more of it. KING VICTOR AND KING CHARLES MARCH FIFTH Be sure that God ne*er dooms to waste the strength He deigns impart. PARACELSUS [ 13 ] MARCH SIXTH Be all the earth a wilderness, Only let me go on, go on, Still hoping, ever and anon, To reach on eve the better land. MARCH SEVENTH Oh, life! life-breath! Life-blood! ere sleep come Travail, life ere death. CHRISTMAS EVE SORDELLO MARCH EIGHTH Henceforth I asked God counsel, not mankind. THE RING AND THE BOOK MARCH NINTH The morn vv^hen first it thunders in March, The eel in the pond gives a leap, they say. OLD PICTURES IN FLORENCE MARCH TENTH Oh w^hat a davi^n of day! How the March sun feels like May! All is blue again, After last night's rain. And the South dries the hawthorn-spray. A lovers' QUARREL [ H] MARCH ELEVENTH Air, air, fresh life-blood, thin and searching air, The clear, dear breath of God that loveth us, ' Where small birds reel and winds take their delight! Water is beautiful, but not like air. PAULINE MARCH TWELFTH Best love of all is God's. PIPPA PASSES MARCH THIRTEENTH Commend me to home-joy, the family-board, altar, and hearth. THE RING AND THE BOOK MARCH FOURTEENTH Most progress is most failure. CLEON MARCH FIFTEENTH Winter 's in wane. His vengeful worst art thou. To dash the boldness of advancing March. THE RING AND THE BOOK MARCH SIXTEENTH The chivalry That dares the right, and Disregards alike the "Yea" And "Nay"o' the world. THE RING AND THE BOOK [ '5 ] MARCH SEVENTEENTH Man is born nowise to content himself, but please God. THE RING AND THE BOOK MARCH EIGHTEENTH The woods were long austere with snow: at last Pink leaflets budded on the beech, and fast Larches, scattered through pine-tree solitudes, . . . Grew young again To placid incantations. SORDELLO MARCH NINETEENTH He thought I could not properly forgive, unless I ceased Forgetting, which is true. THE RING AND THE BOOK MARCH TWENTIETH God has conceded two sights to a man — One, of men's whole work, time's completed plan; The other, of the minute's work, man's first Step to the plan's completeness. SORDELLO MARCH TWENTY-FIRST What is our failure here but a triumph's evidence For the fulness of the days ? ABT VOGLER [ i6] MARCH TWENTY-SECOND Ivy and violet, what do ye here, With blossom and shoot in the warm Spring wea- ther? colombe's birthday MARCH TWENTY-THIRD Sky laughs blue, earth blossoms youthfully. Aristophanes' apology MARCH TWENTY-FOURTH I show you doubt, to prove that faith exists. The more of doubt, the stronger faith I say, If faith overcomes doubt. BISHOP BL0UGRAM*S APOLOGY MARCH TWENTY-FIFTH Lily of a maiden, white with impa6t leaf, Guessed through the sheaf that saved it from the sun. THE RING AND THE BOOK MARCH TWENTY-SIXTH My God, my God, let me for once look on thee! I need thee and I feel thee and I love thee. I do not plead my rapture in thy works For love of thee, nor that I feel as one Who cannot die: but there is that in me Which turns to thee, which loves or which should love. PAULINE [ «7] MARCH TWENTY-SEVENTH Put pain from out the world, what room were left For thanks to God, for love to Man? ferishtah's fancies MARCH TWENTY-EIGHTH Oft have I been keeping lonely watch with thee In the damp night by weeping Olivet, Or leaning on thy bosom, proudly less. Or dying with thee on the lonely Cross. PAULINE MARCH TWENTY-NINTH Too much love! how could God love so? EASTER-DAY MARCH THIRTIETH Look not thou down but up! To uses of a cup, The festal board, lamp's flash and trumpet's peal, The new wine's foaming flow The Master's lips a-glow! RABBI BEN EZRA MARCH THIRTY-FIRST Only the Cross at end of all. THE RING AND THE BOOK [ i8 ] APRIL APRIL FIRST SOUL that canst soar! Body may slumber: Body shall cumber Soul-flight no more. APRIL SECOND But Easter-Day breaks! Christ rises! Mercy every way Is infinite. LA SAISIAZ EASTER-DAY APRIL THIRD 'T was Winter yesterday ; now, all is warmth, The green leaf 's springing and the turtle's voice, "Arise and come away!" A BLOT IN THE 'sCUTCHEON APRIL FOURTH 'T is time new hopes should animate the world. New light should dawn from new revealings To a race, weighed down so long, forgotten so long! PARACELSUS [ «9] APRIL FIFTH Robin has built on the apple tree, and our Creeper which came to grief Through the frost, we feared, is twining Round each casement in famous leaf. DRAMATIC IDYLS PIPPA PASSES APRIL SIXTH Spring 's come and Summer 's coming. APRIL SEVENTH When shy buds venture out, And the air by mild degrees Puts Winter's death past doubt. APRIL EIGHTH Man's work is to labour and leaven — As best he may — earth here with heaven. PACCHIAROTTO APRIL NINTH How of the field's fortune ? That concerned our Leader! Led, we struck our stroke nor cared for doings left and right : Each as on his sole head, failer or succeeder, Lay the blame or lit the praise: no care for cowards: fight! FERISHTAh's FANCIES [ ^o] APRIL TENTH Hold on, hope hard in the subtle thing That 's spirit. PACCHIAROTTO APRIL ELEVENTH How April snowed white blossoms! PIPPA PASSES APRIL TWELFTH The tell-tale cuckoo: Spring's his confidant, And he lets out her April purposes! PIPPA PASSES APRIL THIRTEENTH A man can have but one life and one death, One heaven, one hell. IN A BALCONY APRIL FOURTEENTH