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Sidney Lanier - How Love Looked For Hell.
Work rating: Low

"To heal his heart of long-time pain
One day Prince Love for to travel was fain
   With Ministers Mind and Sense.
`Now what to thee most strange may be?`
Quoth Mind and Sense.  `All things above,
One curious thing I first would see --
   Hell,` quoth Love.

"Then Mind rode in and Sense rode out:
They searched the ways of man about.
   First frightfully groaneth Sense.
``Tis here, `tis here,` and spurreth in fear
To the top of the hill that hangeth above
And plucketh the Prince:  `Come, come, `tis here --`
   `Where?` quoth Love --

"`Not far, not far,` said shivering Sense
As they rode on.  `A short way hence,
   -- But seventy paces hence:
Look, King, dost see where suddenly
This road doth dip from the height above?
Cold blew a mouldy wind by me`
   (`Cold?` quoth Love)

"`As I rode down, and the River was black,
And yon-side, lo! an endless wrack
   And rabble of souls,` sighed Sense,
`Their eyes upturned and begged and burned
In brimstone lakes, and a Hand above
Beat back the hands that upward yearned --`
   `Nay!` quoth Love --

"`Yea, yea, sweet Prince; thyself shalt see,
Wilt thou but down this slope with me;
   `Tis palpable,` whispered Sense.
-- At the foot of the hill a living rill
Shone, and the lilies shone white above;
`But now `twas black, `twas a river, this rill,`
   (`Black?` quoth Love)

"`Ay, black, but lo! the lilies grow,
And yon-side where was woe, was woe,
   -- Where the rabble of souls,` cried Sense,
`Did shrivel and turn and beg and burn,
Thrust back in the brimstone from above --
Is banked of violet, rose, and fern:`
   `How?` quoth Love:

"`For lakes of pain, yon pleasant plain
Of woods and grass and yellow grain
   Doth ravish the soul and sense:
And never a sigh beneath the sky,
And folk that smile and gaze above --`
`But saw`st thou here, with thine own eye,
   Hell?` quoth Love.

"`I saw true hell with mine own eye,
True hell, or light hath told a lie,
   True, verily,` quoth stout Sense.
Then Love rode round and searched the ground,
The caves below, the hills above;
`But I cannot find where thou hast found
   Hell,` quoth Love.

"There, while they stood in a green wood
And marvelled still on Ill and Good,
   Came suddenly Minister Mind.
`In the heart of sin doth hell begin:
`Tis not below, `tis not above,
It lieth within, it lieth within:`
   (`Where?` quoth Love)

"`I saw a man sit by a corse;
`Hell`s in the murderer`s breast:  remorse!`
   Thus clamored his mind to his mind:
Not fleshly dole is the sinner`s goal,
Hell`s not below, nor yet above,
`Tis fixed in the ever-damned soul --`
   `Fixed?` quoth Love --

"`Fixed:  follow me, would`st thou but see:
He weepeth under yon willow tree,
   Fast chained to his corse,` quoth Mind.
Full soon they passed, for they rode fast,
Where the piteous willow bent above.
`Now shall I see at last, at last,
   Hell,` quoth Love.

"There when they came Mind suffered shame:
`These be the same and not the same,`
   A-wondering whispered Mind.
Lo, face by face two spirits pace
Where the blissful willow waves above:
One saith:  `Do me a friendly grace --`
   (`Grace!` quoth Love)

"`Read me two Dreams that linger long,
Dim as returns of old-time song
   That flicker about the mind.
I dreamed (how deep in mortal sleep!)
I struck thee dead, then stood above,
With tears that none but dreamers weep;`
   `Dreams,` quoth Love;

"`In dreams, again, I plucked a flower
That clung with pain and stung with power,
   Yea, nettled me, body and mind.`
``Twas the nettle of sin, `twas medicine;
No need nor seed of it here Above;
In dreams of hate true loves begin.`
   `True,` quoth Love.

"`Now strange,` quoth Sense, and `Strange,` quoth Mind,
`We saw it, and yet `tis hard to find,
   -- But we saw it,` quoth Sense and Mind.
Stretched on the ground, beautiful-crowned
Of the piteous willow that wreathed above,
`But I cannot find where ye have found
   Hell,` quoth Love."
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