s: And lets the hot sun kill them, even go these lovers lay.


s: Whose bitter hand hath wrought this cruelty,


s: Or else that mightier maid whose care it is


s: To guard her strong and stainless majesty


s: That they who loved so well unloved into Death's house should


s: So with soft hands she laid the boy and girl


s: (Her white throat whiter than a moony pearl


s: Just threaded with a blue vein's tapestry


s: Had not yet ceased to throb, and still her breast


s: Swayed like a wind-stirred lily in ambiguous unrest)


s: And then each pigeon spread its milky van,


s: The bright car soared into the dawning sky,


s: Till the faint air was troubled with the song


s: From the wan mouths that call on bleeding Thammuz all night long.


s: But when the doves had reached their wonted goal


s: Where the wide stair of orbed marble dips


s: Its snows into the sea, her fluttering soul


s: Just shook the trembling petals of her lips


s: And passed into the void, and Venus knew


s: That one fair maid the less would walk amid her retinue,


s: And bade her servants carve a cedar chest


s: Within whose scented womb their limbs should rest


s: Where olive-trees make tender the blue sky


s: On the low hills of Paphos, and the Faun


s: Pipes in the noonday, and the nightingale sings on till dawn.


s: Nor failed they to obey her hest, and ere


s: With tiny fretful spear, or from its lair


s: The waking stag had leapt across the rill


s: And roused the ouzel, or the lizard crept


s: Athwart the sunny rock, beneath the grass their bodies slept.


s: And when day brake, within that silver shrine


s: Fed by the flames of cressets tremulous,


s: Queen Venus knelt and prayed to Proserpine


s: That she whose beauty made Death amorous


s: Should beg a guerdon from her pallid Lord,


s: And let Desire pass across dread Charon's icy ford.


s: Farm for the goodly earth and joyous day


s: Where no spring ever buds, nor ripening sun


s: Weighs down the apple trees, nor flowery May


s: Chequers with chestnut blooms the grassy floor,


s: Where thrushes never sing, and piping linnets mate no more,


s: He plucked the blossoms from the asphodel,


s: Strewed the dull waters of the dusky stream,


s: And through his brown hair's curly tangles scanned


s: His own wan face, a shadow seemed to pass


s: Brushed his pale cheeks, and breathed their secret forth into a


s: Then turned he round his weary eyes and saw,


s: And nigher ever did their young mouths draw


s: Until they seemed one perfect rose of flame,


s: And longing arms around her neck he cast,


s: And felt her throbbing bosom, and his breath came hot and fast,


s: And all his hoarded sweets were hers to kiss,


s: And limb to limb in long and rapturous bliss


s: Their passion waxed and waned,--O why essay


s: To pipe again of love, too venturous reed!


s: Enough, enough that Eros laughed upon that flowerless mead.


s: To pipe again of passion! fold thy wings


s: Sleep hidden in the lyre's silent strings


s: Till thou hast found the old Castalian rill,


s: Or from the Lesbian waters plucked drowned Sappho's golden quid!


s: Enough, enough that he whose life had been


s: Could in the loveless land of Hades glean


s: One scorching harvest from those fields of flame


s: Where passion walks with naked unshod feet


s: And is not wounded,--ah! enough that once their lips could meet


s: Which dies through its own sweetness and the stress


s: Had bade them serve her by the ebon throne


s: Of the pale God who in the fields of Enna loosed her zone.


s: Rid of the world's injustice, and his pain,


s: He rests at last beneath God's veil of blue:


s: Taken from life when life and love were new


s: The youngest of the martyrs here is lain,


s: No cypress shades his grave, no funeral yew,


s: Weave on his bones an ever-blossoming chain.


s: O sweetest lips since those of Mitylene!


s: Thy name was writ in water--it shall stand:


s: And tears like mine will keep thy memory green,


s: Like the silver gleam when the poplar trees


s: When the waves show their teeth in the flying breeze.


s: Or the sunflower turning to meet the sun


s: When the gloom of the dark blue night is done,


s: And her sweet red lips on these lips of mine


s: In the swinging lamp of a crimson shrine,


s: Or the bleeding wounds of the pomegranate,


s: Or the heart of the lotus drenched and wet


s: With the spilt-out blood of the rose-red wine.


s: When the knights are meeting in market-place.


s: Lest the hoofs of the war-horse tread thee down.


s: But I would not go where the Squires ride,


s: Will she love me the less that my Father is seen


s: I might ravel the threads by the fire-light.


s: How could you follow o'er hill and mere?


s: I might run beside her and wind the morte.


s: (On her soul may our Lady have gramercy!)


s: I might swing the censer and ring the bell.


s: The father shall fill thee a stoup of ale.


s: But who are these knights in bright array?


s: 'T is the King of England from over sea,


s: Who has come unto visit our fair countrie.


s: Who is lying stark, for his day is done.


s: It is no strong man who lies on the bier.


s: O 't is old Dame Jeannette that kept the hall,


s: I knew she would die at the autumn fall.


s: Dame Jeannette had not that gold-brown hair,


s: O 't is none of our kith and none of our kin,


s: (Her soul may our Lady assoil from sin!)


s: But I hear the boy's voice chaunting sweet,


s: Poem:  The Dole Of The King's Daughter (Breton)


s: There are two that ride from the south and east,


s: He hath duggen a grave by the darksome yew,


s: And heard sweet notes of sylvan music blown


s: From antique reeds to common folk unknown:


s: And often launched our bark upon that sea


s: And ploughed free furrows through the wave and foam,


s: Nor spread reluctant sail for more safe home


s: Of which despoiled treasures these remain,


s: Sordello's passion, and the honeyed line


s: Driving his pampered jades, and more than these,


s: The seven-fold vision of the Florentine,


s: And grave-browed Milton's solemn harmonies.


s: The Gods are dead:  no longer do we bring


s: To grey-eyed Pallas crowns of olive-leaves!


s: Demeter's child no more hath tithe of sheaves,


s: And in the noon the careless shepherds sing,


s: By secret glade and devious haunt is o'er:


s: Young Hylas seeks the water-springs no more;


s: Great Pan is dead, and Mary's son is King.


s: And yet--perchance in this sea-tranced isle,


s: Ah Love! if such there be, then it were well


s: The leaves are stirring:  let us watch awhile.


s: Two crowned Kings, and One that stood alone


s: With no green weight of laurels round his head,


s: And wearied with man's never-ceasing moan


s: And sweet long lips with tears and kisses fed.


s: Which sent up lilies, dove-like, to his knees.


s: Now at their sight, my heart being lit with flame,


s: And she made answer, knowing well each name,


s: And last (wide stream of tears!) Euripides.'


s: The sea was sapphire coloured, and the sky


s: Burned like a heated opal through the air;


s: We hoisted sail; the wind was blowing fair


s: For the blue lands that to the eastward lie.


s: From the steep prow I marked with quickening eye


s: And all the flower-strewn hills of Arcady.


s: The flapping of the sail against the mast,


s: The ripple of girls' laughter at the stern,


s: The only sounds:- when 'gan the West to burn,


s: I stood upon the soil of Greece at last!


s: Like burnt-out torches by a sick man's bed


s: Gaunt cypress-trees stand round the sun-bleached stone;


s: Here doth the little night-owl make her throne,


s: And, where the chaliced poppies flame to red,


s: Surely some Old-World Sphinx lurks darkly hid,


s: Grim warder of this pleasaunce of the dead.


s: Ah! sweet indeed to rest within the womb


s: Of Earth, great mother of eternal sleep,


s: But sweeter far for thee a restless tomb


s: Or where the tall ships founder in the gloom


s: Against the rocks of some wave-shattered steep.


s: The silent room, the heavy creeping shade,


s: The dead that travel fast, the opening door,


s: The murdered brother rising through the floor,


s: The ghost's white fingers on thy shoulders laid,


s: The broken swords, the stifled scream, the gore,


s: Thy grand revengeful eyes when all is o'er,--


s: These things are well enough,--but thou wert made


s: Should at thy bidding wander on the heath


s: For thee should lure his love, and desperate fear


s: Pluck Richard's recreant dagger from its sheath--


s: Thou trumpet set for Shakespeare's lips to blow!


s: How vain and dull this common world must seem


s: To such a One as thou, who should'st have talked


s: Thou should'st have gathered reeds from a green stream


s: For Goat-foot Pan's shrill piping, and have played


s: With the white girls in that Phaeacian glade


s: Where grave Odysseus wakened from his dream.


s: Held thy wan dust, and thou hast come again


s: Back to this common world so dull and vain,


s: The loveless lips with which men kiss in Hell.


s: Or that Morocco's fiery heart grew cold:


s: For in that gorgeous dress of beaten gold


s: Which is more golden than the golden sun


s: Yet fairer when with wisdom as your shield


s: The sober-suited lawyer's gown you donned,


s: And would not let the laws of Venice yield


s: O Portia! take my heart:  it is thy due:


s: I think I will not quarrel with the Bond.


s: She stands with eyes marred by the mists of pain,


s: Like some wan lily overdrenched with rain:


s: The clamorous clang of arms, the ensanguined sky,


s: To her proud soul no common fear can bring:


s: Bravely she tarrieth for her Lord the King,


s: Her soul a-flame with passionate ecstasy.


s: Made for the luring and the love of man!


s: With thee I do forget the toil and stress,


s: The loveless road that knows no resting place,


s: Time's straitened pulse, the soul's dread weariness,


s: Scans the fair shapes some Attic hand hath made,


s: God with slim goddess, goodly man with maid,


s: And for their beauty's sake is loth to turn


s: And face the obvious day, must I not yearn


s: For many a secret moon of indolent bliss,


s: I see thee standing, antique-limbed, and stern?


s: And yet--methinks I'd rather see thee play


s: That serpent of old Nile, whose witchery


s: Our stage with all thy mimic pageants!  Nay,


s: I am grown sick of unreal passions, make


s: The world thine Actium, me thine Anthony!


s: From passionate pain to deadlier delight,--


s: Too young art thou to waste this summer night


s: Asking those idle questions which of old


s: Man sought of seer and oracle, and no reply was told.


s: For, sweet, to feel is better than to know,


s: One pulse of passion--youth's first fiery glow,--


s: Are worth the hoarded proverbs of the sage:


s: Have we not lips to kiss with, hearts to love and eyes to see!


s: Dost thou not hear the murmuring nightingale,


s: So soft she sings the envious moon is pale,


s: She cannot hear that love-enraptured tune,--


s: Mark how she wreathes each horn with mist, yon late and labouring


s: White lilies, in whose cups the gold bees dream,


s: The fallen snow of petals where the breeze


s: Scatters the chestnut blossom, or the gleam


s: Of boyish limbs in water,--are not these


s: Alas! the Gods will give nought else from their eternal store.