Cowslips, abundant birth O'er meadow and hillside, vineyard too. EPILOGUE [TO PACCHIAROTTO] APRIL FIFTEENTH It had got half through April. THE RING AND THE BOOK APRIL SIXTEENTH Knowledge means Ever renewed assurance by defeat That viftory is somehow still to reach, But love is vidtory, the prize itself. ferishtah's fancies [21 ] APRIL SEVENTEENTH Here 's the Spring back or close, When the almond-blossom blows. A lovers' quarrel APRIL EIGHTEENTH Oh, to be in England Now that April 's there. And whoever wakes in England Sees, some morning, unaware. That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf. While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough In England — now! HOME-THOUGHTS, FROM ABROAD APRIL NINETEENTH O the rare Spring-time! JOCHANAN HAKKADOSH APRIL TWENTIETH Is it better in May, I ask you ? You Ve Summer all at once; In a day he leaps complete with a few strong April suns. UP AT A VILLA APRIL TWENTY-FIRST Men are not angels, neither are they brutes. BISHOP BLOUGRAm's APOLOGY [ " ] APRIL TWENTY-SECOND So force is sorrow, and each sorrow force. THE TWO POETS OF CROISIC APRIL TWENTY-THIRD And — consequent upon the learning how from strife Grew peace — from evil — good came knowledge that, to get Acquaintance with the way o* the world, we must nor fret Nor fume, on altitudes of self-sufficiency, But bid a frank farewell to what — we think — should be. And, with as good a grace, welcome what is — we find. FIFINE AT THE FAIR APRIL TWENTY-FOURTH Neither the wind-blasts always have their strength Nor happy men keep happy to the end: Since all things change — their natures part in twain; , And that man 's bravest, therefore, who hopes on, Hopes ever : to despair is coward-like. Aristophanes' apology APRIL TWENTY-FIFTH Man must be fed with angels' food. PARACELSUS APRIL TWENTY-SIXTH The thing wanted, soon or late, will be supplied. FIFINE AT THE FAIR [^3 ] APRIL TWENTY-SEVENTH To me, at least, was never evening yet But seemed far beautifuUer than its day. THE RING AND THE BOOK APRIL TWENTY-EIGHTH Spring's first breath Blew soft from the moist hills; the blackthorn boughs, So dark in the bare wood, when glistening In the sunshine were white with coming buds. Like the bright side of a sorrow, and the banks Had violets opening from sleeplike eyes. PAULINE APRIL TWENTY-NINTH 'Twill be, I feel. Only in moments that the duty 's seen As palpably as now: the months, the years Of painful indistin<5lness are to come. KING VICTOR AND KING CHARLES t APRIL THIRTIETH No, when the fight begins within himself, A man's worth something. God stoops o'er his head, Satan looks up between his feet — both tug — He's left, himself, i' the middle: the soul wakes And grows. Prolong that battle through his life! Never leave growing till the life to come! BISHOP BLOUGRAm's APOLOGY [ H] MAY MAY FIRST THIS May breaks all to bud. No Winter now. THE INN ALBUM MAY SECOND Such a starved bank of moss! Till that May-morn, Blue ran the flash across: Violets were born! THE TWO POETS OF CROISIC MAY THIRD And after April, when May follows, builds, and all tl HOME-THOUGHTS, FROM ABROAD And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows! MAY FOURTH "I sleep out disappointment." "Come along, never lose heart!" JOCHANAN HAKKADOSH MAY FIFTH Hill and dale And steel-bright thread of stream, a-smoke with mist, A-sparkle with May morning, diamond drift O' the sun-touched dew. THE INN ALBUM [ ^5 ] MAY SIXTH And here 's May-month, all bloom, All bounty. EPILOGUE [TO PACCHIAROTTO] MAY SEVENTH He at least believed in soul, was very sure of God. LA SAISIAZ MAY EIGHTH The great elm-tree in the open, posed Placidly full in front, smooth bole, broad branch. And leafage, one green plenitude of May. THE INN ALBUM MAY NINTH This May — vsrhat magic weather! NEVER THE TIME AND THE PLACE MAY TENTH Who speaks of man, then, must not sever Man's very elements from man. CHRISTMAS EVE MAY ELEVENTH What is left for us, save, in growth Of soul, to rise up, far past both. From the gift looking to the giver. And from the cistern to the river. And from the finite to infinity. And from man's dust to God's divinity? CHRISTMAS EVE [ ^6 ] MAY TWELFTH There must be many a pair of friends Who, arm in arm, deserve the warm Moon-births and the long evening-ends. So, for their sake, be May still May ! MAY AND DEATH MAY THIRTEENTH God is, they are, man partly is and w^holly hopes to be. A DEATH IN THE DESERT MAY FOURTEENTH God . . . glows above With scarce an intervention, presses close And palpitatingly, his soul o'er ours. MAY FIFTEENTH So high the sun rides. May's the merry month. THE INN ALBUM MAY SIXTEENTH The frost is over and gone ; The South-wind laughs. ^„^ „. ^ ^ „^ ^^ o THE RING AND THE BOOK MAY SEVENTEENTH Love once, and you love always. ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ MAY EIGHTEENTH Your reward or soon, or late. Will come from him, whom no man serves in vain. PARACELSUS [ 27 ] MAY NINETEENTH Ay, here! Here is earth's noblest, nobly garlanded — Her bravest champion with his well- won prize — Her best achievement. PARACELSUS MAY TWENTIETH The year 's at the spring And day 's at the morn; Morning's at seven; The hill-side 's dew-pearled; The lark 's on the wing; The snail 's on the thorn: God's in his heaven — All's right with the world! PIPPA PASSES MAY TWENTY-FIRST My part is plain — To meet and match the gift and gift With love and love, with praise and praise. FERISHTAH S FANCIES MAY TWENTY-SECOND Measure your mind's height by the shade it casts. PARACELSUS MAY TWENTY-THIRD Why live except for love ? [ ^8 ] THE RING AND THE BOOK MAY TWENTY-FOURTH For mankind springs salvation by each hindrance interposed. MAY TWENTY-FIFTH 'T was a sunrise of blossoming May. SORDELLO SORDELLO MAY TWENTY-SIXTH May's warm slow yellow moonlit nights! PIPPA PASSES MAY TWENTY-SEVENTH God plants us where we grow. It is not that because a bud is born At a wild briar's end, full in the wild beast's way, We ought to pluck and put it out of reach on the oak tree-top. THE RING AND THE BOOK MAY TWENTY-EIGHTH I profess no other share In the sele<5lion of my lot than this — My ready answer to the will of God, Who summons me to be his organ. PARACELSUS MAY TWENTY-NINTH That May-morning, we two stole Under the green ascent of sycamores. PIPPA PASSES [ 29] MAY THIRTIETH Here is Spring! The sun shines as he shone at Adam's fall. THE RING AND THE BOOK MAY THIRTY-FIRST On the sea and at the Hague, sixteen hundred ninety-two, Did the English fight the French — woe to France ! And, the thirty-first of May, helter-skelter through the blue. Like a crowd of frightened porpoises a shoal of sharks pursue. Came crowding ship on ship to Saint Malo on the Ranee, With the English fleet in view. HERVE RIEL [ 3° ] JUNE JUNE FIRST SOMETIMES when the weather Is blue, and warm waves tempt To free oneself of tether, And try a life exempt From worldly noise. FIFINE AT THE FAIR JUNE SECOND Well for those who live through June! Great noontides, thunderstorms, all glaring pomps That triumph at the heels of June the god Leading his revel through our leafy world. PIPPA PASSES JUNE THIRD Bind June lilies into sheaves to deck the bridge- side chapel. SORDELLO JUNE FOURTH It is our trust that there is yet another world to mend all error and mischance. PARACELSUS [ 3> ] JUNE FIFTH God told him that it was June, and he knew well without such telling, that harebells grew in June. PARACELSUS JUNE SIXTH I go to prove my soul ! I see my way as birds their trackless way. I shall arrive! what time, what circuit first, I ask not : but unless God send his hail Or blinding fireballs, sleet or stifling snow, In some time, his good time, I shall arrive. PARACELSUS JUNE SEVENTH June 's twice June since she breathed it with me; Come, bud, show me the least of her traces. Treasure my lady's lightest footfall! — Ah, you may flout and turn up your faces — Roses, you are not so fair after all! GARDEN FANCIES JUNE EIGHTH It was roses, roses, all the way. THE PATRIOT JUNE NINTH Birth-blush of the briar-rose. Mist-bloom of the hedge-sloe. [ 32 ] FLUTE-MUSIC JUNE TENTH You'll love me yet! — and I can tarry Your love's protracted growling: June reared that bunch of flowers you carry, From seeds of April's sowing. PIPPA PASSES JUNE ELEVENTH God who registers the cup Of mere cold water, for his sake To a disciple rendered up, Disdains not his own thirst to slake At the poorest love was ever offered. CHRISTMAS EVE JUNE TWELFTH I think, am sure, a brother's love exceeds All the world's love in its unworldliness. A BLOT IN THE 'sCUTCHEON JUNE THIRTEENTH Why stay we on the earth except to grow? JUNE FOURTEENTH Lights and shades, murmurs and silences. Sun- warmth, dew-coolness, — squirrel, bee and bird. THE INN ALBUM [ 33 ] JUNE FIFTEENTH Breathe but one breath, Rose-beauty above, And all that was death Grows life, grows love. Grows love! JOCOSERIA JUNE SIXTEENTH Flower that 's full-blown tempts the butterfly. Not that flower that 's furled. LA SAISIAZ JUNE SEVENTEENTH Ah, the bird-like fluting Through the ash-tops yonder — BuUfinch-bubblings, soft sounds suiting What sweet thoughts, I wonder ? FLUTE-MUSIC JUNE EIGHTEENTH Indeed the especial marking of the man Is prone submission to the heavenly will. AN EPISTLE JUNE NINETEENTH O the old wall here! How I could pass Life in a long midsummer day. My feet confined to a plot of grass. My eyes from a wall not once away! PACCHIAROTTO [ 34 ] JUNE TWENTIETH Life and song should away from heart to heart. PACCHIAROTTO JUNE TWENTY-FIRST But who clothes Summer, who is life itself ? God, that created all things, can renew! PARACELSUS JUNE TWENTY-SECOND A broiling blasting June, — was never its like, men say. Corn stood sheaf-ripe already, and trees looked yel- low as that; Ponds lay drained dust-dry, the cattle lay foaming around each flat. DRAMATIC IDYLS JUNE TWENTY-THIRD Came the clear voice of the cloistered ones. Chanting a chant made for midsummer nights. I know not what particular praise of God; It always came and went with June. THE RING AND THE BOOK JUNE TWENTY-FOURTH Thou with the soul that never can take rest. Thou born to do, undo, and do again, and never to be still. [ 35 ] JUNE TWENTY-FIFTH So we battled it like men, Not boylike sulked or whined. ferishtah's fancies JUNE TWENTY-SIXTH I would love infinitely, and be loved. PARACELSUS JUNE TWENTY-SEVENTH Earth's rose is a bud that 's checked or grows As beams may encourage