POETRY.
THE APOSTATE.
I'LL go, said I, to the woods and hills
In a park of doves I'll make my firea, And I'll fare like the badger and fox, I said, And be done with mean desires.
Never a lift of the hand I'll give Again in the world to bidders and buyers ; I'll live with the snakes in the hedge, I said, And be done with mean desires.
I'll leave—and I left—my own true love. 0, faithful heart that never tires ! I will return, tho' I'll not return To perish of mean desires.
Farewell, farewell to my kinsmen all, The worst were thieves and the best were liars, And the devil must take what he gave, I said, For I'm done with mean desires.
But the snake, the fox, the badger and I Arc one in blood, like sons and sires, And as far from home as kingdom come I follow my mean desires. A. E. COPPARD.
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