INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 677
Envy ah ! even to tears !
The fortune of their years
Which, though so few, yet so divinely ended.
Scarce had they lifted up
Life's full and fiery cup,
Than they had set it down untouched before them.
Before their day arose
They beckoned it to close
Close in confusion and destruction o'er them.
They did not stay to ask
What prize should crown their task
Well sure that prize was such as no man strives for;
But passed into eclipse,
Her kiss upon their lips
Even Belphoebe's, whom they gave their lives for!
THE CITY OF SLEEP
/"WER the edge of the purple down,
Where the single lamplight gleams, Know ye the road to the Merciful Town
That is hard by the Sea of Dreams Where the poor may lay their wrongs away,
And the sick may forget to weep? But we pity us! Oh, pity us!
We wakeful; ah, pity us! We must go back with Policeman Day
Back from the City of Sleep!
Weary they turn from the scroll and crown, Fetter and prayer and plough
They that go up to the Merciful Town,
For her gates are closing now.