or blasts oppose. REPHAN JUNE TWENTY-EIGHTH Oh lyric love, half angel and half bird, And all a wonder and a wild desire! Boldest of hearts that ever braved the sun. Yet human at the red-ripe of the heart. THE RING AND THE BOOK JUNE TWENTY-NINTH Hill, vale, tree, flower — they stand distin6l. Nature to know and name. ASOLANDO JUNE THIRTIETH He would not look so joyous — I'll believe His very eye would never sparkle thus. Had I not prayed for him this long, long while. STRAFFORD [ 36] JULY JULY FIRST IS it for nothing we grow old and weak, We whom God loves? A DEATH IN THE DESERT JULY SECOND Religion's all or nothing; it's no mere smile O' contentment, sigh of aspiration, sir — No quality o' the finelier tempered clay Like its whiteness or its likeness; rather, stuff O' the very stuff, life of life, and self of self. MR. SLUDGE, THE MEDIUM JULY THIRD Such ever was love's way : to rise, it stoops. A DEATH IN THE DESERT JULY FOURTH Reap joy where sorrow was intended grow. Of wrong make right, and turn ill good below! SORDELLO JULY FIFTH True life is only love, love only bliss. THE RING AND THE BOOK [ 37 ] JULY SIXTH 'T is July, strong now, and white dust-clouds over- whelm the woodside. SORDELLO JULY SEVENTH Man's part Is plain, — to send love forth, — astray, perhaps: No matter, he has done his part. ferishtah's fancies JULY EIGHTH Love, give love, ask only love and leave the rest. IN A BALCONY JULY NINTH God smiles as he has always smiled. JOHANNES AGRICOLA JULY TENTH Amid the noise of a July noon When all God's creatures crave their boon. All at once and all in tune. JULY ELEVENTH Overhead the tree-tops meet. Flowers and grass spring 'neath one's feet; There was naught above me, naught below, My childhood had not learned to know: [ 38 ] For, what are the voices of birds — Ay, and of beasts, — but words, our words. Only so much more sweet? PIPPA PASSES JULY TWELFTH To do little is bad, to do nothing is worse. ferishtah's fancies JULY THIRTEENTH Love, hope, fear, faith, — these make humanity. These are its sign and note and charader. JULY FOURTEENTH Be patient, mark and mend! PARACELSUS DIS ALITER VISUM JULY FIFTEENTH Life's i' the tempest; Thought clothes the keen hill-top; Mid-day woods are fraught with fervour. SORDELLO JULY SIXTEENTH You never know what life means till you die; Even through life, it's death that makes life live — Gives it whatever the significance. THE RING AND THE BOOK [ 39] JULY SEVENTEENTH There's a woman like a dew-drop, she 's so purer than the purest j And her noble heart's the noblest, yes, and her sure faith's the surest: And her eyes are dark and humid, like the depth on depth of lustre Hid i' the harebell, while her tresses, sunnier than the wild-grape cluster. Gush in golden-tinted plenty down her neck's rose- misted marble: Then her voice's music . . . call it the well's bub- bling, the bird's warble! A BLOT IN THE 'sCUTCHEON JULY EIGHTEENTH Though he is so bright, and we so dim, We are made in his image to witness him. CHRISTMAS EVE JULY NINETEENTH All pain must be to work some good in the end. THE RING AND THE BOOK JULY TWENTIETH Why repine? there's always someone lives although ourselves be dead. LA SAISIAZ JULY TWENTY-FIRST Abundant air to breathe, sufficient sun to feel! FIFINE AT THE FAIR [4°] JULY TWENTY-SECOND God! Thou art mind! Unto the master-mind Mind should be precious. PARACELSUS JULY TWENTY-THIRD Calm sits Caution, rapt with heavenward eye, a true confessor's gaze. THE RING AND THE BOOK JULY TWENTY-FOURTH Little and bad exist, are natural, Then let me know them and be twice as great. ARISTOPHANES* APOLOGY JULY TWENTY-FIFTH Let each task present Its petty good to thee. Waste not thy gifts In profitless waiting for the gods' descent. PARACELSUS JULY TWENTY-SIXTH You know how weak the strongest women are. THE RING AND THE BOOK JULY TWENTY-SEVENTH Here, work enough to watch The Master work, and catch Hints of the proper craft, tricks of the tool's true play. RABBI BEN EZRA [4> ] JULY TWENTY-EIGHTH All men hope, and see their hopes frustrate, and grieve awhile, and hope anew. A BLOT IN THE 'sCUTCHEON JULY TWENTY-NINTH Shall I find aught new In the old and dear ? In the good and true With the changing year ? JAMES lee's wife JULY THIRTIETH What though I sink, another may succeed. PARACELSUS JULY THIRTY-FIRST Is this we live on heaven and the final state, or earth, which means probation to the end ? THE RING AND THE BOOK [4^ ] AUGUST AUGUST FIRST FOR life, with all it yields of joy and woe, And hope and fear, — believe the aged friend, — Is just our chance o' the prize of learning love. How love might be, hath been indeed, and is. A DEATH IN THE DESERT AUGUST SECOND Who breaks law, breaks padl, therefore helps him- self To pleasure and profits, over and above the due. THE RING AND THE BOOK AUGUST THIRD Every man of the right race bears what at least the gods infli6l, nor shrinks. ARISTOPHANES* APOLOGY AUGUST FOURTH We find great things are made of little things. And things go lessening till at last Comes God behind them. MR. SLUDGE, THE MEDIUM [43 ] AUGUST FIFTH What I aspired to be, And was not, comforts me. RABBI BEN EZRA AUGUST SIXTH Could I retain one strain of all the psalm Of the angels, one