Page:Rosalind and Helen (Shelley, Forman).djvu/35

Rh Men wondered, and some sneered to see One sow what he could never reap: For he is rich, they said, and young, And might drink from the depths of luxury. If he seeks fame, fame never crowned The champion of a trampled creed: If he seeks power, power is enthroned 'Mid antient rights and wrongs, to feed Which hungry wolves with praise and spoil, Those who would sit near power must toil; And such, there sitting, all may see. What seeks he? All that others seek He casts away, like a vile weed Which the sea casts unreturningly. That poor and hungry men should break The laws which wreak them toil and scorn, We understand; but Lionel We know is rich and nobly born. So wondered they: yet all men loved Young Lionel, though few approved; All but the priests, whose hatred fell Like the unseen blight of a smiling day, The withering honey dew, which clings Under the bright green buds of May, Whilst they unfold their emerald wings: For he made verses wild and queer On the strange creeds priests hold so dear, Because they bring them land and gold. Of devils and saints and all such gear, He made tales which whoso heard or read Would laugh till he were almost dead. So this grew a proverb: "don't get old Till Lionel's 'banquet in hell' you hear, And then you will laugh yourself young again." So the priests hated him, and he