s: Wet with unhealthy dews, before my gate,


s: And pass the gloomy nights of winter there?


s: O strange delusion! that I did not greet


s: Thy blest approach, and O, to Heaven how lost,


s: Has chilled the bleeding wounds upon thy feet.


s: "Soul, from thy casement look, and thou shalt see


s: How he persists to knock and wait for thee!"


s: And, O! how often to that voice of sorrow,


s: And when the morrow came I answered still "To-morrow."


s: Clear fount of light! my native land on high,


s: Bright with a glory that shall never fade!


s: Mansion of truth! without a veil or shade,


s: There dwells the soul in its ethereal essence,


s: Gasping no longer for life's feeble breath;


s: But, sentinelled in heaven, its glorious presence


s: With pitying eye beholds, yet fears not, death.


s: Beloved country! banished from thy shore,


s: A stranger in this prison-house of clay,


s: The exiled spirit weeps and sighs for thee!


s: Heavenward the bright perfections I adore


s: Direct, and the sure promise cheers the way,


s: That, whither love aspires, there shall my dwelling be.


s: O Lord! who seest, from yon starry height,


s: Fashioned in thine own image, see how fast


s: The world obscures in me what once was bright!


s: Eternal Sun! the warmth which thou hast given,


s: To cheer life's flowery April, fast decays;


s: Forever green shall be my trust in Heaven.


s: Shall meet that look of mercy from on high,


s: Doth meet the look of him who seeks it there,


s: Laugh of the mountain!--lyre of bird and tree!


s: The rose and jessamine, leaps wild in thee!


s: Although, where'er thy devious current strays,


s: The lap of earth with gold and silver teems,


s: To me thy clear proceeding brighter seems


s: Than golden sands, that charm each shepherd's gaze.


s: How without guile thy bosom, all transparent


s: As the pure crystal, lets the curious eye


s: Thy secrets scan, thy smooth, round pebbles count!


s: How, without malice murmuring, glides thy current!


s: Thou shun'st the haunts of man, to dwell in limpid fount!


s: Dukes and Counts fell bleeding near thee,


s: "King Alfonso the Eighth, having exhausted his treasury in war,


s: wishes to lay a tax of five farthings upon each of the Castillan


s: hidalgos, in order to defray the expenses of a journey from


s: Burgos to Cuenca.  This proposition of the king was met with


s: disdain by the noblemen who had been assembled on the occasion."


s: And they sent to tell their lord the king


s: "He may send and take by force," said they,


s: thousand Leonese and more,' to protect the glory and freedom of


s: his native land.  From all sides, the peasantry of the land flock


s: "Free were we born," 't is thus they cry


s: "He shall learn that the gallant Leonese


s: "Let the false king sell town and tower,


s: But soon upon the Christians fell a terror of their foes,--


s: These were a numerous army,--a little handful those.


s: And while the Christian people stood in this uncertainty,


s: They rode upon two horses more white than crystal sheen,


s: And arms they bore such as before no mortal man had seen;


s: The one, he held a crosier,--a pontiff's mitre wore;


s: The other held a crucifix,--such man ne'er saw before.


s: Their faces were angelical, celestial forms had they,--


s: And in their hands, with dire portent, their naked sabres shook.


s: The Christian host, beholding this, straightway take heart again;


s: And each one with his clenched fist to smite his breast begins,


s: And promises to God on high he will forsake his sins.


s: And when the heavenly knights drew near unto the battle-ground,


s: They dashed among the Moors and dealt unerring blows around;


s: Such deadly havoc there they made the foremost ranks along,


s: A panic terror spread unto the hindmost of the throng.


s: Together with these two good knights, the champions of the sky,


s: The Christians rallied and began to smite full sore and high;


s: The Moors raised up their voices and by the Koran swore


s: That in their lives such deadly fray they ne'er had seen before.


s: Down went the misbelievers,--fast sped the bloody fight,--


s: Some ghastly and dismembered lay, and some half dead with fright:


s: For they saw that from the battle they should retreat with shame.


s: Another thing befell them,--they dreamed not of such woes,--


s: The very arrows that the Moors shot front their twanging bows


s: Now he that bore the crosier, and the papal crown had on,


s: Was the glorified Apostle, the brother of Saint John;


s: And he that held the crucifix, and wore the monkish hood,


s: Was the holy San Millan of Cogolla's neighborhood.


s: San Miguel de la Tumba is a convent vast and wide;


s: The sea encircles it around, and groans on every side:


s: It is a wild and dangerous place, and many woes betide


s: The monks who in that burial-place in penitence abide.


s: Within those dark monastic walls, amid the ocean flood,


s: Of pious, fasting monks there dwelt a holy brotherhood;


s: To the Madonna's glory there an altar high was placed,


s: And a rich and costly image the sacred altar graced.


s: Exalted high upon a throne, the Virgin Mother smiled,


s: And, as the custom is, she held within her arms the Child;


s: The kings and wise men of the East were kneeling by her side;


s: Attended was she like a queen whom God had sanctified.


s: Descending low before her face a screen of feathers hung,--


s: A moscader, or fan for flies, 'tis called in vulgar tongue;


s: The sacred robes were all consumed, missal and holy book;


s: But though the desolating flame raged fearfully and wild,


s: It did not reach the Virgin Queen, it did not reach the Child;


s: It did not reach the feathery screen before her face that shone,


s: Nor injure in a farthing's worth the image or the throne.


s: The image it did not consume, it did not burn the screen;


s: Even in the value of a hair they were not hurt, I ween;


s: Not even the smoke did reach them, nor injure more the shrine


s: Than the bishop hight Don Tello has been hurt by hand of mine.


s: Tell me, thou swain, that guard'st thy flock


s: But in the valleys widely around, there fed on the greensward


s: Not five hundred men (at ten times twelve to the hundred)


s: Odin with lordly look, and Frey with the sun on his frontlet.


s: Far away on the Baltic, and Sea of the West and the White Sea.


s: Ever-murmuring wave, himself a living tradition.


s: Breastplate and helmet together, and here and there among them


s: Downward lightened a sword, as in winter evening a star shoots.


s: King Ring with his queen to the banquet did fare,


s: On the lake stood the ice so mirror-clear,


s: "Fare not o'er the ice," the stranger cries;


s: "It will burst, and full deep the cold bath lies."


s: "The king drowns not easily," Ring outspake;


s: "He who's afraid may go round the lake."


s: Threatening and dark looked the stranger round,


s: His steel shoes with haste on his feet he bound,


s: The sledge-horse starts forth strong and free;


s: "Strike out," screamed the king, "my trotter good,


s: Let us see if thou art of Sleipner's blood."


s: No heed to his queen doth the old man take.


s: But the steel-shod champion standeth not still,


s: He carves many runes in the frozen tide,


s: Fair Ingeborg o'er her own name doth glide.


s: Glowing like the cheek of Freya, peeping rosebuds 'gin to ope,


s: And in human hearts awaken love of life, and joy, and hope.


s: Half of Freya, half of Rota, yet more beauteous than these two,


s: And from her light hat of purple wave aloft the feathers blue.


s: Gaze not at her eyes' blue heaven, gaze not at her golden hair!


s: Oh beware! her waist is slender, full her bosom is, beware!


s: Look not at the rose and lily on her cheek that shifting play,


s: List not to the voice beloved, whispering like the wind of May.


s: Now the huntsman's band is ready.  Hurrah! over hill and dale!


s: Horns ring, and the hawks right upward to the hall of Odin sail.


s: All the dwellers in the forest seek in fear their cavern homes,


s: On his shield, or as an infant sleeps upon its mother's arm.


s: Coward! wilt thou murder sleep, and a defenceless old man slay!


s: Slumber is not safe before them, silver locks but anger them."


s: The smoke of the Northland.  Man is a slave:


s: There is my fatherland, there is my grave.


s: After the stars spread their light through the sky.


s: The bones of the outlawed Viking may lie.


s: What avails it?  He who is born must die."


s: Pentecost, day of rejoicing, had come. The church of the village


s: Decked with a brazen cock, the friendly flames of the Spring-sun


s: Glanced like the tongues of fire, beheld by Apostles aforetime.


s: Also the church within was adorned, for this was the season


s: Loud rang the bells already; the thronging crowd was assembled


s: Far from valleys and hills, to list to the holy preaching.


s: Hark! then roll forth at once the mighty tones of the organ,


s: Hover like voices from God, aloft like invisible spirits.


s: Like as Elias in heaven, when he cast from off him his mantle,


s: So cast off the soul its garments of earth; and with one voice


s: Chimed in the congregation, and sang an anthem immortal


s: Of the sublime Wallin, of David's harp in the North-land


s: Tuned to the choral of Luther; the song on its mighty pinions


s: Took every living soul, and lifted it gently to heaven,


s: And each face did shine like the Holy One's face upon Tabor.


s: Lo! there entered then into the church the Reverend Teacher.


s: Father he hight and he was in the parish; a Christianly plainness


s: Walked he among the crowds, but still a contemplative grandeur


s: Gleams in the human soul, even now, from the day of creation)


s: Simply and solemnly now proceeded the Christian service,


s: Both in sermon and song, a child can seize on its meaning.


s: E'en as the green-growing bud unfolds when Springtide approaches.


s: Blushes with purple and gold, till at last the perfected blossom


s: Line by line from the soul of childhood. The fathers and mothers


s: Slumbering received you then the Holy Church in its bosom;


s: For she knows naught of compulsion, and only conviction desireth.


s: Seed for the coming days; without revocation departeth


s: Enter not with a lie on Life's journey; the multitude hears you,


s: God more than all things earthly, and every man as a brother?


s: Will ye promise me here, to confirm your faith by your living,


s: Answered the young men Yes! and Yes! with lips softly-breathing


s: Blest are the pure before God! Upon purity and upon virtue


s: Downward and ever downward, and deeper in Age's chill valley,


s: Oh, how soon will ye come,--too soon!--and long to turn backward


s: Up to its hill-tops again, to the sun-illumined, where Judgment


s: Stood like a father before you, and Pardon, clad like a mother,


s: Gave you her hand to kiss, and the loving heart was for given


s: Life was a play and your hands grasped after the roses of heaven!


s: Gave rue gladness and care; but the loveliest hours of existence,


s: Angels descend and minister unto her; she herself knoweth


s: For she cometh from God and she holdeth the keys of the heavens.


s: Prayer is Innocence' friend; and willingly flieth incessant


s: 'Twixt the earth and the sky, the carrier-pigeon of heaven,


s: Son of Eternity, fettered in Time, and an exile, the Spirit


s: Pray in fortunate days, for life's most beautiful Fortune


s: Kneels before the Eternal's throne; and with hands interfolded,


s: Praises thankful and moved the only giver of blessings.


s: Therefore, fall in the dust and pray! The seraphs adoring


s: Cover with pinions six their face in the glory of him who


s: Hung his masonry pendent on naught, when the world be created.


s: Earth declareth his might, and the firmament utters his glory.


s: Races blossom and die, and stars fall downward from heaven,


s: Yet,--why are ye afraid, ye children? This awful avenger,


s: Ah! is a merciful God! God's voice was not in the earthquake,


s: Into the slumbering dust, and upright standing, it laid its


s: Loved you, as God has loved you; for 't was that you may be happy


s: Lo! then was rent on a sudden the veil of the temple, dividing


s: Earth and heaven apart, and the dead from their sepulchres rising


s: Therefore, child of mortality, love thou the merciful Father;


s: Wish what the Holy One wishes, and not from fear, but affection


s: Bears not each human figure the godlike stamp on his forehead


s: Readest thou not in his face thou origin? Is he not sailing


s: Lost like thyself on an ocean unknown, and is he not guided


s: Of the Eternal's language;--on earth it is called Forgiveness!


