• Let no man ask thee of anything
• Not yearborn between Spring and Spring
• More of all worlds than he can know,
• Each day the single sun doth show.
• Etc.

• Commandments was the name originally given to the poem ultimately published
• under the amended title Soothsay. The present manuscript is of high importance, for
• it preserves no less than ten complete stanzas which still remain unpublished. The
• poem first appeared in Ballads and Sonnets, 1881, pp. 267-274. The holograph consists
• of twenty-four stanzas, only fourteen of which were printed in the volume of 1881.
• The stanzas of the manuscript actually number twenty-seven. But three of these
• represent the same stanza repeated with a varying text. There are also two versions of
• another. Here is a speciment of the cancelled verses.

• “I love” says this—“I yield control
• Even of all life to one dear soul.”
• Yet love, that in each kiss seals fast
• The first kiss, still forebodes the last.
• If to grow old, as the seer's tongue
• Hath said, in Heaven is to grow young..
• Heaven-high, be sure, is Love's true goal.

• It is interesting to note that four of these lines (lines 3 to 6) were worked into the
• sonnet True Woman, Her Heaven, when in an amended form they serve as lines 1—2
• and 13—14.

• Lancelot lay before the shrine:
• (The apple-tree's in the wood.)
• There was set Christ's very sign,
• The bread unknown and the unknown wine,
• That the soul's life for a livelihood
• Craves from his wheat and vine.

• Lo the twelfth year—the wedding-feast come round
• With years for months—and lo the babe new-born;
• Out of the womb's rank furnace cast forlorn,
• And with contagious effluence seamed and crown'd.
• Etc.

• Lungi la luce che in sù questo muro
• Rifrange appena, un breve istante scorta
• Etc.

     

Deleted Text
Added TextThe wild waifs cast up by the sea
With every season change must be
Added TextAre diverse ever seasonably:
In the waifs not up by the sea
Even so the soul-tides still may land
A different drift upon the sand
But one the sea is evermore:
And one be still, 'twixt shore and shore,
As the sea's life, thy soul in thee.

• Let no man ask thee of anything
• Not yearborn between Spring & Spring.
• 10More of all worlds that he can know
• Each day the single sun doth show:
• A trustier gloss than thou canst give
• From all wise scrolls demonstrative,
• The sea doth sigh & the wind sing.

• Let no man awe thee on any height
• Of earthly kingship's mouldering might.
• The dust his heel holds meet for thy brow
• Hath all of it been what both are now;
• And thou and he may plague together
• 20A beggar's eyes in some dusty weather
• When none that is now knows sound or sight.

• Crave thou no dower of earthborn things
• Unworthy Hope's imaginings.
• To have brought true birth of Song to be
• And to have won hearts of Poesy,
• Or anywhere in the sun or rain
• To have loved and been beloved again,
• Is loftiest reach of Hope's bright wings.

• “I love” says this,—“I yield control
• 30Even of all life to one dear soul:”
• Yet love, that in each kiss seals fast
• The first kiss, still forebodes the last.
• If to grow old (as the seer's tongue is to grow young
• Added TextHath said) in Heaven is to grow young,—
• In Heaven, (as spake the Seërs tongue,
• Heaven-high, be sure, is Love's true goal.

• “I hate” says over and above,—
• “This is a soul that I might love.”
• None lightly says “my friend”; even so
• Be jealous of that name, “my foe.”
• 40An enemy for an enemy,
• But dogs for what a dog can be,
• Hold thou at heart: and time shall prove.

Deleted Text
Behold yon' slanderous satirist:
Conceive what storehouse coil there must exist
Of scorn within scorpions in his nature; when,
For all his largesse unto Besides all venom cast o'er men
Governed by Held in his constant contumely
He keeps one little fungus
Added Textthat bosom snake
needs must keep one snake whereby
Himself in his own soul is hiss'd.

Deleted Text
50 Art thou a Dost vaunt thee Poet? Tow'rd the skies
Canst hear anothers all other song s arise
(As Mar s syas heard Apollo's reed)
And loathe them? Thus for thee, indeed,
“To be an angel minister,
And Or to lie howling”, are, sweet sir,
But functional One function's twin varieties.

• Dost vaunt thou Poet?True Artist art thou? MusingGazing on
• The work another's hand mind has done,
• Its beauties first shall touch thy thought;
• 60And seeing what thyself hast wrought,
• Thou first shalt sigh, “Alas, how far
• Behind conception's guiding star!”
• True Artist elsewise thou art none.

• Whate'er by other's need is claim'd
• More than by thine, to him unblamed
• Resign it: and if he should hold
• What thou more than he more thou lack'st ,—bread, gold, of gold
• Or bread or might any good whereby we live,—
• To Thee such substance let him give
• Freely: nor he nor thou be sham'd.

