Bland as a Jesuit, sober as a hymn

Life is (I think) a blunder and a shame.

From the winter's gray despair, From the summer’s golden languor, Death, the lover of Life, Frees us for ever.

Ho! then, the splendour And sheen of my ministry, Clothing the earth With a livery of lightnings! Ho! then, the music Of battles in onset

Hark how the Trumpet, The mistress of mistresses, Calls, silver-throated And stern, where the tables Are spread, and the work Of the Lord is in hand!

Far in the stillness a cat Languishes loudly. A cinder Falls, and the shadows Lurch to the leap of the flame.

Valiant in velvet, light in ragged luck, Most vain, most generous, sternly critical, Buffoon and poet, lover and sensualist: A deal of Ariel, just a streak of Puck, Much Antony, of Hamlet most of all, And something of the Shorter-Catechist.