XII.

Mark! how it laughs and scorns at all you are! And yet _was_ what you are; from _ear_ to _ear_ It _laughs not_--there is now no fleshy bar So called; the Antic long hath ceased to _hear_, But still he _smiles_; and whether near or far, He strips from man that mantle (far more dear Than even the tailor's), his incarnate skin,[iv] White, black, or copper--the dead bones will grin.