s: This no Saint preaches, and this no Church rules;


s: Foil'd by our fellow-men, depress'd, outworn,


s: We leave the brutal world to take its way,


s: And, _Patience! in another life_, we say,


s: _The world shall be thrust down, and we up-borne._


s: And will not, then, the immortal armies scorn


s: The world's poor, routed leavings? or will they,


s: Who fail'd under the heat of this life's day,


s: Support the fervours of the heavenly morn?


s: And he who flagg'd not in the earthly strife,


s: From strength to strength advancing--only he,


s: His soul well-knit, and all his battles won,


s: Mounts, and that hardly, to eternal life.


s: _He saves the sheep, the goats he doth not save._


s: So rang Tertullian's sentence, on the side


s: Of that unpitying Phrygian sect which cried:


s: "Him can no fount of fresh forgiveness lave,


s: "Who sins, once wash'd by the baptismal wave."--


s: So spake the fierce Tertullian. But she sigh'd,


s: The infant Church! of love she felt the tide


s: Stream on her from her Lord's yet recent grave.


s: And then she smiled; and in the Catacombs,


s: With eye suffused but heart inspired true,


s: On those walls subterranean, where she hid


s: Her head 'mid ignominy, death, and tombs,


s: She her Good Shepherd's hasty image drew--


s: And on his shoulders, not a lamb, a kid.


s: "Ah, could thy grave at home, at Carthage, be!"


s: _Care not for that, and lay me where I fall!_


s: _Everywhere heard will be the judgment-call;_


s: Yet fervent had her longing been, through all


s: Her course, for home at last, and burial


s: With her own husband, by the Libyan sea.


s: Had been! but at the end, to her pure soul


s: All tie with all beside seem'd vain and cheap,


s: Creeds pass, rites change, no altar standeth whole.


s: Yet we her memory, as she pray'd, will keep,


s: Keep by this: _Life in God, and union there!_


s: But on the stairs what voice is this I hear,


s: Buoyant as morning, and as morning clear?


s: Say, has some wet bird-haunted English lawn


s: Or was it from some sun-fleck'd mountain-brook


s: That the sweet voice its upland clearness took?


s: But who is this, by the half-open'd door,


s: Whose figure casts a shadow on the floor?


s: The sweet blue eyes--the soft, ash-colour'd hair--


s: The cheeks that still their gentle paleness wear--


s: The lovely lips, with their arch smile that tells


s: The unconquer'd joy in which her spirit dwells--


s: Each glistening strand, each heath-fringed bay.


s: And the roof'd bridge that spans the stream;


s: In tears, with hearts too full to speak.


s: Thy cheek was grave, thy speech grew rare.


s: These they themselves have tried and known;


s: With the blind gusts that shake their own.


s: Have praised the keen, unscrupulous course,


s: Which knows no doubt, which feels no fear.


s: But He, who sees us through and through,


s: Then we shall know our friends!--though much


s: Will have been lost--the help in strife,


s: Like mine, each day, more tried, more true.


s: The fault was grave! I might have known,


s: Self-sway'd our feelings ebb and swell--


s: Thou lov'st no more;--Farewell! Farewell!


s: To haunt the place where passions reign--


s: Back! with the conscious thrill of shame


s: This truth--to prove, and make thine own:


s: Have _dream'd_ two human hearts might blend


s: And then their endless bounds they know.


s: But bright are those green fields at hand,


s: And through those fields comes down the Aar,


s: And clap thy hands, and cry: _'Tis thou!_


s: Daughter of France! to France, thy home;


s: Thy cheek's soft hue; and fluttering lace


s: Could from earth's ways that figure slight


s: Or shall I find thee still, but changed,


s: Like driftwood spars, which meet and pass


s: I snatch'd up my vine-crown, my fir-staff,


s: Of thy cup; the bright, glancing vine-leaves


s: Smear'd with red wine-stains? Who is he,


s: The favour'd guest of Circe, brought by the waves?


s: With large-leaved, low-creeping melon-plants,


s: He tethers his beast down, and makes his meal--


s: The boundless, waving grass-plains stretch, thick-starr'd


s: He makes his meal; before him, for long miles,


s: Stands at the prow, and guides them; but astern


s: Swell their large veins to bursting; in wild pain


s: Of the grim Lapithæ, and Theseus, drive,


s: Drive crashing through their bones; they feel


s: High on a jutting rock in the red stream


s: Their melon-harvest to the heart.--They see


s: Parch them in winter-time on the bare stepp,


s: Till they too fade like grass; they crawl


s: Must visit first them too, and make them pale.


s: A cloud of desert robber-horse have burst


s: In the wall'd cities the way passes through,


s: Their lives, and former violent toil in Thebes,


s: Ah, golden-hair'd, strangely smiling Goddess,


s: Well hath he done who hath seized happiness!


s: Declines her ministry, and carves his own;


s: Makes his own welfare his unswerved-from law.


s: He does well too, who keeps that clue the mild


s: Birth-Goddess and the austere Fates first gave.


s: A country for him, kinsfolk, and a home,


s: Till the Fates come again, this time with death.


s: Ignorant where to stand, or whom to avoid,


s: By city and household group'd, we live; and many shocks


s: Voyages, exiles, hates, dissensions, wars.


s: Which consecrates the ties of blood; for these, indeed,


s: For every day man may be link'd and loosed


s: But them, too-bold, headstrong, pitiless!


s: And coming flush'd over the stormy frith


s: His beloved Argive seer would Zeus retain


s: The broad earth open'd, and whelm'd them and him;


s: And fain would Zeus have saved his tired son


s: Beholding him where the Two Pillars stand


s: But he preferr'd Fate to his strong desire.


s: Nor did there need less than the burning pile


s: And the Spercheios vale, shaken with groans,


s: To achieve his son's deliverance, O my child!


s: Light ignorance, and hurrying, unsure thoughts!


s: Proud, ignorant, self-adored, you live alone.


s: Among their savage gorges and cold springs,


s: But strangely misinterpret all you hear.


s: New hearts with the enquirer's holy robe,


s: Of the city of death have for ever closed--


s: Out of the light and mutely; which avoids


s: Fame, and her less fair followers, envy, strife,


s: Let him live, let him feel: _I have lived._


s: Hark, from that moonlit cedar what a burst!


s: Still, after many years, in distant lands,


s: Still nourishing in thy bewilder'd brain


s: That wild, unquench'd, deep-sunken, old-world pain--


s: Here, through the moonlight on this English grass,


s: The unfriendly palace in the Thracian wild?


s: Once more, and once more seem to make resound


s: Lone Daulis, and the high Cephissian vale?


s: How thick the bursts come crowding through the leaves!


s: She smiles and smiles, and will not sigh,


s: She look'd, and smiled, and saw them through.


s: His voice like sounds of summer nights--


s: And cry: _Long, long I've look'd for thee._


s: Then will she weep; with smiles, till then,


s: Truth--what is truth? Two bleeding hearts,


s: Hath charm'd at birth from gloom and care,


s: These ask no love, these plight no faith,


s: And what the world can give, they take--


s: It was not love which heaved thy breast,


s: A thousand knights have rein'd their steeds


s: Thy shawl, thy look, thy smile, thy hand!


s: Shake loose some band of soft brown hair!


s: Oh, that yon sea-bird's wings were mine,


s: And spell thy looks, and guess thy thoughts,


s: To-night those soft-fringed eyes shall close


s: Still glides the stream, slow drops the boat


s: None speaks, none heeds; ah, turn thy head!


s: From the twin soul which halves their own.


s: --Thy heart is mine!--_True, true! ah, true!_


s: Stop!--not to me, at this bitter departing,


s: Fresh be the wound, still-renew'd be its smarting,


s: But, if the stedfast commandment of Nature


s: Wills that remembrance should always decay--


s: If the loved form and the deep-cherish'd feature


s: Must, when unseen, from the soul fade away--


s: Fled, fled at once, be all vestige of thee!


s: Deep be the darkness and still be the slumber--


s: Dead be the past and its phantoms to me!


s: Then, when we meet, and thy look strays toward me,


s: Scanning my face and the changes wrought there:


s: _Who_, let me say, _is this stranger regards me,


s: With the grey eyes, and the lovely brown hair_?


s: Those blue hills too, this river's flow,


s: The thoughts that rain their steady glow


s: Thoughts light, like gleams, my spirit's sky,


s: Say, what blinds us, that we claim the glory


s: --Since man woke on earth, he knows his story,


s: Long, long since, undower'd yet, our spirit


s: Roam'd, ere birth, the treasuries of God;


s: Saw the gifts, the powers it might inherit,


s: Then, as now, this tremulous, eager being


s: Strain'd and long'd and grasp'd each gift it saw;


s: Staved us back, and gave our choice the law.


s: Ah, whose hand that day through Heaven guided


s: Ah, who sway'd our choice, and who decided


s: What our gifts, and what our wants should be?


s: Shreds of gifts which he refused in full.


s: Still these waste us with their hopeless straining,


s: Still the attempt to use them proves them null.


s: And on earth we wander, groping, reeling;


s: Ah! and he, who placed our master-feeling,


s: Fail'd to place that master-feeling clear.


s: We but dream we have our wish'd-for powers,


s: Ah! _some_ power exists there, which is ours?


s: _Some_ end is there, we indeed may gain?


s: Upon the straits;--on the French coast the light


s: Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,


s: Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.


s: Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!


s: Where the sea meets the moon-blanch'd land,


s: Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,


s: Hearing it by this distant northern sea.


s: Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore


s: Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl'd.


s: Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear


s: To one another! for the world, which seems


s: Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,


s: Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;


s: Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,


s: Not our bloom only, but our strength--decay?


s: Grow stiffer, every function less exact,


s: Ah, 'tis not what in youth we dream'd 'twould be!


s: Mellow'd and soften'd as with sunset-glow,


s: As from a height, with rapt prophetic eyes,


s: And weep, and feel the fulness of the past,


s: And not once feel that we were ever young;


s: And feel but half, and feebly, what we feel.


s: Festers the dull remembrance of a change,


s: To hear the world applaud the hollow ghost


s: And strikes the rock, and finds the vein,


s: "And what," cries Cupid, "will save us?"


s: What inns! Your streets, too, how narrow!


s: Wide streets with fine double trottoirs;


s: They out-talk'd thee, hiss'd thee, tore thee?


s: That Being only, which hath known each man


s: The evening comes, the fields are still.


s: The age has talk'd and work'd its fill--


s: The puissant crown'd, the weak laid low.


s: Now strifes are hush'd, our ears doth meet,


s: O'er that wide plain, now wrapt in gloom,


s: The world but feels the present's spell,


s: One morn as through Hyde Park we walk'd,


s: "Ah," cries my friend, "but who hath taught


s: Profound yet touching, sweet yet strong,


s: While thus my friend discoursed, we pass


s: And still the unblacken'd elms were gay;


s: "Behold," I said, "the painter's sphere!


s: The grass, the elms, that blossom'd thorn--


s: Their shining flanks, their liquid eyes--


s: These, or much greater things, but caught


s: While through their earth-moor'd nave below


s: "This breeze that rustles by, that famed


s: What power of passion, wealth of change!


s: Poor, bounded words--and makes them new;


s: And still they live and still they burn,


s: Men, with their stream of life, were here.


s: Nods, smiles, and greetings, and farewells!


s: Hies, ah, from whence, what native ground?


s: Of toil--he must life's _movement_ tell!


s: His thought must follow where they pass;


s: His thought must follow through the crowd.


s: Girl, statesman, merchant, soldier bold,


s: Grave, gay, child, parent, husband, wife,


s: Ill-stored in strength, in wits, are they.


s: That transient glimpse in song they say,


s: The charm which Homer, Shakespeare, teach


s: Gives, then, the first, the fairest place;


s: Of the times which had shelter'd his youth


s: Which we saw with his eyes, and were glad.