word of the fiat of God ! PARACELSUS AUGUST SEVENTH When a man 's busy, why, leisure Strikes him as wonderful pleasure. THE GLOVE AUGUST EIGHTH Take away love and our earth is a tomb. FRA LIPPO LIPPI AUGUST NINTH We try and cull Briars, thistles, from our private plot. To mar God's ground where thorns are not. CHRISTMAS EVE AUGUST TENTH God! Thou art love! I build my faith on that. PARACELSUS AUGUST ELEVENTH I thirst for truth, but shall not reach it till I reach the source. THE RING AND THE BOOK [44 ] AUGUST TWELFTH Only be sure thy daily life, In its peace or in its strife, Never shall be unobserved. THE FLIGHT OF THE DUCHESS AUGUST THIRTEENTH He holds on firmly to some thread of life — (It is the life to lead perforcedly) Which runs across some vast distra(5ling orb Of glory on either side that meagre thread, Which, conscious of, he must not enter yet — The spiritual life around the earthly life. AN EPISTLE AUGUST FOURTEENTH Innocence often looks like guiltiness. THE RING AND THE BOOK AUGUST FIFTEENTH Songs, Spring thought perfe6tion, Summer criticises: What in May escaped detedlion, August, past surprises. Notes, and names each blunder. FLUTE-MUSIC AUGUST SIXTEENTH We women hate a debt, as men a gift. IN A BALCONY [45 ] AUGUST SEVENTEENTH There shall never be one lost good ! what was, shall live as before; The evil is null, is naught, is silence implying sound; What was good shall be good, with, for evil, so much good more; On the earth the broken arcs; in the heaven, a perfe(5l round. ABT VOGLER AUGUST EIGHTEENTH I say that man was made to grow, not stop; That help, he needed once, and needs no more. Having grown but an inch by, is withdrawn: For he hath new needs, and new helps to these. This imports solely, man should mount on each New height in view; the help whereby he mounts. The ladder-rung his foot has left, may fall. Since al l things suffer cha nge save God the Trut h. A DEATH IN THE DESERT AUGUST NINETEENTH Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise From outward things, whate'er you may believe. There is an inmost centre in us all. Where truth abides in fulness; and around. Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in. PARACELSUS [46] AUGUST TWENTIETH God breathes, not speaks; his verdidl's felt, not heard. THE RING AND THE BOOK AUGUST TWENTY-FIRST Only grant that I do serve; if otherwise, why want aught further of me? SORDELLO AUGUST TWENTY-SECOND Why should despair be ? Since, distindl above Man's wickedness and folly, flies the wind And floats the cloud, free transport for our soul Out of its fleshly durance dim and low. Aristophanes' apology AUGUST TWENTY-THIRD What 's the earth With all its art, verse, music, worth — Compared with love, found, gained, and kept? DIS ALITER VISUM AUGUST TWENTY-FOURTH Therefore desire joy and thank God for it. FERISHTAh's FANCIES AUGUST TWENTY-FIFTH The best men ever prove the wisest too: Something instindlive guides them still aright. balaustion's adventure [47 ] AUGUST TWENTY-SIXTH Progress, man's distinftive mark alone, Not God's, and not the beasts' : God is, they are, Man partly is and wholly hopes to be. A DEATH IN THE DESERT AUGUST TWENTY-SEVENTH I think the soul can never taste death. PARACELSUS AUGUST TWENTY-EIGHTH Be love less or more In the heart of man, he keeps it shut Or opes it w^ide, as he pleases, but Love's sum remains what it was before. CHRISTMAS EVE AUGUST TWENTY-NINTH There is no trial like the appropriate one Of leaving little minds their liberty Of littleness to blunder on through life. PRINCE HOHENSTIEL-SCHWANGAU AUGUST THIRTIETH The high that proved too high, the heroic for earth too hard, The passion that left the ground to lose itself in the sky, [48 ] Are music sent up to God by the lover and the bard; Enough that he heard it once: we shall hear it by-and-by. ABT VOGLER AUGUST THIRTY-FIRST 'T is the taught already that profits by teaching. CHRISTMAS EVE [49] SEPTEMBER *= SEPTEMBER FIRST OH, good gigantic smile o' the brown old earth, This Autumn morning! JAMES lee's wife SEPTEMBER SECOND Belief or unbelief Bears upon life, determines its whole course, Begins at its beginning. BISHOP BLOUGRAm's APOLOGY SEPTEMBER THIRD There is a vision in the heart of each Of justice, mercy, wisdom, tenderness To wrong and pain, and knowledge of its cure. colombe's birthday SEPTEMBER FOURTH The thing I pity most in men is — a6lion prompted by surprise of anger. A FORGIVENESS SEPTEMBER FIFTH Oh God, who shall pluck the sheep thou boldest from thy hand! THE RING AND THE BOOK [ 5J ] SEPTEMBER SIXTH I feel Love's sure eflFeft, and being loved must love ! ferishtah's fancies SEPTEMBER SEVENTH All service ranks the same with God: If now, as formerly he trod Paradise, his presence fills Our earth, each only as God wills Can work, — God's puppets, best and worst. Are wei there is no last nor first. PIPPA PASSES SEPTEMBER EIGHTH Let our God's praise Go bravely through the world at last! What care Through me or thee? PARACELSUS SEPTEMBER NINTH Autumn has come like Spring returned to us. Won from her girlishness. SEPTEMBER TENTH How soon a smile of God can change the world ! How we are made for happiness — how work Grows play, adversity a winning fight! IN A