Deleted Text
Anomalies against all rules
Acknowledge, though beyond the schools:—
Those passionate states when to know true
Some things, & to believe, are two;
And that affectionary inexplicable incalculable sect
When no amount of intellect
Can [illegible] somehow save [illegible] from being fools:

• Added TextLet thy soul strive that still the same
• Drain with thy soul each pearly gem
• Added TextBe early friendship's sacred flame.
• Distilled from Friendship's springtide stem
• 6 The affinities choose ^have strongest part
• In youth, and draw men heart to heart:
• Further in life, when clouds arise,
• Added TextAs life wears on and and finds no rest,
• The ir individual ities in each breast
• Is Are tyrannous to sunder them.

Deleted Text
Grudge not the Critic's province cavil. Doubt,
If so thou wilt, but spare to flout
In answer; nor impugn thereby
What he's proclaiming practically,
Added TextIn every word, the harsh strain through:—
In good or ill word false or true:—
To wit, that thou wast born to do
70What he was born to talk about.

• In the life-drama's stern cue-call,
• A friend's a part well-prized by all:
• And if thou meet an enemy,
• What art thou that none such should be?
• Even so: but if the two parts run
• Into each other and grow one,
• Then comes the curtain's cue to fall.

• Say, hast thou pride? How then may fit
• Thy mood with flatters' silk-spun wit?
• 80Haply the sweet voice lifts thy crest,—
• A breeze of fame made manifest.
• Nay, but then chaf'st at flattery? Pause:
• Be sure thy wrath is not because
• It makes thee feel thou lovest it.

• How callous seems beyond revoke
• The clock with its last listless stroke!
• How much too late at last ^length! !—to snatch
• A glance at the commencing ^forewarning watch,
• The thing thou hast not dared to do!. . . .
• Behold, this may be thus! Ere true
• It prove, arise and bear thy yoke.

Deleted Text
The wild waifs cast up by the sea
Are diverse ever seasonably:
Even so the soul-tides still may land
A different drift upon the sand,4
But one the sea is evermore:
And one be still, 'twixt shore & shore,
As the sea's life, thy soul in thee.

Deleted Text
One First step in knowledge 'tis to grow
Quite certain that thou dost not know:
The next steps are thy toil to track
Time's secret s round the zodiac:
The last step, which perfecting the tale,
To [illegible] find all of none avail,
And even as thou didst come, to go.

• Art thou vain-glorious? Vain-glory
• (Look to it well) is less to be
• Thine own work's high appraiser, than
• To abstract (as fatally it can)
• From thine inevitably true
• 90Knowledge of all that thou canst do,
• Thine ideal of what dwells in thee.

• Strive that thy works prove equal: lest
• That work which thou hast done the best
• Should come to be to thee at length
• (Even as to Envy seems the strength
• Of others) hateful and abhorr'd,—
• Thine own above thyself made lord,—
• Of self-rebuke the bitterest.

• Unto the man of yearning thought
• 100And aspiration, to do nought
• Is in itself almost an act,—
• Wild ^Being chasm-fire and cataract
• Of the soul's utter depths unseal'd.
• Yet woe to thee if once thou yield
• Unto the act of doing nought!

• And if thy life do wear such pall
• As memory dreads to cope withal,
• Then, in that wrath which oft is grace
• Transfigured thou might ^shalt know God's face
• When And as the bitter sacrament
• In Of thine own body & blood, be leant
• Even on thy stubborn knees to fall

Deleted Text
Do still thy best, albeit the clue
Be snapt of that thou strovest to:—
Thy best, though toil gall of rancorous men
Would shut all high things from thy ken:--
Thy best, though whom Hate had sworn were fain sworn to damn.
Say,—such as I was made, I am,
And did even such as I could do.

Deleted Text
Do still thy best, albeit the clue
Be snapt of that thou strovest to:
Do still thy best, though direful hate
Should toil to leave thee desolate:
Do still thy best, though whom Fate would damn.
Say,—such as I was made, I am,
And did even such as I could do.

• Do still thy best, albeit the clue
• Be snapt of that thou strovest to:—
• Thy best, though gall & direful hate
• Labour to leave thee desolate:—
• Thy best, whom these weave spells to damn.
• Say,—such as I was made, I am,
• And did even such as I could do.
• ———whom there for worst decry
• —————am I,

• Let lore of man's Theology
• Be to thy soul what it can be:
• But know,—the Power that fashions man
• Measured not out thy little span
• 110For thee to take the meting-rod
• In turn, and so approve on God
• Thy science of Theometry.