s: Or the voice which reveals what you are?


s: But are lost when their watcher is gone.


s: They are here! they are set in the world,


s: Nor the dullest been dead to them quite.


s: That the singer was less than his themes,


s: To that which once ran through his soul.


s: "Ye know not yourselves; and your bards--


s: Ye express not yourselves;--can you make


s: "Yourselves and your fellows ye know not; and me,


s: Of the thoughts that ferment in my breast,


s: Will ye claim for your great ones the gift


s: When your great ones depart, will ye say:


s: --They are dust, they are changed, they are gone!


s: They droop'd, they grew blind, they grew old.


s: Which shelter'd their childhood--the sun


s: While the locks are yet brown on thy head,


s: While the soul still looks through thine eyes,


s: Rally the good in the depths of thyself!


s: Set where the upper streams of Simois flow


s: Was the Palladium, high 'mid rock and wood;


s: And fought, and saw it not--but there it stood!


s: It stood, and sun and moonshine rain'd their light


s: On the pure columns of its glen-built hall.


s: Backward and forward roll'd the waves of fight


s: Round Troy--but while this stood, Troy could not fall.


s: So, in its lovely moonlight, lives the soul.


s: Mountains surround it, and sweet virgin air;


s: Cold plashing, past it, crystal waters roll;


s: To-morrow;--red with blood will Xanthus be;


s: Then we shall rust in shade, or shine in strife,


s: And fluctuate 'twixt blind hopes and blind despairs,


s: And fancy that we put forth all our life,


s: And never know how with the soul it fares.


s: Still doth the soul, from its lone fastness high,


s: And when it fails, fight as we will, we die;


s: And while it lasts, we cannot wholly end.


s: The Master stood upon the mount, and taught.


s: "The old law," they cried, "is wholly come to nought,


s: "Was it," the Lord then said, "with scorn ye saw


s: The old law observed by Scribes and Pharisees?


s: "Too hasty heads for ordering worlds, alas!


s: Think not that I to annul the law have will'd;


s: So Christ said eighteen hundred years ago.


s: And what then shall be said to those to-day,


s: Hence, hence," they cry, "ye do but keep man blind!


s: But keep him self-immersed, preoccupied,


s: Ah! from the old world let some one answer give:


s: "Scorn ye this world, their tears, their inward cares?


s: I say unto you, see that _your_ souls live


s: "Say ye: 'The spirit of man has found new roads,


s: And we must leave the old faiths, and walk therein'?--


s: Leave then the Cross as ye have left carved gods,


s: "Bright else and fast the stream of life may roll,


s: Yet each will have one anguish--his own soul


s: Here let that voice make end; then, let a strain,


s: From a far lonelier distance, like the wind


s: Be heard, floating through heaven, and fill again


s: "Children of men! the unseen Power, whose eye


s: "Which has not taught weak wills how much they can?


s: Which has not fall'n on the dry heart like rain?


s: Which has not cried to sunk, self-weary man:


s: "Children of men! not that your age excel


s: In pride of life the ages of your sires,


s: But that ye think clear, feel deep, bear fruit well,


s: Before man parted for this earthly strand,


s: While yet upon the verge of heaven he stood,


s: And bade him make with them what word he could.


s: And man has turn'd them many times; made Greece,


s: Rome, England, France;--yes, nor in vain essay'd


s: Way after way, changes that never cease!


s: The letters have combined, something was made.


s: Haunts him that he has not made what he should;


s: That he has still, though old, to recommence,


s: Since he has not yet found the word God would.


s: And empire after empire, at their height


s: Of sway, have felt this boding sense come on;


s: Have felt their huge frames not constructed right,


s: And droop'd, and slowly died upon their throne.


s: One day, thou say'st, there will at last appear


s: The word, the order, which God meant should be.


s: --Ah! we shall know _that_ well when it comes near;


s: The band will quit man's heart, he will breathe free.


s: At this vessel's prow I stand, which bears me


s: Forwards, forwards, o'er the starlit sea.


s: "Ye who from my childhood up have calm'd me,


s: "Ah, once more," I cried, "ye stars, ye waters,


s: Still, still let me, as I gaze upon you,


s: From the intense, clear, star-sown vault of heaven,


s: In the rustling night-air came the answer:


s: "Wouldst thou _be_ as these are? _Live_ as they.


s: "Unaffrighted by the silence round them,


s: These demand not that the things without them


s: "And with joy the stars perform their shining,


s: And the sea its long moon-silver'd roll;


s: For self-poised they live, nor pine with noting


s: In their own tasks all their powers pouring,


s: O air-born voice! long since, severely clear,


s: A cry like thine in mine own heart I hear:


s: "Resolve to be thyself; and know that he,


s: Can be through hours of gloom fulfill'd.


s: Nature, whose free, light, cheerful air,


s: "Ah, child!" she cries, "that strife divine,


s: The moon! and, lost behind her, fading dim


s: Of a past night, and a far different scene.


s: Headlands stood out into the moonlit deep


s: The blue haze-cradled mountains spread away,


s: But the same restless pacings to and fro,


s: And the same vainly throbbing heart was there,


s: _Hast thou then still the old unquiet breast,_


s: _That whirls the spirit from itself away,_


s: _And never quite benumb'd by the world's sway?_--


s: With heads bent o'er their toil, they languidly


s: Their lives to some unmeaning taskwork give,


s: Dreaming of nought beyond their prison-wall.


s: Fresh products of their barren labour fall


s: Gloom settles slowly down over their breast;


s: The waves of mournful thought by which they are prest,


s: Unfreed, having seen nothing, still unblest.


s: There the freed prisoner, where'er his heart


s: Trade-winds which cross it from eternity.


s: Awhile he holds some false way, undebarr'd


s: The freshening wind and blackening waves.


s: And then the tempest strikes him; and between


s: And the pale master on his spar-strewn deck


s: Still bent to make some port he knows not where,


s: Still standing for some false, impossible shore.


s: Of sea and wind, and through the deepening gloom


s: Fainter and fainter wreck and helmsman loom,


s: And he too disappears, and comes no more.


s: Plainness and clearness without shadow of stain!


s: Ye heavens, whose pure dark regions have no sign


s: Of languor, though so calm, and, though so great,


s: Who, though so noble, share in the world's toil,


s: And, though so task'd, keep free from dust and soil!


s: I will not say that your mild deeps retain


s: A tinge, it may be, of their silent pain


s: Who have long'd deeply once, and long'd in vain--


s: A world above man's head, to let him see


s: How boundless might his soul's horizons be,


s: How vast, yet of what clear transparency!


s: How it were good to abide there, and breathe free;


s: Light flows our war of mocking words, and yet,


s: And let me read there, love! thy inmost soul.


s: Their thoughts, for fear that if reveal'd


s: With blank indifference, or with blame reproved;


s: Of men, and alien to themselves--and yet


s: The same heart beats in every human breast!


s: But we, my love!--doth a like spell benumb


s: For that which seals them hath been deep-ordain'd!


s: By what distractions he would be possess'd,


s: How he would pour himself in every strife,


s: And well-nigh change his own identity----


s: That it might keep from his capricious play


s: Even in his own despite his being's law,


s: Bade through the deep recesses of our breast


s: But often, in the world's most crowded streets,


s: A thirst to spend our fire and restless force


s: In tracking out our true, original course;


s: Into the mystery of this heart which beats


s: Whence our lives come and where they go.


s: And many a man in his own breast then delves,


s: And we have been on many thousand lines,


s: And we have shown, on each, spirit and power;


s: But hardly have we, for one little hour,


s: Been on our own line, have we been ourselves--


s: The nameless feelings that course through our breast,


s: But they course on for ever unexpress'd.


s: And long we try in vain to speak and act


s: Is eloquent, is well--but 'tis not true!


s: Of all the thousand nothings of the hour


s: Yet still, from time to time, vague and forlorn,


s: From the soul's subterranean depth upborne


s: Come airs, and floating echoes, and convey


s: Our eyes can in another's eyes read clear,


s: Is by the tones of a loved voice caress'd--


s: A bolt is shot back somewhere in our breast,


s: And a lost pulse of feeling stirs again.


s: The eye sinks inward, and the heart lies plain,


s: And what we mean, we say, and what we would, we know.


s: And hears its winding murmur; and he sees


s: The meadows where it glides, the sun, the breeze.


s: And there arrives a lull in the hot race


s: And an unwonted calm pervades his breast.


s: Those black-crown'd, red-boled pine-trees stand!


s: Birds here make song, each bird has his,


s: How thick the tremulous sheep-cries come!


s: Where the tired angler lies, stretch'd out,


s: Counts his day's spoil, the spotted trout.


s: Still all things in this glade go through


s: There are worse plagues on earth than tears.


s: Which one who feels death's winnowing wings


s: Rivets his gaze on the banks of the stream.


s: As what he sees is, so have his thoughts been.


s: Whether in sound of the swallowing sea--


s: Or shall reach when his eyes have been closed.


s: Raised by the objects he passes, are his.


s: The tribes who then roam'd on her breast,


s: Now flows through with us, is the plain.


s: Are confused as the cries which we hear,


s: Changing and shot as the sights which we see.


s: For ever the course of the river of Time.


s: Freshening its current and spotted with foam


s: Peace to the soul of the man on its breast--


s: As the stars come out, and the night-wind


s: Go, for they call you, shepherd, from the hill;


s: Go, shepherd, and untie the wattled cotes!


s: No longer leave thy wistful flock unfed,


s: Nor let thy bawling fellows rack their throats,


s: Nor the cropp'd herbage shoot another head.


s: And the tired men and dogs all gone to rest,


s: And only the white sheep are sometimes seen


s: Cross and recross the strips of moon-blanch'd green,


s: Come, shepherd, and again begin the quest!


s: Here, where the reaper was at work of late--


s: In this high field's dark corner, where he leaves


s: His coat, his basket, and his earthen cruse,


s: And in the sun all morning binds the sheaves,


s: Then here, at noon, comes back his stores to use--


s: The bleating of the folded flocks is borne,


s: With distant cries of reapers in the corn--


s: Screen'd is this nook o'er the high, half-reap'd field,


s: And here till sun-down, shepherd! will I be.


s: Through the thick corn the scarlet poppies peep,


s: And round green roots and yellowing stalks I see


s: Pale pink convolvulus in tendrils creep;


s: Their scent, and rustle down their perfumed showers


s: Of bloom on the bent grass where I am laid,


s: And bower me from the August sun with shade;


s: And the eye travels down to Oxford's towers.


s: And near me on the grass lies Glanvil's book--


s: Come, let me read the oft-read tale again!


s: Of pregnant parts and quick inventive brain,


s: Who, tired of knocking at preferment's door,


s: His friends, and went to learn the gipsy-lore,


s: And roam'd the world with that wild brotherhood,


s: And came, as most men deem'd, to little good,


s: But came to Oxford and his friends no more.


s: But once, years after, in the country-lanes,


s: Two scholars, whom at college erst he knew,


s: Met him, and of his way of life enquired;


s: Whereat he answer'd, that the gipsy-crew,


s: His mates, had arts to rule as they desired


s: And they can bind them to what thoughts they will.


s: "And I," he said, "the secret of their art,


s: When fully learn'd, will to the world impart;


s: But it needs heaven-sent moments for this skill."


s: This said, he left them, and return'd no more.--


s: But rumours hung about the country-side,


s: That the lost Scholar long was seen to stray,


s: Seen by rare glimpses, pensive and tongue-tied,


s: In hat of antique shape, and cloak of grey,


s: Shepherds had met him on the Hurst in spring;


s: At some lone alehouse in the Berkshire moors,


s: On the warm ingle-bench, the smock-frock'd boors


s: But, 'mid their drink and clatter, he would fly.


