With  Xature  as  she  was ;
He  loved  her  for  her  sake  alone.
Her  strange  yet  natural  laws.^.
The  dew  had  damped  the  gray  hillside,

Had  bowed  the  tender  flower ;
Had  kissed  the  poet's  paling  cheek.
And  gemmed  the  rustic  bower.
A  wind  was  rising  from  the  north,

The  night  air  chilled  his  brow ;
At  last  he  rose  and  wandered  homeward

In  Thought's  rare  beauty  now  I


574  TUB  LADY  OF  DARDALE.
And  late  he  gained  the  straggling  town,
How  coarse  the  loud  laugh  seemed ;

It  broke  from  men  upon  the  street,
And  where  the  red  lights  gleamed.
And  these  were  those  who  took  in  vain
The  name  of  nature's  child,

And  laughed,  and  told  in  coarsest  way,
The  poet-boy  was  wild.
It  hurt  him  sore,  but  not  in  anger.
But  love  he  gently  said :
"The  wreathM  pillars  stand  to-day

For  poet's  long  since  dead.
"They  stood  beside  my  Milton  once,
They  did  not  name  him  bard ;

But  Time  has  traced  the  magic  line :
*  At  last  thy  crown  is  starred  I'

"And  Time  will  raise  the  pillar  yet
To  many  a  bard  unknown :

The  Homers  once  the  brightest  stars,
But  do  they  shine  alone?"

And  soon  he  slumbered.    In  his  dreams

He  saw  a  magic  hand
Sculpturing  stone  to  wondrous  shape.
With  beauty  rare  and  grand.
And  then  a  shaft  above  his  grave.
And  lol  he  did  behold
His  marble  form  upon  its  top

Crowned  with  a  crown  of  gold !

So  let  him  sleep,  so  let  him  dream.
So  let  him  paint  the  day;

So  let  him  wait  till  worlds  shall  crown,
And  love  him  for  his  lay.
OSCAR  WILDE.
I  thank  thee,  Oscar,  Oscar  Wilde,
I  thank  thee  once  again.