s: Think of thy brother no ill, but throw a veil over his failings,


s: Guide the erring aright; for the good, the heavenly shepherd


s: Took the lost lamb in his arms, and bore it back to its mother.


s: Having naught else but Hope. Then praise we our Father in heaven,


s: There enraptured she wanders. and looks at the figures majestic,


s: Animate Love and faith, as flowers are the animate Springtide.


s: Works do follow us all unto God; there stand and bear witness


s: Not what they seemed,--but what they were only. Blessed is he who


s: More austere to behold. With a kiss upon lips that are fading


s: Look on the light of the ages I loved, the spirits majestic,


s: Nobler, better than I; they stand by the throne all transfigured,


s: Now should have ended his task for the day; the following Sunday


s: Was for the young appointed to eat of the Lord's holy Supper.


s: I, the old man, will answer to God and the reverend father.


s: Say to me only, ye children, ye denizens new-come in heaven,


s: Are ye ready this day to eat of the bread of Atonement?


s: See! behind me, as far as the old man remembers, and forward,


s: Far as Hope in her flight can reach with her wearied pinions,


s: Sin and Atonement incessant go through the lifetime of mortals.


s: Therefore with reverence take this day her visible token.


s: Tokens are dead if the things live not. The light everlasting


s: Unto the blind is not, but is born of the eye that has vision.


s: Neither in bread nor in wine, but in the heart that is hallowed


s: Lieth forgiveness enshrined; the intention alone of amendment


s: Fruits of the earth ennobles to heavenly things, and removes all


s: Breaketh Atonement's bread, and drinketh Atonement's wine-cup.


s: But he who cometh up hither, unworthy, with hate in his bosom,


s: Scoffing at men and at God, is guilty of Christ's blessed body,


s: And the Redeemer's blood! To himself he eateth and drinketh


s: Death and doom! And from this, preserve us, thou heavenly Father!


s: Thus with emotion he asked, and together answered the children,


s: "O Holy Lamb of God, who takest away our transgressions,


s: Hear us! give us thy peace! have mercy, have mercy upon us!"


s: Tremor of holy rapture along through their ice-cold members.


s: Radiant in glory the Father, and on his right hand the Redeemer.


s: Through Gothic helm and brain it passed;


s: Nils Juel gave heed to the tempest's roar,


s: He hoisted his blood-red flag once more,


s: And shouted Loud, through the tempest's roar,


s: Receive thy friend, who, scorning flight


s: Full seven miles broad and seven miles wide,


s: But never, ah never can meet with the man


s: His steed was black, his helm was barred;


s: And round and round the wheels they flew.


s: When my whole frame was but an ell in height;


s: And rode a-horseback on best father's knee;


s: Alike were sorrows, passions and alarms,


s: And gold, and Greek, and love, unknown to me,


s: Then seemed to me this world far less in size,


s: Likewise it seemed to me less wicked far;


s: Like points in heaven, I saw the stars arise,


s: And longed for wings that I might catch a star.


s: And thought, "Oh, were I on that island there,


s: I could find out of what the moon is made,


s: Find out how large it is, how round, how fair!"


s: Wondering, I saw God's sun, through western skies,


s: Sink in the ocean's golden lap at night,


s: And paint the eastern heaven with crimson light;


s: And thought of God, the gracious Heavenly Father,


s: Who made me, and that lovely sun on high,


s: And all those pearls of heaven thick-strung together,


s: Dropped, clustering, from his hand o'er all the sky.


s: With childish reverence, my young lips did say


s: The prayer my pious mother taught to me:


s: Still to be wise, and good, and follow Thee!"


s: So prayed I for my father and my mother,


s: And for my sister, and for all the town;


s: The king I knew not, and the beggar-brother,


s: Who, bent with age, went, sighing, up and down.


s: They perished, the blithe days of boyhood perished,


s: And all the gladness, all the peace I knew!


s: Now have I but their memory, fondly cherished;--


s: The landlord's daughter filled their cups,


s: And cried, all hot and flushed with wine,


s: "I greet thee, little bird! To the wide sea


s: I have trusted all to the sounding gale,


s: "And wilt thou, little bird, go with us?


s: "High over the sails, high over the mast,


s: When thy merry companions are still, at last,


s: 'T is the water-nymphs, that are singing


s: Let them sing, my friend, let them murmur,


s: She  gives a side-glance and looks down,


s: Didst thou hear, from those lofty chambers,


s: But I heard on the gale a sound of wail,


s: When woods and fields put off all sadness.


s: "Sir Knight! your name and scutcheon, say!"


s: The arch of heaven grew black with mists,


s: Torch-light through the high halls glances;


s: Clouds in the evening sky more darkly gather,


s: And shattered wrecks lie thicker on the strand.


s: Of all perfection! Tender morning-visions


s: Of beauteous souls! The Future's pledge and band!


s: The mildest herald by our fate allotted,


s: Beckons, and with inverted torch doth stand


s: And cries, 'mid the drunken revellers all,


s: Then said the Lord: "This glass to praise,


s: The graybeard with trembling hand obeys;


s: Then speaks the Lord, and waves it light:


s: She wrote in it, If this glass doth fall,


s: "'T was right a goblet the Fate should be


s: First rings it deep, and full, and mild,


s: Then mutters at last like the thunder's fall,


s: King! klang!--with a harder blow than all


s: And through the rift, the wild flames start;


s: Slain by the sword lies the youthful Lord,


s: "The stone wall," saith he, "doth fall aside,


s: O hemlock tree!  O hemlock tree! how faithful are thy branches!


s: O maiden fair!  O maiden fair! how faithless is thy bosom!


s: The nightingale, the nightingale, thou tak'st for thine example!


s: The meadow brook, the meadow brook, is mirror of thy falsehood!


s: She is my life, and my goods, and my gold.


s: To me has surrendered in joy and in pain.


s: Thou, O my soul, my flesh, and my blood!


s: Then come the wild weather, come sleet or come snow,


s: We will stand by each other, however it blow.


s: Oppression, and sickness, and sorrow, and pain


s: Shall be to our true love as links to the chain.


s: As the palm-tree standeth so straight and so tall,


s: The more the hail beats, and the more the rains fall,--


s: So love in our hearts shall grow mighty and strong,


s: Through crosses, through sorrows, through manifold wrong.


s: Shouldst thou be torn from me to wander alone


s: In a desolate land where the sun is scarce known,--


s: Through forests I'll follow, and where the sea flows,


s: Through ice, and through iron, through armies of foes,


s: The threads of our two lives are woven in one.


s: Whate'er I have bidden thee thou hast obeyed,


s: Whatever forbidden thou hast not gainsaid.


s: How in the turmoil of life can love stand,


s: Where there is not one heart, and one mouth, and one hand?


s: Some seek for dissension, and trouble, and strife;


s: Like a dog and a cat live such man and wife.


s: Thou art my lambkin, my chick, and my dove.


s: Whate'er my desire is, in thine may be seen;


s: I am king of the household, and thou art its queen.


s: It is this, O my Annie, my heart's sweetest rest,


s: That makes of us twain but one soul in one breast.


s: This turns to a heaven the hut where we dwell;


s: While wrangling soon changes a home to a hell.


s: And my songs,--green leaves and blossoms,--


s: From the cross 't would free the Saviour,


s: A blind man is a poor man, and blind a poor man is;


s: For the former seeth no man, and the latter no man sees.


s: A millstone and the human heart are driven ever round;


s: Whilom Love was like a tire, and warmth and comfort it bespoke;


s: But, alas! it now is quenched, and only bites us, like the smoke.


s: Intelligence and courtesy not always are combined;


s: Often in a wooden house a golden room we find.


s: When by night the frogs are croaking, kindle but a torch's fire,


s: Ha! how soon they all are silent!  Thus Truth silences the liar.


s: For so long as words, like mortals, call a fatherland their own,


s: Oh, how blest are ye whose toils are ended!


s: Who, through death, have unto God ascended!


s: From the cares which keep us still in prison.


s: Still oppressed with sorrow and misgiving;


s: Are but toils, and troubles, and heart-breakings.


s: Ye meanwhile, are in your chambers sleeping,


s: Quiet, and set free from all our weeping;


s: Christ has wiped away your tears for ever;


s: Ye have that for which we still endeavor.


s: Songs which yet no mortal ear have haunted.


s: Ah! who would not, then, depart with gladness,


s: Come, O Christ, and loose the chains that bind us!


s: Lead us forth, and cast this world behind us!


s: Finds the soul its joy and rest appointed.


s: How I started up in the night, in the night,


s: The streets, with their watchmen, were lost to my sight,


s: Through the gate with the arch mediaeval.


s: The mill-brook rushed from the rocky height,


s: I leaned o'er the bridge in my yearning;


s: Deep under me watched I the waves in their flight,


s: O'erhead were revolving, so countless and bright,


s: And with them the moon, more serenely bedight;--


s: Through the magical, measureless distance.


s: And upward I gazed in the night, in the night,


s: And again on the waves in their fleeting;


s: Ah woe! thou hast wasted thy days in delight,


s: The remorse in thy heart that is beating.


s: Something the heart must have to cherish,


s: Until her lips are white and breathless,


s: And thou, thou makest the sad heart gay.


s: He sees thee, and calls to his gloomy train,


s: The sleet, and the snow, and the wind, and the rain;


s: And they shrink away, and they flee in fear,


s: Winter giveth the fields and the trees, so old,


s: And the rain, it raineth so fast and cold,


s: And, snugly housed from the wind and weather,


s: Mope like birds that are changing feather.


s: But the storm retires, and the sky grows clear,


s: But, Heaven be praised, thy step is nigh;


s: And the earth looks bright, and Winter surly,


s: Who has toiled for naught both late and early,


s: Sweet babe! true portrait of thy father's face,


s: Sleep on the bosom that thy lips have pressed!


s: Sleep, little one; and closely, gently place


s: Thy drowsy eyelid on thy mother's breast.


s: Soft sleep shall come, that cometh not to me!


s: I watch to see thee, nourish thee, defend;


s: 'T is sweet to watch for thee, alone for thee!


s: His arms fall down; sleep sits upon his brow;


s: His eye is closed; he sleeps, nor dreams of harm.


s: Wore not his cheek the apple's ruddy glow,


s: Would you not say he slept on Death's cold arm?


s: Awake, my boy!  I tremble with affright!


s: Awake, and chase this fatal thought!  Unclose


s: Thine eye but for one moment on the light!


s: Even at the price of thine, give me repose!


s: Sweet error! he but slept, I breathe again;


s: Come, gentle dreams, the hour of sleep beguile!


s: O, when shall he, for whom I sigh in vain,


s: Beside me watch to see thy waking smile?


s: The Archbishop, whom God loved in high degree,


s: Beheld his wounds all bleeding fresh and free;


s: And then his cheek more ghastly grew and wan,


s: And a faint shudder through his members ran.


s: Upon the battle-field his knee was bent;


s: Brave Roland saw, and to his succor went,


s: Straightway his helmet from his brow unlaced,


s: And tore the shining hauberk from his breast.


s: Then raising in his arms the man of God,


s: "Rest, Sire," he cried,--"for rest thy suffering needs."


s: The priest replied, "Think but of warlike deeds!


s: The field is ours; well may we boast this strife!


s: But death steals on,--there is no hope of life;


s: There are our couches spread, there shall we rest from pain."


s: Sore Roland grieved; nor marvel I, alas!


s: That thrice he swooned upon the thick green grass.