BALCONY [ 5^ ] SEPTEMBER ELEVENTH I looked beyond the world for truth and beauty: Sought, found and did my duty. ferishtah's fancies SEPTEMBER TWELFTH I trust in nature for the stable laws Of beauty and utility. — Spring shall plant, And Autumn garner to the end of time: I trust in God — the right shall be the right And other than the wrong, while he endures: I trust in my own soul, that can perceive The outward and the inward, nature's good And God's. SEPTEMBER THIRTEENTH This Autumn was a pleasant time, for some few sunny days. PARACELSUS SEPTEMBER FOURTEENTH And all day I sent prayer like incense up To God the strong, God the beneficent, God ever mindful in all strife and strait, Who for our own good makes the need extreme, Till at last he puts forth might and saves. THE RING AND THE BOOK SEPTEMBER FIFTEENTH Just see what life is, with its shifts and turns! COLOMBE's BIRTHDAY [ 53 ] SEPTEMBER SIXTEENTH When Autumn blusters and the orchard rocks. THE RING AND THE BOOK SEPTEMBER SEVENTEENTH Each of us heard clang God's " Come ! " and each was coming: Soldiers all, to forward-face, not sneaks to lag be- hind! ferishtah's fancies SEPTEMBER EIGHTEENTH Night set in early; Autumn dews were rife. sordello SEPTEMBER NINETEENTH All men are men: I would all minds were minds! Whereas 'tis just the many's mindless mass That most needs helping. JOCHANAN HAKKADOSH SEPTEMBER TWENTIETH The world's tide rolls, and What hope of parting from the press of waves? My life must be lived out in foam and roar. SORDELLO SEPTEMBER TWENTY-FIRST Ask thy lone soul what laws are plain to thee — Thee and no other: stand and fall by them. That is the part for thee. ferishtah's fancies [ 54 ] SEPTEMBER TWENTY-SECOND Love is born of heart, not mind. PIETRO OF ABANO SEPTEMBER TWENTY-THIRD Let them pelt and pound, bruise, bray you in a mortar! What 's the odds to you who seek reward of quite another nature? PIETRO OF ABANO SEPTEMBER TWENTY-FOURTH Knowledge and power have rights, But ignorance and weakness have rights too. BISHOP BLOUGRAm's APOLOGY SEPTEMBER TWENTY-FIFTH The seeming solitary man, speaking from God, May have an audience too, invisible. THE RING AND THE BOOK SEPTEMBER TWENTY-SIXTH Truth is truth, and justifies itself by undreamed ways. BISHOP BLOUGRAm's APOLOGY SEPTEMBER TWENTY-SEVENTH You are endowed with faculties which bear Annexed to them as 't were a dispensation To summon meaner spirits to do their will. PARACELSUS [55 ] SEPTEMBER TWENTY-EIGHTH She was a6live, stirring, all fire — Could not rest, could not tire — To a stone she might have given life! THE FLIGHT OF THE DUCHESS SEPTEMBER TWENTY-NINTH The angels love to do their work betimes, Staunch some wounds here, nor leave so much for God. THE RING AND THE BOOK SEPTEMBER THIRTIETH Never the time and the place And the loved one all together! NEVER THE TIME AND THE PLACE [ 56 ] OCTOBER OCTOBER FIRST KEEP but God's model safe, New men will rise to take its mould. LURIA OCTOBER SECOND How very hard it is to be a Christian ! CHRISTMAS EVE OCTOBER THIRD Early in Autumn, at first Winter-warning. THE FLIGHT OF THE DUCHESS OCTOBER FOURTH To make, you must be marred, — To raise your race, must stoop, — to teach them aught, must learn Ignorance, meet half-way what most you hope to spurn r the sequel. FIFINE AT THE FAIR OCTOBER FIFTH But hush! for you, can be no despair: There 's amends: 't is a secret: hope and pray! THE WORST OF IT [ 57 ] OCTOBER SIXTH Weakness never needs be falseness. LA SAISIAZ OCTOBER SEVENTH It 's wiser being good than bad; It 's safer being meek than fierce; It 's fitter being sane than mad. My own hope is, a sun will pierce The thickest cloud earth ever stretched; That, after Last, returns the First, Though a wide compass round be fetched; That what began best, can't end worst. Nor what God blessed once, prove accurst. APPARENT FAILURE OCTOBER EIGHTH I say, the acknowledgment of God in Christ Accepted by thy reason, solves for thee All questions in the earth and out of it. A DEATH IN THE DESERT OCTOBER NINTH Autumn wins you best by this its mute appeal to sympathy for its decay. PARACELSUS OCTOBER TENTH Mercy is safe and graceful. THE RING AND THE BOOK [ 58 ] OCTOBER ELEVENTH What 's failure or success to me ? I have subdued my life. PARACELSUS OCTOBER TWELFTH For I say, this is death and the sole death, When a man's loss comes to him from his gain. Darkness from light, from knowledge ignorance. And lack of love from love made manifest. A DEATH IN THE DESERT OCTOBER THIRTEENTH A great is better than a little aim. colombe's birthday OCTOBER FOURTEENTH Flovi^ers' departure, frost's arrival. la saisiaz OCTOBER FIFTEENTH In short, God's service is established here As he determines fit, and not your way, And this you cannot brook. Such discontent Is weak. Renounce all creatureship at once! PARACELSUS OCTOBER SIXTEENTH In this world, who can do a thing, will not; And who would do it, cannot, I perceive. ANDREA DEL SARTO [ 59] OCTOBER SEVENTEENTH Days decrease, and Autumn grows, Autumn in everything. ANDREA DEL SARTO OCTOBER EIGHTEENTH ^ In his face is light, but in his shadow healing too. THE RING AND THE BOOK OCTOBER NINETEENTH Truth is the strong thing. Let man's life be true! IN A BALCONY