Page:The Hundred Best Poems (lyrical) in the English language - second series.djvu/124

 75. I READ, before my eyelids dropt their shade, "The Legend of Good Women," long ago Sung by the morning star of song, who made His music heard below;

Dan Chaucer, the first warbler, whose sweet breath Preluded those melodious bursts that fill The spacious times of great Elizabeth With sounds that echo still.

And, for a while, the knowledge of his art Held me above the subject, as strong gales Hold swollen clouds from raining, tho' my heart, Brimful of those wild tales,

Charged both mine eyes with tears.In every land I saw, wherever light illumineth, Beauty and anguish walking hand in hand The downward slope to death.

Those far-renowned brides of ancient song Peopled the hollow dark, like burning stars, And I heard sounds of insult, shame, and wrong, And trumpets blown for wars;

And clattering flints batter'd with clanging hoofs; And I saw crowds in column'd sanctuaries; And forms that pass'd at windows and on roofs Of marble palaces;

Corpses across the threshold; heroes tall Dislodging pinnacle and parapet 102