s: For our high Gods have sick and wearied grown


s: Of all our endless sins, our vain endeavour


s: By pain or prayer or priest, and never, never,


s: But send their rain upon the just and the unjust at will.


s: They sit at ease, our Gods they sit at ease,


s: Strewing with leaves of rose their scented wine,


s: They sleep, they sleep, beneath the rocking trees


s: Mourning the old glad days before they knew


s: What evil things the heart of man could dream, and dreaming do.


s: And far beneath the brazen floor they see


s: Like swarming flies the crowd of little men,


s: Back to their lotus-haunts they turn again


s: Kissing each others' mouths, and mix more deep


s: The poppy-seeded draught which brings soft purple-lidded sleep.


s: There all day long the golden-vestured sun,


s: Their torch-bearer, stands with his torch ablaze,


s: By its twelve maidens, through the crimson haze


s: Fresh from Endymion's arms comes forth the moon,


s: And the immortal Gods in toils of mortal passions swoon.


s: There walks Queen Juno through some dewy mead,


s: Her grand white feet flecked with the saffron dust


s: Of wind-stirred lilies, while young Ganymede


s: Leaps in the hot and amber-foaming must,


s: His curls all tossed, as when the eagle bare


s: The frightened boy from Ida through the blue Ionian air.


s: There in the green heart of some garden close


s: Queen Venus with the shepherd at her side,


s: Which would be white yet blushes at its pride,


s: Laughs low for love, till jealous Salmacis


s: There never does that dreary north-wind blow


s: Which leaves our English forests bleak and bare,


s: Nor ever falls the swift white-feathered snow,


s: Nor ever doth the red-toothed lightning dare


s: To wake them in the silver-fretted night


s: When we lie weeping for some sweet sad sin, some dead delight.


s: Alas! they know the far Lethaean spring,


s: The violet-hidden waters well they know,


s: Where one whose feet with tired wandering


s: Are faint and broken may take heart and go,


s: And from those dark depths cool and crystalline


s: Drink, and draw balm, and sleep for sleepless souls, and anodyne.


s: On vain repentance--O we are born too late!


s: The joy of infinite love and the fierce pain of infinite crime.


s: O we are wearied of this sense of guilt,


s: Wearied of every right, unanswered prayer,


s: For man is weak; God sleeps:  and heaven is high:


s: One fiery-coloured moment:  one great love; and lo! we die.


s: Ah! but no ferry-man with labouring pole


s: Nears his black shallop to the flowerless strand,


s: No little coin of bronze can bring the soul


s: Victim and wine and vow are all in vain,


s: The tomb is sealed; the soldiers watch; the dead rise not again.


s: We are made one with what we touch and see,


s: With our heart's blood each crimson sun is fair,


s: With our young lives each spring-impassioned tree


s: Flames into green, the wildest beasts that range


s: The moor our kinsmen are, all life is one, and all is change.


s: One grand great life throbs through earth's giant heart,


s: From nerveless germ to man, for we are part


s: Of every rock and bird and beast and hill,


s: One with the things that prey on us, and one with what we kill.


s: To full perfection; thus the world grows old:


s: Of quivering purple flecked with bars of gold,


s: And tossed in terrible tangles of some wild and wind-swept sea.


s: This hot hard flame with which our bodies burn


s: Will make some meadow blaze with daffodil,


s: Ay! and those argent breasts of thine will turn


s: To water-lilies; the brown fields men till


s: Will be more fruitful for our love to-night,


s: Nothing is lost in nature, all things live in Death's despite.


s: The boy's first kiss, the hyacinth's first bell,


s: The man's last passion, and the last red spear


s: Which will not let its blossoms blow for fear


s: Of the young bridegroom at his lover's eyes,--these with the same


s: The yellow buttercups that shake for mirth


s: At daybreak know a pleasure not less real


s: Than we do, when in some fresh-blossoming wood,


s: We draw the spring into our hearts, and feel that life is good.


s: Thy crimson-stained mouth a rose will be,


s: And thy soft eyes lush bluebells dimmed with dew,


s: Kisses the wind its playmate some faint joy


s: Will thrill our dust, and we will be again fond maid and boy.


s: And thus without life's conscious torturing pain


s: In some sweet flower we will feel the sun,


s: And from the linnet's throat will sing again,


s: And as two gorgeous-mailed snakes will run


s: Through the hot jungle where the yellow-eyed huge lions sleep


s: And give them battle!  How my heart leaps up


s: To think of that grand living after death


s: In beast and bird and flower, when this cup,


s: Being filled too full of spirit, bursts for breath,


s: And with the pale leaves of some autumn day


s: The soul earth's earliest conqueror becomes earth's last great


s: O think of it!  We shall inform ourselves


s: Into all sensuous life, the goat-foot Faun,


s: The Centaur, or the merry bright-eyed Elves


s: That leave their dancing rings to spite the dawn


s: Upon the meadows, shall not be more near


s: Than you and I to nature's mysteries, for we shall hear


s: The thrush's heart beat, and the daisies grow,


s: And the wan snowdrop sighing for the sun


s: On sunless days in winter, we shall know


s: On what wide wings from shivering pine to pine the eagle flies.


s: Ay! had we never loved at all, who knows


s: Had hung with crimson lamps its little tree!


s: Methinks no leaf would ever bud in spring,


s: But for the lovers' lips that kiss, the poets' lips that sing.


s: Is the light vanished from our golden sun,


s: Or is this daedal-fashioned earth less fair,


s: With every pulse of life that beats the air?


s: Rather new suns across the sky shall pass,


s: New splendour come unto the flower, new glory to the grass.


s: Shall be our raiment, and the bearded star


s: Shoot arrows at our pleasure!  We shall be


s: And through all aeons mix and mingle with the Kosmic Soul!


s: We shall be notes in that great Symphony


s: Whose cadence circles through the rhythmic spheres,


s: And all the live World's throbbing heart shall be


s: One with our heart; the stealthy creeping years


s: Have lost their terrors now, we shall not die,


s: The Universe itself shall be our Immortality.


s: And all the branches streaked with gold.


s: How steep the stairs within Kings' houses are


s: For exile-wearied feet as mine to tread,


s: Which falls from this Hound's table,--better far


s: Or that the gate of Florence bare my head,


s: Than to live thus, by all things comraded


s: Which seek the essence of my soul to mar.


s: 'Curse God and die:  what better hope than this?


s: Nay peace:  behind my prison's blinded bars


s: My love, and all the glory of the stars.


s: Is it thy will that I should wax and wane,


s: Barter my cloth of gold for hodden grey,


s: And at thy pleasure weave that web of pain


s: Whose brightest threads are each a wasted day?


s: Is it thy will--Love that I love so well--


s: That my Soul's House should be a tortured spot


s: Wherein, like evil paramours, must dwell


s: The quenchless flame, the worm that dieth not?


s: And sorrow dig its grave within my heart.


s: I have not made my heart a heart of stone,


s: Nor starved my boyhood of its goodly feast,


s: Nor walked where Beauty is a thing unknown.


s: Many a man hath done so; sought to fence


s: In straitened bonds the soul that should be free,


s: Not marking how the spotted hawk in flight


s: Passed on wide pinion through the lofty air,


s: To where some steep untrodden mountain height


s: Caught the last tresses of the Sun God's hair.


s: The daisy, that white-feathered shield of gold,


s: Followed with wistful eyes the wandering sun


s: Content if once its leaves were aureoled.


s: To have walked hand in hand with Love, and seen


s: His purple wings flit once across thy smile.


s: Ay! though the gorged asp of passion feed


s: On my boy's heart, yet have I burst the bars,


s: Stood face to face with Beauty, known indeed


s: The Love which moves the Sun and all the stars!


s: Dear Heart, I think the young impassioned priest


s: When first he takes from out the hidden shrine


s: And eats the bread, and drinks the dreadful wine,


s: When first my smitten eyes beat full on thee,


s: And all night long before thy feet I knelt


s: Ah! hadst thou liked me less and loved me more,


s: Through all those summer days of joy and rain,


s: Yet, though remorse, youth's white-faced seneschal,


s: I am most glad I loved thee--think of all


s: The suns that go to make one speedwell blue!


s: Back to her sombre cave, ere she hath won


s: So doth thy Beauty make my lips to fail,


s: And all my sweetest singing out of tune.


s: And with its too harsh kisses break the reed


s: So my too stormy passions work me wrong,


s: Else it were better we should part, and go,


s: Of unkissed kisses, and songs never sung.


s: As long as the sunflower sought the sun,--


s: Dear friend, those times are over and done;


s: From the mighty murmuring mystical seas,


s: Look upward where the white gull screams,


s: We have lived our lives in a land of dreams!


s: Within this restless, hurried, modern world


s: We took our hearts' full pleasure--You and I,


s: And now the white sails of our ship are furled,


s: Wherefore my cheeks before their time are wan,


s: Sorrow has paled my young mouth's vermilion,


s: But all this crowded life has been to thee


s: No more than lyre, or lute, or subtle spell


s: That sleeps, a mimic echo, in the shell.


s: To stab my youth with desperate knives, to wear


s: To let each base hand filch my treasury,


s: And be mere Fortune's lackeyed groom,--I swear


s: I love it not! these things are less to me


s: Than the thin foam that frets upon the sea,


s: Which hath no seed:  better to stand aloof


s: Far from these slanderous fools who mock my life


s: Knowing me not, better the lowliest roof


s: Than to go back to that hoarse cave of strife


s: Where my white soul first kissed the mouth of sin.


s: It is full winter now:  the trees are bare,


s: Save where the cattle huddle from the cold


s: Beneath the pine, for it doth never wear


s: Her jealous brother pilfers, but is true


s: To the green doublet; bitter is the wind, as though it blew


s: From Saturn's cave; a few thin wisps of hay


s: Lie on the sharp black hedges, where the wain


s: Dragged the sweet pillage of a summer's day


s: From the low meadows up the narrow lane;


s: Upon the half-thawed snow the bleating sheep


s: From the shut stable to the frozen stream


s: The bawling shepherds and the noisy team;


s: The cawing rooks whirl round the frosted stack,


s: Or crowd the dripping boughs; and in the fen the ice-pools crack


s: Where the gaunt bittern stalks among the reeds


s: And flaps his wings, and stretches back his neck,


s: And hoots to see the moon; across the meads


s: Limps the poor frightened hare, a little speck;


s: Flits like a sudden drift of snow against the dull grey sky.


s: Full winter:  and the lusty goodman brings


s: And stamps his feet upon the hearth, and flings


s: And laughs to see the sudden lightening scare


s: His children at their play, and yet,--the spring is in the air;


s: And soon yon blanched fields will bloom again


s: With nodding cowslips for some lad to mow,


s: For with the first warm kisses of the rain


s: The winter's icy sorrow breaks to tears,


s: From the dark warren where the fir-cones lie,


s: And treads one snowdrop under foot, and runs


s: Over the mossy knoll, and blackbirds fly


s: Across our path at evening, and the suns


s: Stay longer with us; ah! how good to see


s: Grass-girdled spring in all her joy of laughing greenery


s: Dance through the hedges till the early rose,


s: (That sweet repentance of the thorny briar!)


