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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Two Peacocks of Bedfont</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">I</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Alas! That breathing Vanity should go <br>Where Pride is buried,—like its very ghost, <br>Uprisen from the naked bones below, <br>In novel flesh, clad in the silent boast <br>Of gaudy silk that flutters to and fro, <br>Shedding its chilling superstition most <br>On young and ignorant natures—as it wont <br>To haunt the peaceful churchyard of Bedfont!</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>II</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Each Sabbath morning, at the hour of prayer, <br>Behold two maidens, up the quiet green <br>Shining, far distant, in the summer air <br>That flaunts their dewy robes and breathes between <br>Their downy plumes,—sailing as if they were <br>Two far-off ships,—until they brush between <br>The churchyard's humble walls, and watch and wait <br>On either side of the wide open'd gate,</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>III</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">And there they stand—with haughty necks before <br>God's holy house, that points towards the skies— <br>Frowning reluctant duty from the poor, <br>And tempting homage from unthoughtful eyes: <br>And Youth looks lingering from the temple door, <br>Breathing its wishes in unfruitful sighs, <br>With pouting lips,—forgetful of the grace, <br>Of health, and smiles, on the heart-conscious face;— </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>IV</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Because that Wealth, which has no bliss beside, <br>May wear the happiness of rich attire; <br>And those two sisters, in their silly pride, <br>May change the soul's warm glances for the fire <br>Of lifeless diamonds;—and for health denied,— <br>With art, that blushes at itself, inspire <br>Their languid cheeks—and flourish in a glory <br>That has no life in life, nor after-story.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>V</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">The aged priest goes shaking his gray hair <br>In meekest censuring, and turns his eye <br>Earthward in grief, and heavenward in pray'r, <br>And sighs, and clasps his hands, and passes by, <br>Good-hearted man! what sullen soul would wear <br>Thy sorrow for a garb, and constantly <br>Put on thy censure, that might win the praise <br>Of one so gray in goodness and in days? </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>VI</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Also the solemn clerk partakes the shame <br>Of this ungodly shine of human pride, <br>And sadly blends his reverence and blame <br>In one grave bow, and passes with a stride <br>Impatient:—many a red-hooded dame <br>Turns her pain'd head, but not her glance, aside <br>From wanton dress, and marvels o'er again, <br>That heaven hath no wet judgments for the vain.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>VII </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">'I have a lily in the bloom at home,' <br>Quoth one, 'and by the blessed Sabbath day <br>I'll pluck my lily in its pride, and come <br>And read a lesson upon vain array;— <br>And when stiff silks are rustling up, and some <br>Give place, I'll shake it in proud eyes and say— <br>Making my reverence,—'Ladies, an you please, <br>King Solomon's not half so fine as these,'' </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>VIII</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Then her meek partner, who has nearly run <br>His earthly course,—'Nay, Goody, let your text <br>Grow in the garden.—We have only one— <br>Who knows that these dim eyes may see the next? <br>Summer will come again, and summer sun, <br>And lilies too,—but I were sorely vext <br>To mar my garden, and cut short the blow <br>Of the last lily I may live to grow,' </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>IX</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">'The last!' quoth she, 'and though the last it were— <br>Lo! those two wantons, where they stand so proud <br>With waving plumes, and jewels in their hair, <br>And painted cheeks, like Dagons to be bow'd <br>And curtsey'd to!—last Sabbath after pray'r, <br>I heard the little Tomkins ask aloud <br>If they were angels—but I made him know <br>God's bright ones better, with a bitter blow!'</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>X.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">So speaking, they pursue the pebbly walk <br>That leads to the white porch the Sunday throng, <br>Hand-coupled urchins in restrainëd talk, <br>And anxious pedagogue that chastens wrong, <br>And posied churchwarden with solemn stalk, <br>And gold-bedizen'd beadle flames along, <br>And gentle peasant clad in buff and green, <br>Like a meek cowslip in the spring serene;</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>XI</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">And blushing maiden—modestly array'd <br>In spotless white,—still conscious of the glass; <br>And she, the lonely widow, that hath made <br>A sable covenant with grief,—alas! <br>She veils her tears under the deep, deep shade, <br>While the poor kindly-hearted, as they pass, <br>Bend to unclouded childhood, and caress <br>Her boy,—so rosy!—and so fatherless! </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>XII</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Thus, as good Christians ought, they all draw near <br>The fair white temple, to the timely call <br>Of pleasant bells that tremble in the ear.— <br>Now the last frock, and scarlet hood, and shawl <br>Fade into dusk, in the dim atmosphere <br>Of the low porch, and heav'n has won them all, <br>—Saying those two, that turn aside and pass, <br>In velvet blossom, where all flesh is grass. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>XIII</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Ah me! to see their silken manors trail'd <br>In purple luxuries—with restless gold,— <br>Flaunting the grass where widowhood has wail'd <br>In blotted black,—over the heapy mould <br>Panting wave-wantonly! They never quail'd <br>How the warm vanity abused the cold; <br>Nor saw the solemn faces of the gone <br>Sadly uplooking through transparent stone: </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>XIV</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">But swept their dwellings with unquiet light, <br>Shocking the awful presence of the dead; <br>Where gracious natures would their eyes benight, <br>Nor wear their being with a lip too red, <br>Nor move too rudely in the summer bright <br>Of sun, but put staid sorrow in their tread, <br>Meting it into steps, with inward breath, <br>In very pity to bereaved death. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>XV</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Now in the church, time-sober'd minds resign <br>To solemn pray'r, and the loud chaunted hymn,— <br>With glowing picturings of joys divine <br>Painting the mist-light where the roof is dim; <br>But youth looks upward to the window shine, <br>Warming with rose and purple and the swim <br>Of gold, as if thought-tinted by the stains <br>Of gorgeous light through many-color'd panes; </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>XVI</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Soiling the virgin snow wherein God hath <br>Enrobed his angels,—and with absent eyes <br>Hearing of Heav'n, and its directed path, <br>Thoughtful of slippers—and the glorious skies <br>Clouding with satin,—till the preacher's wrath <br>Consumes his pity, and he glows and cries <br>With a deep voice that trembles in its might, <br>And earnest eyes grow eloquent in light: </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>XVII</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">'Oh, that the vacant eye would learn to look <br>On very beauty, and the heart embrace <br>True loveliness, and from this holy book <br>Drink the warm-breathing tenderness and grace <br>Of love indeed! Oh, that the young soul took <br>Its virgin passion from the glorious face <br>Of fair religion, and address'd its strife, <br>To win the riches of eternal life!' </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>XVIII</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">'Doth the vain heart love glory that is none, <br>And the poor excellence of vain attire? <br>Oh go, and drown your eyes against the sun, <br>The visible ruler of the starry quire, <br>Till boiling gold in giddy eddies run, <br>Dazzling the brain with orbs of living fire; <br>And the faint soul down-darkens into night, <br>And dies a burning martyrdom to light.' </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>XIX</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Oh go, and gaze,—when the low winds of ev'n <br>Breathe hymns, and Nature's many forests nod <br>Their gold-crown'd heads; and the rich blooms of heav'n <br>Sun-ripen'd give their blushes up to God; <br>And mountain-rocks and cloudy steeps are riv'n <br>By founts of fire, as smitten by the rod <br>Of heavenly Moses,—that your thirsty sense <br>May quench its longings of magnificence! </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>XX</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">'Yet suns shall perish—stars shall fade away— <br>Day into darkness—darkness into death— <br>Death into silence; the warm light of day, <br>The blooms of summer, the rich glowing breath <br>Of even—all shall wither and decay, <br>Like the frail furniture of dreams beneath <br>The touch of morn—or bubbles of rich dyes <br>That break and vanish in the aching eyes.' </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>XXI</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">They hear, soul-blushing, and repentant shed <br>Unwholesome thoughts in wholesome tears, and pour <br>Their sin to earth,—and with low drooping head <br>Receive the solemn blessing, and implore <br>Its grace—then soberly with chasten'd tread, <br>They meekly press towards the gusty door <br>With humbled eyes that go to graze upon <br>The lowly grass—like him of Babylon. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>XXII</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">The lowly grass!—O water-constant mind! <br>Fast-ebbing holiness!—soon-fading grace <br>Of serious thought, as if the gushing wind <br>Through the low porch had wash'd it from the face <br>For ever!—How they lift their eyes to find <br>Old vanities!—Pride wins the very place <br>Of meekness, like a bird, and flutters now <br>With idle wings on the curl-conscious brow! </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>XXIII</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">And lo! with eager looks they seek the way <br>Of old temptation at the lowly gate; <br>To feast on feathers, and on vain array, <br>And painted cheeks, and the rich glistering state <br>Of jewel-sprinkled locks,—But where are they, <br>The graceless haughty ones that used to wait <br>With lofty neck, and nods, and stiffen'd eye?— <br>None challenge the old homage bending by. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>XXIV</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">In vain they look for the ungracious bloom <br>Of rich apparel where it glow'd before,— <br>For Vanity has faded all to gloom, <br>And lofty Pride has stiffen'd to the core, <br>For impious Life to tremble at its doom,— <br>Set for a warning token evermore, <br>Whereon, as now, the giddy and the wise <br>Shall gaze with lifted hands and wond'ring eyes. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>XXV</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">The aged priest goes on each Sabbath morn, <br>But shakes not sorrow under his gray hair; <br>The solemn clerk goes lavender'd and shorn <br>Nor stoops his back to the ungodly pair;— <br>And ancient lips that pucker'd up in scorn, <br>Go smoothly breathing to the house of pray'r; <br>And in the garden-plot, from day to day, <br>The lily blooms its long white life away. </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>XXVI</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=529824" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">And where two haughty maidens used to be, <br>In pride of plume, where plumy Death had trod, <br>Trailing their gorgeous velvets wantonly, <br>Most unmeet pall, over the holy sod; <br>There, gentle stranger, thou may'st only see <br>Two sombre Peacocks. <br>Age, with sapient nod <br>Marking the spot, still tarries to declare <br>How they once lived, and wherefore they are there.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><a href="http://poems.citatepedia.com/">poem</a> by <strong><a rel="author" href="http://authors.citatepedia.com/by.php?a=Thomas+Hood">Thomas Hood</a></strong></div>