s: And I myself seem half to know thy looks,


s: And put the shepherds, wanderer! on thy trace;


s: And boys who in lone wheatfields scare the rooks


s: I ask if thou hast pass'd their quiet place;


s: Moor'd to the cool bank in the summer-heats,


s: 'Mid wide grass meadows which the sunshine fills,


s: And watch the warm, green-muffled Cumner hills,


s: And wonder if thou haunt'st their shy retreats.


s: For most, I know, thou lov'st retired ground!


s: Returning home on summer-nights, have met


s: Crossing the stripling Thames at Bab-lock-hithe,


s: Trailing in the cool stream thy fingers wet,


s: And leaning backward in a pensive dream,


s: And fostering in thy lap a heap of flowers


s: Pluck'd in shy fields and distant Wychwood bowers,


s: And thine eyes resting on the moonlit stream.


s: And then they land, and thou art seen no more!--


s: Maidens, who from the distant hamlets come


s: Oft through the darkening fields have seen thee roam,


s: Of flowers--the frail-leaf'd, white anemony,


s: Dark bluebells drench'd with dews of summer eves,


s: And purple orchises with spotted leaves--


s: But none hath words she can report of thee.


s: And, above Godstow Bridge, when hay-time's here


s: In June, and many a scythe in sunshine flames,


s: Men who through those wide fields of breezy grass


s: Where black-wing'd swallows haunt the glittering Thames,


s: Mark'd thine outlandish garb, thy figure spare,


s: Thy dark vague eyes, and soft abstracted air--


s: But, when they came from bathing, thou wast gone!


s: At some lone homestead in the Cumner hills,


s: Where at her open door the housewife darns,


s: Thou hast been seen, or hanging on a gate


s: To watch the threshers in the mossy barns.


s: Children, who early range these slopes and late


s: Have known thee eying, all an April-day,


s: The springing pastures and the feeding kine;


s: And mark'd thee, when the stars come out and shine,


s: Through the long dewy grass move slow away.


s: In autumn, on the skirts of Bagley Wood--


s: Where most the gipsies by the turf-edged way


s: Pitch their smoked tents, and every bush you see


s: With scarlet patches tagg'd and shreds of grey,


s: Above the forest-ground called Thessaly--


s: Sees thee, nor stops his meal, nor fears at all;


s: So often has he known thee past him stray,


s: Rapt, twirling in thy hand a wither'd spray,


s: And waiting for the spark from heaven to fall.


s: And once, in winter, on the causeway chill


s: Where home through flooded fields foot-travellers go,


s: Have I not pass'd thee on the wooden bridge,


s: Wrapt in thy cloak and battling with the snow,


s: Thy face tow'rd Hinksey and its wintry ridge?


s: And gain'd the white brow of the Cumner range;


s: Turn'd once to watch, while thick the snowflakes fall,


s: The line of festal light in Christ-Church hall--


s: Then sought thy straw in some sequester'd grange.


s: But what--I dream! Two hundred years are flown


s: Since first thy story ran through Oxford halls,


s: And the grave Glanvil did the tale inscribe


s: That thou wert wander'd from the studious walls


s: To learn strange arts, and join a gipsy-tribe;


s: Long since, and in some quiet churchyard laid--


s: Some country-nook, where o'er thy unknown grave


s: Tall grasses and white flowering nettles wave,


s: Under a dark, red-fruited yew-tree's shade.


s: --No, no, thou hast not felt the lapse of hours!


s: For what wears out the life of mortal men?


s: 'Tis that from change to change their being rolls;


s: 'Tis that repeated shocks, again, again,


s: Till having used our nerves with bliss and teen,


s: And tired upon a thousand schemes our wit,


s: Our worn-out life, and are--what we have been.


s: Thou hast not lived, why should'st thou perish, so?


s: Thou hadst _one_ aim, _one_ business, _one_ desire;


s: Else wert thou long since number'd with the dead!


s: Else hadst thou spent, like other men, thy fire!


s: And living as thou liv'st on Glanvil's page,


s: Because thou hadst--what we, alas! have not.


s: For early didst thou leave the world, with powers


s: Firm to their mark, not spent on other things;


s: Free from the sick fatigue, the languid doubt,


s: Which much to have tried, in much been baffled, brings.


s: Who fluctuate idly without term or scope,


s: Of whom each strives, nor knows for what he strives,


s: And each half lives a hundred different lives;


s: Who wait like thee, but not, like thee, in hope.


s: Thou waitest for the spark from heaven! and we,


s: Light half-believers of our casual creeds,


s: Who never deeply felt, nor clearly will'd,


s: Whose insight never has borne fruit in deeds,


s: Whose vague resolves never have been fulfill'd;


s: Breeds new beginnings, disappointments new;


s: And lose to-morrow the ground won to-day--


s: Tells us his misery's birth and growth and signs,


s: And how the dying spark of hope was fed,


s: And how the breast was soothed, and how the head,


s: This for our wisest! and we others pine,


s: And wish the long unhappy dream would end,


s: And waive all claim to bliss, and try to bear;


s: With close-lipp'd patience for our only friend,


s: Sad patience, too near neighbour to despair--


s: Thou through the fields and through the woods dost stray,


s: And every doubt long blown by time away.


s: O born in days when wits were fresh and clear,


s: And life ran gaily as the sparkling Thames;


s: Before this strange disease of modern life,


s: Its heads o'ertax'd, its palsied hearts, was rife--


s: Still fly, plunge deeper in the bowering wood!


s: From her false friend's approach in Hades turn,


s: With a free, onward impulse brushing through,


s: By night, the silver'd branches of the glade--


s: Far on the forest-skirts, where none pursue,


s: Emerge, and resting on the moonlit pales


s: With dew, or listen with enchanted ears,


s: From the dark dingles, to the nightingales!


s: But fly our paths, our feverish contact fly!


s: For strong the infection of our mental strife,


s: Which, though it gives no bliss, yet spoils for rest;


s: And we should win thee from thy own fair life,


s: Like us distracted, and like us unblest.


s: Thy hopes grow timorous, and unfix'd thy powers,


s: And thy clear aims be cross and shifting made;


s: And then thy glad perennial youth would fade,


s: Fade, and grow old at last, and die like ours.


s: Then fly our greetings, fly our speech and smiles!


s: --As some grave Tyrian trader, from the sea,


s: Lifting the cool-hair'd creepers stealthily,


s: Freighted with amber grapes, and Chian wine,


s: Green, bursting figs, and tunnies steep'd in brine--


s: And knew the intruders on his ancient home,


s: The young light-hearted masters of the waves--


s: And snatch'd his rudder, and shook out more sail;


s: O'er the blue Midland waters with the gale,


s: Outside the western straits; and unbent sails


s: There, where down cloudy cliffs, through sheets of foam,


s: Shy traffickers, the dark Iberians come;


s: And on the beach undid his corded bales.


s: A MONODY, _to commemorate the author's friend_,


s: ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH, _who died at Florence_, 1861.


s: How changed is here each spot man makes or fills!


s: In the two Hinkseys nothing keeps the same;


s: The village street its haunted mansion lacks,


s: And from the sign is gone Sibylla's name,


s: And from the roofs the twisted chimney-stacks--


s: To-night from Oxford up your pathway strays!


s: Here came I often, often, in old days----


s: Thyrsis and I; we still had Thyrsis then.


s: Runs it not here, the track by Childsworth Farm,


s: Past the high wood, to where the elm-tree crowns


s: The hill behind whose ridge the sunset flames?


s: The signal-elm, that looks on Ilsley Downs,


s: The Vale, the three lone weirs, the youthful Thames?--


s: Humid the air! leafless, yet soft as spring,


s: The tender purple spray on copse and briers!


s: And that sweet city with her dreaming spires,


s: She needs not June for beauty's heightening,


s: Lovely all times she lies, lovely to-night!--


s: Only, methinks, some loss of habit's power


s: Befalls me wandering through this upland dim.


s: Once pass'd I blindfold here, at any hour;


s: Now seldom come I, since I came with him.


s: Against the west--I miss it! is it gone?


s: We prized it dearly; while it stood, we said,


s: Our friend, the Gipsy-Scholar, was not dead;


s: While the tree lived, he in these fields lived on.


s: Too rare, too rare, grow now my visits here,


s: But once I knew each field, each flower, each stick;


s: And with the country-folk acquaintance made


s: By barn in threshing-time, by new-built rick.


s: Here, too, our shepherd-pipes we first assay'd.


s: Needs must I lose them, needs with heavy heart


s: It irk'd him to be here, he could not rest.


s: He loved each simple joy the country yields,


s: He loved his mates; but yet he could not keep,


s: Here with the shepherds and the silly sheep.


s: He knew, which made him droop, and fill'd his head.


s: He went; his piping took a troubled sound


s: Of storms that rage outside our happy ground;


s: He could not wait their passing, he is dead.


s: So, some tempestuous morn in early June,


s: When the year's primal burst of bloom is o'er,


s: When garden-walks and all the grassy floor


s: With blossoms red and white of fallen May


s: So have I heard the cuckoo's parting cry,


s: From the wet field, through the vext garden-trees,


s: Come with the volleying rain and tossing breeze:


s: _The bloom is gone, and with the bloom go I!_


s: Too quick despairer, wherefore wilt thou go?


s: Soon will the high Midsummer pomps come on,


s: Soon will the musk carnations break and swell,


s: Soon shall we have gold-dusted snapdragon,


s: Sweet-William with his homely cottage-smell,


s: And groups under the dreaming garden-trees,


s: And the full moon, and the white evening-star.


s: He hearkens not! light comer, he is flown!


s: What matters it? next year he will return,


s: And we shall have him in the sweet spring-days,


s: With whitening hedges, and uncrumpling fern,


s: And blue-bells trembling by the forest-ways,


s: But Thyrsis never more we swains shall see;


s: See him come back, and cut a smoother reed,


s: And blow a strain the world at last shall heed--


s: For Time, not Corydon, hath conquer'd thee!


s: But when Sicilian shepherds lost a mate,


s: Some good survivor with his flute would go,


s: And make leap up with joy the beauteous head


s: Are flowers first open'd on Sicilian air,


s: And flute his friend, like Orpheus, from the dead.


s: When Dorian shepherds sang to Proserpine!


s: For she herself had trod Sicilian fields,


s: She knew the Dorian water's gush divine,


s: She knew each lily white which Enna yields,


s: She loved the Dorian pipe, the Dorian strain.


s: But ah, of our poor Thames she never heard!


s: Her foot the Cumner cowslips never stirr'd;


s: And we should tease her with our plaint in vain!


s: Well! wind-dispersed and vain the words will be,


s: Yet, Thyrsis, let me give my grief its hour


s: In the old haunt, and find our tree-topp'd hill!


s: Who, if not I, for questing here hath power?


s: I know the wood which hides the daffodil,


s: I know what white, what purple fritillaries


s: Above by Ensham, down by Sandford, yields,


s: And what sedged brooks are Thames's tributaries;


s: I know these slopes; who knows them if not I?--


s: But many a dingle on the loved hill-side,


s: With thorns once studded, old, white-blossom'd trees,


s: Where thick the cowslips grew, and far descried


s: High tower'd the spikes of purple orchises,


s: Down each green bank hath gone the ploughboy's team,


s: Primroses, orphans of the flowery prime.


s: Where is the girl, who by the boatman's door,


s: Above the locks, above the boating throng,


s: Unmoor'd our skiff when through the Wytham flats,


s: Red loosestrife and blond meadow-sweet among


s: And darting swallows and light water-gnats,


s: Where are the mowers, who, as the tiny swell


s: Of our boat passing heaved the river-grass,


s: Stood with suspended scythe to see us pass?--


s: They all are gone, and thou art gone as well!