s: Burst from its sheathed emerald and disclose


s: The little quivering disk of golden fire


s: Which the bees know so well, for with it come


s: Pale boy's-love, sops-in-wine, and daffadillies all in bloom.


s: Then up and down the field the sower goes,


s: While close behind the laughing younker scares


s: With shrilly whoop the black and thievish crows,


s: And then the chestnut-tree its glory wears,


s: And on the grass the creamy blossom falls


s: In odorous excess, and faint half-whispered madrigals


s: Steal from the bluebells' nodding carillons


s: Each breezy morn, and then white jessamine,


s: That star of its own heaven, snap-dragons


s: With lolling crimson tongues, and eglantine


s: And woodland empery, and when the lingering rose hath shed


s: And pansies closed their purple-lidded eyes,


s: Unload their gaudy scentless merchandise,


s: From their shy nooks, and scarlet berries dot the leafless haw.


s: Soon will your queen in daisy-flowered smock


s: And crown of flower-de-luce trip down the lea,


s: Soon will the lazy shepherds drive their flock


s: Back to the pasture by the pool, and soon


s: Through the green leaves will float the hum of murmuring bees at


s: Soon will the glade be bright with bellamour,


s: The flower which wantons love, and those sweet nuns


s: Will tell their beaded pearls, and carnations


s: With mitred dusky leaves will scent the wind,


s: And straggling traveller's-joy each hedge with yellow stars will


s: Dear bride of Nature and most bounteous spring,


s: That canst give increase to the sweet-breath'd kine,


s: And to the kid its little horns, and bring


s: The soft and silky blossoms to the vine,


s: Where is that old nepenthe which of yore


s: Man got from poppy root and glossy-berried mandragore!


s: When all the strings of boyish life were stirred


s: To quick response or more melodious rhyme


s: Or rather doth some evil thing through thy fair pleasaunce range?


s: Nay, nay, thou art the same:  'tis I who seek


s: And because fruitless tears bedew my cheek


s: Would have thee weep with me in brotherhood;


s: Fool! shall each wronged and restless spirit dare


s: To taint such wine with the salt poison of own despair!


s: Thou art the same:  'tis I whose wretched soul


s: And gives its kingdom to the rude control


s: Of what should be its servitor,--for sure


s: Wisdom is somewhere, though the stormy sea


s: Contain it not, and the huge deep answer ''Tis not in me.'


s: To burn with one clear flame, to stand erect


s: Can teach me this? what herb Medea brewed


s: Will bring the unexultant peace of essence not subdued?


s: And for its answering brother waits in vain


s: Dies a swan's death; but I the heir of pain,


s: A silent Memnon with blank lidless eyes,


s: Wait for the light and music of those suns which never rise.


s: The quenched-out torch, the lonely cypress-gloom,


s: The little dust stored in the narrow urn,


s: Were not these better far than to return


s: Or spend my days within the voiceless cave of misery?


s: Nay! for perchance that poppy-crowned god


s: Who talks of sleep but gives it not; his rod


s: Hath lost its virtue, and, when all is said,


s: To solve one single secret in a life's philosophy.


s: And Love! that noble madness, whose august


s: The soul with honeyed drugs,--alas! I must


s: Forget the arched splendour of those brows Olympian


s: That all the chiding of more prudent Truth


s: Seemed the thin voice of jealousy,--O hence


s: Go seek some other quarry! for of thy too perilous bliss.


s: My lips have drunk enough,--no more, no more,--


s: Though Love himself should turn his gilded prow


s: Back to the troubled waters of this shore


s: Where I am wrecked and stranded, even now


s: The chariot wheels of passion sweep too near,


s: Hence!  Hence!  I pass unto a life more barren, more austere.


s: More barren--ay, those arms will never lean


s: Down through the trellised vines and draw my soul


s: In sweet reluctance through the tangled green;


s: Whose white and stainless bosom bears the sign Gorgonian.


s: And kiss his mouth, and toss his curly hair,


s: But me her fond and subtle-fashioned spell


s: Delights no more, though I could win her dearest citadel.


s: Ay, though I were that laughing shepherd boy


s: And knew the coming of the Queen, and bowed


s: Of a new Helen would I bid her hand the apple take.


s: At least my life:  was not thy glory hymned


s: By One who gave to thee his sword and lyre


s: And died to show that Milton's England still could bear a son!


s: Or nurture that wise calm which long ago


s: The grave Athenian master taught to men,


s: Self-poised, self-centred, and self-comforted,


s: To watch the world's vain phantasies go by with unbowed head.


s: Alas! that serene brow, those eloquent lips,


s: Is childless; in the night which she had made


s: For lofty secure flight Athena's owl itself hath strayed.


s: Nor much with Science do I care to climb,


s: She drew the moon from heaven:  the Muse Time


s: In the great epic of Polymnia's scroll I love to read


s: White-shielded, purple-crested, rode the Mede


s: Which men call Artemisium, till he saw Thermopylae


s: Its steep ravine spanned by a narrow wall,


s: And pitched his tent upon the reedy shore,


s: And stayed two days to wonder, and then crept at midnight o'er


s: Some unfrequented height, and coming down


s: What Sparta held most dear and was the crown


s: In the small bay at Salamis,--and yet, the page grows dim,


s: Its cadenced Greek delights me not, I feel


s: To love it much:  for like the Dial's wheel


s: That from its blinded darkness strikes the noon


s: Restlessly follow that which from my cheated vision flies.


s: To teach us what is Wisdom! speak ye hills


s: Of lone Helvellyn, for this note of strife


s: Shunned your untroubled crags and crystal rills,


s: Where is that Spirit which living blamelessly


s: Yet dared to kiss the smitten mouth of his own century!


s: Whose gentle head ye sheltered, that pure soul


s: Whose gracious days of uncrowned majesty


s: Through lowliest conduct touched the lofty goal


s: Where love and duty mingle!  Him at least


s: The most high Laws were glad of, he had sat at Wisdom's feast;


s: But we are Learning's changelings, know by rote


s: The clarion watchword of each Grecian school


s: And follow none, the flawless sword which smote


s: Which we ourselves have blunted, what man now


s: Shall scale the august ancient heights and to old Reverence bow?


s: And whose unrisen bones sleep peacefully,


s: O guard him, guard him well, my Giotto's tower,


s: Thou marble lily of the lily town! let not the lour


s: O'er-leap its marge, no mightier conqueror


s: Clomb the high Capitol in the days of old


s: Walked like a bride beside him, at which sight pale Mystery


s: Fled shrieking to her farthest sombrest cell


s: With an old man who grabbled rusty keys,


s: Fled shuddering, for that immemorial knell


s: Swept like a wounded eagle on the blast,


s: As to the holy heart of Rome the great triumvir passed.


s: He knew the holiest heart and heights of Rome,


s: He drave the base wolf from the lion's lair,


s: Breathe through thy melancholy pipe thy sweetest threnody!


s: Breathe through the tragic stops such melodies


s: That Joy's self may grow jealous, and the Nine


s: Mourning for him who on Rome's lordliest shrine


s: Lit for men's lives the light of Marathon,


s: And bare to sun-forgotten fields the fire of the sun!


s: O guard him, guard him well, my Giotto's tower!


s: Which the dim woods of Vallombrosa hide,


s: And deck the marble tomb wherein he lies


s: Whose soul is as some mighty orb unseen of mortal eyes;


s: Some mighty orb whose cycled wanderings,


s: Being tempest-driven to the farthest rim


s: Where Chaos meets Creation and the wings


s: Into a moonless void,--and yet, though he is dust and clay,


s: Forbid it, and the closing shears refrain.


s: Lift up your heads ye everlasting gates!


s: Ye argent clarions, sound a loftier strain


s: For the vile thing he hated lurks within


s: Its sombre house, alone with God and memories of sin.


s: Still what avails it that she sought her cave


s: That murderous mother of red harlotries?


s: The Grecian boys die smiling, but the seas


s: Not mirroring their beauty; so our lives grow colourless


s: Flame torch-like in the heavens the unjust


s: Swift daylight kills it, and no trump of war


s: Can wake to passionate voice the silent dust


s: For all her stony sorrows hath her sons; but Italy,


s: What Easter Day shall make her children rise,


s: Who were not Gods yet suffered? what sure feet


s: Shall find their grave-clothes folded? what clear eyes


s: To roll the stone from off the sepulchre


s: And kiss the bleeding roses of their wounds, in love of her,


s: Most blessed among nations and most sad,


s: For whose dear sake the young Calabrian fell


s: That in an age when God was bought and sold


s: One man could die for Liberty! but we, burnt out and cold,


s: See Honour smitten on the cheek and gyves


s: Creeps through our sunless lanes and with sharp knives


s: Cuts the warm throats of children stealthily,


s: And no word said:- O we are wretched men


s: Unworthy of our great inheritance! where is the pen


s: Of austere Milton? where the mighty sword


s: Which slew its master righteously? the years


s: Have lost their ancient leader, and no word


s: Breaks from the voiceless tripod on our ears:


s: Bears a base child and loathes it, so our best enthusiasm


s: That stings itself to anguish, Avarice whose palsied grasp


s: Is in its extent stiffened, moneyed Greed


s: Amid the whirr of wheels and are the seed


s: Of things which slay their sower, these each day


s: Sees rife in England, and the gentle feet


s: Of Beauty tread no more the stones of each unlovely street.


s: By weed and worm, left to the stormy play


s: By more destructful hands:  Time's worst decay


s: Will wreathe its ruins with some loveliness,


s: But these new Vandals can but make a rain-proof barrenness.


s: Where is that Art which bade the Angels sing


s: Through Lincoln's lofty choir, till the air


s: Seems from such marble harmonies to ring


s: With sweeter song than common lips can dare


s: To draw from actual reed? ah! where is now


s: The cunning hand which made the flowering hawthorn branches bow


s: For Southwell's arch, and carved the House of One


s: Who loved the lilies of the field with all


s: Our dearest English flowers? the same sun


s: Weave the same tapestry of green and grey:


s: And the Plague chambers with her:  in obscene


s: And bloody paths her treacherous feet are set;


s: Better the empty desert and a soul inviolate!


s: Of living in the healthful air, the swift


s: Clean beauty of strong limbs when men are free


s: And women chaste, these are the things which lift


s: Gaunt blinded Sibyl poring o'er the scroll of human woes,


s: White as her own sweet lily and as tall,


s: Or Mona Lisa smiling through her hair,--


s: The God that is within us!  The old Greek serenity


s: Which curbs the passion of that level line


s: Of marble youths, who with untroubled eyes


s: And chastened limbs ride round Athena's shrine


s: Would else wage ceaseless warfare,--this at least within the span


s: Between our mother's kisses and the grave


s: Might so inform our lives, that we could win


s: Temptation would grow hoarse, and pallid Sin


s: And Passion creep from out the House of Lust with startled eyes.


