STONE FOR A STATUE.
175
And, could you sometimes watch it coil and slide,
And drag its colours through the dust a while,
And hiss its poison under-foot, and hide,
My soul would seem a snake———Ah, do not smile!
And drag its colours through the dust a while,
And hiss its poison under-foot, and hide,
My soul would seem a snake———Ah, do not smile!
Yet fiercer forms and darker it can wear;
No matter, though, when these are of the Past,
If as a lamb in the Good Shepherd's care
By the still waters it lie down at last.
No matter, though, when these are of the Past,
If as a lamb in the Good Shepherd's care
By the still waters it lie down at last.
STONE FOR A STATUE.TO A SCULPTOR.
Leave what is white for whiter use.
For such a purpose as your own
Would be a dreary jest, a coarse abuse,
A bitter wrong to snowy stone.
For such a purpose as your own
Would be a dreary jest, a coarse abuse,
A bitter wrong to snowy stone.
Let the pure marble's silence hold
Its unshaped gods, and do not break
Those hidden images divine and old,
To-day, for one mean man's small sake!
Its unshaped gods, and do not break
Those hidden images divine and old,
To-day, for one mean man's small sake!
