Page:A channel passage and other poems (IA channelpassageot00swinrich).pdf/192

 A velvet vice with springs of steel That fasten in a trice And clench the fingers fast that feel A velvet vice—

What man would risk the danger twice, Nor quake from head to heel? Whom would not one such test suffice?

Well may we tremble as we kneel In sight of Paradise, If both a babe's closed fists conceal A velvet vice.