s: With all right things, till no thing live in vain


s: With every pulse of flesh and throb of brain


s: The soul in flawless essence high enthroned,


s: Against all outer vain attack invincibly bastioned,


s: The strife of things, and yet be comforted,


s: Is joy, or holier praise! ah! surely this were governance


s: Through which the rational intellect would find


s: In passion its expression, and mere sense,


s: More mystical than that which binds the stars planetary,


s: Strike from their several tones one octave chord


s: Whose cadence being measureless would fly


s: Through all the circling spheres, then to its Lord


s: Could we but reach it were to find the last, the perfect creed.


s: Ah! it was easy when the world was young


s: By our own hands our heads are desecrate,


s: Wanderers in drear exile, and dispossessed


s: Of what should be our own, we can but feed on wild unrest.


s: Somehow the grace, the bloom of things has flown,


s: Must live each other's lives and not our own


s: When soul and body seemed to blend in mystic symphonies.


s: But we have left those gentle haunts to pass


s: Learn what an awful phantom the red hand of man can raise.


s: O smitten mouth!  O forehead crowned with thorn!


s: Thou for our sakes that loved thee not hast borne


s: Being ourselves the sowers and the seeds,


s: The night that covers and the lights that fade,


s: The spear that pierces and the side that bleeds,


s: The lips betraying and the life betrayed;


s: The deep hath calm:  the moon hath rest:  but we


s: Lords of the natural world are yet our own dread enemy.


s: Is this the end of all that primal force


s: Which, in its changes being still the same,


s: From eyeless Chaos cleft its upward course,


s: Through ravenous seas and whirling rocks and flame,


s: Their cycles, and the morning stars sang, and the Word was Man!


s: Nay, nay, we are but crucified, and though


s: The bloody sweat falls from our brows like rain


s: Loosen the nails--we shall come down I know,


s: Staunch the red wounds--we shall be whole again,


s: That which is purely human, that is godlike, that is God.


s: Sweet, I blame you not, for mine the fault


s: I had climbed the higher heights unclimbed


s: yet, seen the fuller air, the larger day.


s: From the wildness of my wasted passion I had


s: Lit some lighter light of freer freedom, battled


s: Had my lips been smitten into music by the


s: You had walked with Bice and the angels on


s: I had trod the road which Dante treading saw


s: Ay! perchance had seen the heavens opening,


s: And the mighty nations would have crowned


s: me, who am crownless now and without name,


s: And some orient dawn had found me kneeling


s: I had sat within that marble circle where the


s: And the pipe is ever dropping honey, and the


s: Keats had lifted up his hymeneal curls from out


s: With ambrosial mouth had kissed my forehead,


s: And at springtide, when the apple-blossoms brush


s: Two young lovers lying in an orchard would


s: Would have read the legend of my passion,


s: Kissed as we have kissed, but never parted as


s: For the crimson flower of our life is eaten by


s: And no hand can gather up the fallen withered


s: Yet I am not sorry that I loved you--ah! what


s: For the hungry teeth of time devour, and the


s: Rudderless, we drift athwart a tempest, and


s: Without lyre, without lute or chorus, Death


s: And within the grave there is no pleasure, for


s: And Desire shudders into ashes, and the tree of


s: Ah! what else had I to do but love you, God's


s: And less dear the Cytheraean rising like an


s: I have made my choice, have lived my poems,


s: and, though youth is gone in wasted days,


s: I have found the lover's crown of myrtle better


s: In the glad springtime when leaves were green,


s: Ah, Love! ah, Love! that thou wert slain--


s: O beautiful star with the crimson mouth!


s: Rise up, rise up, from the odorous south!


s: O rapturous bird with the low, sweet note!


s: Sing on, sing on, from your soft brown throat!


s: O blossom that hangs in the tremulous air!


s: Come down, come down, for my love to wear!


s: Went sidling through the slow quadrille,


s: These are the letters which Endymion wrote


s: And now the brawlers of the auction mart


s: Bargain and bid for each poor blotted note,


s: Ay! for each separate pulse of passion quote


s: The merchant's price.  I think they love not art


s: That small and sickly eyes may glare and gloat.


s: In a far Eastern town, some soldiers ran


s: With torches through the midnight, and began


s: To wrangle for mean raiment, and to throw


s: Dice for the garments of a wretched man,


s: Not knowing the God's wonder, or His woe?


s: Frets with its restless whirls this meagre strand.


s: Hath Summer dug herself so deep a grave,


s: One silver blossom from keen Winter's hand.


s: But who is this who cometh by the shore?


s: (Nay, love, look up and wonder!)  Who is this


s: Who cometh in dyed garments from the South?


s: It is thy new-found Lord, and he shall kiss


s: And I shall weep and worship, as before.


s: To him who, on a lute with horns of pearl,


s: Sang of the white feet of the Golden Girl:


s: May find that golden maidens dance through thee.


s: Could we dig up this long-buried treasure,


s: For in the spring the narciss shows its head


s: Nor withers till the rose has flamed to red,


s: And the slim crocus stirs the winter snow;


s: Wherefore yon leafless trees will bloom again


s: And this grey land grow green with summer rain


s: And send up cowslips for some boy to mow.


s: But what of life whose bitter hungry sea


s: Flows at our heels, and gloom of sunless night


s: Covers the days which never more return?


s: Ambition, love and all the thoughts that burn


s: Thy soft brown limbs, thy beard of gold,


s: (To Marcel Schwob in friendship and in admiration)


s: In a dim corner of my room for longer than


s: A beautiful and silent Sphinx has watched me


s: Inviolate and immobile she does not rise she


s: For silver moons are naught to her and naught


s: Red follows grey across the air, the waves of


s: But with the Dawn she does not go and in the


s: Dawn follows Dawn and Nights grow old and


s: Lies couching on the Chinese mat with eyes of


s: Upon the mat she lies and leers and on the


s: Flutters the soft and silky fur or ripples to her


s: Come forth, my lovely seneschal! so somnolent,


s: Come forth you exquisite grotesque! half woman


s: Come forth my lovely languorous Sphinx! and


s: And let me stroke your throat and see your


s: And let me touch those curving claws of yellow


s: The tail that like a monstrous Asp coils round


s: Some twenty summers cast their green for


s: And you have talked with Basilisks, and you


s: O tell me, were you standing by when Isis to


s: To see the huge proconsul draw the salted tunny


s: And did you mark the Cyprian kiss white Adon


s: And did you talk with Thoth, and did you hear


s: And know the painted kings who sleep beneath


s: Lift up your large black satin eyes which are


s: Fawn at my feet, fantastic Sphinx! and sing me


s: And how you led them through the wild, and


s: Sing to me of that odorous green eve when


s: You heard from Adrian's gilded barge the


s: And lapped the stream and fed your drouth and


s: The ivory body of that rare young slave with


s: Sing to me of the Labyrinth in which the twi-


s: Sing to me of the night you crawled across the


s: When through the purple corridors the screaming


s: In terror, and a horrid dew dripped from the


s: And the great torpid crocodile within the tank


s: And the priests cursed you with shrill psalms as


s: And crept away with it to slake your passion by


s: Which was the vessel of your Lust?  What


s: Did giant Lizards come and crouch before you


s: Did Gryphons with great metal flanks leap on


s: Did monstrous hippopotami come sidling toward


s: Did gilt-scaled dragons writhe and twist with


s: And from the brick-built Lycian tomb what


s: With fearful heads and fearful flame to breed


s: Or had you shameful secret quests and did


s: Some Nereid coiled in amber foam with curious


s: Or did you treading through the froth call to


s: Or did you when the sun was set climb up the


s: To meet your swarthy Ethiop whose body was


s: Or did you while the earthen skiffs dropped


s: At twilight and the flickering bats flew round


s: Steal to the border of the bar and swim across


s: And slink into the vault and make the Pyramid


s: Till from each black sarcophagus rose up the


s: Or did you lure unto your bed the ivory-horned


s: Or did you love the god of flies who plagued


s: With wine unto the waist? or Pasht, who had


s: Or that young god, the Tyrian, who was more


s: Of Ashtaroth? or did you love the god of the


s: Whose wings, like strange transparent talc, rose


s: Painted with silver and with red and ribbed with


s: Or did huge Apis from his car leap down and


s: Big blossoms of the honey-sweet and honey-


s: How subtle-secret is your smile!  Did you


s: Great Ammon was your bedfellow!  He lay with


s: The river-horses in the slime trumpeted when


s: Odorous with Syrian galbanum and smeared with


s: He came along the river bank like some tall


s: He strode across the waters, mailed in beauty,


s: He strode across the desert sand:  he reached


s: He waited till the dawn of day:  then touched


s: You kissed his mouth with mouths of flame:


