Make what Himself would fain, in a manner, be Put case, unable to be what I wish, I yet could make a live bird out of clay : Of grigs high up that make the merry din, Saucy through their veined wings, and mind me not. In which feat, if his leg snapped, brittle clay, And he lay stupid-like, why, I should laugh; And if he, spying me, should fall to weep, Bid his poor leg smart less or grow again, Well, as the chance were, this might take or else 'Thinketh, such shows nor right nor wrong in Him, Nor kind, nor cruel: He is strong and Lord. 'Am strong myself compared to yonder crabs That march now from the mountain to the sea; Let twenty pass, and stone the twenty-first, Loving not, hating not, just choosing so. 'Say, the first straggler that boasts purple spots Shall join the file, one pincer twisted off; 'Say, this bruised fellow shall receive a worm, And two worms he whose nippers end in red; As it likes me each time, I do so He. Well then, 'supposeth He is good i' the main, Placable if His mind and ways were guessed, That they, unless through Him, do naught at all, That, blown through, gives exact the scream o' the jay Flock within stone's throw, glad their foe is hurt : Put case such pipe could prattle and boast and say "I catch the birds, I am the crafty thing, I make the cry my maker cannot make With his great round mouth; he must blow through mine!" Would not I smash it with my foot? So He. But wherefore rough, why cold and ill at ease? Aha, that is a question! Ask, for that, What knows, the something over Setebos That made Him, or He, may be, found and fought, There may be something quiet o'er His head, Out of His reach, that feels nor joy nor grief, 'Esteemeth stars the outposts of its couch, But never spends much thought nor care that way. It works on! 'Careth but for Setebos The many-handed as a cuttle-fish, Who, making Himself feared through what He does, Looks up, first, and perceives He cannot soar To what is quiet and hath happy life; Next looks down here, and out of very spite Makes this a bauble-world to ape yon real, "T is solace making baubles, ay, and sport. Himself peeped late, eyed Prosper at his books Careless and lofty, lord now of the isle : Vexed, 'stitched a book of broad leaves, arrow-shaped, Wrote thereon, he knows what, prodigious words; Has peeled a wand and called it by a name; Weareth at whiles for an enchanter's robe The eyed skin of a supple oncelot ; And hath an ounce sleeker than youngling mole, A four-legged serpent he makes cower and couch, Now snarl, now hold its breath and mind his eye, 'Keeps for his Ariel a tall pouch-bill crane Taketh his mirth with make-believes: so He. His dam held that the quiet made all things Who made them weak, meant weakness He might vex. · Had He meant other, while His hand was in, ith, He may like, perchance, what profits Him. |