John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
Page 790
| William Morris. (1834–1896) (continued) |
| 7753 |
| Masters, I have to tell a tale of woe, A tale of folly and of wasted life, Hope against hope, the bitter dregs of strife, Ending, where all things end, in death at last. |
| The Earthly Paradise. Prologue. |
| 7754 |
| Slayer of the Winter, art thou here again? O welcome, thou that bring’st the Summer nigh! The bitter wind makes not thy victory vain, Nor will we mock thee for thy faint blue sky. |
| The Earthly Paradise. March. |
| 7755 |
| Rejoice, lest pleasureless ye die. Within a little time must ye go by. Stretch forth your open hands, and while ye live Take all the gifts that Death and Life may give! |
| The Earthly Paradise. March. |
| 7756 |
| Forgetfulness of grief I yet may gain; In some wise may come ending to my pain; It may be yet the Gods will have me glad! Yet, Love, I would that thee and pain I had! |
| The Earthly Paradise. The Death of Paris. |
| 7757 |
| Earth, left silent by the wind of night, Seems shrunken ’neath the gray unmeasured height. |
| The Earthly Paradise. December. |
| 7758 |
| Late February days; and now, at last, Might you have thought that Winter’s woe was past; So fair the sky was and so soft the air. |
| The Earthly Paradise. February. |
| 7759 |
| A world made to be lost,— A bitter life ’twixt pain and nothing tost. |
| The Earthly Paradise. The Hill of Venus. |
| 7760 |
| To happy folk All heaviest words no more of meaning bear Than far-off bells saddening the Summer air. |
| The Earthly Paradise. The Hill of Venus. |
| 7761 |
| But boundless risk must pay for boundless gain. 1 |
| The Earthly Paradise. The Wanderers. |
| Note 1. Naught venture, naught have. Thomas Tusser. (See Heywood, page 15). [back] |