human
So, while the town hummed on as was its wont, With mill, and wheel, and scythe, and lowing steer In the green field,--while, round a hundred hearths, Brown Labor boasted of the mighty deeds Done in the meadow swaths, and Envy hissed Its poison, that corroded all it touched,-- Rusting a neighbor's gold, mildewing wheat, And blistering the pure skin of chastest maid,-- Edwin and Bertha sat in marriage joy, From all removed, as heavenly creatures winged, Alit upon a hill-top near the sun, When all the world is reft of man and town By distance, and their hearts the silence fills-- Not long: for unto them, as unto all, Down from love's height unto the world of men Occasion called with many a sordid voice. So forth they fared with sweetness in their hearts, That took the sense of sharpness from the thorn. Sweet is love's sun within the heavens alone, But not less sweet when tempered by a cloud Of daily duties! Love's elixir, drained From out the pure and passionate cup of youth, Is sweet; but better, providently used, A few drops sprinkled in each common dish Wherewith the human table is set forth, Leavening all with heaven. Seated high Among his people, on the lofty dais, Dispensing judgment,--making woodlands ring Behind a flying hart with hound and horn,-- Talking with workmen on the tawny sands, 'Mid skeletons of ships, how best the prow May slice the big wave and shake off the foam,-- Edwin preserved a spirit calm, composed, Still as a river at the full of tide; And in his eye there gathered deeper blue, And beamed a warmer summer. And when sprang The angry blood, at sloth, or fraud, or wrong, Something of Bertha touched him into peace And swayed his voice. Among the people went Queen Bertha, breathing gracious charities, And saw but smiling faces; for the light Aye looks on brightened colors. Like the dawn (Beloved of all the happy, often sought In the slow east by hollow eyes that watch) She seemed to husked find clownish gratitude, That could but kneel and thank. Of industry She was the fair exemplar, us she span Among her maids; and every day she broke Bread to the needy stranger at her gate. All sloth and rudeness fled at her approach; The women blushed and courtesied as she passed, Preserving word and smile like precious gold; And where on pillows clustered children's heads, A shape of light she floated through their dreams.