Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/500

462 Somewhat which remembrance woke

Of the loved, the lost, the young—

Yet they died, and died unsung.

Geist came next, our little friend;

Geist had verse to mourn his end.

Yes, but that enforcement strong

Which compell'd for Geist a song—

All that gay courageous cheer,

All that human pathos dear;

Soul-fed eyes with suffering worn,

Pain heroically borne,

Faithful love in depth divine—

Poor Matthias, were they thine?

Max and Kaiser we to-day

Greet upon the lawn at play;

Max a dachs-hound without blot—

Kaiser should be, but is not.

Max, with shining yellow coat,

Prinking ears and dewlap throat—

Kaiser, with his collie face,

Penitent for want of race.

—Which may be the first to die,

Vain to augur, they or I!

But, as age comes on, I know,

Poet's fire gets faint and low;

If so be that travel they

First the inevitable way,

Much I doubt if they shall have

Dirge from me to crown their grave.

Yet, poor bird, thy tiny corse

Moves me, somehow, to remorse;