OCTOBER TWENTIETH Prayers move God. Threats and nothing else move men. THE RING AND THE BOOK OCTOBER TWENTY-FIRST For Autumn was the season, red the sky. ARISTOPHANES* APOLOGY OCTOBER TWENTY-SECOND I press God's lamp Close to my breast; its splendour, soon or late, Will pierce the gloom: I shall emerge one day. PARACELSUS OCTOBER TWENTY-THIRD Well, my life reviewed fairly leaves more hope than discouragement. PRINCE HOHENSTIEL-SCHWANGAU [60] OCTOBER TWENTY-FOURTH I will be happy if but for once: Only help me, Autumn weather, Me and my cares to screen, ensconce In luxury's sofa-lap of leather! ASOLANDO OCTOBER TWENTY-FIFTH I was ever a fighter, so — one fight more, The best and the last! PROSPICE OCTOBER TWENTY-SIXTH One declining Autumn day — Few birds about the heaven chill and gray. No wind that cared trouble the tacit woods. SORDELLO OCTOBER TWENTY-SEVENTH Let friend trust friend, and love demand love's like. LURIA OCTOBER TWENTY-EIGHTH Never shall I believe any two souls were made Similar; granting, then, each soul of every grade Was meant to be itself, prove in itself complete And, in completion, good, — nay, best o' the kind. FIFINE AT THE FAIR [6, ] OCTOBER TWENTY-NINTH Honour is a gift of God to man, Precious beyond compare, which natural sense Of human rectitude and purity, . . . Brooks no touch. THE RING AND THE BOOK OCTOBER THIRTIETH I braved sorrow, courted joy, to just one end: Namely, that just the creature I was bound To be, I should become, nor thwart at all God's purpose in creation. PRINCE HOHENSTIEL-SCHWANGAU OCTOBER THIRTY-FIRST Just so much work as keeps the brain from rustj Just so much play as lets the heart expand — Honouring God, and serving man, I say — These are reality and all else fluflF. THE RING AND THE BOOK [62 ] NOVEMBER NOVEMBER FIRST A VIRTUE golden through and through, Sufficient to vindicate itself And prove its vi^orth at a moment's view^! THE STATUE AND THE BUST NOVEMBER SECOND God is soul, souls I and thou: With souls should souls have place. ferishtah's fancies NOVEMBER THIRD God is, and the soul is, and as certain after death shall be. LA SAISIAZ NOVEMBER FOURTH Be sure they sleep not vi^hom God needs! Nor fear Their holding light his charge, vi^hen every hour That finds that charge delayed, is a new death. PARACELSUS NOVEMBER FIFTH We all aspire to heaven: and there lies heaven above us. A soul's tragedy [63 1 NOVEMBER SIXTH That which seems worst to man to God is best, So, because God ordains it, best to man. Yet man — the foolish, weak and wicked — prays! Urges "My best were better, didst thou know!" ferishtah's fancies NOVEMBER SEVENTH The world lies under me: and nowhere I deteft So greatagift as this — God's own — of human Hfe. Shall the dead praise thee? No! The whole live world is rife, God, with thy glory! DRAMATIC IDYLS NOVEMBER EIGHTH That low man seeks a little thing to do, Sees it and does it: This high man, with a great thing to pursue, Dies ere he knows it. A grammarian's funeral NOVEMBER NINTH Through such souls alone, God, stooping, shows sufficient of his light For us in the dark to rise by. THE ring and the BOOK NOVEMBER TENTH When is man strong until he feels alone! colombe's birthday [64] NOVEMBER ELEVENTH No! youth once gone is gone: Deeds, let escape, are never to be done. SORDELLO NOVEMBER TWELFTH The world and life 's too big to pass for a dream. FRA LIPPO LIPPI NOVEMBER THIRTEENTH Mere decay produces richer life. SORDELLO NOVEMBER FOURTEENTH At worst I have performed my share of the task: The rest is God's concern. PARACELSUS NOVEMBER FIFTEENTH And then know that this curse will come on us, To see our idols perish. PAULINE NOVEMBER SIXTEENTH Knowing ourselves, our world, our task so great. Our time so brief, 't is clear if we refuse The means so limited, the tools so rude To execute our purpose, life will fleet. PARACELSUS [65 ] NOVEMBER SEVENTEENTH The common problem, yours, mine, every one's. Is — not to fancy what were fair in life Provided it could be, — but, finding first What may be, then find how to make it fair Up to our means: a very different thing! Aristophanes' apology NOVEMBER EIGHTEENTH Things learned on earth we shall pra6tise in heaven. OLD PICTURES IN FLORENCE NOVEMBER NINETEENTH Love which, on earth, amid all the shows of it, Has ever been seen the sole good of life in it, The love, ever growing there, spite of the strife in it, Shall arise, made perfe6l, from death's repose of it. And I shall behold thee face to face, O God, and in thy light retrace How in all I loved here, still wast thou! CHRISTMAS EVE NOVEMBER TWENTIETH The thing that seems Mere misery, under human schemes, Becomes, regarded by the light Of love, as very near, or quite As good a gift as joy before. CHRISTMAS EVE [66] NOVEMBER TWENTY-FIRST Calm commonplace which neither missed, nor hit Inch-high, inch-low, the placid mark proposed. CHRISTOPHER SMART NOVEMBER TWENTY-SECOND That Time, who in the twilight comes to mend All the fantastic day's caprice. STRAFFORD NOVEMBER TWENTY-THIRD And pity is so near to love, and love so neighbourly to all unreasonableness. THE RING AND THE BOOK NOVEMBER TWENTY-FOURTH Then, welcome each rebuff That turns earth's smoothness rough, Each sting that