s: Yes, thou art gone! and round me too the night


s: In ever-nearing circle weaves her shade.


s: I see her veil draw soft across the day,


s: I feel her slowly chilling breath invade


s: The cheek grown thin, the brown hair sprent with grey;


s: Laid pausefully upon life's headlong train;--


s: The foot less prompt to meet the morning dew,


s: And hope, once crush'd, less quick to spring again.


s: And long the way appears, which seem'd so short


s: To the less practised eye of sanguine youth;


s: And high the mountain-tops, in cloudy air,


s: The mountain-tops where is the throne of Truth,


s: Tops in life's morning-sun so bright and bare!


s: Of the long-batter'd world uplifts its wall;


s: And strange and vain the earthly turmoil grows,


s: And near and real the charm of thy repose,


s: And night as welcome as a friend would fall.


s: Of quiet!--Look, adown the dusk hill-side,


s: As in old days, jovial and talking, ride!


s: From hunting with the Berkshire hounds they come.


s: Into yon farther field!--'Tis done; and see,


s: Back'd by the sunset, which doth glorify


s: Bare on its lonely ridge, the Tree! the Tree!


s: I take the omen! Eve lets down her veil,


s: The white fog creeps from bush to bush about,


s: The west unflushes, the high stars grow bright,


s: And in the scatter'd farms the lights come out.


s: I cannot reach the signal-tree to-night,


s: (For there thine earth-forgetting eyelids keep


s: Hear it, O Thyrsis, still our tree is there!--


s: Ah, vain! These English fields, this upland dim,


s: These brambles pale with mist engarlanded,


s: That lone, sky-pointing tree, are not for him;


s: Wandering with the great Mother's train divine


s: (And purer or more subtle soul than thee,


s: Thou hearest the immortal chants of old!--


s: Putting his sickle to the perilous grain


s: In the hot cornfield of the Phrygian king,


s: Young Daphnis with his silver voice doth sing;


s: His sheep, his hapless love, his blinded eyes--


s: And how a call celestial round him rang,


s: And heavenward from the fountain-brink he sprang,


s: There thou art gone, and me thou leavest here


s: Sole in these fields! yet will I not despair.


s: That lonely tree against the western sky.


s: Our Gipsy-Scholar haunts, outliving thee!


s: Fields where soft sheep from cages pull the hay,


s: Woods with anemonies in flower till May,


s: Know him a wanderer still; then why not me?


s: This does not come with houses or with gold,


s: With place, with honour, and a flattering crew;


s: 'Tis not in the world's market bought and sold--


s: Drop by, and leave its seeker still untired;


s: He wends unfollow'd, he must house alone;


s: Yet on he fares, by his own heart inspired.


s: Thou too, O Thyrsis, on like quest wast bound;


s: Thou wanderedst with me for a little hour!


s: Men gave thee nothing; but this happy quest,


s: If men esteem'd thee feeble, gave thee power,


s: If men procured thee trouble, gave thee rest.


s: Its fir-topped Hurst, its farms, its quiet fields,


s: Here cam'st thou in thy jocund youthful time,


s: Here was thine height of strength, thy golden prime!


s: And still the haunt beloved a virtue yields.


s: What though the music of thy rustic flute


s: Kept not for long its happy, country tone;


s: Lost it too soon, and learnt a stormy note


s: Of men contention-tost, of men who groan,


s: Which task'd thy pipe too sore, and tired thy throat--


s: Yet hadst thou alway visions of our light,


s: And long with men of care thou couldst not stay,


s: And soon thy foot resumed its wandering way,


s: Left human haunt, and on alone till night.


s: Too rare, too rare, grow now my visits here!


s: 'Mid city-noise, not, as with thee of yore,


s: Thyrsis! in reach of sheep-bells is my home.


s: --Then through the great town's harsh, heart-wearying roar,


s: _Why faintest thou? I wander'd till I died.


s: Roam on! The light we sought is shining still.


s: Dost thou ask proof? Our tree yet crowns the hill,


s: Our Scholar travels yet the loved hill-side._


s: He read each wound, each weakness clear;


s: His eye plunged down the weltering strife,


s: _Art still has truth, take refuge there!_


s: And Wordsworth!--Ah, pale ghosts, rejoice!


s: Since erst, at morn, some wandering shade


s: Of doubts, disputes, distractions, fears.


s: He spoke, and loosed our heart in tears.


s: Ah! since dark days still bring to light


s: And wish'd him health, success, and fame--


s: Friends could not give what fortune can--


s: I climb'd;--beneath me, bright and wide,


s: Moves through their rows of pillars old;


s: Sheep make the daisied aisles their fold.


s: Rise up, all round, the Christian spires;


s: Hangs, touch'd with light, one snowy sail!


s: Freshen'd by plunging tides, by showers!


s: Cool northern fields, and grass, and flowers!


s: At the Straits fail'd that spirit brave.


s: The sandy spits, the shore-lock'd lakes,


s: Like ghosts the huge, gnarl'd olives stand.


s: Cette, with its glistening houses white,


s: The eyes are glazed, thou canst not speak;


s: Traverse in troops, with care-fill'd breast,


s: Whose floor to-night sweet moonshine fills,


s: Mild o'er her grave, ye mountains, shine!


s: And a rough, grimed race have their homes--


s: That world-famed son of fire--she, who sank


s: O boy, if here thou sleep'st, sleep well!


s: _Had every other gift, but wanted love;_


s: _And artists envious, and the mob profane._


s: Of praise, hot, heady fumes, to the poor brain


s: O'er the fresh, short turf of the Hartz,


s: Their vaunts, their feats--let a sardonic smile,


s: For one short moment, wander o'er his lips.


s: _That smile was Heine!_--for its earthly hour


s: The strange guest sparkled; now 'tis pass'd away.


s: With rain, where thick the crocus blows,


s: The bridge is cross'd, and slow we ride,


s: While, hark! far down, with strangled sound


s: Showing--then blotting from our sight!--


s: Halt--through the cloud-drift something shines!


s: _Strike leftward!_ cries our guide; and higher


s: Then cross the sward and reach that gate.


s: Where, ghostlike in the deepening night,


s: Cowl'd forms brush by in gleaming white.


s: Their drops of blood, their death in life.


s: See, fragrant herbs are flowering there!


s: And purged its faith, and trimm'd its fire,


s: Show'd me the high, white star of Truth,


s: Even now their whispers pierce the gloom:


s: For both were faiths, and both are gone.


s: Their faith, my tears, the world deride--


s: Take me, cowl'd forms, and fence me round,


s: Say, have their sons achieved more joys,


s: The sufferers died, they left their pain--


s: With haughty scorn which mock'd the smart,


s: Which fringe thy soft blue Spezzian bay?


s: Have restless hearts one throb the less?


s: Which tells us how thou hidd'st thy head


s: Sons of the world, oh, speed those years;


s: Your pride of life, your tireless powers,


s: Deep, deep the greenwood round them waves,


s: But, where the road runs near the stream,


s: Oft through the trees they catch a glance


s: Laughter and cries--those notes between!


s: Make their blood dance and chain their eyes


s: --Pass, banners, pass, and bugles, cease;


s: Fly hence, poor wretch, whoe'er thou art,


s: Though to these leaves the glaciers spare


s: But we, brought forth and rear'd in hours


s: Wordsworth's sweet calm, or Goethe's wide


s: _The glow_, he cries, _the thrill of life,_


s: He who hath watch'd, not shared, the strife,


s: To thee we come, then! Clouds are roll'd


s: Thy realm of thought is drear and cold--


s: And reach that glimmering sheet of glass


s: _Savez-vous quelque bien qui console du regret d'un monde?_


s: White houses prank where once were huts.


s: And, 'neath those chestnut-trees, where stiff


s: Orchard, and croft, and full-stored grange


s: But stop!--to fetch back thoughts that stray


s: Bent on my face, with gaze which scann'd


s: "And from thy world, with heart opprest,


s: "Thou fledst me when the ungenial earth,


s: But, ah! its heart, its heart was stone,


s: "He made a feast, drank fierce and fast,


s: "'Poor world,' she cried, 'so deep accurst,


s: She felt the void which mined her breast,


s: "She veil'd her eagles, snapp'd her sword,


s: "She broke her flutes, she stopp'd her sports,


s: She tore her books, she shut her courts,


s: "Tears wash'd the trouble from her face!


s: 'Mid weeds and wrecks she stood--a place


s: Fill'd earth and heaven, and caught away


s: "And centuries came and ran their course,


s: Still, still went forth that Child's dear force,


s: That gracious Child, that thorn-crown'd Man!


s: Men call'd from chamber, church, and tent;


s: Slow, slow the old world wore to nought,


s: "--Down came the storm! O'er France it pass'd


s: "'Your creeds are dead, your rites are dead,


s: "'The millions suffer still, and grieve,


s: "What though there still need effort, strife?


s: "The world's great order dawns in sheen,


s: "But thou, though to the world's new hour


s: "Though more than half thy years be past,


s: Though late, though dimm'd, though weak, yet tell


s: Consumed our heart with thirst like fire,


s: I turned; by some vague impulse stirr'd,


s: Apollodorus says:--"Cresphontes had not reigned long in Messenia


s: when he was murdered, together with two of his sons. And


s: Polyphontes reigned in his stead, he, too, being of the family of


s: widow of the murdered king. But Merope had borne to Cresphontes a


s: Messenia, and slew Polyphontes and the other murderers of his


s: Hyginus says:--"Merope sent away and concealed her infant son.


s: channel through whom the mother and son used to communicate,


s: arrives at this moment in tears, bringing word to Merope that her


s: Messenia and were unpopular. His subjects offered little or no


s: LAIAS, _uncle of_ ÆPYTUS, _brother of_ MEROPE.


s: MEROPE, _widow of_ CRESPHONTES, _the murdered king of_ MESSENIA.


s: ARCAS, _AN OLD MAN OF_ MEROPE'S _household_.


s: Son of Cresphontes, we have reach'd the goal


s: Of our night-journey, and thou see'st thy home.


s: Behold thy heritage, thy father's realm!


s: This is that fruitful, famed Messenian land,


s: Wealthy in corn and flocks, which, when at last


s: The late-relenting Gods with victory brought


s: Fell to thy father's lot, the second prize.


s: Before thy feet this recent city spreads


s: Of Stenyclaros, which he built, and made


s: Of his fresh-conquer'd realm the royal seat,


s: There stands the temple of thine ancestor,


s: Great Heracles; and, in that public place,


s: Zeus hath his altar, where thy father fell.


s: Southward and west, behold those snowy peaks,


s: And, on this side, those confluent streams which make


s: Snatch'd from the slaughter of thy father's house,


s: Thy mother's kin received thee, and rear'd up.--


s: Our journey is well made, the work remains


s: Which to perform we made it; means for that


s: Let us consult, before this palace sends


s: Its inmates on their daily tasks abroad.


s: Haste and advise, for day comes on apace.


s: And second father from that hour when first


s: My mother's faithful servant laid me down,


s: My grandfather, the good Arcadian king--


s: Thy part it were to advise, and mine to obey.


s: But let us keep that purpose, which, at home,


s: We judged the best; chance finds no better way.


s: Of faithful fondness for their former king


s: Or hatred to their present; in this last


s: Will lie, my grandsire said, our fairest chance.


s: For tyrants make man good beyond himself;


s: Hate to their rule, which else would die away,


s: Their daily-practised chafings keep alive.


s: Seek this! revive, unite it, give it hope;


s: An unknown guest, will enter, bringing word


s: Of my own death--but, Laias, well I hope


s: Through that pretended death to live and reign.


s: Softly, stand back!--see, to these palace gates


s: What black procession slowly makes approach?--


s: Sad-chanting maidens clad in mourning robes,


s: With pitchers in their hands, and fresh-pull'd flowers--


s: Doubtless, they bear them to my father's tomb.


