Page:Biographical and critical studies by James Thomson ("B.V.").djvu/381

 A STRANGE BOOK 365 All hail again Ye bands of life, Ye sons of God From fairy climes : Ye unmade men, Unknown to strife, Whose feet are shod With heavenly rhymes." Here are the first and the last stanza of "The Dance of Life," p. 105 : — " 'Tis not in round of commonplace Life keepeth measure : But rhythmical her atoms trace The turf of pleasure. There is no lazy-footed tread In all creation ; But being doth with being thread Congratulation. " God weaveth, in a word, In circles fine : And His bright love is stirred Through rounded line : For this is e'en completion. And this is new beginning : And swiftness urgeth mission. And dance is mood of winning." Song, "Its Divine Birth," p. 135, is unfortunately too long for quotation here. Let us have a short piece in a very different mood, " Napoleon to Napo- leon," p. 193; remembering that it was written about fourteen years before Sedan : — "Weird sisters set thee where thou art : Thou shalt not stand : Thou seest already the fell dart — Thou seest the hand.