Page:Poems - Southey (1799) volume 2.djvu/47

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35

And from the roof a diamond light emits;Rubies and amethysts their glows commix'dWith the gay topaz, and the softer rayShot from the sapphire, and the emerald's hue,And bright pyropus.There on golden seats,A numerous, sullen, melancholy trainSat silent. "Maiden, these," said Theodore,Are they who let the love of wealth absorb

    O call me home again dear Chief! and put meTo yoking foxes, milking of he-goats,Pounding of water in a mortar, lavingThe sea dry with a nutshell, gathering allThe leaves are fallen this autumn—making ropes of sand,Catching the winds together in a net,Mustering of ants, and numbering atoms, allThat Hell and you thought exquisite torments, ratherThan stay me here a thought more. I would soonerKeep fleas within a circle, and be accomptantA thousand year which of ’em, and how farOutleap’d the other, than endure a minuteSuch as I have within.B. Jonson. The Devil is an Ass. 

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