• To God at best, to Chance at worst,
• Give thanks for good things, last as first.
• But windstrown blossom is that good
• Whose apple is not gratitude.
• Even if no prayer uplift thy face,
• Let the sweet right to render grace
• As thy soul's cherished child be nurs'd.

• 120Didst ever say, “Lo, I forget”?
• Such thought was to remember yet.
• As in a gravegarth, count to see
• The monuments of memory.
• Be this thy soul's appointed scope:—
• Gaze onward without claim to hope,
• Nor, gazing backward, brook regret.

---

       

• LET no man ask thee of anything
• Not yearborn between Spring and Spring.
• More of all worlds that he can know,
• Each day the single sun doth show.
• A trustier gloss than thou canst give
• From all wise scrolls demonstrative,
• The sea doth sigh and the wind sing.

• Let no man awe thee on any height
• Of earthly kingship's mouldering might.
• 10The dust his heel holds meet for thy brow
• Hath all of it been what both are now;
page: [11]/270  
• And thou and he may plague together
• A beggar's eyes in some dusty weather
• When none that is now knows sound or sight.

• Crave thou no dower of earthly things
• Unworthy Hope's imaginings.
• To have brought true birth of Song to be
• And to have won hearts of Poesy,
• Or anywhere in the sun or rain
• 20To have loved and been beloved again,
• Is loftiest reach of Hope's bright wings.

• The wild waifs cast up by the sea
• Are diverse ever seasonably.
• Even so the soul-tides still may land
• A different drift upon the sand.
page: [12]/271  
Manuscript Addition: 8
Editorial Description: page numbering added bysomeone other than DGR
• But one the sea is evermore:
• And one be still, 'twixt shore and shore,
• As the sea's life, thy soul in thee.

• Say, hast thou pride? How then may fit
• 30Thy mood with flatters' silk-spun wit?
• Haply the sweet voice lifts thy crest,
• A breeze of fame made manifest.
• Nay, but then chaf'st at flattery? Pause:
• Be sure thy wrath is not because
• It makes thee feel thou lovest it.

• Let thy soul strive that still the same
• Be early friendship's sacred flame.
• The affinities have strongest part
• In youth, and draw men heart to heart:
page: [13]/272  
• 40As life wears on and finds no rest,
• The individual in each breast
• Is tyrannous to sunder them.

• In the life-drama's stern cue-call,
• A friend's a part well-prized by all:
• And if thou meet an enemy,
• What art thou that none such should be?
• Even so: but if the two parts run
• Into each other and grow one,
• Then comes the curtain's cue to fall.

• 50Whate'er by other's need is claimed
• More than by thine,—to him unblamed
• Resign it: and if he should hold
• What more than he thou lack'st, bread, gold,
page: [14]/273  
Manuscript Addition: 9
Editorial Description: page numbering added bysomeone other than DGR
• Or any good whereby we live,—
• To thee such substance let him give
• Freely: nor he nor thou be shamed.

• Strive that thy works prove equal: lest
• That work which thou hast done the best
• Should come to be to thee at length
• 60(Even as to envy seems the strength
• Of others) hateful and abhorr'd,—
• Thine own above thyself made lord,—
• Of self-rebuke the bitterest.

• Unto the man of yearning thought
• And aspiration, to do nought
• Is in itself almost an act,—
• Being chasm-fire and cataract
page: [15]/274  
• Of the soul's utter depths unseal'd.
• Yet woe to thee if once thou yield
• 70Unto the act of doing nought!

• How callous seems beyond revoke
• The clock with its last listless stroke!
• How much too late at length!—to trace
• The hour on its forewarning face,
• The thing thou hast not dared to do!. . . .
• Behold, this may be thus! Ere true
• It prove, arise and bear thy yoke.

• Let lore of all Theology
• Be to thy soul what it can be:
• 80But know,—the Power that fashions man
• Measured not out thy little span
page: [16]/275  
Manuscript Addition: 10
Editorial Description: page numbering added bysomeone other than DGR
• For thee to take the meting-rod
• In turn, and so approve on God
• Thy science of Theometry.

• To God at best, to Chance at worst,
• Give thanks for good things, last as first.
• But windstrown blossom is that good
• Whose apple is not gratitude.
• Even if no prayer uplift thy face,
• 90Let the sweet right to render grace
• As thy soul's cherished child be nurs'd.

• Didst ever say, “Lo, I forget”?
• Such thought was to remember yet.
• As in a gravegarth, count to see
• The monuments of memory.
  page: [17]/276  
• Be this thy soul's appointed scope:—
• Gaze onward without claim to hope,
• Nor, gazing backward, court regret.