John Warren

“His mind was like a jewel with innumerable facets, all slightly blurred or misted; or perhaps it would be a juster illustration to compare his character to an opal, where all the colours lie perdue, drowned in a milky mystery, and so arranged that to a couple of observers, simultaneously bending over it, the prevalent hue shall in one case seem a pale green, in the other a fiery crimson.”

“Hero and herdsman in red earth are one.”

“Thou felon anchorite of painWho sittest in a world of slain.”

“I had a true-love, none so dear,  And a friend both leal and tried.I had a cask of good old beer,  And a gallant horse to ride.{{pb}}A little while did Fortune smile  On him and her and me.We sang along the road of life  Like birds upon a tree.{{pb}}My lady fell to shame and hell,  And with her took my friend.My cask ran sour, my horse went lame,—  So alone in the cold I end.”

“Sweet are the ways of death to weary feet,  Calm are the shades of men.The phantom fears no tyrant in his seat,  The slave is master then.{{pb}}Love is abolish’d; well, that this is so;  We knew him best as Pain.The gods are all cast out, and let them go!  Who ever found them gain?{{pb}}Ready to hurt and slow to succour these;  So, while thou breathest, pray.But in the sepulchre all flesh has peace;  Their hand is put away.”

“Sigh, heart, and break not; rest, lark, and wake not!  Day I hear coming to draw my Love away.As mere-waves whisper, and clouds grow crisper,  Ah, like a rose he will waken up with day!”

“A fair girl tripping out to meet her love,Trimmed in her best, fresh as a clover bud.An old crone leaning at an ember’d fire,Short-breath’d in sighs and moaning to herself—And all the interval of stealing yearsTo make that this, and one by one detachSome excellent condition; till DespairFaint at the vision, sadly, fiercely blindsHer burning eyes on her forgetful hands.”