168
THE STATUE AND THE BUST.
"And let me think that it may beguile
Dreary days which the dead must spend
Down in their darkness under the aisle—
Dreary days which the dead must spend
Down in their darkness under the aisle—
"To say,—'What matters at the end?
I did no more while my heart was warm,
Than does that image, my pale-faced friend.'
I did no more while my heart was warm,
Than does that image, my pale-faced friend.'
"Where is the use of the lip's red charm,
The heaven of hair, the pride of the brow,
And the blood that blues the inside arm—
The heaven of hair, the pride of the brow,
And the blood that blues the inside arm—
Unless we turn, as the soul knows how,
The earthly gift to an end divine?
A lady of clay is as good, I trow."
The earthly gift to an end divine?
A lady of clay is as good, I trow."
But long ere Robbia's cornice, fine
With flowers and fruits which leaves enlace,
Was set where now is the empty shrine—
With flowers and fruits which leaves enlace,
Was set where now is the empty shrine—
