THE LOOKING -GLASS
27
son's
most
famous work , yet differing
in cadence , is
“ The Blood
Lotus .”
Quaint
carven vampire
bats , unseen
in curious
hollows
of the
trees ,
Or
deadlier
serpents
coiled
at ease round
carcases
of birds
unclean ;
All
wandering
changeful
spectre
shapes
that
dance
in slow
sweet measure round
And
merge
themselves
in the profound , nude women
and
dis
torted apes
1
Grotesque
and
hairy , in their
rage
more
rampant
than
the
stallion
steed ;
There
is no help : their horrid
need on these
pale women
they
assuage .?
Another
poem that
in parts
reminds
us of the
“
In
Memoriam
” is
“ The Nameless
Quest, ” such lines as :
I was wed
Unto
the part , and could not grasp
the whole .?
breathe a great and similar doubt . As in many respects
the agnosticism
of Tennyson's
“
In
Memoriam
"
re
sembles
the
atheistic
free
thought of FitzGerald's
“ Omar
Khayyam ,” so do both
the above -mentioned
poems , and the first is of similar metre ,
its
quatrains
containing
,
as
those
of
the poet
of
Khorassán
,
flights
of
great power
of
thought
;
the following five quatrains
are well worth quoting
:
We weep them
as
they slip away
;
we gaze
Back
on
the likeness
of
the former
days
,
The hair we fondle and the lips we kiss
Roses grow yellow
and
no
purple stays
.
.
Why not with time
?
To
-
morrow we may see
The circle
ended
-
if
to
-
morrow be
1
Oracles
,
vol
.
ii,
p
.
13
.
?
The Temple
of
the Holy Ghost
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
191
.