R XIII

"PILLS TO PURGE MELANCHOLY"

(Poems of Cheer)

LAUGH AND BE MERRY

BY JOHN MASEFIELD

Laugh and be merry; remember, better the world with

a song,

Better the world with a blow in the teeth of a wrong. Laugh, for the time is brief, a thread the length of a

span.

Laugh and be proud to belong to the old proud pageant of man.

Laugh and be merry; remember, in olden time,

God made Heaven and Earth for joy He took in a rime,

Made them, and filled them full with the strong red wine of His mirth,

The splendid joy of the stars, the joy of the earth.

So we must laugh and drink from the deep blue cup of the sky,

Join the jubilant song of the great stars sweeping by, Laugh, and battle, and work, and drink of the wine outpoured

In the dear green earth, the sign of the joy of the Lord.

Laugh and be merry together, like brothers akin,
Guesting awhile in the rooms of a beautiful inn,

Glad till the dancing stops, and the lilt of the music ends.

Laugh till the game is played; and be you merry, my friends.

SADNESS AND JOY

BY WILLIAM H. DAVIES

I pray you, Sadness, leave me soon,
In sweet invention thou art poor!
Thy sister, Joy, can make ten songs
While thou art making four.

One hour with thee is sweet enough;
But when we find the whole day gone
And no created thing is left-

We mourn the evil done.

Thou art too slow to shape thy thoughts
In stone, on canvas, or in song;
But Joy, being full of active heat,
Must do some deed ere long.

Thy sighs are gentle, sweet thy tears;
But if thou canst not help a man
To prove in substance what he feels-
Then give me Joy, who can.

Therefore, sweet Sadness, leave me soon,
Let thy bright sister, Joy, come more;

For she can make ten lovely songs
While thou art making four.

TO A FRIEND WHOSE WORK HAS COME TO

NOTHING

BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

Now all the truth is out,
Be secret and take defeat
From any brazen throat,
For how can you compete,
Being honour bred, with one
Who, were it proved he lies,
Were neither shamed in his own
Nor in his neighbours' eyes?
Bred to a harder thing
Than Triumph, turn away
And like a laughing string
Whereon mad fingers play
Amid a place of stone,
Be secret and exult,

Because of all things known
That is most difficult.

GLADNESS

BY ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH

The world has brought not anything
To make me glad to-day!