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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE LORDS OF LIFE: 6. MERCURY by SAMUEL VALENTINE COLE

First Line: I SEE HIM CROSS THE EMPTY FIELDS AFAR
Last Line: THAT MUTELY RISES FROM THE HOMES OF MEN.

I SEE him cross the empty fields afar,
Along a pathway growing slowly dim;
His shining circle runs so near the rim
Of that vast wheel which bears Apollo's car,
Behold, the greater splendor mounts to mar
The lesser; in my glass there seems to swim
A merest globule answering to him;
Now lost—a wavering and uncertain star!
Mercurius! who sets the final seal
To weary eyes; who goes and comes again,
Bearing the messages of woe and weal:
Now wrathful like a lion in his den,
Now melting to the pitiful appeal
That mutely rises from the homes of men.



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