s: And look, to meet them, that one, grief-plunged Form,


s: Severer, paler, statelier than they all,


s: O Laias, Laias, let the heart speak here--


s: Shall I not greet her? shall I not leap forth?


s: Not so! thy heart would pay its moment's speech


s: The King (I know him, even through many years)


s: Follows the approaching Queen, who stops, as call'd.


s: No lingering now! straight to the city I;


s: Do thou, till for thine entrance to this house


s: The happy moment comes, lurk here unseen


s: Behind the shelter of thy father's tomb;


s: Remove yet further off, if aught comes near.


s: But, here while harbouring, on its margin lay,


s: Sole offering that thou hast, locks from thy head;


s: And fill thy leisure with an earnest prayer


s: Who under earth watch guilty deeds of men,


s: To guide our vengeance to a prosperous close.


s: CHORUS _come forward. As they advance_, ÆPYTUS,


s: _who at first conceals himself behind the tomb,


s: Set down your pitchers, maidens, and fall back!


s: Shortly ye shall resume them with your Queen.


s: I sought thee, Merope; I find thee thus,


s: As I have ever found thee; bent to keep,


s: A mournful feud alive, which else would die.


s: I blame thee not, I do thy heart no wrong!


s: Thy deep seclusion, thine unyielding gloom,


s: Thine attitude of cold, estranged reproach,


s: These punctual funeral honours, year by year


s: Courageous, faithful actions, nobly dared.


s: Read in these actions, innocent in thee,


s: Perpetual promptings to rebellious hope,


s: War-cries to faction, year by year renew'd,


s: Beacons of vengeance, not to be let die.


s: And me, believe it, wise men gravely blame,


s: And ignorant men despise me, that I stand


s: Passive, permitting thee what course thou wilt.


s: Yes, the crowd mutters that remorseful fear


s: When it should pluck thee from thy hostile way.


s: All this I bear, for, what I seek, I know:


s: Peace, peace is what I seek, and public calm;


s: This day, amid these rites, this black-robed train,


s: Wakens, O Queen! remembrance in thy heart


s: Too wide at variance with the peace I seek--


s: Tow'rd thee; toward thy silence as thy speech.


s: Speak, therefore, or keep silence, which thou wilt.


s: Hear me, then, speak; and let this mournful day,


s: Henceforth be honour'd as the date of peace.


s: The king Cresphontes, thy great husband, fall;


s: It needs no yearly offerings at his tomb


s: It lives, and, while I see the light, will live.


s: For we were kinsmen--more than kinsmen--friends;


s: Alas, that, how to rule it, was our broil!


s: He had his counsel, party, friends--I mine;


s: He stood by what he wish'd for--I the same;


s: I smote him, when our wishes clash'd in arms--


s: But while I smote him, Queen, I honour'd him;


s: Me, too, had he prevail'd, he had not scorn'd.


s: Enough of this! Since that, I have maintain'd


s: Yet still, for I conceal it not, ferments


s: Of thy dead husband's faction--vigorous once,


s: Now crush'd but not quite lifeless by his fall.


s: And these men look to thee, and from thy grief--


s: Something too studiously, forgive me, shown--


s: Infer thee their accomplice; and they say


s: That thou in secret nurturest up thy son,


s: Him whom thou hiddest when thy husband fell,


s: To avenge that fall, and bring them back to power.


s: Such are their hopes--I ask not if by thee


s: Willingly fed or no--their most vain hopes;


s: Till now, and I have strength to chain it still.


s: But, Merope, the years advance;--I stand


s: Leaves me austerer, sterner, than I would;


s: Old age is more suspicious than the free


s: And valiant heart of youth, or manhood's firm


s: Into a jealous tyrant, scourged with fears,


s: Closing in blood and gloom his sullen reign.


s: The cares which might in me with time, I feel,


s: The breach between our parties help me close!


s: Our hands in solemn union, making friends


s: Our factions with the friendship of their chiefs.


s: Let us in marriage, King and Queen, unite


s: Claims ever hostile else, and set thy son--


s: But prince adopted by the will of power,


s: And future king--before this people's eyes.


s: Consider, too, this people, who were dear


s: To their dead king, thy husband--yea, too dear,


s: For that destroy'd him. Give them peace! thou can'st.


s: How many precious feelings of man's heart,


s: Do twenty years wear out, and see expire!


s: Shall they not wear one hatred out as well?


s: Thou hast forgot, then, who I am who hear,


s: And thou art Polyphontes, first his friend,


s: And then ... his murderer. These offending tears


s: That murder moves; this breach that thou would'st close


s: Was by that murder open'd; that one child


s: (If still, indeed, he lives) whom thou would'st seat


s: Upon a throne not thine to give, is heir,


s: Because thou slew'st his brothers with their father.


s: Who can patch union here? What can there be


s: Gulfs of estranging blood? Across that chasm


s: Who can extend their hands?... Maidens, take back


s: These offerings home! our rites are spoil'd to-day.


s: Not so; let these Messenian maidens mark


s: The fear'd and blacken'd ruler of their race,


s: Blow off the spot of murder from his name.--


s: Murder!--but what _is_ murder? When a wretch


s: For private gain or hatred takes a life,


s: We call it murder, crush him, brand his name.


s: But when, for some great public cause, an arm


s: Is, without love or hate, austerely raised


s: Against a power exempt from common checks,


s: Dangerous to all, to be but thus annull'd--


s: With grievous deeds, perhaps; with murder, no!


s: Find then such cause, the charge of murder falls--


s: Soaring from his death-pile on OEta, left


s: His puny, callow eaglets; and what trials--


s: Construed awry, misplann'd invasions--wore


s: Hardly the fourth, with grievous loss, regain'd


s: Their fathers' realm, this isle, from Pelops named.


s: Who made that triumph, though deferr'd, secure?


s: Than they? these, and the Dorian lords, whose king


s: When Thebes, when Athens dared not; who in arms


s: Thrice issued with us from their pastoral vales,


s: And shed their blood like water in our cause?


s: Such were the dispossessors; of what stamp


s: Were they we dispossessed?--of us I speak,


s: I speak not now of Argos, where his brother,


s: Not now of Sparta, where his nephews reign'd.--


s: What we found here were tribes of fame obscure,


s: A house once great, now dwindling in its sons.


s: Such were the conquer'd, such the conquerors; who


s: Had most thy husband's confidence? Consult


s: His acts! the wife he chose was--full of virtues--


s: To his new subjects than to us; his friends


s: Were the Messenian chiefs; the laws he framed


s: Were aim'd at their promotion, our decline.


s: And, finally, this land, then half-subdued,


s: Which from one central city's guarded seat


s: As from a fastness in the rocks our scant


s: Handful of Dorian conquerors might have curb'd,


s: He parcell'd out in five confederate states,


s: Sowing his victors thinly through them all,


s: Mere prisoners, meant or not, among our foes.


s: If this was fear of them, it shamed the king;


s: Long we refrain'd ourselves, submitted long,


s: Construed his acts indulgently, revered,


s: Though found perverse, the blood of Heracles;


s: One voice preach'd patience, and that voice was mine!


s: At last it reach'd us, that he, still mistrustful,


s: Deeming, as tyrants deem, our silence hate,


s: With compact in that concourse to deliver,


s: For death, his ancient to his new-made friends.


s: Patience was thenceforth self destruction. I,


s: And champion to the throne, I honouring most


s: What his foes dared not, I, his lover, dared;


s: I at that altar, where mid shouting crowds


s: To Zeus, before he struck his blow, struck mine--


s: Struck once, and awed his mob, and saved this realm.


s: Murder let others call this, if they will;


s: I, self-defence and righteous execution.


s: Who self-exculpates, lend to foulest deeds!


s: Thy trusting lord didst thou, his servant, slay;


s: Kinsman, thou slew'st thy kinsman; friend, thy friend--


s: This were enough; but let me tell thee, too,


s: Thou hadst no cause, as feign'd, in his misrule.


s: These sturdy and unworn Messenian tribes,


s: Who shook the fierce Neleidæ on their throne,


s: Who to the invading Dorians stretch'd a hand,


s: And half bestow'd, half yielded up their soil--


s: He would not let his savage chiefs alight,


s: A cloud of vultures, on this vigorous race,


s: Ravin a little while in spoil and blood,


s: Then, gorged and helpless, be assail'd and slain.


s: He would have saved you from your furious selves,


s: Not in abhorr'd estrangement let you stand;


s: He would have mix'd you with your friendly foes,


s: Foes dazzled with your prowess, well inclined


s: To reverence your lineage, more, to obey;


s: So would have built you, in a few short years,


s: For well he knew, what you, his chiefs, did not--


s: Are apt to snap; the easy-stretch'd endure.


s: This good he meant you, and for this he died!


s: Yet not for this--else might thy crime in part


s: Be error deem'd--but that pretence is vain.


s: For, if ye slew him for supposed misrule,


s: Injustice to his kin and Dorian friends,


s: Why with the offending father did ye slay


s: Two unoffending babes, his innocent sons?


s: Why not on them have placed the forfeit crown,


s: Ruled in their name, and train'd them to your will?


s: Had _they_ misruled? had _they_ forgot their friends,


s: Forsworn their blood? ungratefully had _they_


s: Preferr'd Messenian serfs to Dorian lords?


s: No! but to thy ambition their poor lives


s: Were bar--and this, too, was their father's crime.


s: That thou might'st reign he died, not for his fault


s: Even fancied; and his death thou wroughtest chief!


s: For, if the other lords desired his fall


s: Hotlier than thou, and were by thee kept back,


s: Thy crown condemns thee, while thy tongue absolves.


s: And now to me thou tenderest friendly league,


s: Short answer is sufficient; league with thee,


s: Exile abroad more safe than heirship here.


s: I ask thee not to approve thy husband's death,


s: No, nor expect thee to admit the grounds,


s: In reason good, which justified my deed.


s: With women the heart argues, not the mind.


s: But, for thy children's death, I stand assoil'd--


s: I saved them, meant them honour; but thy friends


s: Rose, and with fire and sword assailed my house


s: By night; in that blind tumult they were slain.


s: To chance impute their deaths, then, not to me.


s: Such chance as kill'd the father, kill'd the sons.


s: One son at least I spared, for still he lives.


s: Tyrants think him they murder not they spare.


s: Not much a tyrant thy free speech displays me.


s: Thy shame secures my freedom, not thy will.


s: Shame rarely checks the genuine tyrant's will.


s: One merit, then, thou hast; exult in that.


s: Thou standest out, I see, repellest peace.


s: Doubtless thou reckonest on the help of friends.


s: Not help of men, although, perhaps, of Gods.


s: What Gods? the Gods of concord, civil weal?


s: No! the avenging Gods, who punish crime.


s: With pity, nay, with reverence; yet, beware!


s: That right, that conscience pointed to a deed,


s: Where interest seems to have enjoin'd it too.


s: Most men are led by interest; and the few


s: Involved in one suspicion with the base.


s: Which in a deed like mine a just man treads,


s: But it is sometimes trodden, oh! believe it.


s: Yet how _canst_ thou believe it? therefore thou


s: Hast all impunity. Yet, lest thy friends,


s: Embolden'd by my lenience, think it fear,


s: And have to thank thee for a fall, beware!


s: To rule this kingdom I intend; with sway


s: Clement, if may be, but to rule it--there


s: Expect no wavering, no retreat, no change.


s: And now I leave thee to these rites, esteem'd


s: Pious, but impious, surely, if their scope


s: Pray, as thou pour'st libations on this tomb,


s: _and_ MEROPE _approach the tomb with their


s: When the fight hung in doubt! but she now,


s: Sent forth Echemus, the victor, the king,


s: Fell the eldest of the sons of Heracles,


s: Yes; but his seed still, wiser-counsell'd,


s: Sail'd by the fate-meant Gulf to their conquest--


s: Your sons leap upon the foe of your kin,


s: There the youngest of the band of conquerors


s: Not of him, of Cresphontes thou shared'st the lot!