s: When he revived, with a loud voice cried he,


s: Why lingers death to lay me in my grave!


s: Beloved France! how have the good and brave


s: Been torn from thee, and left thee weak and poor!"


s: Then thoughts of Aude, his lady-love, came o'er


s: His spirit, and he whispered soft and slow,


s: "My gentle friend!--what parting full of woe!


s: Never so true a liegeman shalt thou see;--


s: Whate'er my fate, Christ's benison on thee!


s: Christ, who did save from realms of woe beneath,


s: The Hebrew Prophets from the second death."


s: Then to the Paladins, whom well he knew,


s: To Turpin's side, well skilled in ghostly lore;--


s: No heart had he to smile, but, weeping sore,


s: He blessed them in God's name, with faith that He


s: Would soon vouchsafe to them a glad eternity.


s: The Archbishop, then, on whom God's benison rest,


s: Exhausted, bowed his head upon his breast;--


s: His mouth was full of dust and clotted gore,


s: And many a wound his swollen visage bore.


s: Slow beats his heart, his panting bosom heaves,


s: Death comes apace,--no hope of cure relieves.


s: Towards heaven he raised his dying hands and prayed


s: That God, who for our sins was mortal made,


s: Born of the Virgin, scorned and crucified,


s: In paradise would place him by His side.


s: 'Gainst Pagan host alway strong champion;


s: Only the Lowland tongue of Scotland might


s: Let me attempt it with an English quill;


s: And take, O Reader, for the deed the will.


s: When the apple, the plum, and the almond tree


s: On a Wednesday morn of Saint Joseph's Eve:


s: "The roads should blossom, the roads should bloom,


s: Should blossom and bloom with garlands gay,


s: This old Te Deum, rustic rites attending,


s: Of rosy village girls, clean as the eye,


s: Came to the cliff, all singing the same strain;


s: Rejoicing angels, that kind Heaven has sent


s: For their delight and our encouragement.


s: It is Baptiste, and his affianced maiden,


s: The sky was blue; without one cloud of gloom,


s: And to the air the freshening wind gave lightly


s: When one beholds the dusky hedges blossom,


s: That touch with tenderness the trembling bosom,


s: Trying whose laugh shall be loudest and merriest;


s: Sporting with them, now escapes and cries:


s: And  touch her pretty apron fresh and new,


s: Baptiste stands sighing, with silent tongue?


s: That love, o'er-hasty, precedeth a fall?


s: What lovers! they give not a single caress!


s: To see them so careless and cold to-day,


s: What ails Baptiste? what grief doth him oppress?


s: All at the father's stern command was changed;


s: Their peace was gone, but not their love estranged.


s: Wearied at home, erelong the lover fled;


s: Here comes the cripple Jane!"  And by a fountain's side


s: She telleth fortunes, and none complain.


s: And from beneath her eyebrows thin and white


s: Aimed at the bridegroom in waistcoat blue,


s: Making the sign of the cross, doth say:--


s: Lest, when thou weddest this false bridegroom,


s: And she was silent; and the maidens fair


s: Saw from each eye escape a swollen tear;


s: The bridegroom only was pale with fear;--


s: "The roads should blossom, the roads should bloom,


s: Should blossom and bloom with garlands gay,


s: Yet Jane has named him not these three days past;


s: And knows that of my night he is the star!


s: Knows that long months I wait alone, benighted,


s: And count the moments since he went away!


s: Come! keep the promise of that happier day,


s: That I may keep the faith to thee I plighted!


s: What joy have I without thee? what delight?


s: Grief wastes my life, and makes it misery;


s: When he is gone 't is dark! my soul is sad!


s: When he is near, no thoughts of day intrude;


s: Day has blue heavens, but Baptiste has blue eyes!


s: Within them shines for me a heaven of love,


s: A heaven all happiness, like that above,


s: Earth I forget,--and heaven, and all distresses,


s: When seated by my side my hand he presses;


s: Where is Baptiste? he hears not when I call!


s: True love, they say, in grief doth more abound!


s: Ah! woe is me! then bear me to my grave!


s: But some one comes!  Though blind, my heart can see!


s: And that deceives me not! 't is he! 't is he!"


s: Rises, with outstretched arms, but sightless eyes;


s: 'T is only Paul, her brother, who thus cries:--


s: Tell me, my sister, why were we not asked?


s: "My sister, 't is Baptiste, thy friend!"


s: A cry the blind girl gave, but nothing said;


s: A milky whiteness spreads upon her cheeks;


s: Upon her heart, that has ceased to beat,


s: She stands beside the boy, now sore distressed,


s: And my doublet of linen striped and gay;


s: Perhaps they will come; for they do not wed


s: Till to-morrow at seven o'clock, it is said!"


s: Whom the vision, with aspect black as jet,


s: I am faint, and weary, and out of breath!


s: My little friend! what ails thee, sweet?"


s: "Nothing!  I heard them singing home the bride;


s: It must seem long to him;--methinks I see him now!"


s: We must not trust too much to happiness;--


s: Go, pray to God, that thou mayst love him less!"


s: It was enough; and Jane no more replied.


s: Now to all hope her heart is barred and cold;


s: So that, departing at the evening's close,


s: She says, "She may be saved! she nothing knows!"


s: Now that thou wouldst, thou art no prophetess!


s: This morning, in the fulness of thy heart,


s: Now rings the bell, nine times reverberating,


s: And the white daybreak, stealing up the sky,


s: Sees in two cottages two maidens waiting,


s: The other, blind, within her little room,


s: But in their stead for something gropes apart,


s: And, 'neath her bodice of bright scarlet dye,


s: The other, with cold drops upon her brow,


s: Joins her two hands, and kneels upon the floor,


s: And whispers, as her brother opes the door,


s: Towards the church, through paths unscanned,


s: Odors of laurel, making her faint and pale,


s: Crowded with sculptures old, in every part,


s: At the base of the rock, is builded there;


s: Its sacred summit, swept by autumn gales,


s: Round which the osprey screams and sails.


s: Thus Margaret said.  "Where are we? we ascend!"


s: Hearest not the osprey from the belfry cry?


s: The hideous bird, that brings ill luck, we know!


s: Dost thou remember when our father said,


s: Take care of Paul; I feel that I am dying!'


s: And thou, and he, and I, all fell to crying?


s: Then on the roof the osprey screamed aloud;


s: And here they brought our father in his shroud.


s: There is his grave; there stands the cross we set;


s: Why dost thou clasp me so, dear Margaret?


s: Thou tremblest!  O my God! thou art going to swoon!"


s: She could no more,--the blind girl, weak and weary!


s: A voice seemed crying from that grave so dreary,


s: "What wouldst thou do, my daughter?"--and she started,


s: And quick recoiled, aghast, faint-hearted;


s: And when, beneath her feet, the unhappy maid


s: Crushes the laurel near the house immortal,


s: And with her head, as Paul talks on again,


s: And in the ancient chapel's sombre night


s: Its hymeneal peal o'er rock and down the dell.


s: It is broad day, with sunshine and with rain;


s: For lo! Baptiste on this triumphant day,


s: Thinks only of the beldame's words of warning.


s: To be a bride is all!  The pretty lisper


s: Feels her heart swell to hear all round her whisper,


s: The wedding ring is blessed; Baptiste receives it;


s: Ere on the finger of the bride he leaves it,


s: 'T is spoken; and sudden at the grooms-man's side


s: "'T is he!" a well-known voice has cried.


s: And while the wedding guests all hold their breath,


s: Opes the confessional, and the blind girl, see!


s: "Baptiste," she said, "since thou hast wished my death,


s: And calmly in the air a knife suspended!


s: Doubtless her guardian angel near attended,


s: No, ah no! for each one seemed to say:--


s: "The road should mourn and be veiled in gloom,


s: Should mourn and should weep, ah, well-away!


s: Will then, Duperrier, thy sorrow be eternal?


s: Whispered within thy heart, by tenderness paternal,


s: Thy daughter's mournful fate, into the tomb descending


s: Has it become to thee a labyrinth never ending,


s: I know the charms that made her youth a benediction:


s: As a censorious friend, to solace thine affliction


s: But she was of the world, which fairest things exposes


s: A rose, she too hath lived as long as live the roses,


s: Death has his rigorous laws, unparalleled, unfeeling;


s: Cruel, he stops his ears, and, deaf to our appealing,


s: The poor man in his hut, with only thatch for cover,


s: The sentinel that guards the barriers of the Louvre


s: To murmur against death, in petulant defiance,


s: To will what God doth will, that is the only science


s: And even the happiest hours their sighs.


s: "What then, shall sorrows and shall fears


s: These red-tiled roofs, this fruitful soil,


s: Where springs the tree that gives us oil,


s: Beneath these mountains stripped of trees,


s: Whose tops with flowers are covered o'er,


s: You wreath of smoke, that mounts so high,


s: Where all things soothe the mind's distress,


s: Will ever the dear days come back again,


s: Those days of June, when lilacs were in bloom,


s: And bluebirds sang their sonnets in the gloom


s: Of leaves that roofed them in from sun or rain?


s: Formless, diffused in air, like a perfume,--


s: A phantom of the heart, and not the brain.


s: Was like a foot-fall nearer and more near,


s: Of the heart's secret places, and we heard


s: A voice that whispered, "Open, I cannot wait!"


s: Should have preserved my fresh green youth,


s: Let him who will, by force or fraud innate,


s: Of courtly grandeurs gain the slippery height;


s: Far from the world and noise will meditate.


s: Then, without pomps or perils of the great,


s: I shall behold the day succeed the night;


s: Behold the alternate seasons take their flight,


s: And so, whenever Death shall come to close


s: I, full of years, shall die, obscure, alone!


s: How wretched is the man, with honors crowned,


s: Who, having not the one thing needful found,


s: Dies, known to all, but to himself unknown.


s: Mine host, still sitting there au frais,


s: The self-same juice, the self-same cask!


s: Love, love, what wilt thou with this heart of mine?


s: I do not know thee,--nor what deeds are thine:


s: Shall I be mute, or vows with prayers combine?


s: Ye who are blessed in loving, tell it me:


s: My soul its secret has, my life too has its mystery,


s: A love eternal in a moment's space conceived;


s: Hopeless the evil is, I have not told its history,


s: And she who was the cause nor knew it nor believed.


s: Alas! I shall have passed close by her unperceived,


s: Forever at her side, and yet forever lonely,


s: I shall unto the end have made life's journey, only


s: Daring to ask for naught, and having naught received.


s: For her, though God has made her gentle and endearing,


s: She will go on her way distraught and without hearing


s: These murmurings of love that round her steps ascend,


s: Piously faithful still unto her austere duty,


s: Will say, when she shall read these lines full of her beauty,


s: "Who can this woman be?" and will not comprehend.


s: And now, behold! as at the approach of morning,


s: Through the gross vapors, Mars grows fiery red


s: A light along the sea, so swiftly coming,


s: Its motion by no flight of wing is equalled.


s: And when therefrom I had withdrawn a little


s: Mine eyes, that I might question my conductor,


s: Again I saw it brighter grown and larger.


s: Thereafter, on all sides of it, appeared


s: I knew not what of white, and underneath,


s: Little by little, there came forth another.


s: While the first whiteness into wings unfolded;


s: But, when he clearly recognized the pilot,


s: He cried aloud: "Quick, quick, and bow the knee!


s: Behold the Angel of God! fold up thy hands!


s: Henceforward shalt thou see such officers!


s: Than his own wings, between so distant shores!


s: See, how he holds them, pointed straight to heaven,


s: Fanning the air with the eternal pinions,


s: That do not moult themselves like mortal hair!"


