"Stand thou by the homes and hail the lords of the ruined stead; * Cry thou for an answer, belike reply to thee shall be sped: If the night and absence irk thy spirit k****e a torch * Wi' repine; and illuminate the gloom with a gleaming greed: If the snake of the sand dunes hiss, I shall marvel not at all! * Let him bite so I bite those beauteous lips of the luscious red: O Eden, my soul hath fled in despite of the maid I love: * Had I lost hope of Heaven my heart in despair were dead."
And he also improvised the two following distichs,
"We were and were the days enthralled to all our wills, * Dwelling in union sweet and homed in fairest site: Who shall restore the home of the beloved, where showed * Light of the Place for aye conjoined with Time's Delight?''[FN312]
And as he ceased his