s: Swaying the sceptre with predestined hand;


s: From the altar of Zeus, from the crowd, came a wail.


s: Sullying his garment with dark-streaming blood;


s: For years, in silence, devouring her heart?


s: But her nursling, her hope, came at last.


s: Somewhere, for vengeance, a champion, a light.


s: But Zeus, who accounteth thy quarrel his own,


s: Still rules, still watches, and numb'reth the hours


s: Till the sinner, the vengeance, be ripe.


s: Sit, and eye grimly the victim unscourged.


s: Thinking that so I pray'd aright, I pray'd;


s: If I pray'd wrongly, I revoke the prayer.


s: Forgive me, maidens, if I seem too slack


s: In calling vengeance on a murderer's head.


s: Impious I deem the alliance which he asks,


s: Requite him words severe for seeming kind,


s: And righteous, if he falls, I count his fall.


s: With this, to those unbribed inquisitors


s: Who in man's inmost bosom sit and judge,


s: The true avengers these, I leave his deed,


s: By him shown fair, but, I believe, most foul.


s: If these condemn him, let them pass his doom!


s: That doom obtain effect, from Gods or men!


s: So be it; yet will that more solace bring


s: To the chafed heart of Justice than to mine.


s: To hear another tumult in these streets,


s: To see secure, to live with, those she loves.


s: Can vengeance give me back the murdered? no!


s: Can it bring home my child? Ah, if it can,


s: And pray the Gods, and pray the all-seeing sun:


s: "Sun, who careerest through the height of Heaven,


s: When o'er the Arcadian forests thou art come,


s: And see'st my stripling hunter there afield,


s: Put tightness in thy gold-embossed rein,


s: And check thy fiery steeds, and, leaning back,


s: Throw him a pealing word of summons down,


s: Of this poor soul who bare him, and his sire."


s: If this will bring him back, be this my prayer!


s: But Vengeance travels in a dangerous way,


s: Double of issue, full of pits and snares


s: For all who pass, pursuers and pursued--


s: That way is dubious for a mother's prayer.


s: Rather on thee I call, Husband beloved--


s: My words below to thee, and make thee hear--


s: Bring back our son! if may be, without blood!


s: Install him in thy throne, still without blood!


s: Grant him to reign there wise and just like thee,


s: More fortunate than thee, more fairly judged!


s: This for our son; and for myself I pray,


s: Soon, having once beheld him, to descend


s: Into the quiet gloom, where thou art now.


s: These words to thine indulgent ear, thy wife,


s: I send, and these libations pour the while.


s: The dead hath now his offerings duly paid.


s: But whither go'st thou hence, O Queen, away?


s: To receive Arcas, who to-day should come,


s: No certain news if like the rest it run.


s: Certain in this, that 'tis uncertain still.


s: His grandsire and his uncles fear the risk.


s: Of what? it lies with them to make risk none.


s: With arms then they should send him, not by stealth.


s: With arms they dare not, and by stealth they fear.


s: I doubt their caution little suits their ward.


s: The heart of youth I know; that most I fear.


s: I augur thou wilt hear some bold resolve.


s: I dare not wish it; but, at least, to hear


s: That my son still survives, in health, in bloom;


s: To hear that still he loves, still longs for, me,


s: Yet, with a light uncareworn spirit, turns


s: Quick from distressful thought, and floats in joy--


s: Thus much from Arcas, my old servant true,


s: Who saved him from these murderous halls a babe,


s: And since has fondly watch'd him night and day


s: Save for this annual charge, I hope to hear.


s: And keeps its liquid solitudes unscaled.


s: More than all secrets hid, the way it keeps.


s: But even our own heart, that narrow world


s: Bounded in our own breast, we hardly know,


s: Of our own actions dimly trace the causes.


s: This pure, that guilty, may have each impell'd--


s: Power fails us to try clearly if that cause


s: Assign'd us by the actor be the true one;


s: Power fails the man himself to fix distinctly


s: And stamp himself, thereafter, bad or good.


s: The best, then, to dominion hath the right.


s: Surely, if rights, may be by force asserted--


s: May be, nay should, if for the general weal.


s: The best, then, to the throne may carve his way,


s: Though fenced by sanction of a thousand years!


s: Well thirst to drag the wrongful ruler down;


s: _The mob, who ought to obey, are these;_


s: _I the one righteous, they the many bad?_


s: Who, without check of conscience, can aver


s: Sheds blood, imprisons, banishes, attaints,


s: Commits all deeds the guilty oftenest do,


s: Arm'd for right only, and the general good?


s: Sternly condemn the too bold man, who dares


s: And, knowing well man's inmost heart infirm,


s: Turn with averted eyes from deeds of blood.


s: Who told me that the royal house was here.


s: Rightly they told thee, and thou art arrived.


s: Here, then, it is, where Polyphontes dwells?


s: He doth; thou hast both house and master right.


s: Might some one straight inform him he is sought?


s: Inform him that thyself, for here he comes.


s: O King, all hail! I come with weighty news;


s: Most likely, grateful; but, in all case, sure.


s: Speak them, that I may judge their kind myself.


s: Accept them in one word, for good or bad:


s: Dead!--and when died he? where? and by what hand?


s: And who art thou, who bringest me such news?


s: With Cypselus; and two days since he died.


s: For, being of like age, of birth not mean,


s: And on the hunting-rambles which his heart,


s: Through all the lordships of the Arcadian dales,


s: From chief to chief, I wander'd at his side,


s: The captain of his squires, and his guard.


s: On such a hunting-journey, three morns since,


s: With beaters, hounds, and huntsmen, he and I


s: The prince at start seem'd sad, but his regard


s: Clear'd with blithe travel and the morning air.


s: We rode from Tegea, through the woods of oaks,


s: Past Arnê spring, where Rhea gave the babe


s: From Saturn's search among the new-yean'd lambs,


s: Thence, by the Sea-God's Sanctuary and the tomb


s: Whither from wintry Mænalus were brought


s: The bones of Arcas, whence our race is named,


s: And the Stone Coffins;--then, by Caphyæ Cliffs,


s: There, with the chief of that hill-town, we lodged


s: One night; and the next day at dawn fared on


s: By the Three Fountains and the Adder's Hill


s: To the Stymphalian Lake, our journey's end,


s: There, on a high green spur which bathes its point


s: Far in the liquid lake, we sate, and drew


s: Cates from our hunters' pouch, Arcadian fare,


s: Sweet chestnuts, barley-cakes, and boar's-flesh dried;


s: And as we ate, and rested there, we talk'd


s: Of places we had pass'd, sport we had had,


s: Of beasts of chase that haunt the Arcadian hills,


s: Wild hog, and bear, and mountain-deer, and roe;


s: Last, of our quarters with the Arcadian chiefs.


s: For courteous entertainment, welcome warm,


s: From all, for his great lineage and his woes;


s: All which he own'd, and praised with grateful mind.


s: But still over his speech a gloom there hung,


s: And strangely, as we talk'd, he would apply


s: The story of spots mention'd to his own;


s: Was saved a babe, but to a life obscure,


s: Which he, the seed of Heracles, dragg'd on


s: Inglorious, and should drop at last unknown,


s: And, then, he bade remember how we pass'd


s: Was blinded by the outgushing springs of brine.


s: Then, turning westward to the Adder's Hill--


s: _Another ancestor, named, too, like me,_


s: _Died of a snake-bite_, said he, _on that brow;_


s: _Still at his mountain-tomb men marvel, built_


s: _Where, as life ebb'd, his bearers laid him down._


s: So he play'd on; then ended, with a smile:


s: We cheer'd him; but, that moment, from the copse


s: By the lake-edge, broke the sharp cry of hounds;


s: The prickers shouted that the stag was gone.


s: We sprang upon our feet, we snatch'd our spears,


s: We bounded down the swarded slope, we plunged


s: Through the dense ilex-thickets to the dogs.


s: Far in the woods ahead their music rang;


s: And many times that morn we coursed in ring


s: The forests round that belt Cyllenê's side;


s: Till I, thrown out and tired, came to halt


s: On that same spur where we had sate at morn.


s: And resting there to breathe, I watch'd the chase--


s: Rare, straggling hunters, foil'd by brake and crag,


s: And the prince, single, pressing on the rear


s: Of that unflagging quarry and the hounds.


s: Now in the woods far down I saw them cross


s: On some tall scar fringed with dark feathery pines,


s: Peering to spy a goat-track down the cliff,


s: Cheering with hand, and voice, and horn his dogs.


s: At last the cry drew to the water's edge--


s: And through the brushwood, to the pebbly strand,


s: Broke, black with sweat, the antler'd mountain-stag,


s: And took the lake. Two hounds alone pursued,


s: Then came the prince; he shouted and plunged in.


s: Walls on one side the deep Stymphalian Lake;


s: There the lake-waters, which in ages gone


s: Wash'd, as the marks upon the hills still show,


s: All the Stymphalian plain, are now suck'd down.


s: A headland, with one aged plane-tree crown'd,


s: Parts from this cave-pierced cliff the shelving bay


s: Where first the chase plunged in; the bay is smooth,


s: But round the headland's point a current sets,


s: Strong, black, tempestuous, to the cavern-mouth.


s: Stoutly, under the headland's lee, they swam;


s: But when they came abreast the point, the race


s: Caught them as wind takes feathers, whirl'd them round


s: Struggling in vain to cross it, swept them on,


s: Stag, dogs, and hunter, to the yawning gulph.


s: All this, O King, not piecemeal, as to thee


s: Now told, but in one flashing instant pass'd.


s: While from the turf whereon I lay I sprang


s: And took three strides, quarry and dogs were gone;


s: A moment more--I saw the prince turn round


s: Once in the black and arrowy race, and cast


s: An arm aloft for help; then sweep beneath


s: The low-brow'd cavern-arch, and disappear.


s: And what I could, I did--to call by cries


s: Some straggling hunters to my aid, to rouse


s: Fishers who live on the lake-side, to launch


s: Boats, and approach, near as we dared, the chasm.


s: But of the prince nothing remain'd, save this,


s: His boar-spear's broken shaft, back on the lake


s: Cast by the rumbling subterranean stream;


s: And this, at landing spied by us and saved,


s: His broad-brimm'd hunter's hat, which, in the bay,


s: Where first the stag took water, floated still.


s: And I across the mountains brought with haste


s: He to thee sends me on, in one thing glad,


s: While all else grieves him, that his grandchild's death


s: Extinguishes distrust 'twixt him and thee.


s: But I from our deplored mischance learn this:


s: The man who to untimely death is doom'd,


s: Vainly you hedge him from the assault of harm;


s: So dies the last shoot of our royal tree!


s: Stranger, this news thou bringest is too great


s: Of import, and in silence best received,


s: But thou, the zealous bearer, hast no part


s: In what it hath of painful, whether now,


s: First heard, or in its future issue shown.


s: Thou for thy labour hast deserved our best


s: Refreshment, needed by thee, as I judge,


s: With mountain-travel and night-watching spent.--


s: To the guest-chamber lead him, some one! give


s: All entertainment which a traveller needs,


s: To friends, still more, and labourers in our cause.


s: The youth is gone within; alas! he bears


s: A presence sad for some one through those doors.


s: Admire then, maidens, how in one short hour


s: The schemes, pursued in vain for twenty years,


s: Are--by a stroke, though undesired, complete--


s: Crown'd with success, not in my way, but Heaven's!


s: A last, long-cherish'd project, in my aim


s: Of peace, and been repulsed with hate and scorn.


s: Fair terms of reconcilement, equal rule,


s: Worse terms than mine they have obtain'd from Heaven.