s: You stood behind him on his throne:  you called


s: You whispered monstrous oracles into the


s: With blood of goats and blood of steers you


s: And with your curved archaic smile you watched


s: His marble limbs made pale the moon and lent


s: His long hair was nine cubits' span and coloured


s: His face was as the must that lies upon a vat of


s: The seas could not insapphirine the perfect azure


s: His thick soft throat was white as milk and


s: On pearl and porphyry pedestalled he was


s: For on his ivory breast there shone the wondrous


s: Had found beneath the blackening waves and


s: Before his gilded galiot ran naked vine-wreathed


s: And lines of swaying elephants knelt down to


s: And lines of swarthy Nubians bare up his litter


s: Down the great granite-paven road between the


s: The merchants brought him steatite from Sidon


s: The meanest cup that touched his lips was


s: The merchants brought him cedar chests of rich


s: His train was borne by Memphian lords:  young


s: Ten hundred shaven priests did bow to Ammon's


s: Ten hundred lamps did wave their light through


s: Foul snake and speckled adder with their young


s: For ruined is the house and prone the great


s: Wild ass or trotting jackal comes and couches


s: Wild satyrs call unto their mates across the


s: And on the summit of the pile the blue-faced


s: And gibbers while the fig-tree splits the pillars


s: The god is scattered here and there:  deep


s: I saw his giant granite hand still clenched in


s: Crossing the desert, halts appalled before the


s: And many a bearded Bedouin draws back his


s: To gaze upon the Titan thews of him who was


s: And from their pieces make anew thy mutilated


s: Go, seek them where they lie alone and from


s: Thy bruised bedfellow!  And wake mad passions


s: Charm his dull ear with Syrian hymns! he loved


s: Pour spikenard on his hair, and wind soft rolls


s: Wind round his head the figured coins! stain


s: Weave purple for his shrunken hips! and purple


s: Only one God has let His side be wounded by a


s: But these, thy lovers, are not dead.  Still by the


s: Dog-faced Anubis sits in state with lotus-lilies


s: Still from his chair of porphyry gaunt Memnon


s: Across the empty land, and cries each yellow


s: And Nilus with his broken horn lies in his black


s: And till thy coming will not spread his waters on


s: Your lovers are not dead, I know.  They will


s: And clash their cymbals and rejoice and run to


s: Set wings upon your argosies!  Set horses to


s: Back to your Nile!  Or if you are grown sick of


s: Follow some roving lion's spoor across the copper-


s: Reach out and hale him by the mane and bid


s: Couch by his side upon the grass and set your


s: And when you hear his dying note lash your


s: And take a tiger for your mate, whose amber


s: And ride upon his gilded back in triumph


s: And toy with him in amorous jests, and when


s: O smite him with your jasper claws! and bruise


s: I weary of your steadfast gaze, your somnolent


s: Your horrible and heavy breath makes the light


s: And on my brow I feel the damp and dreadful


s: Your eyes are like fantastic moons that shiver


s: Your tongue is like a scarlet snake that dances


s: Your pulse makes poisonous melodies, and your


s: Left by some torch or burning coal on Saracenic


s: Away!  The sulphur-coloured stars are hurrying


s: Away!  Or it may be too late to climb their silent


s: See, the dawn shivers round the grey gilt-dialled


s: Streams down each diamonded pane and blurs


s: What snake-tressed fury fresh from Hell, with


s: Stole from the poppy-drowsy queen and led you


s: What songless tongueless ghost of sin crept


s: And saw my taper burning bright, and knocked,


s: Are there not others more accursed, whiter with


s: Are Abana and Pharphar dry that you come here


s: Get hence, you loathsome mystery!  Hideous


s: You wake in me each bestial sense, you make me


s: You make my creed a barren sham, you wake


s: And Atys with his blood-stained knife were


s: False Sphinx!  False Sphinx!  By reedy Styx


s: Waits for my coin.  Go thou before, and leave


s: Whose pallid burden, sick with pain, watches


s: And weeps for every soul that dies, and weeps


s: Sometime trooper of the Royal Horse Guards


s: Some kill their love when they are young,


s: Nor drop feet foremost through the floor


s: While some coarse-mouthed Doctor gloats,


s: And binds one with three leathern thongs,


s: Six weeks our guardsman walked the yard,


s: And at every wandering cloud that trailed


s: The loftiest place is that seat of grace


s: Like two doomed ships that pass in storm


s: We rubbed the doors, and scrubbed the floors,


s: We sewed the sacks, we broke the stones,


s: We banged the tins, and bawled the hymns,


s: And through the bars that hide the stars


s: But there is no sleep when men must weep


s: And as molten lead were the tears we shed


s: All through the night we knelt and prayed,


s: And each evil sprite that walks by night


s: And with formal pace and loathsome grace


s: And the damned grotesques made arabesques,


s: But with flutes of Fear they filled the ear,


s: Ah! wounds of Christ! they were living things,


s: And with subtle sneer, and fawning leer,


s: But the sough and swing of a mighty wing


s: For the stroke of eight is the stroke of Fate


s: So, like things of stone in a valley lone,


s: But each man's heart beat thick and quick,


s: Like the sound that frightened marshes hear


s: And heard the prayer the hangman's snare


s: And the wild regrets, and the bloody sweats,


s: So they kept us close till nigh on noon,


s: And the Warders with their jingling keys


s: For this man's face was white with fear,


s: And makes it bleed great gouts of blood,


s: They think a murderer's heart would taint


s: And the red rose would but blow more red,


s: On that stretch of mud and sand that lies


s: They stripped him of his canvas clothes,


s: And with laughter loud they heaped the shroud


s: Since first Man took his brother's life,


s: But straws the wheat and saves the chaff


s: And bound with bars lest Christ should see


s: For they starve the little frightened child


s: And they scourge the weak, and flog the fool,


s: And the bitter bread they weigh in scales


s: And the eye that watches through the door


s: And with tears of blood he cleansed the hand,


s: And there, till Christ call forth the dead,


s: To my friend George Fleming author of 'The Nile Novel' and


s: A year ago I breathed the Italian air,--


s: And yet, methinks this northern Spring is fair,-


s: These fields made golden with the flower of March,


s: The throstle singing on the feathered larch,


s: The cawing rooks, the wood-doves fluttering by,


s: The little clouds that race across the sky;


s: And fair the violet's gentle drooping head,


s: The primrose, pale for love uncomforted,


s: The rose that burgeons on the climbing briar,


s: The crocus-bed, (that seems a moon of fire


s: Round-girdled with a purple marriage-ring);


s: And all the flowers of our English Spring,


s: Fond snowdrops, and the bright-starred daffodil.


s: Up starts the lark beside the murmuring mill,


s: And breaks the gossamer-threads of early dew;


s: And down the river, like a flame of blue,


s: While the brown linnets in the greenwood sing.


s: Since last I saw that lordly southern clime,


s: Where flower and fruit to purple radiance blow,


s: And like bright lamps the fabled apples glow.


s: Full Spring it was--and by rich flowering vines,


s: Dark olive-groves and noble forest-pines,


s: I rode at will; the moist glad air was sweet,


s: The white road rang beneath my horse's feet,


s: I watched the day till, marked with wounds of flame,


s: The turquoise sky to burnished gold was turned.


s: O how my heart with boyish passion burned,


s: Crowned with her crown of towers!--On and on


s: I galloped, racing with the setting sun,


s: And ere the crimson after-glow was passed,


s: How strangely still! no sound of life or joy


s: Startles the air; no laughing shepherd-boy


s: Pipes on his reed, nor ever through the day


s: Comes the glad sound of children at their play:


s: O sad, and sweet, and silent! surely here


s: A man might dwell apart from troublous fear,


s: Watching the tide of seasons as they flow


s: From amorous Spring to Winter's rain and snow,


s: And have no thought of sorrow;--here, indeed,


s: Which makes a man forget his fatherland.


s: For though thy brood of warrior sons hath ceased,


s: Thy noble dead are with thee!--they at least


s: Are faithful to thine honour:- guard them well,


s: To wake men's hearts to dreams of things sublime,


s: Are the lone tombs where rest the Great of Time.


s: Marks where the bravest knight of France was slain,--


s: The Prince of chivalry, the Lord of war,


s: As falls some forest-lion fighting well.


s: Taken from life while life and love were new,


s: He lies beneath God's seamless veil of blue;


s: Tall lance-like reeds wave sadly o'er his head,


s: Where his bright youth flowed crimson on the ground.


s: Look farther north unto that broken mound,--


s: There, prisoned now within a lordly tomb


s: Raised by a daughter's hand, in lonely gloom,


s: Time hath not spared his ruin,--wind and rain


s: Have broken down his stronghold; and again


s: We see that Death is mighty lord of all,


s: And king and clown to ashen dust must fall


s: Or the great queen herself, were poor and vain,


s: Beside the grave where Dante rests from pain.


s: And cunning sculptor's hands have carven there


s: The calm white brow, as calm as earliest morn,


s: The eyes that flashed with passionate love and scorn,


s: The lips that sang of Heaven and of Hell,


s: The almond-face which Giotto drew so well,


s: Through the wide bridges of that fairy town,


s: Where the tall tower of Giotto seems to rise


s: Alas! my Dante! thou hast known the pain


s: Of meaner lives,--the exile's galling chain,


s: How steep the stairs within kings' houses are,


s: Man's nobler nature with the sense of wrong.


s: Yet this dull world is grateful for thy song;


s: Who bound with crown of thorns thy living brow,


s: Hath decked thine empty tomb with laurels now,


s: O mightiest exile! all thy grief is done:


s: Ravenna guards thine ashes:  sleep in peace.


s: How lone this palace is; how grey the walls!


s: No minstrel now wakes echoes in these halls.


s: The broken chain lies rusting on the door,


s: And noisome weeds have split the marble floor:


s: Here lurks the snake, and here the lizards run


s: Yet suffered not his royal soul to fade,


s: Or lyre to break, or lance to grow less keen,


s: For from the East there came a mighty cry,


s: And Greece stood up to fight for Liberty,


s: And called him from Ravenna:  never knight


s: Rode forth more nobly to wild scenes of fight!


s: None fell more bravely on ensanguined field,


s: Borne like a Spartan back upon his shield!


s: O Hellas!  Hellas! in thine hour of pride,


s: To wrest from off thy limbs the trammelling chain:


s: O wind-swept heights of lone Thermopylae!


s: He loved you well--ay, not alone in word,


s: Who freely gave to thee his lyre and sword,


s: And England, too, shall glory in her son,


s: Her warrior-poet, first in song and fight.


s: No longer now shall Slander's venomed spite


s: Crawl like a snake across his perfect name,


s: Or mar the lordly scutcheon of his fame.


s: Which lights with joy each eager runner's face,


s: As the red cross which saveth men in war,


s: Such was his love for Greece and Liberty!


s: Byron, thy crowns are ever fresh and green:


s: Red leaves of rose from Sapphic Mitylene


s: Shall bind thy brows; the myrtle blooms for thee,


s: The laurels wait thy coming:  all are thine,


s: And round thy head one perfect wreath will twine.


s: The pine-tops rocked before the evening breeze


s: With the hoarse murmur of the wintry seas,


s: And the tall stems were streaked with amber bright;--


s: I wandered through the wood in wild delight,


s: Some startled bird, with fluttering wings and fleet,


s: Made snow of all the blossoms; at my feet,


s: Like silver crowns, the pale narcissi lay,


s: And small birds sang on every twining spray.


s: Within your haunts at least a man is free,


s: And half forgets the weary world of strife:


s: The blood flows hotter, and a sense of life


s: Wakes i' the quickening veins, while once again


s: The woods are filled with gods we fancied slain.


s: Long time I watched, and surely hoped to see


s: Some goat-foot Pan make merry minstrelsy


s: Amid the reeds! some startled Dryad-maid


s: In girlish flight! or lurking in the glade,


s: The soft brown limbs, the wanton treacherous face


s: Of woodland god! Queen Dian in the chase,


s: White-limbed and terrible, with look of pride,


s: And leash of boar-hounds leaping at her side!


s: Or Hylas mirrored in the perfect stream.


s: Ere long, with melancholy rise and swell,


s: The evening chimes, the convent's vesper bell,


s: Struck on mine ears amid the amorous flowers.


s: Alas! alas! these sweet and honied hours


s: Had whelmed my heart like some encroaching sea,


s: And drowned all thoughts of black Gethsemane.


s: Of thy great glories in the days of old:


s: Two thousand years have passed since thou didst see


s: Mighty thy name when Rome's lean eagles flew


s: From Britain's isles to far Euphrates blue;


s: And of the peoples thou wast noble queen,


s: Till in thy streets the Goth and Hun were seen.


