| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| Renunciants |
| | | Edward Dowden (1843–1913) |
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| SEEMS not our breathing light? | |
| Sound not our voices free? | |
| Bid to Life’s festal bright | |
| No gladder guests there be. | |
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| Ah stranger, lay aside | 5 |
| Cold prudence! I divine | |
| The secret you would hide, | |
| And you conjecture mine. | |
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| You too have temperate eyes, | |
| Have put your heart to school, | 10 |
| Are prov’d. I recognize | |
| A brother of the rule. | |
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| I knew it by your lip, | |
| A something when you smil’d, | |
| Which meant “close scholarship, | 15 |
| A master of the guild.” | |
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| Well, and how good is life; | |
| Good to be born, have breath, | |
| The calms good, and the strife, | |
| Good life, and perfect death. | 20 |
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| Come, for the dancers wheel, | |
| Join we the pleasant din,— | |
| Comrade, it serves to feel | |
| The sackcloth next the skin. | |
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