s: Wish'd, truly wish'd, solution to our broil


s: Other than by this death; but it hath come!


s: I speak no word of boast, but this I say:


s: A private loss here founds a nation's peace.


s: Peace, who tarriest too long;                             _str._


s: Not condemn'd by my voice                                 _ant._


s: A whisper through the palace flies of one


s: And I came, thinking to find Arcas here.


s: Ye have not left this gate, which he must pass;


s: Tell me--hath one not come? or, worse mischance,


s: Arrived, and of the King had speech but now.


s: Ah me! the wrong expectant got his news.


s: The message brought was for the King design'd.


s: Learn that from other lips, O Queen, than mine.


s: He kept his tale, then, for the King alone?


s: His tale was meeter for that ear than thine.


s: Why dost thou falter, and make half reply?


s: Thou frightenest and confound'st me by thy words.


s: O were but Arcas come, all would be well?


s: If so, all's well: for look, the old man speeds


s: Up from the city tow'rd this gated hill.


s: Not with the failing breath and foot of age


s: My faithful follower comes. Welcome, old friend!


s: Faithful, not welcome, when my tale is told.


s: Had on the journey choked my labouring breath,


s: And lock'd my speech for ever in my breast!


s: Yet then another man would bring this news,


s: Wherewith from end to end Arcadia rings.--


s: O honour'd Queen, thy son, my charge, is gone.


s: Look up, O Queen! look up, O mistress dear!


s: Look up, and see thy friends who comfort thee.


s: Forgive, forgive the bringer of such news!


s: Better from thine than from an enemy's tongue.


s: But the wit-baffling will and hand of Heaven.


s: No enemy! and what hast thou, then, heard?


s: Swift as I came, hath falsehood been before?


s: A youth arrived but now--the son, he said,


s: Of an Arcadian lord--our prince's friend--


s: Jaded with travel, clad in hunter's garb.


s: He brought report that his own eyes had seen


s: The prince, in chase after a swimming stag,


s: Which hangs o'er the Stymphalian Lake, and drown'd.


s: Ah me! with what a foot doth treason post,


s: While loyalty, with all her speed, is slow!


s: For the King's private ear reserves, like this


s: In one thing only, that the prince is dead.


s: And how then runs this true and private tale?


s: As much to the King's wish, more to his shame.


s: This young Arcadian noble, guard and mate


s: And had him at the prince's side in leash,


s: Perform'd good service for his bloody wage;


s: Our prince, and the good Laias, whom his ward


s: Had in a father's place, he basely murder'd.


s: 'Tis so, 'tis so, alas, for see the proof:


s: Is charged against this stripling; agents, fee'd


s: To ply 'twixt the Messenian king and him,


s: Come forth, denounce the traffic and the traitor.


s: Seized, he escapes--and next I find him here.


s: Take this for true, the other tale for feign'd.


s: The youth, thou say'st, we saw and heard but now--


s: He comes to tell his prompter he hath sped.


s: Still he repeats the drowning story here.


s: To thee--that needs no OEdipus to explain.


s: Interpret, then; for we, it seems, are dull.


s: Your King desired the profit of his death,


s: That stern word "_murder_" had too dread a sound


s: For the Messenian hearts, who loved the prince.


s: Suspicion grave I see, but no firm proof.


s: Peace! peace! all's clear.--The wicked watch and work


s: While the good sleep; the workers have the day.


s: Yes! yes! now I conceive the liberal grace


s: Of this far-scheming tyrant, and his boon


s: He had his murderer ready, and the sword


s: Lifted, and that unwish'd-for heirship void--


s: A tale, meanwhile, forged for his subjects' ears--


s: And me, henceforth sole rival with himself


s: In their allegiance, me, in my son's death-hour,


s: When all turn'd tow'rds me, me he would have shown


s: To my Messenians, duped, disarm'd, despised,


s: Hateful, by each Messenian heart abhorr'd.


s: His offers I repell'd--but what of that?


s: If with no rage, no fire of righteous hate,


s: Such as ere now hath spurr'd to fearful deeds


s: Weak women with a thousandth part my wrongs,


s: His offers, coldly heard them, cold repell'd?


s: How must men think me abject, void of heart,


s: In this blood-deluged palace, in whose halls


s: Or else not live at all!--but here I haunt,


s: A pale, unmeaning ghost, powerless to fright


s: Or harm, and nurse my longing for my son,


s: Have temper'd me e'en thus, and, in some souls,


s: Misery, which rouses others, breaks the spring.


s: Fain would I fade away, as I have lived,


s: To the invisible plains, to roam with thee,


s: Fit denizen, the lampless under-world----


s: But with what eyes should I encounter there


s: My husband, wandering with his stern compeers,


s: Betray'd like him, but, not like him, avenged?


s: Or with what voice shall I the questions meet


s: Kept me, their mother, from their side so long?


s: Or how reply to thee, my child last-born,


s: Last-murder'd, who reproachfully wilt say:


s: _Mother, I well believed thou lived'st on_


s: _With patience on thy face, death in thy heart,_


s: _Counting, till I grew up, the laggard years,_


s: _That our joint hands might then together pay_


s: _My death makes my debt void, and doubles thine--_


s: _But down thou fleest here, and leav'st our scourge_


s: _Triumphant, and condemnest all our race_


s: What shall I have to answer to such words?--


s: No, something must be dared; and, great as erst


s: Come, ye swift Furies, who to him ye haunt


s: Permit no peace till your behests are done;


s: Come Hermes, who dost friend the unjustly kill'd,


s: And can'st teach simple ones to plot and feign;


s: Come, lightning Passion, that with foot of fire


s: Almost before 'tis plann'd; come, glowing Hate;


s: Come, baneful Mischief, from thy murky den


s: Under the dripping black Tartarean cliff


s: Which Styx's awful waters trickle down--


s: Inspire this coward heart, this flagging arm!


s: How say ye, maidens, do ye know these prayers?


s: Are these words Merope's--is this voice mine?


s: Old man, old man, thou had'st my boy in charge,


s: And he is lost, and thou hast that to atone!


s: Fly, find me on the instant where confer


s: The murderer and his impious setter-on--


s: And ye, keep faithful silence, friends, and mark


s: O mistress, by the Gods, do nothing rash!


s: Unfaithful servant, dost thou, too, desert me?


s: I go! I go!--The King holds council--there


s: Will I seek tidings. Take, the while, this word:


s: Attempting deeds beyond thy power to do,


s: Thou nothing profitest thy friends, but mak'st


s: Our misery more, and thine own ruin sure.


s: Swear by the Gods henceforth to obey me!


s: of the guest-chamber is discovered, with_ ÆPYTUS


s: He sleeps--sleeps calm. O ye all-seeing Gods!


s: Thus peacefully do ye let sinners sleep,


s: While troubled innocents toss, and lie awake?


s: What sweeter sleep than this could I desire


s: For thee, my child, if thou wert yet alive?


s: How often have I dream'd of thee like this,


s: With thy soil'd hunting-coat, and sandals torn,


s: Thy head droop'd softly, and the golden curls


s: Clustering o'er thy white forehead, like a girl's;


s: The short proud lip showing thy race, thy cheeks


s: Brown'd with thine open-air, free, hunter's life.


s: And where dost thou sleep now, my innocent boy?--


s: In some dark fir-tree's shadow, amid rocks


s: Where travellers never pass, where only come


s: Wild beasts, and vultures sailing overhead.


s: There, there thou liest now, my hapless child!


s: Stretch'd among briars and stones, the slow, black gore


s: Oozing through thy soak'd hunting-shirt, with limbs


s: Yet stark from the death-struggle, tight-clench'd hands,


s: And eyeballs staring for revenge in vain.


s: And thou, thou fair-skinn'd Serpent! thou art laid


s: In a king's house, thy victim's heritage;


s: And drink'st untroubled slumber, to sleep off


s: The toils of thy foul service, till thou wake


s: Refresh'd, and claim thy master's thanks and gold.--


s: Wake up in hell from thine unhallow'd sleep,


s: Thou smiling Fiend, and claim thy guerdon there!


s: Wake amid gloom, and howling, and the noise


s: Of sinners pinion'd on the torturing wheel,


s: And the stanch Furies' never-silent scourge.


s: And bid the chief tormentors there provide


s: For a grand culprit shortly coming down.


s: Go thou the first, and usher in thy lord!


s: A more just stroke than that thou gav'st my son


s: _with the axe uplifted. At the same moment_ ARCAS


s: To the dear next-of-kin of him he murder'd.


s: Who are these? What shrill, ear-piercing scream


s: Wakes me thus kindly from the perilous sleep


s: Wherewith fatigue and youth had bound mine eyes,


s: My child, my charge beloved, welcome to life!


s: As dead we held thee, mourn'd for thee as dead.


s: In word I died, that I in deed might live.


s: No, by the Gods, alive and like to live!


s: _holding_ ÆPYTUS _by the hand, turns to_ THE


s: Bear witness, see, mark well, on what a head


s: My first stroke of revenge had nearly fallen!


s: We see, dear mistress: and we say, the Gods,


s: As hitherto they kept him, keep him now.


s: O my son!                                                 _str._


s: Mother, my heart runs over; but the time


s: Presses me, chides me, will not let me weep.


s: Ah ... revenge!                                           _ant._


s: Mother, sometimes the justice of the Gods


s: Appoints the way to peace through shedding blood.


s: From the first-wrought vengeance is born


s: In all else willing to be taught, in this


s: Instruct me not; I have my lesson clear.--


s: Conferring in the city with our friends;


s: Here bring him, ere the king come back from council.


s: That, how to accomplish what the Gods enjoin,


s: And the slow-ripening time at last prepares,


s: We two with thee, my mother, may consult;


s: For whose help dare I count on, if not thine?


s: Yes, and alone is with me here to share.


s: And what of thine Arcadian mate, who bears


s: Suspicion from thy grandsire of thy death,


s: For whom, as I suppose, thou passest here?


s: Sworn to our plot he is; if false surmise


s: Fix him the author of my death, I know not.


s: Proof, not surmise, shows him in commerce close----


s: With this Messenian tyrant--that I know.


s: And entertain'st thou, child, such dangerous friends?


s: This commerce for my best behoof he plies.


s: That thou may'st read thine enemy's counsel plain?


s: Too dear his secret wiles have cost our house.


s: And of his unsure agent what demands he?


s: News of my business, pastime, temper, friends.


s: His messages, then, point not to thy murder?


s: Not yet, though such, no doubt, his final aim.


s: And what Arcadian helpers bring'st thou here?


s: One sudden stroke, and the Messenians' love.


s: O thou long-lost, long seen in dreams alone,


s: But now seen face to face, my only child!


s: Why wilt thou fly to lose as soon as found


s: Or how expectest not to lose, who com'st


s: With such slight means to cope with such a foe?


s: Thine enemy thou know'st not, nor his strength.


s: The stroke thou purposest is desperate, rash--


s: Yet grant that it succeeds--thou hast behind


s: Scarce dangerous less than him, the Dorian lords.


s: These are not now the savage band who erst


s: Follow'd thy father from their northern hills,


s: Mere ruthless and uncounsell'd wolves of war,


s: Their chief hath train'd them, made them like himself,


s: Against surprise and sudden panic proof.


s: Their master fall'n, these will not flinch, but band


s: To keep their master's power; thou wilt find


s: Behind his corpse their hedge of serried spears.


s: But, to match these, thou hast the people's love?


s: On what a reed, my child, thou leanest there!


s: Knowest thou not how timorous, how unsure,


s: Against the one and certain arm of power?


s: Thy father perish'd in this people's cause,


s: Perish'd before their eyes, yet no man stirr'd!


s: For years, his widow, in their sight I stand,


s: What help, what vengeance, at their hands have I?--


s: At least, if thou wilt trust them, try them first.