s: And then, as nearer and more near us came


s: The Bird of Heaven, more glorious he appeared,


s: So that the eye could not sustain his presence,


s: But down I cast it; and he came to shore


s: With a small vessel, gliding swift and light,


s: So that the water swallowed naught thereof.


s: Upon the stern stood the Celestial Pilot!


s: And more than a hundred spirits sat within.


s: Thus sang they all together in one voice,


s: With whatso in that Psalm is after written.


s: Then made he sign of holy rood upon them,


s: Whereat all cast themselves upon the shore,


s: The heavenly forest, dense and living-green,


s: Which tempered to the eyes the newborn day,


s: Crossing the level country slowly, slowly,


s: Over the soil, that everywhere breathed fragrance.


s: A gently-breathing air, that no mutation


s: Had in itself, smote me upon the forehead,


s: No heavier blow, than of a pleasant breeze,


s: Did all of them bow downward towards that side


s: Where its first shadow casts the Holy Mountain;


s: Yet not from their upright direction bent


s: So that the little birds upon their tops


s: Should cease the practice of their tuneful art;


s: But with full-throated joy, the hours of prime


s: Singing received they in the midst of foliage


s: That made monotonous burden to their rhymes,


s: Even as from branch to branch it gathering swells,


s: Through the pine forests on the shore of Chiassi,


s: Could see no more the place where I had entered.


s: And lo! my further course cut off a river,


s: Which, tow'rds the left hand, with its little waves,


s: Bent down the grass, that on its margin sprang.


s: All waters that on earth most limpid are,


s: Would seem to have within themselves some mixture,


s: Compared with that, which nothing doth conceal,


s: Although it moves on with a brown, brown current,


s: Ray of the sun lets in, nor of the moon.


s: Even as the Blessed, at the final summons,


s: Shall rise up quickened, each one from his grave,


s: Wearing again the garments of the flesh,


s: Ministers and messengers of life eternal.


s: They all were saying, "Benedictus qui venis,"


s: And scattering flowers above and round about,


s: Oft have I seen, at the approach of day,


s: The orient sky all stained with roseate hues,


s: And the other heaven with light serene adorned,


s: And  the sun's face uprising, overshadowed,


s: So that, by temperate influence of vapors,


s: The eye sustained his aspect for long while;


s: Thus in the bosom of a cloud of flowers,


s: Which from those hands angelic were thrown up,


s: With crown of olive o'er a snow-white veil,


s: Even as the snow, among the living rafters


s: Blown on and beaten by Sclavonian winds,


s: And then, dissolving, filters through itself,


s: Whene'er the land, that loses shadow, breathes,


s: Even such I was, without a sigh or tear,


s: Before the song of those who chime forever


s: After the chiming of the eternal spheres;


s: But, when I heard in those sweet melodies


s: Compassion for me, more than had they said,


s: "O wherefore, lady, dost thou thus consume him?"


s: The ice, that was about my heart congealed,


s: To air and water changed, and, in my anguish,


s: Through lips and eyes came gushing from my breast.


s: Forced such a feeble "Yes!" out of my mouth,


s: Even as a cross-bow breaks, when 't is discharged,


s: Too tensely drawn the bow-string and the bow,


s: And with less force the arrow hits the mark;


s: So I gave way beneath this heavy burden,


s: Gushing forth into bitter tears and sighs,


s: And the voice, fainting, flagged upon its passage.


s: Italy! Italy! thou who'rt doomed to wear


s: The dower funest of infinite wretchedness


s: Ah! would that thou wert stronger, or less fair.


s: That they might fear thee more, or love thee less,


s: Seem wasting, yet to mortal combat dare!


s: Then from the Alps I should not see descending


s: Such torrents of armed men, nor Gallic horde


s: Drinking the wave of Po, distained with gore,


s: Nor should I see thee girded with a sword


s: Not thine, and with the stranger's arm contending,


s: Victor or vanquished, slave forever more.


s: as revised by his nephew Michael Angelo the Younger, and were


s: made before the publication of the original text by Guasti.]


s: Nothing the greatest artist can conceive


s: That every marble block doth not confine


s: The hand that follows intellect can achieve.


s: The ill I flee, the good that I believe,


s: Thus hidden lie; and so that death be mine


s: Art, of desired success, doth me bereave.


s: Love is not guilty, then, nor thy fair face,


s: Nor fortune, cruelty, nor great disdain,


s: Of my disgrace, nor chance, nor destiny,


s: If in thy heart both death and love find place


s: At the same time, and if my humble brain,


s: Burning, can nothing draw but death from thee.


s: Nor can revive the phoenix, we are told,


s: Except by fire.  Hence if such death be mine


s: Whom death augments, and time cannot make old.


s: O sweet, sweet death!  O fortunate fire that burns


s: Though I am almost numbered with the dead!


s: Will it bear upward when my life is fled.


s: Oh give me back the days when loose and free


s: To my blind passion were the curb and rein,


s: With which all virtue buried seems to be!


s: Oh give my panting footsteps back to me,


s: That are in age so slow and fraught with pain,


s: And fire and moisture in the heart and brain,


s: If thou wouldst have me burn and weep for thee!


s: On the sweet-bitter tears of human hearts,


s: In an old man thou canst not wake desire;


s: Souls that have almost reached the other shore


s: Of a diviner love should feel the darts,


s: The course of my long life hath reached at last,


s: The common harbor, where must rendered be


s: The impassioned phantasy, that, vague and vast,


s: Were the desires that lured me and harassed.


s: The dreams of love, that were so sweet of yore,


s: What are they now, when two deaths may be mine,--


s: One sure, and one forecasting its alarms?


s: The soul now turning to the Love Divine,


s: That oped, to embrace us, on the cross its arms.


s: Lady, how can it chance--yet this we see


s: In long experience--that will longer last


s: A living image carved from quarries vast


s: This know I, who to Art have given the past,


s: But see that Time is breaking faith with me.


s: By now portraying each in look and mien;


s: How fair thou wast, and I how full of woe,


s: And wherefore I so loved thee, may be seen.


s: Heaven took through death from out her earthly place,


s: Remained ashamed, and tears were in all eyes.


s: O hopes fallacious!  O thou spirit of grace,


s: Where art thou now?  Earth holds in its embrace


s: Thy lovely limbs, thy holy thoughts the skies.


s: That Lethe's waters could not wash away!


s: A thousand leaves, since he hath stricken thee down,


s: Speak of thee, nor to thee could Heaven convey,


s: Except through death, a refuge and a crown.


s: What should be said of him cannot be said;


s: By too great splendor is his name attended;


s: To blame is easier those who him offended,


s: Than reach the faintest glory round him shed.


s: This man descended to the doomed and dead


s: For our instruction; then to God ascended;


s: Heaven opened wide to him its portals splendid,


s: Who from his country's, closed against him, fled.


s: Nurse of his fortunes; and this showeth well,


s: That the most perfect most of grief shall see.


s: Among a thousand proofs let one suffice,


s: Ne'er walked the earth a greater man than he.


s: Ah me! ah me! when thinking of the years,


s: Fallacious hope; desires of the unknown,


s: Lamenting, loving, burning, and in tears


s: (For human passions all have stirred my mind),


s: Have held me, now I feel and know, confined


s: Both from the true and good still far away.


s: The sunshine fails, the shadows grow more dreary,


s: And I am near to fail, infirm and weary.


s: To noble heart Love doth for shelter fly,


s: As seeks the bird the forest's leafy shade;


s: Love was not felt till noble heart beat high,


s: Nor before love the noble heart was made.


s: Was formed, so soon the clear light filled the air;


s: So love springs up in noble breasts, and there


s: As heat in the bright flames finds its allotted place.


s: Kindles in noble heart the fire of love,


s: This virtue comes not from the stars above,


s: Till round it the ennobling sun has shone;


s: Has drawn forth what was vile, the stars impart


s: And thus when Nature doth create the heart


s: Like virtue from the star, love comes from woman's eye.


s: 'T is the break of day, and we must away,


s: We shall have to pass through the dewy grass,


s: And their stagnant waters smell of blood:


s: My warriors, thought I, are following me;


s: The power of Kazan with its fourfold gates?


s: From the prison windows our maidens fair


s: Talk of us still through the iron grates.


s: Ah! the black day hath come down on Kazan!


s: The brooklet flows through the village street;


s: Brook, from what mountain dost thou come,


s: The maid that loves thee comes to drink,


s: Thou hast brought us the signs of Spring,


s: Tityrus, thou in the shade of a spreading beech-tree reclining,


s: Meditatest, with slender pipe, the Muse of the woodlands.


s: We our country's bounds and pleasant pastures relinquish,


s: We our country fly; thou, Tityrus, stretched in the shadow,


s: O Meliboeus, a god for us this leisure created,


s: For he will be unto me a god forever; his altar


s: Oftentimes shall imbue a tender lamb from our sheepfolds.


s: He, my heifers to wander at large, and myself, as thou seest,


s: On my rustic reed to play what I will, hath permitted.


s: Truly I envy not, I marvel rather; on all sides


s: For having here yeaned twins just now among the dense hazels,


s: Hope of the flock, ah me! on the naked flint she hath left them.


s: Often this evil to me, if my mind had not been insensate,


s: Oak-trees stricken by heaven predicted, as now I remember;


s: Often the sinister crow from the hollow ilex predicted,


s: Nevertheless, who this god may be, O Tityrus, tell me.


s: O Meliboeus, the city that they call Rome, I imagined,


s: Foolish I! to be like this of ours, where often we shepherds


s: Wonted are to drive down of our ewes the delicate offspring.


s: But this among other cities its head as far hath exalted


s: As the cypresses do among the lissome viburnums.


s: And what so great occasion of seeing Rome hath possessed thee?


s: Liberty, which, though late, looked upon me in my inertness,


s: After the time when my beard fell whiter front me in shaving,--


s: Yet she looked upon me, and came to me after a long while,


s: Since Amaryllis possesses and Galatea hath left me.


s: For I will even confess that while Galatea possessed me


s: Neither care of my flock nor hope of liberty was there.


s: Though from my wattled folds there went forth many a victim,


s: And the unctuous cheese was pressed for the city ungrateful,


s: Never did my right hand return home heavy with money.


s: I have wondered why sad thou invokedst the gods, Amaryllis,


s: Thee, the very fountains, the very copses were calling.


s: What could I do?  No power had I to escape from my bondage,


s: Nor had I power elsewhere to recognize gods so propitious.


s: Here I beheld that youth, to whom each year, Meliboeus,


s: During twice six days ascends the smoke of our altars.


s: Here first gave he response to me soliciting favor:


s: Fortunate old man!  So then thy fields will be left thee,


s: And large enough for thee, though naked stone and the marish


s: All thy pasture-lands with the dreggy rush may encompass.


s: No unaccustomed food thy gravid ewes shall endanger,


s: Nor of the neighboring flock the dire contagion inject them.


s: Fortunate old man!  Here among familiar rivers,


s: And these sacred founts, shalt thou take the shadowy coolness.


s: On this side, a hedge along the neighboring cross-road,


s: Where Hyblaean bees ever feed on the flower of the willow,


s: Often with gentle susurrus to fall asleep shall persuade thee.


s: Therefore the agile stags shall sooner feed in the ether,


s: And the billows leave the fishes bare on the sea-shore.


s: Sooner, the border-lands of both overpassed, shall the exiled


s: Parthian drink of the Soane, or the German drink of the Tigris,


s: Than the face of him shall glide away from my bosom!


