Page:Ambarvalia - Clough (1849).djvu/54

 So constant as my heart would be, So fickle as it must, 'Twere well for others as for me 'Twere dry as summer dust. Excitements come, and act and speech Flow freely forth;—but no, Nor they, nor ought beside can reach The buried world below.

Like a child In some strange garden left awhile alone, I pace about the pathways of the world, Plucking light hopes and joys from every stem, With qualms of vague misgiving in my heart That payment at the last will be required, Payment I cannot make, or guilt incurred, And shame to be endured.

Roused by importunate knocks I rose, I turned the key, and let them in, First one, anon another, and at length In troops they came; for how could I, who once Had let in one, nor looked him in the face, Show scruples e'er again? So in they came,