166 The Pidacc of Love. [Feb. 



Usurp the place where Happiness should dwell. 



And make Love's Heav'ii the entrance to Love's Hell ! 



Here gloomy Jealousy, the livid-eyed, 



Follows Suspicion as his trusty guide ; 



Hatred and Envy seek the way before, 



Their daggers dripping with envenom'd gore ; 



And Malice, with her smile of hidden wrath, 



Urges them onward on their murd'rous path. 



Repentance follow's — now, as aye, too late ; 



Tracking, not hindering, the wheels of Fate — 



And, from her fickle bosom breathing sighs. 



Casts on the ground her sad and tear-swoln eyes. 



VI. 



I 



Lo I Discord comes ! — she seeks her brother's throne ; 



Her cause is his, and his cause is her own ! t 

 Lo I Discord comes ! — the soft crowd in the porch 

 Leaves her free passage ; for her blazing torch 



Scatters its flames around her; her attire ( 



Torn, soiled, and blood-stained, and her eyes on fire i 



With Hell's own fearful, awful element, — i 

 She seems almost to be a demon sent 



By him who feeds those scorching fires, — the raven ^ 

 Which hither flies as to its proper haven. 



Yes, 'tis too true ! — 'tis here, alas, the home, \ 



Whither foul Discord is aye sure to come ; — \ 



When the sad cup is brimming to be quaffed j 



With Love's most deadly drugs — she gives the draught I 



Its crowning drop of poison'd bitterness, j 



Of wrath and hatred, added to distress; — j 



She makes the heart, too ready to receive him, | 



Ache, and grow bad, like all those which believe him. : 



VII. ; 



1 



'Tis here, surrounded by this dreadful train ! 



(For every pleasure has its fellow-pain), j 



That Love has chosen his eternal rest — 1 



That dangerous infant, who, at once tiie best, ] 



The softest, cruellest of Deities, 

 Sways with his little hand the destinies 

 Of all the sea-girt globe ; and, with a smile 

 Unvarying, bids the Fiends of War one while. 

 And then the Spirits of Peace, ravage and bless 

 The world with misery — with happiness ! 

 And, spreading ev'ry where his treach'rous art, 

 Gives life to all the earth, and reigns in ev'ry heart. 



High on a splendid throne, whose glitt'ring gems 

 Are chosen from the proudest diadems, 

 He sits — contemplating his evil deeds, 

 Exulting o'er the quiv'ring heart, which bleeds 

 And breaks through him, — and trampling at his feet 

 The noblest hearts, the haughtiest heads, which meet 

 In one unsparing ruin at his throne : 

 Proud of his power — far, far more often shewn 

 In bad than good — he gratifies his sight 

 With evils he has wrought -- his pride, his chief delight ! 



