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...scrutable to her,
Like Sheba's queen--Solomon's wooer.

To her chief attendant she forthwith cried

"We lately together contended,
And thou didst assert, with obstinate pride,

That the spirit through space never wended,--

That traces alone

By the present were shown,--
That afar nought was fashion'd--not even
By the stars that illumine you heaven.

"Now see! while a goblet beside me they drain'd,

They spilt all the drink in the chalice;
And straightway the boy had his wais...Read more of this...

...nd hardy-handsome
Pining, pining, till time when reason rambled in it and some
Fatal four disorders, fleshed there, all contended? 
Sickness broke him. Impatient he cursed at first, but mended
Being anointed and all; though a heavenlier heart began some
Months earlier, since I had our sweet reprieve and ransom
Tendered to him. Ah well, God rest him all road ever he offended! 

This seeing the sick endears them to us, us too it endears.
My tongue had taught thee comfort, touch...Read more of this...

..."Who dares heav'ns Monarch, and insults his throne?"
"Your words are lost on me," the giant cries,
While fear and wrath contended in his eyes,
When thus the messenger from heav'n replies:
"Provoke no more Jehovah's awful hand
"To hurl its vengeance on thy guilty land:
"He grasps the thunder, and, he wings the storm,
"Servants their sov'reign's orders to perform."
The angel spoke, and turn'd his eyes away,
Adding new radiance to the rising day.
Now David comes: the fatal stone...Read more of this...

...thought, that now were grey.

Close pack'd they stand, that once so fiercely hated,
And hardy bones, that to the death contended,

Are lying cross'd,--to lie for ever, fated.
What held those crooked shoulder-blades suspended?

No one now asks; and limbs with vigour fired,
The hand, the foot--their use in life is ended.

Vainly ye sought the tomb for rest when tired;
Peace in the grave may not be yours; ye're driven

Back into daylight by a force inspired;
But none can love t...Read more of this...

...

More than I, if truth were told, 
Have stood and sweated hot and cold, 
And through their reins in ice and fire 
Fear contended with desire. 

Agued once like me were they, 
But I like them shall win my way 
Lastly to the bed of mould 
Where there's neither heat nor cold. 

But from my grave across my brow 
Plays no wind of healing now, 
And fire and ice within me fight 
Beneath the suffocating night....Read more of this...

...
The serpent sleeping; in whose mazy folds 
To hide me, and the dark intent I bring. 
O foul descent! that I, who erst contended 
With Gods to sit the highest, am now constrained 
Into a beast; and, mixed with bestial slime, 
This essence to incarnate and imbrute, 
That to the highth of Deity aspired! 
But what will not ambition and revenge 
Descend to? Who aspires, must down as low 
As high he soared; obnoxious, first or last, 
To basest things. Revenge, at first though swe...Read more of this...

...troubled Sight 
No more directed them to aim aright, 
Nor ought presented, but a heap of Bones, 
For which fierce Dogs contended on the Stones, 
With Flakes of mangled Flesh, that quiv'ring still 
Proclaim'd the Freshness of the suffer'd Ill; 
Distain'd with Blood the Pavement, and the Wall, 
Appear'd as in that memorable Fall– 


[Abner]
Oh! just avenging Heaven!– [aside. 

[Mathan]
Sure, Dreams like these are for Prevention given....Read more of this...

...again without an aim 
The road that was behind him—and without
The faith, or friend, or genius, or the madness 
That he contended was imperative. 

After a silence that had been too long, 
“It may be quite as well we don’t,” he said; 
“As well, I mean, that we don’t always say it.
You know best what I mean, and I suppose 
You might have said it better. What was that? 
Incorrigible? Am I incorrigible? 
Well, it’s a word; and a word has its use, 
Or, like a man, it will soon ha...Read more of this...

...ike, play up the Blues."
And Maloney hesitated, but he didn't dare refuse.
So banjo and piano, and guitar and saxophone
Contended with the shrilling of the chanter and the drone;
And the women's ears were muffled, so infernal was the din,
But MacPherson was unruffled, for he knew that he would win.
Then two bright boys jazzed round him, and they sought to play the clown,
But MacPherson jolted sideways, and the Sassenachs went down.
And as if it was a signal, with a wild and a...Read more of this...

...w the vital Air,
This Hand, which won it, shall for ever wear.
He spoke, and speaking, in proud Triumph spread
The long-contended Honours of her Head. 

But Umbriel, hateful Gnome! forbears not so;
He breaks the Vial whence the Sorrows flow.
Then see! the Nymph in beauteous Grief appears,
Her Eyes half languishing, half drown'd in Tears;
On her heav'd Bosom hung her drooping Head,
Which, with a Sigh, she rais'd; and thus she said.

For ever curs'd be this detested Day,
Which ...Read more of this...

...e vital air,
This hand, which won it, shall for ever wear."
He spoke, and speaking, in proud triumph spread
The long-contended honours of her head.

But Umbriel, hateful gnome! forbears not so;
He breaks the vial whence the sorrows flow.
Then see! the nymph in beauteous grief appears,
Her eyes half-languishing, half-drown'd in tears;
On her heav'd bosom hung her drooping head,
Which, with a sigh, she rais'd; and thus she said:

"For ever curs'd be this detested da...Read more of this...

...claw.
There with the force of living, hostile hills
Whose clash the hemmed-in vale with clamor fills,
With greater din contended fierce majestic wills
Of beast with beast, of man with man, in strife
For love of what my heart despised, for life
That unto me at dawn was now a prayer
For night, at night a bloody heart-wrung tear
For day again; for this, these groans
From tangled flesh and interlocked bones.
And no thing died that did not give
A testimony that it longed to live....Read more of this...

...es of local origin,
the palpable Sublime flickered as motes on broad leaves,
while the Higher Good and the Greater Good contended
as sap on the bark of the maples, and even I
was enabled to witness the truly Existential where it loitered
famously in the shadows as if waiting for the moon.
All this I saw in the late afternoon in the company of no one.

And of course I went back to work the next morning. Like you,
like anyone, like the rumored angels of high office,
like the de...Read more of this...

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