s: But we hence shall go, a part to the thirsty Afries,


s: Part to Scythia come, and the rapid Cretan Oaxes,


s: And to the Britons from all the universe utterly sundered.


s: Ah, shall I ever, a long time hence, the bounds of my country


s: And the roof of my lowly cottage covered with greensward


s: And these fields of corn a barbarian?  Lo, whither discord


s: Never again henceforth outstretched in my verdurous cavern


s: Shall I behold you afar from the bushy precipice hanging.


s: Nevertheless, this night together with me canst thou rest thee


s: Here on the verdant leaves; for us there are mellowing apples,


s: Chestnuts soft to the touch, and clouted cream in abundance;


s: And the high roofs now of the villages smoke in the distance,


s: And from the lofty mountains are falling larger the shadows.


s: Should any one there in Rome remember Ovid the exile,


s: And, without me, my name still in the city survive;


s: Tell him that under stars which never set in the ocean


s: I am existing still, here in a barbarous land.


s: Fierce Sarmatians encompass me round, and the Bessi and Getae;


s: Names how unworthy to be sung by a genius like mine!


s: Yet when the air is warm, intervening Ister defends us:


s: He, as he flows, repels inroads of war with his waves.


s: But when the dismal winter reveals its hideous aspect,


s: When all the earth becomes white with a marble-like frost;


s: And when Boreas is loosed, and the snow hurled under Arcturus,


s: Then these nations, in sooth, shudder and shiver with cold.


s: Hence, ere the first ha-s melted away, another succeeds it,


s: And two years it is wont, in many places, to lie.


s: And so great is the power of the Northwind awakened, it levels


s: Lofty towers with the ground, roofs uplifted bears off.


s: Often their tresses, when shaken, with pendent icicles tinkle,


s: And their whitened beards shine with the gathering frost.


s: Wines consolidate stand, preserving the form of the vessels;


s: No more draughts of wine,--pieces presented they drink.


s: Why should I tell you how all the rivers are frozen and solid,


s: And from out of the lake frangible water is dug?


s: Ister, with hardening winds, congeals its cerulean waters,


s: Under a roof of ice, winding its way to the sea.


s: There where ships have sailed, men go on foot; and the billows,


s: Solid made by the frost, hoof-beats of horses indent.


s: Over unwonted bridges, with water gliding beneath them,


s: The Sarmatian steers drag their barbarian carts.


s: I have beheld the vast Black Sea of ice all compacted,


s: And a slippery crust pressing its motionless tides.


s: If thou hadst had of old such a sea as this is, Leander!


s: Then thy death had not been charged as a crime to the Strait.


s: Nor can the curved dolphins uplift themselves from the water;


s: All their struggles to rise merciless winter prevents;


s: And though Boreas sound with roar of wings in commotion,


s: In the blockaded gulf never a wave will there be;


s: And the ships will stand hemmed in by the frost, as in marble,


s: Nor will the oar have power through the stiff waters to cleave.


s: Fast-bound in the ice have I seen the fishes adhering,


s: Yet notwithstanding this some of them still were alive.


s: Hence, if the savage strength of omnipotent Boreas freezes


s: Whether the salt-sea wave, whether the refluent stream,--


s: Foe, that powerful made by his steed and his far-flying arrows,


s: All the neighboring land void of inhabitants makes.


s: Cattle and creaking carts, the little wealth of the country,


s: And what riches beside indigent peasants possess.


s: Some as captives are driven along, their hands bound behind them,


s: Others, transfixed with barbed arrows, in agony perish,


s: For the swift arrow-heads all have in poison been dipped.


s: What they cannot carry or lead away they demolish,


s: And the hostile flames burn up the innocent cots.


s: Even when there is peace, the fear of war is impending;


s: None, with the ploughshare pressed, furrows the soil any more.


s: Either this region sees, or fears a foe that it sees not,


s: And the sluggish land slumbers in utter neglect.


s: No sweet grape lies hidden here in the shade of its vine-leaves,


s: No fermenting must fills and o'erflows the deep vats.


s: Apples the region denies; nor would Acontius have found here


s: Aught upon which to write words for his mistress to read.


s: Naked and barren plains without leaves or trees we behold here,--


s: Since then this mighty orb lies open so wide upon all sides,


s: Has this region been found only my prison to be?


s: Now the zephyrs diminish the cold, and the year being ended,


s: Winter Maeotian seems longer than ever before;


s: And the Ram that bore unsafely the burden of Helle,


s: Now makes the hours of the day equal with those of the night.


s: Now the boys and the laughing girls the violet gather,


s: Which the fields bring forth, nobody sowing the seed.


s: Now the meadows are blooming with flowers of various colors,


s: And with untaught throats carol the garrulous birds.


s: Now the swallow, to shun the crime of her merciless mother,


s: Under the rafters builds cradles and dear little homes;


s: And the blade that lay hid, covered up in the furrows of Ceres,


s: Now from the tepid ground raises its delicate head.


s: Now it is holiday there in Rome, and to games in due order


s: Give place the windy wars of the vociferous bar.


s: Now, when the young athlete with flowing oil is anointed,


s: He in the Virgin's Fount bathes, over-wearied, his limbs.


s: Four times happy is he, and times without number is happy,


s: Who the city of Rome, uninterdicted, enjoys.


s: But all I see is the snow in the vernal sunshine dissolving,


s: And the waters no more delved from the indurate lake.


s: Nor is the sea now frozen, nor as before o'er the Ister


s: Comes the Sarmatian boor driving his stridulous cart.


s: Hitherward, nevertheless, some keels already are steering,


s: And on this Pontic shore alien vessels will be.


s: Eagerly shall I run to the sailor, and, having saluted,


s: Who he may be, I shall ask; wherefore and whence he hath come.


s: Strange indeed will it be, if he come not from regions adjacent,


s: And incautious unless ploughing the neighboring sea.


s: Rarely a mariner over the deep from Italy passes,


s: Rarely he comes to these shores, wholly of harbors devoid.


s: Whether he knoweth Greek, or whether in Latin he speaketh,


s: Surely on this account he the more welcome will be.


s: Whosoever he is, the news he can faithfully tell me,


s: Which may become a part and an approach to the truth.


s: He, I pray, may be able to tell me the triumphs of Caesar,


s: Which he has heard of, and vows paid to the Latian Jove;


s: And that thy sorrowful head, Germania, thou, the rebellious,


s: Under the feet, at last, of the Great Captain hast laid.


s: Woe is me!  Is the house of Ovid in Scythian lands now?


s: And doth punishment now give me its place for a home?


s: Like a breeze through midnight harpstrings


s: He cheered across the chase-filled water,


s: They watched her lovely bounding flight;


s: Where clambering gazers whooped and cheered.


s: The farmer sighed:  his eyes with pleasure


s: Its neck, she stretched her hand so weak,


s: 'Tis strange to mark, it slinks and steals


s: And once when nurse who, since that time,


s: And listening to the stair-clock's click,


s: To have the creature "Nancy" christened.'


s: His eyes and Willie's strangely glistened.


s: They'll close her in and give her cover,


s: And bend their horns against the hounds,


s: For her clear leap and quick slight hoof;


s: That from the next world she'll be shut out,


s: She joined her hands and prayed the same,


s: That she "might meet her father, mother,


s: And time has passed since then:- but hark!'


s: But Joan, recovering first, broke through


s: The deep-throed quaking shape that drooped


s: Long sighs, they sank; and to the 'hush!'


s: Shivered with bliss through blood and brain,


s: Still keeping true, though harshly tried,


s: What is the name of King Ringang's daughter?


s: And, heigh! that her huntsman I might be!


s: And it chanced that, after this some time, -


s: The boy in the Castle has gained access,


s: And a horse he has got and a huntsman's dress,


s: To hunt and to fish with the merry Princess;


s: She laughs:  'Why look you so slyly at me?


s: If you have heart enough, come, kiss me.'


s: But he thinks, kind fortune has favoured my youth;


s: And thrice he has kissed Beauty Rohtraut's mouth.


s: Then slowly and silently they rode home, -


s: 'And, wert thou Empress this very night,


s: Ye thousand leaves of the wild wood wist


s: It crossed the sea and reached the shore,


s: Cried she who flung the christening cup.


s: Her incense wreaths the showering spray.


s: And tho' the storm, self-willed and blind,


s: Brought from the fruitful eastern glebes


s: Are jammed 'mongst ghostly fleets of ice,


s: Thro' all his boundaried breadth and length


s: Thro' diverse forms and different speech,


s: To watch the Heavens, to speak the word,


s: The Snowdrop is the prophet of the flowers;


s: It lives and dies upon its bed of snows;


s: And like a thought of spring it comes and goes,


s: Hanging its head beside our leafless bowers.


s: The sun's betrothing kiss it never knows,


s: Nor all the glowing joy of golden showers;


s: More like a spirit with its look serene,


s: Droops its pale cheek veined thro' with infant green.


s: Queen of her sisters is the sweet Wild Rose,


s: Sprung from the earnest sun and ripe young June;


s: The year's own darling and the Summer's Queen!


s: Lustrous as the new-throned crescent moon.


s: Much of that early prophet look she shows,


s: Mixed with her fair espoused blush which glows,


s: As if the ethereal fairy blood were seen;


s: Half twilight violet shade, half crimson sheen.


s: Twin-born are both in beauteousness, most fair


s: In all that glads the eye and charms the air;


s: And sows sweet sympathies for human kind.


s: Twin-born, albeit their seasons are apart,


s: They bloom together in the thoughtful heart;


s: Fair symbols of the marvels of our state,


s: For each, fulfilling nature's law, fulfils


s: New life when deathless Spring shall touch the hills.


s: Each perfect in its place; and each content


s: With that perfection which its being meant:


s: But linked by all the flowers that bud between.


s: Born from the first blind yearning of the earth


s: Ere yet the northern sun such rapture brings,


s: Lo, from her virgin breast the Snowdrop springs;


s: And ere the snows have melted from the grass,


s: And not a strip of greensward doth appear,


s: Save the faint prophecy its cheeks declare,


s: Alone, unkissed, unloved, behold it pass!


s: While in the ripe enthronement of the year,


s: Whispering the breeze, and wedding the rich air


s: With her so sweet, delicious bridal breath, -


s: And starr'd with dews upon her forehead clear,


s: Fresh-hearted as a Maiden Queen should be


s: Who takes the land's devotion as her fee, -


s: The Wild Rose blooms, all summer for her dower,


s: Nature's most beautiful and perfect flower.


s: As lightly she loosens her showery locks


s: While all the young villagers blithe as the flocks


s: For he cannot live longer under the sky.


s: He cannot choose but brighten their hues,


s: And tho' he would creep, he fain must leap,


s: He leaps and lights, till his moments fail,


s: With a frosty brow and an icicle tongue,


s: Hushedly, mournfully, mistily up to the shore.


s: As I when thy voice came at intervals, tuned to adore:


s: Once pledged in tyranny!  O star of dearth


s: How many men have worn thee on their brows!


s: Alas for them and us!  God's precious gift


s: The thief of God and man must have his fee:


s: And thou, John Lackland, despicable prince -


s: Basest of England's banes before or since!


s: Thrice traitor, coward, thief!  O thou shalt be


s: The historic warning, trampled and abhorr'd


s: Who dared to steal and stain the symbols of the Lord!


s: And in the squares where fountains played,


s: Crowned figures, cold and grouping slaves,


s: With burning lamps all burnish'd round; -


s: The stormy life that once blushed thro'; -


s: The streets that groaned with traffic show


s: That charms the calm cold ear o' the moon


s: The soul that joys, the soul that grieves; -


s: From faltering tongue and flushing cheek


s: Grey with all honours of age! but fresh-featured and ruddy


s: As dawn when the drowsy farm-yard has thrice heard Chaunticlere.


