Collected Works (Vol. III)

WHY JESUS WEPT And he must follow to the dusk abode, The solemn place inscrutable, unknown, Meeting no mortal on that crowded road ; All swift in the onecourse, ionsto the kathode.! Sir Percival de Percivale was brave. There doth he sit and little cheer doth get. He doth not moan or laugh aloud or rave ! The dogs of hell are not upon him yet. Ile was the bravest soul man ever met In court or camp or solitude—then why Stands his pale forehead in an icy sweat? He mutters in his beard this rune awry : ‘‘There lives no soul undrugged that feareth not to die.” Lo! were it otherwise, mere banishment, I deem he had feared more! He had an heir. This was a boy of strength with ardour blent, High hope embowered in a body fair. Him had he watched with eager eye, aware Of misery occult in youth, awake At the first touch of the diviner air Of manhood, that could bane and blessing make, The Lord of Life and Death, the secret of the Snake. The snake of Egypt hath a body twin ; It hath bright wings wherewith it well can fly ; It is of virtue and of bitter sin; It beareth strength and beauty in its eye ; Beneath its tongue are Hate and Misery ; Love in its coils is hidden, and its nature Is double everyway ; dost wonder why The poet worships every scaléd feature, And holds him lordliest yet of every kingly creature ?? Sir Percival nor moved nor spoke ; awhile There is black silence in the ancient hall. Then cometh subtly with well-trained smile The courteous eld, the agéd seneschal. 1 When an electric current is passed through water, and many other fluids, a decomposition is effected, the component atoms finding their way to one or other pole of the battery. These atoms are called ‘tions’ and the _ poles ‘‘anode” and ‘' kathode.” 2 See note szfva to '' Dedicatio Major.” On bended knee ‘‘ Sir Percy !” he doth call To the young boy, and voweth service true. Whereat he started, spurning at the thrall ; But then the orphan truth he inward knew, And on the iron ground his sobbing body threw. It was a weary while before they raised hir Boy as he was, none dare disturb his grief. And for his grief was strong, they loved and praised him For son’s devotion to their dear dead chief. Long, long he wept, nor bought with tears relief. He knew the loss, the old head wise and grey Well to assoil him of his spirit’s grief, The twilight dangers of a boy’s dim way, His dragons to confront, his minotaurs to slay. Yet, when he knew himself the baronet, He took good order for the house, and bore Him as beseemed the master ; none may fret All are as well bestowed as aye before. His father’s eighty was with him fourscore. His father’s old advisers well he groups Into a closer company ; their lore He ardently acquires—he loops no loops,} But— Bacon “grapples them to’s soul with steely hoops ! You, lass, may see here for this Boy’s com- panions Virtue and Peace of Mind, Prudence, Respect, Throwing new roots down like a clump of banyans,? Of Early Training Well the just Effect ! 1 A reference to ‘‘looping the loop,” an acro- batic feat popular at the time. Hence, to go a Wild and dangerous, as well as an indirect, course. 2 A sarcastic reference to the inane theory that the plays of Shakespeare were written by Bacon. The misquotation is from Hamlet— “ Those, friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel.”’ 3 The banyan tree puts forth branches which droop to the earth and take root. A single tree may thus spread over many acres.