PROSPICE.

FEAR death? - to feel the fog in my throat,

The mist in my face,

When the snows begin, and the blasts denote

I am nearing the place,

The power of the night, the press of the storm,

The post of the foe;

Where he stands, the Arch-Fear in a visible form,

Yet the strong man must go; Now the journey is done and the summit attained,

And the barriers fall,

Though a battle's to fight ere the guerdon be gained,

The reward of it all.

I was ever a fighter, so,- one fight

Once his love grown chill,

Mine may strive, Bitterly we re-embrace, Single still.

Was it something said,
Something done,

Vexed him? was it touch of hand,
Turn of head?

Strange! that very way
Love begun.

I as little understand
Love's decay.

When I sewed or drew,
I recall

How he looked as if I sang
Sweetly too.

If I spoke a word,

First of all

While I found some way undreamed, -Paid my debt!

Give more life and more,

Till, all gone,

Is it too late, then, Evelyn Hope? What! your soul was pure and true; The good stars met in your horoscope, Made you of spirit, fire, and dew;

Mine before.

And our paths in the world diverged so wide,

Each was naught to each, must I be told?

We were fellow-mortals, beside ?

No, indeed! for God above

-naught

Is great to grant as mighty to make, And creates the love to reward the love;

I claim you still, for my own love's sake!

Delayed, it may be, for more lives

then,

Nor bright and envied, nor obscure and scorned,

Nor so young that their pleasures fell too thick,

Nor old past catching pleasure when it fell,

Nothing above, below the just degree, All at the mean where joy's components mix.

So again, in the couple's very souls You saw the adequate half with half to match,

Each having and each lacking somewhat, both

Making a whole that had all and lacked naught;

The round and sound, in whose composure just

The acquiescent and recipient side Was Pietro's, and the stirring striving one

Violante's: both in union gave the due Quietude, enterprise, craving and

content,

Which go to bodily health and peace of mind.

But, as 'tis said a body, rightly mixed,

Each element in equipoise, would last