Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/84

46 Caught not till then a sense

So glowing and so near

Of his omnipotence.

So, when the feast grew loud

In Susa's palace proud,

A white-robed slave stole to the great king's side.

He spake—the great king heard;

Felt the slow-rolling word

Swell his attentive soul;

Breathed deeply as it died,

And drained his mighty bowl.

THE SECOND BEST.

tasks and moderate leisure,

Quiet living, strict-kept measure

Both in suffering and in pleasure,—

'Tis for this thy nature yearns.

But so many books thou readest,

But so many schemes thou breedest,

But so many wishes feedest,

That thy poor head almost turns.

And (the world's so madly jangled,

Human things so fast entangled)

Nature's wish must now be strangled

For that best which she discerns.

So it must be! yet, while leading

A strained life, while over-feeding,

Like the rest, his wit with reading,

No small profit that man earns,—