s: Pine-forest-like, thy myriad galleys ride!


s: For where the brass-beaked ships were wont to float,


s: The weary shepherd pipes his mournful note;


s: And the white sheep are free to come and go


s: Where Adria's purple waters used to flow.


s: Rome's lordliest entrance, and hath worn his crown


s: In the high temples of the Eternal Town!


s: The Palatine hath welcomed back her king,


s: And with his name the seven mountains ring!


s: And Naples hath outlived her dream of pain,


s: And mocks her tyrant!  Venice lives again,


s: The marble spires of Milan wound the air,


s: Rings from the Alps to the Sicilian shore,


s: And Dante's dream is now a dream no more.


s: But thou, Ravenna, better loved than all,


s: That hides thy fallen greatness! and thy name


s: Burns like a grey and flickering candle-flame


s: Beneath the noonday splendour of the sun


s: The night of dark oppression, and the day


s: Hath dawned in passionate splendour:  far away


s: The Austrian hounds are hunted from the land,


s: Beyond those ice-crowned citadels which stand


s: I know, indeed, that sons of thine have died


s: Nor have thy children died for thee in vain:


s: And yet, methinks, thou hast not drunk this wine


s: From grapes new-crushed of Liberty divine,


s: Thou hast not followed that immortal Star


s: Which leads the people forth to deeds of war.


s: Weary of life, thou liest in silent sleep,


s: As one who marks the lengthening shadows creep,


s: Careless of all the hurrying hours that run,


s: Of Freedom hath not shewn to thee his face,


s: And thou hast caught no flambeau in the race.


s: Yet wake not from thy slumbers,--rest thee well,


s: Thy lily-sprinkled meadows,--rest thee there,


s: To mock all human greatness:  who would dare


s: Before thy ruins, or to praise the strife


s: Of kings' ambition, and the barren pride


s: Of warring nations! wert not thou the Bride


s: The Queen of double Empires! and to thee


s: And now--thy gates lie open night and day,


s: The grass grows green on every tower and hall,


s: The ghastly fig hath cleft thy bastioned wall;


s: And where thy mailed warriors stood at rest


s: The midnight owl hath made her secret nest.


s: Doth nought remain of all thy glorious days,


s: But a dull shield, a crown of withered bays!


s: Yet who beneath this night of wars and fears,


s: From tranquil tower can watch the coming years;


s: Who can foretell what joys the day shall bring,


s: Or why before the dawn the linnets sing?


s: Thou, even thou, mayst wake, as wakes the rose


s: To crimson splendour from its grave of snows;


s: As the rich corn-fields rise to red and gold


s: From these brown lands, now stiff with Winter's cold;


s: As from the storm-rack comes a perfect star!


s: From the wave-circled islands of my home;


s: Have seen the gloomy mystery of the Dome


s: Rise slowly from the drear Campagna's way,


s: Have watched the sun by Corinth's hill go down,


s: And marked the 'myriad laughter' of the sea


s: From starlit hills of flower-starred Arcady;


s: Yet back to thee returns my perfect love,


s: Some twenty summers cast their doublets green


s: To wake his lyre to sing a louder strain,


s: Is the low murmur of the shepherd's reed,


s: Where the loud clarion's blast should shake the sky,


s: And flame across the heavens! and to try


s: Such lofty themes were folly:  yet I know


s: Than when I woke the silence of thy street


s: With clamorous trampling of my horse's feet,


s: And saw the city which now I try to sing,


s: I stood and watched the crimson sunset glow


s: From the lone chapel on thy marshy plain:


s: The sky was as a shield that caught the stain


s: And in the west the circling clouds had spun


s: A royal robe, which some great God might wear,


s: Sank the gold galley of the Lord of Light.


s: Yet here the gentle stillness of the night


s: Brings back the swelling tide of memory,


s: And wakes again my passionate love for thee:


s: Now is the Spring of Love, yet soon will come


s: On meadow and tree the Summer's lordly bloom;


s: And soon the grass with brighter flowers will blow,


s: Then before long the Summer's conqueror,


s: Will lend his hoarded gold to all the trees,


s: And see it scattered by the spendthrift breeze;


s: And after that the Winter cold and drear.


s: And fall to weary days and locks of snow.


s: Nor cares for frowning storms or leaden skies


s: And mine for thee shall never pass away,


s: Though my weak lips may falter in my lay.


s: The night's ambassador, doth gleam afar,


s: And bid the shepherd bring his flocks to fold.


s: Perchance before our inland seas of gold


s: Are garnered by the reapers into sheaves,


s: Perchance before I see the Autumn leaves,


s: Low at thy feet the poet's laurel crown.


s: Adieu!  Adieu! yon silver lamp, the moon,


s: Which turns our midnight into perfect noon,


s: Doth surely light thy towers, guarding well


s: Where Dante sleeps, where Byron loved to dwell.


s: Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten


s: While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a


s: As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.<br>


s: And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the


s: Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to


s: From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost


s: For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name


s: Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt


s: So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood


s: “ ’Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber


s: Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;<br>


s: But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came


s: And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,<br>


s: That I scarce was sure I heard you”—here I opened


s: Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream


s: But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no


s: And the only word there spoken was the whispered word,


s: This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word,


s: Soon again I heard a tapping something louder than before.<br>


s: “Surely,” said I, “surely that is something at


s: Let me see, then, what thereat is and this mystery


s: Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery


s: In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore.<br>


s: But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber


s: Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber


s: “Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said,


s: Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly


s: Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian


s: Though its answer little meaning—little relevancy bore;<br>


s: Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber


s: Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber


s: That one word, as if its soul in that one word he did


s: Nothing further then he uttered; not a feather then he


s: Till I scarcely more than muttered: “Other friends have


s: On the morrow <i>he</i> will leave me, as my Hopes have flown


s: “Doubtless,” said I, “what it utters is its


s: Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster<br>


s: Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden


s: Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore<br>


s: Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and


s: Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking<br>


s: Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of


s: What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of


s: To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s


s: This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining<br>


s: On the cushion’s velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated


s: But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating


s: Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted


s: thee—by these angels he hath sent thee<br>


s: Respite—respite and nepenthe from thy memories of


s: Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost


s: evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!—<br>


s: Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here


s: Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land


s: On this home by Horror haunted—tell me truly, I


s: Is there—<i>is</i> there balm in Gilead?—tell


s: evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!<br>


s: By that Heaven that bends above us—by that God we both


s: Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant


s: It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name


s: Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name


s: “Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s


s: Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul has


s: Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my


s: Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my


s: On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;<br>


s: And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is


s: And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on


s: And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the


s: devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or


s: so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness


s: and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden


s: dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with


s: dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon


s: seizure, progress, and termination of the disease, were the


s: presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the


s: deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys. This was an


s: extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the


s: prince’s own eccentric yet august taste. A strong and lofty


s: having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the


s: abbey was amply provisioned. With such precautions the courtiers


s: might bid defiance to contagion. The external world could take


s: care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to


s: think. The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure.


s: There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were


s: ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was


s: seclusion, and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad,


s: that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a


s: masked ball of the most unusual magnificence.</p>


s: tell of the rooms in which it was held. These were seven—an


s: the walls on either hand, so that the view of the whole extent is


s: The apartments were so irregularly disposed that the vision


s: embraced but little more than one at a time. There was a sharp


s: turn at every twenty or thirty yards, and at each turn a novel


s: effect. To the right and left, in the middle of each wall, a tall


s: pursued the windings of the suite. These windows were of stained


s: glass whose color varied in accordance with the prevailing hue of


s: eastern extremity was hung, for example, in blue—and


s: vividly blue were its windows. The second chamber was purple in


s: its ornaments and tapestries, and here the panes were purple. The


s: white—the sixth with violet. The seventh apartment was


s: closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over


s: the ceiling and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon a


s: carpet of the same material and hue. But in this chamber only,


s: the color of the windows failed to correspond with the


s: decorations. The panes here were scarlet—a deep blood


s: color. Now in no one of the seven apartments was there any lamp


s: or candelabrum, amid the profusion of golden ornaments that lay


s: scattered to and fro or depended from the roof. There was no


s: light of any kind emanating from lamp or candle within the suite


s: of chambers. But in the corridors that followed the suite, there


s: stood, opposite to each window, a heavy tripod, bearing a brazier


s: glaringly illumined the room. And thus were produced a multitude


s: of gaudy and fantastic appearances. But in the western or black


s: chamber the effect of the fire-light that streamed upon the dark


s: hangings through the blood-tinted panes, was ghastly in the


s: extreme, and produced so wild a look upon the countenances of


s: those who entered, that there were few of the company bold enough


s: western wall, a gigantic clock of ebony. Its pendulum swung to


s: and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and when the


s: minute-hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be


s: stricken, there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound


s: which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical, but of


s: the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause,


s: momentarily, in their performance, to hearken to the sound; and


s: thus the waltzers perforce ceased their evolutions; and there was


s: chimes of the clock yet rang, it was observed that the giddiest


s: grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over


s: their brows as if in confused revery or meditation. But when the


s: echoes had fully ceased, a light laughter at once pervaded the


s: assembly; the musicians looked at each other and smiled as if at


s: their own nervousness and folly, and made whispering vows, each


s: to the other, that the next chiming of the clock should produce


s: in them no similar emotion; and then, after the lapse of sixty


s: minutes (which embrace three thousand and six hundred seconds of


s: the Time that flies), there came yet another chiming of the


s: clock, and then were the same disconcert and tremulousness and


s: revel. The tastes of the duke were peculiar. He had a fine eye


s: for colors and effects. He disregarded the <i>decora</i> of mere


s: fashion. His plans were bold and fiery, and his conceptions


s: glowed with barbaric lustre. There are some who would have


s: thought him mad. His followers felt that he was not. It was


s: necessary to hear and see and touch him to be <i>sure</i> that he


s: the seven chambers, upon occasion of this great


s: given character to the masqueraders. Be sure they were grotesque.


s: phantasm—much of what has been since seen in


s: “Hernani.” There were arabesque figures with unsuited


s: madman fashions. There were much of the beautiful, much of the


s: wanton, much of the <i>bizarre</i>, something of the terrible,


s: and not a little of that which might have excited disgust. To and


s: dreams. And these—the dreams—writhed in and about,


s: taking hue from the rooms, and causing the wild music of the


s: orchestra to seem as the echo of their steps. And, anon, there


s: strikes the ebony clock which stands in the hall of the velvet.


s: And then, for a moment, all is still, and all is silent save the


s: voice of the clock. The dreams are stiff-frozen as they stand.


