Page:Aurora Leigh a Poem.djvu/215

Or so I took it,—‘for St. Lucy’s sake,
If she’s the saint to curse by, let us leave
Our fathers,—plagued enough about our sons!’
(He stroked his beardless chin) ‘yes, plagued, sir, plagued:
The future generations lie on us
As heavy as the nightmare of a seer;
Our meat and drink grow painful prophecy:
I ask you,—have we leisure, if we liked,
To hollow out our weary hands to keep
Your intermittent rushlight of the past
From draughts in lobbies? Prejudice of sex,
And marriage-laws . . the socket drops them through
While we two speak,—however may protest
Some over-delicate nostrils, like our own,
’Gainst odours thence arising.’
⁠ ‘You are young,’
Sir Blaise objected.
⁠ ‘If I am,’ he said
With fire,—‘though somewhat less so than I seem.
The young run on before, and see the thing
That’s coming. Reverence for the young, I cry.
In that new church for which the world’s near ripe,
You’ll have the younger in the elder’s chair,
Presiding with his ivory front of hope
O’er foreheads clawed by cruel carrion birds
Of life’s experience.’
⁠ ‘Pray your blessing, sir,’
Sir Blaise replied good-humouredly,—‘I plucked
A silver hair this morning from my beard,
Which left me your inferior. Would I were