By the Aurelian Wall and Other Elegies

<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_70" id="page_70"></SPAN>{70}</span></p> <h2><SPAN name="ILICET" id="ILICET"></SPAN>ILICET</h2> <div class="poetry"> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Friends</span>, let him rest<br/></span> <span class="i0">In midnight now.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Desire has gone<br/></span> <span class="i0">On the weary quest<br/></span> <span class="i0">With aching brow;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Until the dawn,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Friends, let him rest.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_71" id="page_71"></SPAN>{71}</span><br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">With a boy’s desire<br/></span> <span class="i0">He set the cup<br/></span> <span class="i0">To his lips to drink;<br/></span> <span class="i0">The ruddy fire<br/></span> <span class="i0">Was lifted up<br/></span> <span class="i0">At day’s cool brink,<br/></span> <span class="i0">With a boy’s desire.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The heart of a boy!<br/></span> <span class="i0">He tasted life,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And the bitter sting<br/></span> <span class="i0">Of sorrow in joy,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Failure in strife,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Was pain to wring<br/></span> <span class="i0">The heart of a boy.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_72" id="page_72"></SPAN>{72}</span><br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">In a childish whim,<br/></span> <span class="i0">He spilled the wine<br/></span> <span class="i0">Upon the floor,&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">In beads on the brim<br/></span> <span class="i0">Was a glitter of brine,&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Then, out at the door<br/></span> <span class="i0">In a childish whim!<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Out of the storm,<br/></span> <span class="i0">In the flickering light,<br/></span> <span class="i0">A broken glass<br/></span> <span class="i0">Lies on our warm<br/></span> <span class="i0">Hearthstone to-night,<br/></span> <span class="i0">While shadows pass<br/></span> <span class="i0">Out of the storm.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_73" id="page_73"></SPAN>{73}</span><br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Friends, let him rest<br/></span> <span class="i0">In midnight now.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Desire has gone<br/></span> <span class="i0">On the weary quest<br/></span> <span class="i0">With aching brow:<br/></span> <span class="i0">Until the dawn,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Friends, let him rest.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">In sorrow and shame<br/></span> <span class="i0">For the craven heart,<br/></span> <span class="i0">In manhood’s breast<br/></span> <span class="i0">With valor’s name,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Let him depart<br/></span> <span class="i0">Unto his rest<br/></span> <span class="i0">In sorrow and shame.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_74" id="page_74"></SPAN>{74}</span><br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">In after years<br/></span> <span class="i0">God, who bestows<br/></span> <span class="i0">Or withholds the valor,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Shall wipe all tears&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Haply, who knows?&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">From his face’s pallor<br/></span> <span class="i0">In after years.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">He could not learn<br/></span> <span class="i0">To fight with his peers<br/></span> <span class="i0">In sturdier fashion;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Let him return<br/></span> <span class="i0">Through the night with tears,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Stung with the passion<br/></span> <span class="i0">He could not learn.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_75" id="page_75"></SPAN>{75}</span><br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">All-bountiful, calm,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Where the great stars burn,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And the spring bloom smothers<br/></span> <span class="i0">The night with balm,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Let him return<br/></span> <span class="i0">To the silent Mother’s<br/></span> <span class="i0">All-bountiful calm.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Friends, let him rest<br/></span> <span class="i0">In midnight now.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Desire has gone<br/></span> <span class="i0">On the weary quest<br/></span> <span class="i0">With aching brow:<br/></span> <span class="i0">Until the dawn,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Friends, let him rest.<br/></span></div> </div></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />