Daily Trials by a Sensitive Man

Oh, there are times  

  When all this fret and tumult that we hear  

  Do seem more stale than to the sexton's ear  

   His own dull chimes.

   Ding dong! ding dong!  

  The world is in a simmer like a sea  

  Over a pent volcano, — woe is me  

   All the day long!

   From crib to shroud!  

 Nurse o'er our cradles screameth lullaby,  

 And friends in boots tramp round us as we die,  

  Snuffling aloud.

  At morning's call  

 The small-voiced pug-dog welcomes in the sun,  

 And flea-bit mongrels, wakening one by one,  

  Give answer all.

  When evening dim  

 Draws round us, then the lonely caterwaul,  

 Tart solo, sour duet, and general squall, —  

  These are our hymn.

  Women, with tongues  

 Like polar needles, ever on the jar;  

 Men, plugless word-spouts, whose deep fountains are  

  Within their lungs.

  Children, with drums  

 Strapped round them by the fond paternal ass;  

 Peripatetics with a blade of grass  

  Between their thumbs.

  Vagrants, whose arts  

 Have caged some devil in their mad machine,  

 Which grinding, squeaks, with husky groans between,  

  Come out by starts.

  Cockneys that kill  

 Thin horses of a Sunday, — men, with clams,  

 Hoarse as young bisons roaring for their dams  

  From hill to hill.

  Soldiers, with guns,  

 Making a nuisance of the blessed air,  

 Child-crying bellman, children in despair,  

  Screeching for buns.

  Storms, thunders, waves!  

 Howl, crash, and bellow till ye get your fill;  

 Ye sometimes rest; men never can be still  

  But in their graves.

Composition date is unknown - the above date represents the first publication date.The lyrical form of this poem is abba. 3.sexton: church bell-ringer, grave-digger, and caretaker. 7.pent: closed up. 18.caterwaul: din, great noise. 22.on the jar: like a door, ready to open and ajar. 27.peripatetics: itinerants, idlers. 39.bellman: town-crier, announcing the hours, often\;