s: Thou countest on to back thee 'gainst his lords;


s: First rally the Messenians to thy cause,


s: Give them cohesion, purpose, and resolve,


s: Single and friendless, give to certain death


s: That dear-beloved, that young, that gracious head.


s: For know thou this, a violent heart hath been


s: With sage experience she speaks; and thou,


s: Ill counsel, in my judgment, gives she here,


s: Maidens, and reads experience much amiss;


s: Discrediting the succour which our cause


s: Might from the people draw, if rightly used;


s: Advising us a course which would, indeed,


s: If follow'd, make their succour slack and null.


s: A passive engine, at their general's will;


s: And, if so used, proves, as thou say'st, unsure.


s: Is lifeless, while its heart remains untouch'd;


s: A fool can drive it, and a fly may scare.


s: When it admires and loves, its heart awakes:


s: Who chiefly profit, run no more than they--


s: How shall I rouse their love, their ardour so?


s: Dealt at my own sole risk, before their eyes,


s: Announces me their rightful prince return'd--


s: The daring claimant of a perilous throne--


s: How might not such a sight as this revive


s: Their loyal passion tow'rd my father's house,


s: Kindle their hearts, make them no more a mob,


s: Then might I use them, then, for one who thus


s: Spares not himself, themselves they will not spare.


s: Haply, had but one daring soul stood forth


s: When my great father fell, they had replied!


s: And thou, my mother, hadst thou made a sign--


s: Hadst thou, from thy forlorn and captive state


s: Thy prison-house, raised one imploring cry--


s: Who knows but that avengers thou hadst found?


s: But mute thou sat'st, and each Messenian heart


s: Enough of this!--Though not a finger stir


s: Though all free spirits in this land were dead,


s: On native ground, than drag the tedious hours


s: Hate, duty, interest, passion call one way;


s: Here stand I now, and the attempt shall be.


s: Prudence is on the other side; but deeds


s: Condemn'd by prudence have sometimes gone well.


s: Not till the ways of prudence all are tried,


s: And tried in vain, the turn of rashness comes.


s: Thou leapest to thy deed, and hast not ask'd


s: Thy kinsfolk and thy father's friends for aid.


s: And to what friends should I for aid apply?


s: That house, like ours, intestine murder maims.


s: Thy Spartan cousins, Procles and his brother----


s: Love a won cause, but not a cause to win.


s: My father, then, and his Arcadian chiefs----


s: Mean still to keep aloof from Dorian broil.


s: Wait, then, until sufficient help appears.


s: Apollo peal'd it from his Delphian cave.


s: He had a hest, at least, and thou hast none.


s: The Gods command not where the heart speaks clear.


s: Thou wilt destroy, I see, thyself and us.


s: How twentyfold worse are ye, when your blows


s: Not only wound the sense, but kill the soul,


s: The noble thought, which is alone the man!


s: Orphan'd of both my parents--by his foes


s: My father, by your strokes my mother slain!


s: For this is not my mother, who dissuades,


s: At the dread altar of her husband's tomb,


s: And not alone dissuades him, but compares


s: A deed so awful, that the general tongue


s: Fluent of horrors, falters to relate it--


s: Of darkness so tremendous, that its author,


s: Though to his act empower'd, nay, impell'd,


s: Fled, for years after, o'er the face of earth,


s: And hardly yet, some say, hath found a grave--


s: With such a deed as _this_ thou matchest mine,


s: Which Nature sanctions, which the innocent blood


s: Clamours to find fulfill'd, which good men praise,


s: O honour'd father! hide thee in thy grave


s: Deep as thou canst, for hence no succour comes;


s: Since from thy faithful subjects what revenge


s: Canst thou expect, when thus thy widow fails?


s: Past expectation, hath thy murderer built;


s: For this is the true strength of guilty kings,


s: When they corrupt the souls of those they rule.


s: Zeal makes him most unjust; but, in good time,


s: Here, as I guess, the noble Laias comes.


s: Break off, break off your talking, and depart


s: Each to his post, where the occasion calls;


s: The King return, and find you prating here.


s: A time will come for greetings; but to-day


s: The hour for words is gone, is come for deeds.


s: The occasion, if our chief confederate fails?


s: My mother stands aloof, and blames our deed.


s: My royal sister?... but, without some cause,


s: I know, she honours not the dead so ill.


s: Brother, it seems thy sister must present,


s: At this first meeting after absence long,


s: Risk from my new-restored, my only son?--


s: Sometimes, when he was gone, I wish'd him back,


s: Risk what he might; now that I have him here,


s: Now that I feed mine eyes on that young face,


s: Hear that fresh voice, and clasp that gold-lock'd head,


s: His father and his ill-starr'd brethren fall!


s: I loathe for him the slippery way of blood;


s: I ask if bloodless means may gain his end.


s: Passion's first furious longing to imbrue


s: Our own right hand in the detested blood


s: Of enemies, and count their dying groans--


s: And I would now have Justice strike, not me.


s: I hide not even this--the reverence deep,


s: Through twenty years; his mournful anxious zeal


s: To efface in me the memory of his crime--


s: Though it efface not that, yet makes me wish


s: Treacherously plotted 'twixt my son and me;


s: To whom this day he came to proffer peace,


s: Heirship, with fair intent, as I believe.--


s: For that he plots thy death, account it false;


s: Number it with the thousand rumours vain,


s: Figments of plots, wherewith intriguers fill


s: Immersed in serious state-craft is the King,


s: Rigidly, yet in settled calm, this realm;


s: Not prone, all say, averse to bloodshed now.--


s: So much is due to truth, even tow'rds our foe.


s: And from his natural rights my son debar?


s: Not so! let him--and none shall be more prompt


s: Than I to help--raise his Messenian friends;


s: Let him fetch succours from Arcadia, gain


s: Let him do this, do aught but recommence


s: Murder's uncertain, secret, perilous game--


s: And I, when to his righteous standard down


s: Flies Victory wing'd, and Justice raises _then_


s: Her sword, will be the first to bid it fall.


s: Promise not fair, let him a little while


s: Have faith, and trust the future and the Gods.


s: Fast permanence to an ill-gotten throne.--


s: These are but woman's words--yet, Laias, thou


s: Despise them not! for, brother, thou and I


s: Were not among the feuds of warrior-chiefs,


s: Each sovereign for his dear-bought hour, born;


s: Where sire to son transmits the unquestion'd crown,


s: Unhack'd, unsmirch'd, unbloodied, and have learnt


s: That spotless hands unshaken sceptres hold.


s: Having learnt this, then, use thy knowledge now.


s: Which way to lean I know not: bloody strokes


s: Are never free from doubt, though sometimes due.


s: Agrees to deem some deeds so dark in guilt,


s: That neither gratitude, nor tie of race,


s: All this, no doubt, thou to thyself hast urged--


s: Time presses, so that theme forbear I now;


s: Blood-founded thrones, thou say'st, are insecure;


s: Our father's kingdom, because pure, is safe.


s: True; but what cause to our Arcadia gives


s: But that, since first the black and fruitful Earth


s: Bequeaths the allegiance of our shepherd-tribes,


s: More loyal, as our line continues more?--


s: This awe which guards our earth-sprung, lineal kings?


s: What permanence, what stability like ours,


s: Whether blood flows or no, can yet invest


s: The broken order of your Dorian thrones,


s: Fix'd yesterday, and ten times changed since then?--


s: Two brothers, and their orphan nephews, strove


s: For the three conquer'd kingdoms of this isle;


s: The eldest, mightiest brother, Temenus, took


s: Messenia; to those helpless Boys, the lot


s: Worst of the three, the stony Sparta, fell.


s: August, indeed, was the foundation here!


s: What follow'd?--His most trusted kinsman slew


s: The Spartan Brothers with their guardian strive.


s: Can houses thus ill-seated, thus embroil'd,


s: Thus little founded in their subjects' love,


s: Practise the indulgent, bloodless policy


s: Of dynasties long-fix'd, and honour'd long?


s: Popular reverence to these recent lines.


s: Be their first-founded order strict maintain'd--


s: Their murder'd rulers terribly avenged--


s: Ruthlessly their rebellious subjects crush'd!


s: Since policy bids thus, what fouler death


s: Than thine illustrious husband's to avenge


s: More daring and more grand offender find?


s: Justice, my sister, long demands this blow,


s: And Wisdom, now thou see'st, demands it too.


s: To strike it, then, dissuade thy son no more;


s: The Gods, O mistress dear! the hard-soul'd man,


s: Who spared not others, bid not us to spare.


s: Alas! against my brother, son, and friends,


s: O brother, thou hast conquer'd; yet, I fear!


s: Son! with a doubting heart thy mother yields;


s: May it turn happier than my doubts portend!


s: Meantime on thee the task of silence only


s: Shall be imposed; to us shall be the deed.


s: Nephew! thy friends are sounded, and prove true.


s: Thy father's murderer, in the public place,


s: Performs, this noon, a solemn sacrifice;


s: Be with him--choose the moment--strike thy blow!


s: If prudence counsels thee to go unarm'd,


s: The sacrificer's axe will serve thy turn.


s: To me and the Messenians leave the rest,


s: With the Gods' aid--and, if they give but aid


s: As our just cause deserves, I do not fear.


s: Tells me enough thou know'st the news which all


s: Messenia speaks! the prince, thy son, is dead.


s: Not from my lips should consolation fall;


s: Even after news of this sad death, our league.


s: This morning's angry answer for thy last.


s: Are the sole claimants left; what cause of strife


s: Most honourably I meant, I call the Gods


s: To witness, offering him return and power;


s: 'Twixt thee and me--suspicion, that I nursed


s: That he enjoy'd but part, being heir to all.


s: And he himself, with the impetuous heart


s: Of youth, 'tis like, had never quite forgone


s: The thought of vengeance on me, never quite


s: Unclosed his itching fingers from his sword.


s: But thou, O Merope, though deeply wrong'd,


s: Though injured past forgiveness, as men deem,


s: Yet hast been long at school with thoughtful time,


s: And from that teacher may'st have learn'd, like me,


s: That all may be endured, and all forgiv'n--


s: Have learn'd, that we must sacrifice the bent


s: Of personal feeling to the public weal--


s: Have learn'd, that there are guilty deeds, which leave


s: The hand that does them guiltless; in a word,


s: That kings live for their peoples, not themselves.


s: (For the last time I ask, ask earnestly)


s: Blood-sever'd, but Messenia's King and Queen!


s: Let us forget ourselves for those we rule!


s: Oh had'st thou, Polyphontes, still but kept


s: The silence thou hast kept for twenty years!


s: Henceforth, if what I urge displease, I may.


s: And thou shalt have it! Yes, because thou _hast_


s: The solitude of her whom thou hast wrong'd--


s: That scanty grace shall earn thee this reply.--


s: First, for our union. Trust me, 'twixt us two


s: Waving her hundred hands, a torch in each,


s: Aglow with angry fire, to keep us twain.


s: Now, for thyself. Thou com'st with well-cloak'd joy,


s: To announce the ruin of my husband's house,


s: To sound thy triumph in his widow's ears,


s: To bid her share thine unendanger'd throne.


s: To this thou would'st have answer. Take it: Fly!...


s: Cut short thy triumph, seeming at its height;


s: Fling off thy crown, supposed at last secure;


s: Forsake this ample, proud Messenian realm;


s: To some small, humble, and unnoted strand,


s: Some rock more lonely than that Lemnian isle


s: Where Philoctetes pined, take ship and flee!


s: There in unvoiced oblivion sink thy name,


s: What once-famed wretch he there did espy hid.


s: There nurse a late remorse, and thank the Gods,


s: And thank thy bitterest foe, that, having lost


s: All things but life, thou lose not life as well.