s: But the echoes of the chime die away—they have endured but


s: an instant—and a light, half-subdued laughter floats after


s: them as they depart. And now again the music swells, and the


s: dreams live, and writhe to and fro more merrily than ever, taking


s: from the tripods. But to the chamber which lies most westwardly


s: of the seven, there are now none of the maskers who venture; for


s: the night is waning away; and there flows a ruddier light through


s: appals; and to him whose foot falls upon the sable carpet, there


s: comes from the near clock of ebony a muffled peal more solemnly


s: emphatic than any which reaches <i>their</i> ears who indulge in


s: the more remote gaieties of the other apartments.</p>


s: beat feverishly the heart of life. And the revel went whirlingly


s: on, until at length there commenced the sounding of midnight upon


s: evolutions of the waltzers were quieted; and there was an uneasy


s: cessation of all things as before. But now there were twelve


s: strokes to be sounded by the bell of the clock; and thus it


s: happened, perhaps, that more of thought crept, with more of time,


s: And thus too, it happened, perhaps, that before the last echoes


s: of the last chime had utterly sunk into silence, there were many


s: individuals in the crowd who had found leisure to become aware of


s: of no single individual before. And the rumor of this new


s: presence having spread itself whisperingly around, there arose at


s: disapprobation and surprise—then, finally, of terror, of


s: well be supposed that no ordinary appearance could have excited


s: such sensation. In truth the masquerade license of the night was


s: nearly unlimited; but the figure in question had out-Heroded


s: Herod, and gone beyond the bounds of even the prince’s


s: indefinite decorum. There are chords in the hearts of the most


s: reckless which cannot be touched without emotion. Even with the


s: utterly lost, to whom life and death are equally jests, there are


s: seemed now deeply to feel that in the costume and bearing of the


s: stranger neither wit nor propriety existed. The figure was tall


s: and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of


s: the grave. The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly


s: closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat.


s: the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror.</p>


s: image (which, with a slow and solemn movement, as if more fully


s: to sustain its role, stalked to and fro among the waltzers) he


s: was seen to be convulsed, in the first moment with a strong


s: shudder either of terror or distaste; but, in the next, his brow


s: courtiers who stood near him—“who dares insult us


s: with this blasphemous mockery? Seize him and unmask


s: him—that we may know whom we have to hang, at sunrise, from


s: Prince Prospero as he uttered these words. They rang throughout


s: the seven rooms loudly and clearly, for the prince was a bold and


s: of pale courtiers by his side. At first, as he spoke, there was a


s: intruder, who, at the moment was also near at hand, and now, with


s: who put forth hand to seize him; so that, unimpeded, he passed


s: within a yard of the prince’s person; and, while the vast


s: assembly, as if with one impulse, shrank from the centres of the


s: rooms to the walls, he made his way uninterruptedly, but with the


s: the first, through the blue chamber to the purple—through


s: the purple to the green—through the green to the


s: orange—through this again to the white—and even


s: thence to the violet, ere a decided movement had been made to


s: arrest him. It was then, however, that the Prince Prospero,


s: maddening with rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice,


s: him on account of a deadly terror that had seized upon all. He


s: bore aloft a drawn dagger, and had approached, in rapid


s: impetuosity, to within three or four feet of the retreating


s: figure, when the latter, having attained the extremity of the


s: velvet apartment, turned suddenly and confronted his pursuer.


s: There was a sharp cry—and the dagger dropped gleaming upon


s: the sable carpet, upon which, instantly afterward, fell prostrate


s: the black apartment, and, seizing the mummer, whose tall figure


s: stood erect and motionless within the shadow of the ebony clock,


s: gasped in unutterable horror at finding the grave cerements and


s: corpse-like mask, which they handled with so violent a rudeness,


s: revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died


s: each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the


s: ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the


s: flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red


s: borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed


s: revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not


s: suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat. <i>At


s: length</i> I would be avenged; this was a point definitely


s: settled—but the very definitiveness with which it was


s: resolved, precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish, but


s: overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the


s: avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done


s: given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued, as was


s: my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my


s: smile now was at the thought of his immolation.


s: other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He


s: prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine. Few Italians have


s: the true virtuoso spirit. For the most part their enthusiasm is


s: adopted to suit the time and opportunity—to practise


s: imposture upon the British and Austrian <i>millionaires</i>. In


s: painting and gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a


s: quack—but in the matter of old wines he was sincere. In


s: this respect I did not differ from him materially: I was skilful


s: in the Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I


s: the carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted me


s: wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and


s: his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells. I was so


s: pleased to see him, that I thought I should never have done


s: How remarkably well you are looking to-day! But I have received a


s: Impossible! And in the middle of the carnival!”</p>


s: silly enough to pay the full Amontillado price without consulting


s: one has a critical turn, it is he. He will tell


s: insufferably damp. They are encrusted with nitre.”</p>


s: Amontillado! You have been imposed upon. And as for Luchesi, he


s: cannot distinguish Sherry from Amontillado.”</p>


s: on a mask of black silk, and drawing a <i>roquelaire</i> closely


s: about my person, I suffered him to hurry me to my palazzo.</p>


s: merry in honor of the time. I had told them that I should not


s: return until the morning, and had given them explicit orders not


s: to stir from the house. These orders were sufficient, I well


s: knew, to insure their immediate disappearance, one and all, as


s: Fortunato, bowed him through several suites of rooms to the


s: archway that led into the vaults. I passed down a long and


s: winding staircase, requesting him to be cautious as he followed.


s: We came at length to the foot of the descent, and stood together


s: on the damp ground of the catacombs of the Montresors.</p>


s: orbs that distilled the rheum of intoxication.</p>


s: back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired,


s: beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be


s: missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill,


s: nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a


s: I had no intention of alarming you unnecessarily; but you should


s: use all proper caution. A draught of this Medoc will defend us


s: long row of its fellows that lay upon the mould.</p>


s: me familiarly, while his bells jingled.</p>


s: foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the


s: fancy grew warm with the Medoc. We had passed through walls of


s: piled bones, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the


s: inmost recesses of the catacombs. I paused again, and this time I


s: hangs like moss upon the vaults. We are below the river’s


s: bed. The drops of moisture trickle among the bones. Come, we will


s: and threw the bottle upwards with a gesticulation I did not


s: “But let us proceed to the Amontillado.”</p>


s: We continued our route in search of the Amontillado. We passed


s: through a range of low arches, descended, passed on, and


s: descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness


s: of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame.</p>


s: less spacious. Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled


s: Paris. Three sides of this interior crypt were still ornamented


s: in this manner. From the fourth the bones had been thrown down,


s: and lay promiscuously upon the earth, forming at one point a


s: mound of some size. Within the wall thus exposed by the


s: displacing of the bones, we perceived a still interior recess, in


s: itself, but formed merely the interval between two of the


s: colossal supports of the roof of the catacombs, and was backed by


s: endeavoured to pry into the depth of the recess. Its termination


s: the feeble light did not enable us to see.</p>


s: heels. In an instant he had reached the extremity of the niche,


s: and finding his progress arrested by the rock, stood stupidly


s: bewildered. A moment more and I had fettered him to the granite.


s: In its surface were two iron staples, distant from each other


s: about two feet, horizontally. From one of these depended a short


s: chain, from the other a padlock. Throwing the links about his


s: waist, it was but the work of a few seconds to secure it. He was


s: too much astounded to resist. Withdrawing the key I stepped back


s: you cannot help feeling the nitre. Indeed, it is <i>very</i>


s: damp. Once more let me <i>implore</i> you to return. No? Then I


s: must positively leave you. But I must first render you all the


s: of which I have before spoken. Throwing them aside, I soon


s: uncovered a quantity of building stone and mortar. With these


s: materials and with the aid of my trowel, I began vigorously to


s: discovered that the intoxication of Fortunato had in a great


s: measure worn off. The earliest indication I had of this was a low


s: cry of a drunken man. There was then a long and obstinate


s: silence. I laid the second tier, and the third, and the fourth;


s: and then I heard the furious vibrations of the chain. The noise


s: lasted for several minutes, during which, that I might hearken to


s: upon the bones. When at last the clanking subsided, I resumed the


s: and the seventh tier. The wall was now nearly upon a level with


s: my breast. I again paused, and holding the flambeaux over the


s: mason-work, threw a few feeble rays upon the figure within.</p>


s: from the throat of the chained form, seemed to thrust me


s: violently back. For a brief moment I hesitated—I trembled.


s: Unsheathing my rapier, I began to grope with it about the recess;


s: reapproached the wall. I replied to the yells of him who


s: clamored. I re-echoed—I aided—I surpassed them in


s: volume and in strength. I did this, and the clamorer grew


s: finished a portion of the last and the eleventh; there remained


s: but a single stone to be fitted and plastered in. I struggled


s: with its weight; I placed it partially in its destined position.


s: But now there came from out the niche a low laugh that erected


s: the hairs upon my head. It was succeeded by a sad voice, which I


s: had difficulty in recognizing as that of the noble Fortunato. The


s: indeed—an excellent jest. We shall have many a rich laugh


s: about it at the palazzo—he! he! he!—over our


s: Amontillado. But is it not getting late? Will not they be


s: awaiting us at the palazzo, the Lady Fortunato and the rest? Let


s: aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in reply only a


s: Against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones.


s: For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. <i>In


s: received by the critics, have survived the test of NINE editions.


s: striking contrasts between these first and last phases of Oscar


s: Wilde's literary activity.  The intervening period was devoted


s: almost entirely to dramas, prose, fiction, essays, and criticism.


