Thou  hast  a  right  to  rule  thyself ;  to  be

The  thing  thou  wilt ;  to  grin,  to  fawn,  to  creep  ;

To  crown  these  clumsy  liars  ;  ay,  and  we

Who  knew  thee  once,  we  have  a  right  to  weep.
93


THE    PRAISE    OF    DUST


THE  PRAISE  OF  DUST

'  WHAT  of  vile  dust  ? '  the  preacher  said.
Methought  the  whole  world  woke,
The  dead  stone  lived  beneath  my  foot,

And  my  whole  body  spoke.
'  You,  that  play  tyrant  to  the  dust,
And  stamp  its  wrinkled  face,

This  patient  star  that  flings  you  not
Far  into  homeless  space.
c  Come  down  out  of  your  dusty  shrine

The  living  dust  to  see,
The  flowers  that  at  your  sermon's  end

Stand  blazing  silently.
94


THE    PRAISE    OF    DUST

4  Rich  white  and  blood-red  blossom  ;  stones,

Lichens  like  fire  encrust ;
A  gleam  of  blue,  a  glare  of  gold,

The  vision  of  the  dust.
'  Pass  them  all  by  :  till,  as  you  come

Where,  at  a  city's  edge,
Under  a  tree — I  know  it  well —

Under  a  lattice  ledge,

'  The  sunshine  falls  on  one  brown  head.
You,  too,  O  cold  of  clay,
Eater  of  stones,  may  haply  hear

The  trumpets  of  that  day

'When  God  to  all  his  paladins

By  his  own  splendour  swore
To  make  a  fairer  face  than  heaven,

Of  dust  and  nothing  more.'
95


THE    BALLAD    OF


THE  BALLAD  OF  THE  BATTLE  OF
GIBEON

FIVE  Icings  rule  o'er  the  Amorite,

Mighty  as  fear  and  old  as  night ;

Swathed  with  unguent  and  gold  and  jewel,

Waxed  they  merry  and  fat  and  cruel.
