VIII

And I did it, he thinks, as a very thief :

“ Though I love her—that, he comprehends“ One should master one's passions, (love, in chief)

“ And be loyal to one's friends !”

IX

And she,-she lies in my hand as tame

As a pear late basking over a wall ; Just a touch to try, and off it came;

'T is mine,-can I let it fall ?

X
With no mind to eat it, that's the worst !

Were it thrown in the road, would the case assist ? 'T was quenching a dozen blue-flies' thirst

When I gave its stalk a twist.

XI

And I,—what I seem to my friend, you see ;

What I soon shall seem to his love, you guess : What I seem to myself, do you ask of me?

No hero, I confess.

XII
'T is an awkward thing to play with souls,

And matter enough to save one's own :
Yet think of my friend, and the burning coals
He played with for bits of stone !

XIII

One likes to show the truth for the truth ;

That the woman was light is very true :
But suppose she says,,Never mind that youth !

What wrong have I done to you?

XIV
Well, any how, here the story stays,

So far at least as I understand ;
And, Robert Browning, you writer of plays

Here 's a subject made to your hand !

LOVE IN A LIFE.

I Room after room, I hunt the house through We inhabit together. Heart, fear nothing, for, heart, thou shalt find herNext time, herself !--not the trouble behind her Left in the curtain, the couch's perfume ! As she brushed it, the cornice-wreath blossomed anew; Yon looking-glass gleamed at the wave of her feather.

II Yet the day wears, And door succeeds door ; I try the fresh fortuneRange the wide house from the wing to the centre. Still the same chance ! she goes out as I enter. Spend my whole day in the quest,—who cares ? But 't is twilight, you see,—with such suites to explore, Such closets to search, such alcoves to importune!

LIFE IN A LOVE.
ESCAPE me ?
Never-
Beloved !
While I am I, and you are you,

So long as the world contains us both,

Me the loving and you the loth,
While the one eludes, must the other pursue.
My life is a fault at last, I fear :

It seems too much like a fate, indeed !

Though I do my best I shall scarce succeed.
But what if I fail of my purpose here?
It is but to keep the nerves at strain,

To dry one's eyes and laugh at a fall,
And baffled, get up and begin again,-

So the chace takes up one's life, that 's all.
While, look but once from your farthest bound

At me so deep in the dust and dark,
No sooner the old hope goes to ground

Than a new one, straight to the self-same mark,
I shape me-
Ever
Removed !

THE LABORATORY.

ANCIEN RÉGIME.

Now that I, tying thy glass mask tightly,
May gaze thro' these faint smokes curling whitely,
As thou pliest thy trade in this devil's-smithy-
Which is the poison to poison her, prithee?

II He is with her, and they know that I know Where they are, what they do : they believe my tears flow While they laugh, laugh at me, at me fled to the drear Empty church, to pray God in, for them !-I am here.

III

Grind away, moisten and mash up thy paste,
Pound at thy powder, I am not in haste !
Better sit thus and observe thy strange things,
Than go where men wait me, and dance at the King's.

IV

That in the mortar-you call it a gum ?
Ah, the brave tree whence such gold oozings come !
And yonder soft phial, the exquisite blue,
Sure to taste sweetly,—is that poison too ?

Had I but all of them, thee and thy treasures,
What a wild crowd of invisible pleasures !
To carry pure death in an earring, a casket,
A signet, a fan-mount, a filigree basket !

VI

Soon, at the King's, a mere lozenge to give
And Pauline should have just thirty minutes to live!
But to light a pastile, and Elise with her head
And her breast and her arms and her hands, should
drop dead !

VII
Quick-is it finished ? The colour 's too grim!
Why not soft like the phial's, enticing and dim ?
Let it brighten her drink, let her turn it and stir,
And try it and taste, ere she fix and prefer !

VIII

What a drop! She 's not little, no minion like me !
That's why she ensnared him : this never will free
The soul from those masculine eyes, say, “No !"
To that pulse's magnificent come-and-go.

IX For only last night, as they whispered, I brought My own eyes to bear on her so, that I thought Could I keep them one half minute fixed, she would fall Shrivelled ; she fell not ; yet this does it all !

Not that I bid you spare her the pain ;
Let death be felt and the proof remain :
Brand, burn up, bite into its grace-
He is sure to remember her dying face !

XI

Is it done? Take my mask off! Nay, be not morose ;
It kills her, and this prevents seeing it close :
The delicate droplet, my whole fortune's fee !
If it hurts her, beside, can it ever hurt me?

XII

Now, take all my jewels, gorge gold to your fill,
You may kiss me, old man, on my mouth if you will !
But brush this dust off me, lest horror it brings
Ere I know it-next moment I dance at the King's !

GOLD HAIR:
A STORY OF PORNIC.

OH, the beautiful girl, too white,

Who lived at Pornic down by the sea,
Just where the sea and the Loire unite !

And a boasted name in Brittany
She bore, which I will not write.