Page:Translations (1834).djvu/82

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
30
DIALOGUE.

Bald of brow as aged bear,
Bloated uncouth form of air;
More like images that scud
Through our dreams, than flesh and blood;
Shaped like stork on frozen pool,
Thin as palmer, (wand’ring fool!)
Long-shanked as a crane that feeds
Greedily among the reeds;
Like a black and shaven monk
Is thy dark and spectral trunk,
Or a corpse in winding-sheet.—

SHADOW.

I have followed sure and fleet
On thy steps—were I to tell
But one half—thou knowest well——

BARD.

Thou may’st tell, and thou may’st scan,
Pitcher-necked censorious man!
Nought of me thou can’st disclose
More than ev’ry neighbour knows;
I have never falsely sworn
In the Cwmwd court, or torn
Lambs to death—have never thrown
At the hens with pebble-stone;
Never have the spectre play’d,
To make little babes afraid;
Never yet have terrified
Stranger maid, or stranger’s bride!