s: Tender to tearfulness--childlike, and manly, and motherly;


s: Here beats true English blood richest joyance on sweet English


s: Lakes where the sunsheen is mystic with splendour and softness;


s: Vales where sweet life is all Summer with golden romance:


s: Forests that glimmer with twilight round revel-bright palaces;


s: Here in our May-blood we wander, careering 'mongst ladies and


s: Picture some Isle smiling green 'mid the white-foaming ocean; -


s: Full of old woods, leafy wisdoms, and frolicsome fays;


s: Passions and pageants; sweet love singing bird-like above it;


s: Life in all shapes, aims, and fates, is there warm'd by one great


s: Like to some deep-chested organ whose grand inspiration,


s: Serenely majestic in utterance, lofty and calm,


s: Interprets to mortals with melody great as its burthen


s: The mystical harmonies chiming for ever throughout the bright


s: Keen as an eagle whose flight towards the dim empyrean


s: Fearless of toil or fatigue ever royally wends!


s: Vast in the cloud-coloured robes of the balm-breathing Orient


s: Lo! the grand Epic advances, unfolding the humanest truth.


s: A brook glancing under green leaves, self-delighting, exulting,


s: And full of a gurgling melody ever renewed -


s: Renewed thro' all changes of Heaven, unceasing in sunlight,


s: See'st thou a Skylark whose glistening winglets ascending


s: Quiver like pulses beneath the melodious dawn?


s: Deep in the heart-yearning distance of heaven it flutters -


s: A breath of the mountains, fresh born in the regions majestic,


s: That look with their eye-daring summits deep into the sky.


s: The voice of great Nature; sublime with her lofty conceptions,


s: The song of a nightingale sent thro' a slumbrous valley,


s: Low-lidded with twilight, and tranced with the dolorous sound,


s: Tranced with a tender enchantment; the yearning of passion


s: That wins immortality even while panting delirious with death.


s: Angelic love that stoops with heavenly lips


s: Heroic love that to its sphere's eclipse


s: And share with it the passion and the smart,


s: Love that can part with all but its own worth,


s: Grape-laden with full bunches of young wine!


s: While to the panting heart's dry yearning drouth


s: Down in a long warm sigh of the sweet South!


s: In the trembling leaves of twilight trees,


s: As if the wind were dreaming on its wings?


s: Of a silver harp swept by a spirit's hand


s: Of waters and of planets, wild and grand!


s: That Voice, amid the poplar and the lime,


s: As dreams of heaven to souls that sleep!


s: Ah, with this sentience quickly will you know


s: Lives in the lustre of those heavenly eyes,


s: Dies in the light of its own paradise, -


s: Dies, and relives eternal from its death,


s: Sweeps thro' my being, bearing up to thee


s: Till, nerved to life from its ordeal fire,


s: Blending divine delight with loveliest desire.


s: Where faces are hueless, where eyelids are dewless,


s: Where passion is silent and hearts never crave;


s: Where thought hath no theme, and where sleep hath no dream,


s: In patience and peace thou art gone--to thy grave!


s: Gone where no warning can wake thee to morning,


s: Dead tho' a thousand hands stretch'd out to save.


s: Thou cam'st to us sighing, and singing and dying,


s: How could it be otherwise, fair as thou wert?


s: Placidly fading, and sinking and shading


s: At last to that shadow, the latest desert;


s: Wasting and waning, but still, still remaining.


s: Alas for the hand that could deal the death-hurt!


s: The Summer that brightens, the Winter that whitens,


s: The world and its voices, the sea and the sky,


s: The bloom of creation, the tie of relation,


s: All--all is a blank to thine ear and thine eye;


s: The ear may not listen, the eye may not glisten,


s: The tree that is rootless must ever be fruitless;


s: And thou art alone in thy death and thy birth;


s: No last loving token of wedded love broken,


s: No sign of thy singleness, sweetness and worth;


s: Lost as the flower that is drowned in the shower,


s: Fall'n like a snowflake to melt in the earth.


s: Each tree a harp, whose foliaged strings


s: Spreads lengthening southward, and the sky


s: Outspread, that reach the horizon round,


s: The great South-West drives o'er the earth,


s: Whose keen black haunches quivering shine


s: Whose hoofs are travelling thunder-shocks; -


s: Chased close by some down-breathing beak;


s: Now, threatening like a storm-charged cloud;


s: The neighbouring boughs, surrendering all


s: Had caught his earliest windward thought,


s: Thick brambles and dark brushwood tufts,


s: And larch, and beech, and fir, and thorn,


s: And shriek, and shout, and whirl, and toss,


s: And stretch their arms, and split, and crack,


s: And bend their stems, and bow their heads,


s: Reigns calm profound;--not trembling now


s: This night; she fills the air with balm;


s: Dreams o'er the paths of peaceful shade; -


s: Could still their teeth, or warm their bones,


s: Young morning from his nest i' the wheat


s: From living truth; thy spring quite dry;


s: For thee, that heaven my thought may share,


s: Two wedded lovers watched the rising moon,


s: That with her strange mysterious beauty glowing,


s: Crowned the long twilight loveliness of June:


s: And thus in me, and thus in me, they spake,


s: The solemn secret of fist love did wake.


s: In which the nightingale with charmed power


s: Poured forth enchantment o'er the dark repose:


s: And thus in me, and thus in me, they said,


s: Earth's mists did with the sweet new spirit wed.


s: Upon the throne of night the moon was seated,


s: And down the valley glens the shades retreated,


s: And silver light was on the open stream.


s: And thus in me, and thus in me, they sighed,


s: Aspiring Love has hallowed Passion's tide.


s: There the young green glistening leaflets


s: Wild green leaves and low curved branches


s: Sprays and stubborn sprigs outstretching


s: Round her waist with languorous tendrils


s: And around the lamps are flaring bright.


s: The river of death from the founts of sin;


s: Those drown'd black locks, those dead lips white,


s: Those stiffened limbs, that swollen face, -


s: Was that child's face which once was theirs!


s: Their outcast looks with nature's smile;


s: This night of gleaming floods and falls,


s: The black cloud-vapour that it breathes!


s: This night from which a morn will spring


s: Hangs poised in doubt, and man is blind.


s: All flowers and fruits that strew the ground,


s: And health and pleasure pitch their tents:


s: That throngs the shameless song this night!


s: And the twin notes thus tuned their ditty, -


s: And the deep woodland crooned its ditty, -


s: And the sky-lyrist trilled this ditty, -


s: Rich meadows sunned and starred with flowers,


s: Which fills the heart with sudden yearning


s: An influence strange and swift as dreams;


s: Or one of nature's bosoms fresh revealed,


s: The springs which move in me such thoughts,


s: But from my soul a spirit calls them up.


s: Athwart the heavens it rolls its glimmering line!


s: Athwart the heavens that glimmering line is seen.


s: How glorious with rare suggestive grace!


s: 'Twere young Triptolemus, plough in hand,


s: To wed the willing earth and hope for fruits!


s: The nights will hear her wailing for her child!


s: With the young sun's first vigorous beams,


s: Men's thoughts must borrow rather than bestow.


s: Thrills quickened with the draught of life,


s: I wake unto the dawn, and leave my griefs to drowse.


s: That dallies with dead leaves ev'n while the primrose peeps.


s: But full of these warm-whispering beams,


s: My soul shall own its parent in the founts of day!


s: Turn all its silver sides and tremble into song.


s: Now from the meadow floods the wild duck clamours,


s: Now the wood pigeon wings a rapid flight,


s: Now the homeward rookery follows up its vanguard,


s: And the valley mists are curling up the hills.


s: Three short songs gives the clear-voiced throstle,


s: Sweetening the twilight ere he fills the nest;


s: While the little bird upon the leafless branches


s: Deeper the stillness hangs on every motion;


s: Now all is quiet save the roosting pheasant,


s: The bell-wether's tinkle and the watch-dog's bark.


s: Softly shine the lights from the silent kindling homestead,


s: Stars of the hearth to the shepherd in the fold;


s: Springs of desire to the traveller on the roadway;


s: Ever breathing incense to the ever-blessing sky!


s: Far distant, who their flower of childhood


s: Darken 'mid deepening masses of sorrel, and shadowy grasses


s: Down from the village; and now, even now, the air smells of the


s: Heavily weighs the hot season, and drowses the darkening foliage,


s: Heaven's blue tents it; no lark singing up in its fleecy white


s: Up in its fairy white valleys, once feathered with minstrels,


s: With the invisible joy that wakes dawn o'er the green fields of


s: Heedless of heat, and the hot-kissing sun, and the fear of dark


s: Never one kiss will he give on a neck, or a lily-white forehead,


s: Chin, hand, or bosom uncovered, all panting, to take the chance


s: But full sure the fiery pressure leaves seal of espousal.


s: Heed him not; come, tho' he kiss till the soft little upper-lip


s: Half its pure whiteness; just speck'd where the curve of the rosy


s: Thou art no nun, veiled and vowed; doomed to nourish a withering


s: Full of her beauty and wisdom, gentleness, joyance, and kindness!


s: Deep in the sweet summer meadows, border'd by hillside and river,


s: Blissfully hovers--O sweetest! but pluck it not! even in the


s: Grasp it will lose breath and wither; like many, not made for a


s: See, the sun slopes down the meadows, where all the flowers are


s: Falling unhymned; for the nightingale scarce ever charms the long


s: Call of content, but the finch and the linnet and blackcap pipe


s: Round on the western hill-side warbles the rich-billed ouzel;


s: And the shrill throstle is filling the tangled thickening copses;


s: Now it is flat as the leaves of the yet unseen water-lily.


s: There dart the lives of a day, ever-varying tactics fantastic.


s: There, by the wet-mirrored osiers, the emerald wing of the


s: Flashes, the fish in his beak! there the dab-chick dived, and the


s: Lazily undulates all thro' the tall standing army of rushes.


s: Joy thus to revel all day, till the twilight turns us homeward!


s: Till all the lingering deep-blooming splendour of sunset is over,


s: Sent to assure us that light never dieth, tho' day is now buried.


s: Heralds the day 'tis my mission eternal to seal and to prophecy.


s: Trilling for ever, and oh! will yon lark ever cease to sing up


s: O skylark!  I see thee and call thee joy!


s: Thy wings bear thee up to the breast of the dawn;


s: I see thee no more, but thy song is still


s: Sweet while I lived in them, dear now they're gone:


s: I feel them no longer, but still, O still


s: And the skylark shakes his wings in the rain;


s: O then is the season to look for a bride!


s: For the choicest maids are those that hide


s: Are brown as the squirrel that hunts them free,


s: And the fields are rich with the sun-burnt sheaf,


s: 'Mid the blue cornflower and the yellowing tree;


s: And the farmer glows and beams in his glee;


s: O then is the season to wed thee a bride!


s: Ere the garners are filled and the ale-cups foam;


s: The stars will watch the flowers asleep,


s: The flowers will feel the soft stars weep,


s: While thro' them all the heavens do flow.


s: And the young sun drinks the star-dews up,


s: When will the stars with their linking charms


s: Lightens thro' his veins, and he is gone!


s: 'O sister! couldst thou know, as thou wilt know,


s: Give thy warm limbs into the yearning earth.


s: Sleep, Sister! for Elysium's dawning birth, -


s: And faith will fill thee with what is to be!


s: Sleep, for the Gods are watching over thee!


s: Thy dream will steer thee to perform their will,


s: As silently their influence they instil.