bids nor sit nor stand but go! Be our joys three-parts pain ! Strive, and hold cheap the strain; Learn, nor account the pang; dare, never grudge the throe! RABBI BEN EZRA NOVEMBER TWENTY-FIFTH Oh, faith ! where art thou flown from out the world ? Already on what an age of doubt we fall ! THE RING AND THE BOOK [67 ] NOVEMBER TWENTY-SIXTH Yet God is good : I started sure of that, And why dispute it now? PARACELSUS NOVEMBER TWENTY-SEVENTH And so I live, you see. Go through the world, try, prove, rejedl. Prefer, still struggling to effedl My warfare; happy that I can Be crossed and thwarted as a man, Not left in God's contempt apart. With ghastly smooth life, dead at heart. CHRISTMAS EVE NOVEMBER TWENTY-EIGHTH Well, now, there is nothing in the world or out of it good, except truth. THE RING AND THE BOOK NOVEMBER TWENTY-NINTH Hadst thou learned What God accounteth happiness, Thou wouldst not find it hard to guess What hell may be his punishment For those who doubt if God invent Better than they. CHRISTMAS EVE [68 ] NOVEMBER THIRTIETH Since I, whom Christ's mouth taught, was bidden teach, I went, for many years, about the world. Saying "It was so; so I heard and saw." A DEATH IN THE DESERT [69 ] DECEMBER DECEMBER FIRST BUT I have always had one lode-star; now, As I look back, I see that I have halted Or hastened as I looked towards that star — A need, a trust, a yearning after God. PAULINE DECEMBER SECOND Young, all lay in dispute; I shall know, being old. RABBI BEN EZRA DECEMBER THIRD And the sin I impute to each frustrate ghost Is — the unlit lamp and the ungirt loin. THE STATUE AND THE BUST DECEMBER FOURTH Only grant my soul may carry high through death her cup unspilled. LA SAISIAZ DECEMBER FIFTH Praise the good log fire; Winter howls without! Crowd closer let us! THE TWO POETS OF CROISIC [71 ] DECEMBER SIXTH So death completes living, shows life in its truth. APOLLO AND THE FATES DECEMBER SEVENTH Nay, after earth, comes peace born out of life-long battle? BERNARD DE MANDEVILLE DECEMBER EIGHTH What would one have? In heaven, perhaps, new chances, one more chance. ANDREA DEL SARTO DECEMBER NINTH What's time? Leave Now for dogs and apes! Man has Forever. A grammarian's FUNERAL DECEMBER TENTH Let a man contend to the uttermost For his life's set prize, be it what it will! THE STATUE AND THE BUST DECEMBER ELEVENTH Fail I alone, in words and deeds? Why, all men strive and who succeeds? THE LAST RIDE TOGETHER [ n ] DECEMBER TWELFTH But God, though I am nothing, be thou all! THE INN ALBUM DECEMBER THIRTEENTH So, trial after trial past, Wilt thou fall at the very last Breathless, half in trance With the thrill of the great deliverance. THE FLIGHT OF THE DUCHESS DECEMBER FOURTEENTH Let us leave God alone. Why should I doubt he vi^ill explain in time? THE RING AND THE BOOK DECEMBER FIFTEENTH The bee vi^ith his comb, The mouse at her dray. The grub in his tomb. Wile vi^inter aw^ay. PIPPA PASSES DECEMBER SIXTEENTH Ponder on the entire past Laid together thus at last. THE FLIGHT OF THE DUCHESS DECEMBER SEVENTEENTH Time fleets how fast! and opportunity, the irre- vocable, once Rowiiy will flout him. THE RING AND THE BOOK [73 ] DECEMBER EIGHTEENTH Let me and you be wipers of scores out with all men. THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN DECEMBER NINETEENTH Have you no assurance that, earth at end, Wrong will prove right? Who made shall mend In higher sphere to which yearnings tend ? REPHAN DECEMBER TWENTIETH Better have failed in the high aim, as I, Than vulgarly in the low aim succeed. THE INN ALBUM DECEMBER TWENTY-FIRST No, I have light, nor fear the dark at all. THE RING AND THE BOOK DECEMBER TWENTY-SECOND I have lived, then, done and suffered. Loved and hated, learnt and taught. LA SAISIAZ DECEMBER TWENTY-THIRD Such save the world which none but they could save. Yet think whate'er they did, that world could do. [ 74 ] DECEMBER TWENTY-FOURTH I never realised God's birth before — How he grew likest God in being born. THE RING AND THE BOOK DECEMBER TWENTY-FIFTH Festive bells— everywhere the Feast of the Babe; Joy upon earth, peace and good will to man. THE RING AND THE BOOK DECEMBER TWENTY-SIXTH Firm like my first fad to stand on "God there is, and soul there is." LA SAISIAZ DECEMBER TWENTY-SEVENTH For sudden the worst turns the best to the brave. The black minute 's at end. PROSPICE DECEMBER TWENTY-EIGHTH A certain stage At least I reach, or dream I reach, where I discern Truer truths, laws behold more lawlike than we learn. DRAMATIC IDYLS DECEMBER TWENTY-NINTH He came but to forgive, and to bring to life: Doubt ye the force of Christmas on the soul ? THE RING AND THE BOOK [75 ] DECEMBER THIRTIETH For the journey is done and the summit attained, And the barriers fall. PROSPICE DECEMBER THIRTY-FIRST But deep within my heart of hearts there hid Ever the confidence, amends for all. That heaven repairs what wrong earth's journey did. When love from life-long exile comes at call. BIFURCATION m 24 1904 Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: March 2009 PreservatlonTechnologies A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 111 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township, PA 16066 (724)779-2111