The Emperor's Progress. - A Study in Three Stages.

On the Busts of Nero in the Uffizj. I.     A child of brighter than the morning's birth     And lovelier than all smiles that may be smiled     Save only of little children undefiled,     Sweet, perfect, witless of their own dear worth,     Live rose of love, mute melody of mirth,     Glad as a bird is when the woods are mild,     Adorable as is nothing save a child,     Hails with wide eyes and lips his life on earth,     His lovely life with all its heaven to be.     And whoso reads the name inscribed or hears     Feels his own heart a frozen well of tears,     Child, for deep dread and fearful pity of thee     Whom God would not let rather die than see     The incumbent horror of impending years. II.     Man, that wast godlike being a child, and now,     No less than kinglike, art no more in sooth     For all thy grace and lordliness of youth,     The crown that bids men's branded foreheads bow     Much more has branded and bowed down thy brow     And gnawn upon it as with fire or tooth     Of steel or snake so sorely, that the truth     Seems here to bear false witness. Is it thou,     Child? and is all the summer of all thy spring     This? are the smiles that drew men's kisses down     All faded and transfigured to the frown     That grieves thy face? Art thou this weary thing?     Then is no slave's load heavier than a crown     And such a thrall no bondman as a king. III.     Misery, beyond all men's most miserable,     Absolute, whole, defiant of defence,     Inevitable, inexplacable, intense,     More vast than heaven is high, more deep than hell,     Past cure or charm of solace or of spell,     Possesses and pervades the spirit and sense     Whereto the expanse of the earth pays tribute; whence     Breeds evil only, and broods on fumes that swell     Rank from the blood of brother and mother and wife.     'Misery of miseries, all is misery,' saith     The heavy fair-faced hateful head, at strife     With its own lusts that burn with feverous breath     Lips which the loathsome bitterness of life     Leaves fearful of the bitterness of death.