s: O Sister! in the sweetness of thy prime,


s: Thy hand has plucked the bitter flower of death;


s: But this will dower thee with Elysian breath,


s: Dear to the Gods are those that do like thee


s: Of kings is feeble to the soul that dares


s: O, Torch between two brothers! in whose gleam


s: Our slaughtered House doth shine as one again,


s: Tho' severed by the sword; now may thy dream


s: Shalt cross, not unattended, the dark stream


s: Which runs by thee in sleep and ripples not.


s: The large stars glitter thro' the anxious night,


s: And the deep sky broods low to look at thee:


s: The air is hush'd and dark o'er land and sea,


s: And all is waiting for the morrow light:


s: So do thy kindred spirits wait for thee.


s: Will those first daybeams from the distant hill


s: Fall on the smoothness of thy placid brow,


s: Like this calm sweetness breathing thro' me now:


s: And when the fated sounds shall wake thine eyes,


s: Wilt thou, confiding in the supreme will,


s: Remembering the night thou didst not sleep,


s: And this same brooding sky beheld thee creep,


s: A wretched, graveless ghost, whose wailing chill


s: Came to thy darkened door imploring thee;


s: Yearning for burial like my brother slain; -


s: This thought will nerve again thy virgin hand


s: She woke, they led her forth, and all was still.


s: Swathed round in mist and crown'd with cloud,


s: Not those vine-terraced hills that seethe


s: That stoops from heaven to garment earth,


s: Their pointed heights and sharpened lines,


s: Of loveliness destroy'd and sorrow mute;


s: The blossom sheds its loveliness divine; -


s: When young enchantment and romance are gone;


s: The veil is drawn, but all the future dread


s: Love moves with life along a darker way,


s: They cast a shadow and they call it death:


s: But rich is the fulfilment of their day;


s: That hung and swung 'mid fruits and flowers,


s: Strange anguish in that creature's breast,


s: Though the cuckoo doth but sing 'cuk, cuk,'


s: Though the cushat spins her coo-r-roo, r-r-roo -


s: Tho' the nightingale broods--'sweet-chuck-sweet' -


s: Tho' the throstle gives but one shrilly trill


s: Might seal the dream, and bless the time,


s: Swept from his fleet upon that fatal night


s: When great Poseidon's sudden-veering wrath


s: Scattered the happy homeward-floating Greeks


s: Like foam-flakes off the waves, the King of Crete


s: Held lofty commune with the dark Sea-god.


s: His brows were crowned with victory, his cheeks


s: Were flushed with triumph, but the mighty joy


s: Of Troy's destruction and his own great deeds


s: Passed, for the thoughts of home were dearer now,


s: And weary now the ten long, foreign years,


s: More terrible, O Gods! he cried, but stopped;


s: Then raised his voice upon the storm and prayed.


s: And mortals worship, hear me! for indeed


s: It was our oath to aid the cause of Greece,


s: By thee, if gentle currents, havens calm,


s: Fair winds and prosperous voyage, and the Shape


s: Both in the stately councils of the Kings,


s: And when the husky battle murmured thick,


s: But now the seas are haggard with thy wrath,


s: Thy breath is tempest! never at the shores


s: Betray such fierce magnificence! not even


s: On that wild day when, mad with torch and glare,


s: The frantic crowds with eyes like starving wolves


s: Burst from their ports impregnable, a stream


s: Of headlong fury toward the hissing deep;


s: Where then full-armed I stood in guard, compact


s: Beside thee, and alone, with brand and spear,


s: We held at bay the swarming brood, and poured


s: Blood of choice warriors on the foot-ploughed sands!


s: Thou, meantime, dark with conflict, as a cloud


s: Over quenched sunset, circled round with flame,


s: Long distances, till with black shipwreck swoln,


s: And like that billow heaving ere it burst;


s: And like that cloud urged by impulsive storm


s: With charge of thunder, lightning, and the drench


s: Flew swiftly seconding thy mortal stroke,


s: Where'er the press was hottest; never slacked


s: Though terribly they compassed us, and stood


s: Thick as an Autumn forest, whose brown hair,


s: Lustrous with sunlight, by the still increase


s: Of heat to glowing heat conceives like zeal


s: 'Tis seized with conflagration and distends


s: Mingling the screams of birds, the cries of brutes,


s: The wail of creatures in the covert pent,


s: Howls, yells, and shrieks of agony, the hiss


s: Of seething sap, and crash of falling boughs


s: So closely and so fearfully they throng'd,


s: A sea of dusky shapes; for day had passed


s: And night fell on their darkened faces, red


s: With fight and torchflare; shrill the resonant air


s: With eager shouts, and hoarse with angry groans;


s: While over all the dense and sullen boom,


s: Rolled with its awful intervals, as though


s: The battle breathed, or as against the shore


s: Waves gather back to heave themselves anew.


s: That night sleep dropped not from the dreary skies,


s: Nor could the prowess of our chiefs oppose


s: That sea of raging men.  But what were they?


s: Or what is man opposed to thee?  Its hopes


s: Are wrecks, himself the drowning, drifting weed


s: Who see the scattered remnants of my fleet,


s: Remembering the day when first we sailed,


s: Each glad ship shining like the morning star


s: With promise for the world.  Oh! such as I


s: Thus darkly drifting on the drowning waves.


s: Dreadful it is to hear the perishing cry


s: Of those we love; the silence that succeeds


s: How dreadful!  Still my trust is fixed on thee


s: For those that still remain and for myself.


s: And if I hear thy swift foam-snorting steeds


s: Deaf thou art not to my entreating prayer!


s: Haste then to give us help, for closely now


s: Crete whispers in my ears, and all my blood


s: Runs keen and warm for home, and I have yearning,


s: My Queen, my pretty nursling of five years,


s: The darling of my hopes, our dearest pledge


s: Of marriage, and our brightest prize of love,


s: Whose parting cry rings clearest in my heart.


s: We trusted to thy mighty depths of old, -


s: Shall prompt to hail us from the white seashore


s: Above the hurricane's discordant shrieks,


s: Not unappeased was He who smites the waves,


s: When to his stormy ears the warrior's vow


s: Tumultuous he beheld the prostrate form,


s: And knew the mighty heart.  Awhile he gazed,


s: As doubtful of his purpose, and the storm,


s: Conscious of that divine debate, withheld


s: Its fierce emotion, in the luminous gloom


s: Beneath whose wavering lustre shone revealed


s: The tumult of the purpling deeps, and all


s: The throbbing of the tempest, as it paused,


s: Pants with the forepaws stretched before its nose,


s: Athwart the greensward, after an eager chase;


s: Its hot tongue thrust to cool, its foamy jaws


s: Open to let the swift breath come and go,


s: Upon the huntsman's countenance, and ever


s: Lashing its sharp impatient tail with haste:


s: Prompt at the slightest sign to scour away,


s: And hang itself afresh by the bleeding fangs,


s: Upon the neck of some death-singled stag,


s: Whose royal antlers, eyes, and stumbling knees


s: Will supplicate the Gods in mute despair.


s: This time not mute, nor yet in vain this time!


s: For still the burden of the earnest voice


s: Sank in the God, with that absorbed suspense


s: Unbounded like our mortal brain, perceive


s: All things complete, the end, the aim of all;


s: To whom the crown and consequence of deeds


s: And now the pouring surges, vast and smooth,


s: Grew weary of restraint, and heaved themselves


s: Headlong beneath him, breaking at his feet


s: With wild importunate cries and angry wail;


s: Like crowds that shout for bread and hunger more.


s: And now the surface of their rolling backs


s: Was ridged with foam-topt furrows, rising high


s: And dashing wildly, like to fiery steeds,


s: Fresh from the Thracian or Thessalian plains,


s: High-blooded mares just tempering to the bit,


s: Whose manes at full-speed stream upon the winds,


s: And in whose delicate nostrils when the gust


s: Breathes of their native plains, they ramp and rear,


s: Frothing the curb, and bounding from the earth,


s: Were fit to follow in their flashing track.


s: Anon with gathering stature to the height


s: Of those colossal giants, doomed long since


s: To torturous grief and penance, that assailed


s: The sky-throned courts of Zeus, and climbing, dared


s: For once in a world the Olympic wrath, and braved


s: The electric spirit which from his clenching hand


s: Pierces the dark-veined earth, and with a touch


s: Is death to mortals, fearfully they grew!


s: Beneath Poseidon's thought-revolving brows,


s: Storming for signal.  But no signal came.


s: With eager questioning and anxious phrase


s: Weary with much delay, they hold discourse


s: In sullen groups and cloudy masses, stirred


s: With rage irresolute and whispering plot,


s: And understood alone by those whose minds


s: Participate;--even so the restless waves


s: And worked with rebel passions, bursting, now


s: Subdued with influence, and controlled with dread


s: Then, swiftly as he mused, the impetuous God


s: Seized on the pausing reins, his coursers plunged,


s: His brows resumed the grandeur of their ire;


s: Concurrent thrilled with action, and away,


s: As sweeps a thunder-cloud across the sky


s: In harvest-time, preluded by dull blasts;


s: Or some black-visaged whirlwind, whose wide folds


s: Rush, wrestling on with all 'twixt heaven and earth,


s: Darkling he hurried, and his distant voice,


s: Not softened by delay, was heard in tones


s: With hoarse reverberations; like the roar


s: The sullen echoes from their forest sleep,


s: To speed the ravenous noise from hill to hill


s: And startle victims; but more awful, He,


s: Scudding across the hills that rise and sink,


s: With foam, and splash, and cataracts of spray,


s: Clothed in majestic splendour; girt about


s: With Sea-gods and swift creatures of the sea;


s: Their briny eyes blind with the showering drops;


s: Their stormy locks, salt tongues, and scaly backs,


s: Quivering in harmony with the tempest, fierce


s: Brake from his dense black forehead, which display'd


s: The enduring chiefs as their distracted fleets


s: Tossed, toiling with the waters, climbing high,


s: And plunging downward with determined beaks,


s: And all his crew were 'ware of under-tides,


s: That for the groaning vessel made a path,


s: On which the impending and precipitous waves


s: Fell not, nor suck'd to their abysmal gorge.


s: Without his whelming presence near:  to feel


s: Safety and sweet relief from such despair,


s: And gushing of their weary hopes once more


s: Within their fond warm hearts, tired limbs, and eyes


s: Heavy with much fatigue and want of sleep!


s: Prayers did not lack; like mountain springs they came,


s: After the earth has drunk the drenching rains,


s: And throws her fresh-born jets into the sun


s: With joyous sparkles;--for there needed not


s: Immortal mercy! and the sense which follows


s: Of danger hath been thwarted by the Gods,


s: Visibly, and through supplication deep, -


s: Tears from that great heroic soul sprang up;


s: Not painful as in grief, nor smarting keen


s: With shame of weeping; but calm, fresh, and sweet;


s: A sight most lovely to the Gods!  They fell


s: Like showers of starlight from his steadfast eyes,


s: As ever towards the prow he gazed, nor moved


s: One muscle, with firm lips and level lids,


s: Motionless; while the winds sang in his ears,


s: And took the length of his brown hair in streams


s: Behind him.  Thus the hours passed, and the oars


s: Plied without pause, and nothing but the sound


s: Of the dull rowlocks and still watery sough,


s: Far off, the carnage of the storm, was heard.


s: For nothing spake the mariners in their toil,


s: Too much oppressed with wonder, too much thrilled


s: By their great chieftain's silence, to disturb


s: Meantime the moon through slips of driving cloud


s: Came forth, and glanced athwart the seas a path


s: Of dusky splendour, like the Hadean brows,


s: Soon gathering strength and lustre, as a ship


s: With bright full-bosomed sails, the radiant car


s: Sparkled like arrows from her silver bow


s: The keenness of her pure and tender gaze.


