And by the measure of my grief
I leave thy greatness to be guessed.
5 What practice howsoe'er expert In fitting aptest words to things,
Or voice the richest-toned that sings,
Hath power to give thee as thou wert? I care not in these fading days
io To raise a cry that lasts not long,
And round thee with the breeze of song
To stir a little dust of praise. Thy leaf has perished in the green,
And, while we breathe beneath the sun,
is The world which credits what is done
Is cold to all that might have been. So here shall silence guard thy fame;
But somewhere, out of human view,
Whate'er thy hands are set to do
20 Is wrought with tumult of acclaim.
* s *
78 Again at Christmas2 did we weave The holly round the Christmas hearth; The silent snow possessed the earth, And calmly fell our Christmas eve. 5 The yule clog? sparkled keen with frost, No wing of wind the region swept, But over all things brooding slept The quiet sense of something lost. log ioAs in the winters left behind, Again our ancient games had place, The mimic picture's3 breathing grace, And dance and song and hoodman- blind.4
2. The second Christmas (1834) after Hallam's spectators try to guess what work of art is being death. portrayed. 3. A game in which the participants pose in the 4. The player in the game of blindman's buff who manner of some famous statue or painting and the wears a blindfold or hood.
.
IN MEMORIAM, EPILOGUE / 1165
Who showed a token of distress? No single tear, no mark of pain? is O sorrow, then can sorrow wane? O grief, can grief be changed to less?
O last regret, regret can die! No?mixed with all this mystic frame, Her deep relations are the same,
20 But with long use her tears are dry.
^ * *
82
I wage not any feud with Death For changes wrought on form and face; No lower life that earth's embrace
May breed with him can fright my faith.
5 Eternal process moving on, From state to state the spirit walks; And these are but the shattered stalks,
Or ruined chrysalis of one.
Nor blame I Death, because he bare io The use of virtue out of earth; I know transplanted human worth Will bloom to profit, otherwhere.
For this alone on Death I wreak The wrath that garners in my heart: 15 He put our lives so far apart We cannot hear each other speak.
83
Dip down upon the northern shore, O sweet new-year? delaying long; spring J835 Thou doest expectant Nature wrong;
Delaying long, delay no more.
5 What stays thee from the clouded noons, Thy sweetness from its proper place? Can trouble live with April days,
Or sadness in the summer moons?
Bring orchis, bring the foxglove spire, 10 The little speedwell's0 darling blue, spring flower
.
1 138 / ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
Deep tulips dashed with fiery dew, Laburnums, dropping-wells of fire.
O thou, new-year, delaying long, Delayest the sorrow in my blood, 15
That longs to burst a frozen bud And flood a fresher throat with song.
84
When I contemplate all alone The life that had been thine below, And fix my thoughts on all the glow
