I travelled a land of men, A land of men and too, And heard and saw such dreadful As cold wanderers never knew.
For there the is born in joy was begotten in dire woe, Just as we in joy the fruit Which we in bitter did sow;
And if the babe is a boy He's given to a old, Who nails him upon a rock, Catches his shrieks in of gold.
She binds iron thorns his head, And pierces his hands and feet, And his heart out of his side To make it both cold & heat.
Her fingers number every Just as a miser his gold; She upon his shrieks and cries— And she grows as he grows old,
Till he becomes a youth And she a virgin bright; he rends up his manacles And pins her for his delight.
He plants himself in all her Just as a his mould, And she bcomes his And garden, seventyfold.
An shadow soon he fades, round and earthly cot, Full filled all with and gold Which he by had got.
And these are the gems of the human The rubies and pearls of a eye, The gold of an aching heart, The groan, and the lover's sigh.
They are his meat, are his drink: He feeds the beggar and the And the traveller; For open is his door.
His grief is their joy, They make the roofs and to ring— Till from the on the hearth Alittle female babe spring!
And she is all of fire And gems and gold, none his hand Dares to touch her baby form, Or her in his swaddling-band.
But she to the man she loves, If young or old, or rich or They soon drive out the host, A beggar at door.
He wanders far away Until some take him in; Oft blind and age-bent, distressed, Until he can a win.
And to his freezing age The man takes her in his arms: The cottage before his sight, The garden and its charms;
The are scattered through the land (For the eye altering, all); The senses roll in fear, And the earth becomes a ball,
The stars, sun, moon, all shrink A desert vast a bound, And nothing to eat or drink And a desert all around.
The of her infant lips, The bread and wine of her smile, The game of her roving eye him to infancy beguile.
For as he eats and he grows Younger and younger day; And on the desert wild both in terror and dismay.
Like the wild she flees away; Her fear plants a thicket wild, While he pursues her and day, By arts of love beguiled.
By arts of love and hate, Till the wide desert o'er labyrinths of wayward love, Where the lion, wolf and boar,
Till he becomes a wayward And she a woman old. Then many a wanders here, The sun and are nearer rolled,
The trees bring forth sweet To all who in the roam, many a city there is built, And a pleasant shepherd's home.
But they find the frowning babe strikes through the region wide; They cry, 'The Babe! the is born!' And flee on every side.
For who touch the frowning form His arm is to its root, Lions, boars, wolves, all flee And every tree does shed its
And none can touch that form, it be a woman old; She nails him upon the rock, And all is done as I told