s: Then, slowly, one by one the chiefs sought rest;


s: The watches being set, and men to relieve


s: To see them as they lay!  Some up the prow,


s: Some round the helm, in open-handed sleep;


s: With casques unloosed, and bucklers put aside;


s: The ten years' tale of war upon their cheeks,


s: Where clung the salt wet locks, and on their breasts


s: Beards, the thick growth of many a proud campaign;


s: And on their brows the bright invisible crown


s: Victory sheds from her own radiant form,


s: As o'er her favourites' heads she sings and soars.


s: But dreams came not so calmly; as around


s: Turbulent shores wild waves and swamping surf


s: Prevail, while seaward, on the tranquil deeps,


s: So, from the troubled strands of memory, they


s: Launched and were tossed, long ere they found the tides


s: That lead to the gentle bosoms of pure rest.


s: And like to one who from a ghostly watch


s: In a lone house where murder hath been done,


s: And secret violations, pale with stealth


s: Emerges, staggering on the first chill gust


s: Wherewith the morning greets him, feeling not


s: Its balmy freshness on his bloodless cheek, -


s: But swift to hide his midnight face afar,


s: 'Mongst the old woods and timid-glancing flowers


s: Hastens, till on the fresh reviving breasts


s: The pallid witness of those nameless things,


s: The full, keen joyance of the day, so they


s: From sights and sounds of battle smeared with blood,


s: And shrieking souls on Acheron's bleak tides,


s: Leave them, O Muse, in that so happy sleep!


s: Leave them to reap the harvest of their toil,


s: While fast in moonlight the glad vessel glides,


s: O Muse, that in all sorrows and all joys,


s: Dwellest with equal fervour, in the calm


s: And loves the pipings of the happy fields,


s: Better than all the great parade and pomp


s: Which forms the train of heroes and of kings,


s: And sows, too frequently, the tragic seeds


s: That choke with sobs thy singing,--turn away


s: Thy lustrous eyes back to the oath-bound man!


s: For as a shepherd stands above his flock,


s: Standing above his warriors as they sleep:


s: And still as from a rock grey waters gush,


s: While still the rock is passionless and dark,


s: Nor moves one feature of its giant face,


s: The tears fall from his eyes, and he stirs not.


s: And O, bright Muse! forget not thou to fold


s: Of him whose destiny has heard its doom:


s: The Sacrifice thro' whom the ship is saved.


s: And dreams of glad tomorrows.  Haply now,


s: His hopes are keenest, and his fervent blood


s: Richest with youth, and love, and fond regard!


s: Round him the circle of affections blooms,


s: And in some happy nest of home he lives,


s: One name oft uttering in delighted ears,


s: Mother! at which the heart of men are kin


s: With reverence and yearning.  Haply, too,


s: That other name, twin holy, twin revered,


s: For Crete has sent her bravest to the war,


s: And multitudes pressed forward to that rank,


s: Men with sad weeping wives and little ones.


s: That other name--O Father! who art thou,


s: Thus doomed to lose the star of thy last days?


s: And that of all who now look up to thee!


s: Fate cries; the future with imploring voice


s: Cries 'Save me,' 'Save me,' though thou hearest not.


s: And O thou Sacrifice, foredoomed by Zeus;


s: Is dealing its relentless stroke, and vain


s: Are prayers, and tears, and struggles, and despair!


s: The mother's tears, the nation's stormful grief,


s: Vain the last childlike pleading voice for life,


s: The quick resolve, the young heroic brow,


s: And sees not, but the Gods look down on both.


s: But shadows of darkness are flung o'er the vale


s: From the boughs of the chestnut, the oak, and the elm,


s: While night in yon lines of eastern pines


s: That it lingers thus with half-closed eyes,


s: When the sunset is quenched and the orient ray


s: 'Tis the longest, the longest of all the glad year,


s: The longest in life and the fairest in hue,


s: Mingle their beings beneath the sweet blue,


s: And on this highest throne of the midsummer now


s: The waning but deathless day doth dream,


s: With a rapturous grace, as tho' from the face


s: Of the unveiled infinity, lo, a far beam


s: Still, earnest-throated blackcap, throng


s: The ripe year doth fall to the Spirit of all,


s: Merry art thou in the boughs of the lime,


s: While thy fadeless waistcoat glows on thy breast,


s: In the boughs above, on the sward below,


s: While the maple in grief sheds its fiery leaf,


s: And all the trees waning, with bitter complaining,


s: Catch the wild gust in their arms, and roar


s: And weep themselves naked and weary with woe.


s: The set of the season burns bright on the hill,


s: Where the foliage dead falls yellow and red,


s: Picturing vainly, but foretelling plainly


s: When the frost gleams and the blood numbs,


s: And then, bonny Robin, I'll spread thee out crumbs


s: In my garden porch for thy redbreast pride,


s: The song and the ensign of dear fireside.


s: The sweet fresh-hearted violet, is smelt and loved unseen.


s: Along the brooks and meads, the daffodil


s: Of rivers, cowslips cluster round, and over every hill.


s: The crocus and the primrose may have gone,


s: Of hyacinths will fill the copse, and lilies watch the dawn.


s: And in the sweetness of the budding year,


s: And then at eve, the nightingale, is doubly sweet and dear.


s: My soul is singing with the happy birds,


s: My foot is on the fields and downs, among the flocks and herds.


s: Deep in the forest where the foliage droops,


s: The sunny vistas tempt me on with dim delicious hopes.


s: The sunny vistas, dim with hurrying shade,


s: The spirit of immortal Spring doth every sense pervade.


s: Oh! do not say that this will ever cease; -


s: Will never speak to me in vain, tho' soundly rapt in peace.


s: From his flooding, flaming crimson crest!


s: Who hold a kindred spirit in their souls:


s: Even as the odorous life within the rose


s: Lives in the scattered leaflets and controls


s: Above dead things a thing that cannot die;


s: Ere the orb fills and all the sorrow flows.


s: The flower is fading while the new bud blows;


s: And this dear land as true a symbol shows,


s: While o'er it like a mellow sunset strays


s: Sunspread, and shaded with a branching screen,


s: To lie in peace half-murmuring words of thanks!


s: To see the mountains on each other climb,


s: With spaces for rich meadows flowery bright;


s: The distant village-roofs of blue and white,


s: With intersections of quaint-fashioned beams


s: All slanting crosswise, and the feudal gleams


s: Of ruined turrets, barren in the light; -


s: To watch the changing clouds, like clime in clime;


s: Oh sweet to lie and bless the luxury of time.


s: Fresh blows the early breeze, our sail is full;


s: Half hid in misty dawn and mountain cool.


s: In saffron clothes the warming atmosphere;


s: The sky lifts up her white veil like a nun,


s: And looks upon the landscape blue and clear; -


s: The lark is up; the hills, the vines in sight;


s: The river broadens with his waking bliss


s: And throws up islands to behold the light;


s: Voices begin to rise, all hues to kiss; -


s: Between the two white breasts of her we love,


s: A dewy blushing rose will sometimes spring;


s: Thus Nonnenwerth like an enchanted thing


s: Rises mid-stream the crystal depths above.


s: On either side the waters heave and swell,


s: And bless with peace the lives that in it dwell.


s: Most dear on the dark grass beneath its bower


s: Of kindred trees embracing branch and bough,


s: To dream of fairy foot and sudden flower;


s: And Roland's lonely love and Hildegard's sad vow.


s: Hark! how the bitter winter breezes blow


s: Round the sharp rocks and o'er the half-lifted wave,


s: While all the rocky woodland branches rave


s: Shrill with the piercing cold, and every cave,


s: Rings bubbling with the whirling overflow;


s: And sharp the echoes answer distant cries


s: Of dawning daylight and the dim sunrise,


s: And the gloom-coloured clouds that stain the skies


s: With pictures of a warmth, and frozen glow


s: Spread over endless fields of sheeted snow;


s: And white untrodden mountains shining cold,


s: And muffled footpaths winding thro' the wold,


s: O'er which those wintry gusts cease not to howl and blow.


s: With youth and beauty all must be desired,


s: But 'tis the charm of things long past away,


s: They leave, alone, the light they have inspired:


s: She wanders with rank weeds stuck on her brow,


s: Over grass-hidden caves and turret-tops,


s: While, to the steps of Time, her latest props


s: Fall stone by stone, and in the Sun's hot ray


s: All that remains stands up in rugged pride,


s: And bridal vines drink in his juices on each side.


s: While under thy bower the fern hangs burnt


s: With splendour dim, that thou mightst hymn,


s: And make rejoice with thy wondrous voice,


s: And the thrill of thy wild pervading tone!


s: But instead of to woo, thou hast learnt to coo:


s: Thy song is mute at the mellowing fruit,


s: And the dirge of the flowers is sung by the hours


s: The grasses may fall, the flowers and all,


s: Float on their drowsy and odorous wings,


s: Brimming the nest with thy brooding breast,


s: 'Midst that young throng of future song,


s: Oh, hear them, deep in the songless City!


s: And come, for the Country awaits thee with pity


s: And take a new joy in thy kindling sight;


s: Long for thy coming, and watch for, and wait thee,


s: And wonder what duties can thus berate thee.


s: Dry-fruited firs are dropping their cones,


s: The rivulets run with the dead leaves at play,


s: The leafless elms are alive with the rooks.


s: Over the meadows the cowslips are springing,


s: The marshes are thick with king-cup gold,


s: Clear is the cry of the lambs in the fold,


s: The skylark is singing, and singing, and singing.


s: Soon comes the cuckoo when April is fair,


s: And her blue eye the brighter the more it may weep:


s: The frog and the butterfly wake from their sleep,


s: And curls up the valleys at eve; but noon


s: Is fullest of Spring; and at midnight the moon


s: Gives her westering throne to Orion's bright zone,


s: As he slopes o'er the darkened world's repose;


s: Come, and molest not the otter that whistles


s: Unlit by the moon, 'mid the wet winter bristles


s: Of willow, half-drowned in the fattening floods.


s: Let him catch his cold fish without fear of a gun,


s: And the stars shall shield him, and thou wilt shun!


s: Shall know that the bounty of Spring doth dwell


s: In the winds that blow, in the waters that run,


s: Thrills them with the sweet o' the year.


s: And then a smile, i' the sweet o' the year.


s: The long cloud edged with streaming grey


s: Steel-surfaced to the light the river looks.


s: Great oaks grow mighty minstrels in the blast.


s: Blacken broad earth with hoards of storm:


s: When Sir Gawain was led to his bridal-bed,


s: Was yellow and dry as a snake's old skin;


s: And let not his loathing her loathliness vain


s: Turned he and kissed her once and again.


s: There's none like the Knight of Courtesy.


s: Sir Gawain sprang up amid laces and curls:


s: Burning with blushes the sweet bride-bower,


s: Thereat he clasped her, and whispered he,


s: This bride is the very Saint's dream of a prize,


s: Turning to gold all it touches and tries?


s: There were three maidens met on the highway;


s: And two sang loud with the birds of May,


s: O the nightingale is merry with its mate.


s: Said they to the youngest, Why walk you there so still?


s: And the nightingale will languish for its mate.


s: Said they to the youngest, Of lovers there is store;


s: Said they to the youngest, Uncross your arms and sing;


s: The moon mounts high, the night is late:


s: And the nightingale sings only to its mate.


s: They slew him in revenge, and his true-love was his lure;