s: At the end of the complete text will be found a shorter version


s: difficulty, without officiously exercising the ungrateful


s: prerogatives of a literary executor, by falling back on a text


s: which represents the author's first scheme for a poem - never


s: Some kill their love when they are young,


s: Nor drop feet foremost through the floor


s: While some coarse-mouthed Doctor gloats,


s: And binds one with three leathern thongs,


s: Six weeks our guardsman walked the yard,


s: And at every wandering cloud that trailed


s: The loftiest place is that seat of grace


s: Like two doomed ships that pass in storm


s: We rubbed the doors, and scrubbed the floors,


s: We sewed the sacks, we broke the stones,


s: We banged the tins, and bawled the hymns,


s: And through the bars that hide the stars


s: But there is no sleep when men must weep


s: So we - the fool, the fraud, the knave -


s: And as molten lead were the tears we shed


s: All through the night we knelt and prayed,


s: And each evil sprite that walks by night


s: And with formal pace and loathsome grace


s: And the damned grotesques made arabesques,


s: But with flutes of Fear they filled the ear,


s: Ah! wounds of Christ! they were living things,


s: And with subtle sneer, and fawning leer,


s: But the sough and swing of a mighty wing


s: For the stroke of eight is the stroke of Fate


s: So, like things of stone in a valley lone,


s: But each man's heart beat thick and quick,


s: Like the sound that frightened marshes hear


s: And heard the prayer the hangman's snare


s: And the wild regrets, and the bloody sweats,


s: So they kept us close till nigh on noon,


s: And the Warders with their jingling keys


s: For this man's face was white with fear,


s: And makes it bleed great gouts of blood,


s: They think a murderer's heart would taint


s: And the red rose would but blow more red,


s: On that stretch of mud and sand that lies


s: They stripped him of his canvas clothes,


s: And with laughter loud they heaped the shroud


s: Since first Man took his brother's life,


s: But straws the wheat and saves the chaff


s: And bound with bars lest Christ should see


s: For they starve the little frightened child


s: And they scourge the weak, and flog the fool,


s: And the bitter bread they weigh in scales


s: And the eye that watches through the door


s: And with tears of blood he cleansed the hand,


s: And there, till Christ call forth the dead,


s: Some kill their love when they are young,


s: Nor drop feet foremost through the floor


s: While some coarse-mouthed Doctor gloats,


s: And binds one with three leathern thongs,


s: Six weeks our guardsman walked the yard,


s: Like two doomed ships that pass in storm


s: We rubbed the doors, and scrubbed the floors,


s: We sewed the sacks, we broke the stones,


s: We banged the tins, and bawled the hymns,


s: And through the bars that hide the stars


s: But there is no sleep when men must weep


s: So we - the fool, the fraud, the knave -


s: And as molten lead were the tears we shed


s: But the sough and swing of a mighty wing


s: For the stroke of eight is the stroke of Fate


s: So, like things of stone in a valley lone,


s: But each man's heart beat thick and quick,


s: Like the sound that frightened marshes hear


s: And heard the prayer the hangman's snare


s: And the wild regrets, and the bloody sweats,


s: So they kept us close till nigh on noon,


s: And the Warders with their jingling keys


s: For this man's face was white with fear,


s: And makes it bleed great gouts of blood,


s: They think a murderer's heart would taint


s: And the red rose would but blow more red,


s: On that stretch of mud and sand that lies


s: Leap through the hail of screaming shell.


s: Where, girt and crowned by sword and fire,


s: Where saw'st thou last in clanging flight


s: Where through the narrow straight Bazaar


s: Poor toys to soothe such anguished pain.


s: Where we might deck their broken shields


s: With all the flowers the dead love best.


s: Go! crown with thorns thy gold-crowned head,


s: The whole round world with nets of gold,


s: Where are the brave, the strong, the fleet?


s: Though childless, and with thorn-crowned head,


s: The little white clouds are racing over the sky,


s: And the fields are strewn with the gold of the flower of March,


s: The daffodil breaks under foot, and the tasselled larch


s: Sways and swings as the thrush goes hurrying by.


s: A delicate odour is borne on the wings of the morning breeze,


s: The odour of deep wet grass, and of brown new-furrowed earth,


s: The birds are singing for joy of the Spring's glad birth,


s: Hopping from branch to branch on the rocking trees.


s: And all the woods are alive with the murmur and sound of Spring,


s: And the rose-bud breaks into pink on the climbing briar,


s: And the crocus-bed is a quivering moon of fire


s: Girdled round with the belt of an amethyst ring.


s: And the plane to the pine-tree is whispering some tale of love


s: Till it rustles with laughter and tosses its mantle of green,


s: And the gloom of the wych-elm's hollow is lit with the iris sheen


s: See! the lark starts up from his bed in the meadow there,


s: Breaking the gossamer threads and the nets of dew,


s: And flashing adown the river, a flame of blue!


s: The kingfisher flies like an arrow, and wounds the air.


s: The sea was sapphire coloured, and the sky


s: Burned like a heated opal through the air;


s: We hoisted sail; the wind was blowing fair


s: For the blue lands that to the eastward lie.


s: From the steep prow I marked with quickening eye


s: And all the flower-strewn hills of Arcady.


s: The flapping of the sail against the mast,


s: The ripple of girls' laughter at the stern,


s: The only sounds:- when 'gan the West to burn,


s: I stood upon the soil of Greece at last!


s: Or that Morocco's fiery heart grew cold:


s: For in that gorgeous dress of beaten gold


s: Which is more golden than the golden sun


s: Yet fairer when with wisdom as your shield


s: The sober-suited lawyer's gown you donned,


s: And would not let the laws of Venice yield


s: O Portia! take my heart:  it is thy due:


s: I think I will not quarrel with the Bond.


s: The silent room, the heavy creeping shade,


s: The dead that travel fast, the opening door,


s: The murdered brother rising through the floor,


s: The ghost's white fingers on thy shoulders laid,


s: The broken swords, the stifled scream, the gore,


s: Thy grand revengeful eyes when all is o'er, -


s: These things are well enough, - but thou wert made


s: Should at thy bidding wander on the heath


s: For thee should lure his love, and desperate fear


s: Pluck Richard's recreant dagger from its sheath -


s: Thou trumpet set for Shakespeare's lips to blow!


s: How vain and dull this common world must seem


s: To such a One as thou, who should'st have talked


s: Thou should'st have gathered reeds from a green stream


s: For Goat-foot Pan's shrill piping, and have played


s: With the white girls in that Phaeacian glade


s: Where grave Odysseus wakened from his dream.


s: Held thy wan dust, and thou hast come again


s: Back to this common world so dull and vain,


s: The loveless lips with which men kiss in Hell.


s: Nay, Lord, not thus! white lilies in the spring,


s: Sad olive-groves, or silver-breasted dove,


s: Teach me more clearly of Thy life and love


s: Than terrors of red flame and thundering.


s: The hillside vines dear memories of Thee bring:


s: Tells me of One who had no place of rest:


s: I think it is of Thee the sparrows sing.


s: When red and brown are burnished on the leaves,


s: And the fields echo to the gleaner's song,


s: Come when the splendid fulness of the moon


s: Looks down upon the rows of golden sheaves,


s: And reap Thy harvest:  we have waited long.


s: Was this His coming!  I had hoped to see


s: Sickening for love and unappeased desire


s: Prayed to see God's clear body, and the fire


s: Caught her brown limbs and slew her utterly:


s: With such glad dreams I sought this holy place,


s: And now with wondering eyes and heart I stand


s: Some kneeling girl with passionless pale face,


s: And over both the white wings of a Dove.


s: Is crowned above his fellows, yet I see,


s: Wherefore I love them not whose hands profane


s: Plant the red flag upon the piled-up street


s: For no right cause, beneath whose ignorant reign


s: Arts, Culture, Reverence, Honour, all things fade,


s: Save Treason and the dagger of her trade,


s: Could we dig up this long-buried treasure,


s: poets and artists who were his contemporaries, although his


s: seniors, as the torch-bearers of the intellectual life.  Among


s: these are Swinburne, William Morris, Rossetti, and Brune-Jones.]


s: Nay, when Keats died the Muses still had left


s: One silver voice to sing his threnody, {1}


s: And slew the mouth that praised her; since which time we walk


s: Save for that fiery heart, that morning star {2}


s: Saw from our tottering throne and waste of war


s: The grand Greek limbs of young Democracy


s: The great Republic! him at least thy love hath taught to sing,


s: Hunting the tusked boar, his honied lute


s: Hath pierced the cavern of the hollow hill,


s: And Venus laughs to know one knee will bow before her still.


s: And he hath kissed the lips of Proserpine,


s: That wounded forehead dashed with blood and wine


s: He hath discrowned, the Ancient Gods in him


s: Have found their last, most ardent worshipper,


s: And the new Sign grows grey and dim before its conqueror.


s: The star that shook above the Eastern hill


s: From all the gathering gloom and fretful fight -


s: O tarry with us still! for through the long and common night,


s: Morris, our sweet and simple Chaucer's child,


s: With soft and sylvan pipe has oft beguiled


s: The weary soul of man in troublous need,


s: And from the far and flowerless fields of ice


s: Has brought fair flowers to make an earthly paradise.


s: We know them all, Gudrun the strong men's bride,


s: How giant Grettir fought and Sigurd died,


s: And what enchantment held the king in thrall


s: When lonely Brynhild wrestled with the powers


s: That war against all passion, ah! how oft through summer hours,


s: Long listless summer hours when the noon


s: Forgets to journey westward, till the moon


s: And chides its loitering car - how oft, in some cool grassy field


s: Far from the cricket-ground and noisy eight,


s: At Bagley, where the rustling bluebells come


s: Almost before the blackbird finds a mate


s: Of many murmuring bees flits through the leaves,


s: Have I lain poring on the dreamy tales his fancy weaves,


s: And through their unreal woes and mimic pain


s: And in their simple mirth grew glad again;


s: The strength and splendour of the storm was mine


s: Without the storm's red ruin, for the singer is divine;


s: Has less of sweetness in it, and the old


s: Half-withered reeds that waved in Arcady


s: Touched by his lips break forth again to fresher harmony.


s: Although the cheating merchants of the mart


s: With iron roads profane our lovely isle,


s: And break on whirling wheels the limbs of Art,


s: The blindworm Ignorance that slays the soul, O tarry yet!


s: For One at least there is, - He bears his name


s: From Dante and the seraph Gabriel, {3} -


s: Whose double laurels burn with deathless flame


s: To light thine altar; He {4} too loves thee well,


s: Who saw old Merlin lured in Vivien's snare,


s: And the white feet of angels coming down the golden stair,


s: Loves thee so well, that all the World for him


s: A gorgeous-coloured vestiture must wear,


s: Gild its own thorns, and Pain, like Adon, be


s: Even in anguish beautiful; - such is the empery


s: Which Painters hold, and such the heritage


s: Than those who can but copy common things,


s: And leave the Soul unpainted with its mighty questionings.


s: But they are few, and all romance has flown,


s: Through a waste void the soulless atoms run,


s: How from each tree its weeping nymph has fled,


s: And that no more 'mid English reeds a Naiad shows her head.


s: Went sidling through the slow quadrille,


s: This English Thames is holier far than Rome,


s: Those harebells like a sudden flush of sea


s: Breaking across the woodland, with the foam


s: To fleck their blue waves, - God is likelier there


s: Than hidden in that crystal-hearted star the pale monks bear!


s: Those violet-gleaming butterflies that take


s: Are monsignores, and where the rushes shake


s: His eyes half shut, - he is some mitred old


s: The wind the restless prisoner of the trees


s: Does well for Palaestrina, one would say


s: The mighty master's hands were on the keys


s: In a high litter red as blood or sin the Pope is borne


s: Above the bronze gates and the crowded square,


s: And stretching out weak hands to East and West


s: In vain sends peace to peaceless lands, to restless nations rest.


s: That stays to vex the moon more fair than all


s: Rome's lordliest pageants! strange, a year ago


s: And now - those common poppies in the wheat seem twice as fine.


s: The blue-green beanfields yonder, tremulous


s: With the last shower, sweeter perfume bring


s: Through this cool evening than the odorous


s: When the grey priest unlocks the curtained shrine,


s: And makes God's body from the common fruit of corn and vine.