XXVII But the priest bethought him: "Milk that 's spilt' "You know the adage! Watch and pray! "Saints tumble to earth with so slight a tilt ! "It would build a new altar; that, we may !" And the altar therewith was built. XXVIII Why I deliver this horrible verse? As the text of a sermon, which now I preach. Evil or good may be better or worse In the human heart, but the mixture of each Is a marvel and a curse. XXIX The candid incline to surmise of late That the Christian faith may be false, I find; For our Essays-and-Reviews' debate Begins to tell on the public mind, And Colenso's words have weight: XXX I still, to suppose it true, for my part, The Corruption of Man's Heart. THE STATUE AND THE BUST. THERE's a palace in Florence, the world knows well, And a statue watches it from the square, And this story of both do our townsmen tell. Ages ago, a lady there, At the farthest window facing the East The bridesmaids' prattle around her ceased; They saw how the blush of the bride increased They felt by its beats her heart expand— That self-same instant, underneath, Gay he rode, with a friend as gay, Till he threw his head back--" Who is she?" "A bride the Riccardi brings home to-day." Hair in heaps lay heavily Over a pale brow spirit-pure Carved like the heart of the coal-black tree, Crisped like a war-steed's encolure— And lo, a blade for a knight's emprise He looked at her, as a lover can; Now, love so ordered for both their sakes, (For Via Larga is three parts light, But the palace overshadows one, Because of a crime which may God requite! To Florence and God the wrong was done, The Duke (with the statue's face in the square) At the bright approach of the bridal pair. Face to face the lovers stood A single minute and no more, While the bridegroom bent as a man subdued— Bowed till his bonnet brushed the floor — In a minute can lovers exchange a word? That was the bridegroom. At day's brink Calmly he said that her lot was cast, That the door she had passed was shut on her The world meanwhile, its noise and stir, Since passing the door might lead to a feast, Freely I choose too," said the bride: "Your window and its world suffice," Replied the tongue, while the heart replied— "If I spend the night with that devil twice, May his window serve as my loop of hell "Whence a damned soul looks on paradise! "I fly to the Duke who loves me well, "T is only the coat of a page to borrow, "And tie my hair in a horse-boy's trim, "And I save my soul-but not to-morrow' (She checked herself and her eye grew dim) My father tarries to bless my state : "I must keep it one day more for him. "Is one day more so long to wait? She turned on her side and slept. Just so! That night the Duke said, "Dear or cheap "As the cost of this cup of bliss may prove "To body or soul, I will drain it deep." And on the morrow, bold with love, And smiled "T was a very funeral, "What if we break from the Arno bowers, "And try if Petraja, cool and green, "Cure last night's fault with this morning's flowers?" The bridegroom, not a thought to be seen 66 But, alas! my lady leaves the South; "Nor a way exists, the wise opine, Quoth the Duke, " A sage and a kindly fear. And then to himself-" Which night shall bring "Yet my passion must wait a night, nor cool— "I need thee still and might miss perchance. "For I ride-what should I do but ride? So said, so done: nor the lady missed |