8.No more alone through the world’s wilderness,Although I trod the paths of high intent, _65I journeyed now: no more companionless,Where solitude is like despair, I went.—There is the wisdom of a stern contentWhen Poverty can blight the just and good,When Infamy dares mock the innocent, _70And cherished friends turn with the multitudeTo trample: this was ours, and we unshaken stood!
9.Now has descended a serener hour,And with inconstant fortune, friends return;Though suffering leaves the knowledge and the power _75Which says:—Let scorn be not repaid with scorn.And from thy side two gentle babes are bornTo fill our home with smiles, and thus are weMost fortunate beneath life’s beaming morn;And these delights, and thou, have been to me _80The parents of the Song I consecrate to thee.
10.Is it that now my inexperienced fingersBut strike the prelude of a loftier strain?Or, must the lyre on which my spirit lingersSoon pause in silence, ne’er to sound again, _85Though it might shake the Anarch Custom’s reign,And charm the minds of men to Truth’s own swayHolier than was Amphion’s? I would fainReply in hope—but I am worn away,And Death and Love are yet contending for their prey. _90
11.And what art thou? I know, but dare not speak:Time may interpret to his silent years.Yet in the paleness of thy thoughtful cheek,And in the light thine ample forehead wears,And in thy sweetest smiles, and in thy tears, _95And in thy gentle speech, a prophecyIs whispered, to subdue my fondest fears:And through thine eyes, even in thy soul I seeA lamp of vestal fire burning internally.
12.They say that thou wert lovely from thy birth, _100Of glorious parents thou aspiring Child.I wonder not—for One then left this earthWhose life was like a setting planet mild,Which clothed thee in the radiance undefiledOf its departing glory; still her fame _105Shines on thee, through the tempests dark and wildWhich shake these latter days; and thou canst claimThe shelter, from thy Sire, of an immortal name.
13.One voice came forth from many a mighty spirit,Which was the echo of three thousand years; _110And the tumultuous world stood mute to hear it,As some lone man who in a desert hearsThe music of his home:—unwonted fearsFell on the pale oppressors of our race,And Faith, and Custom, and low-thoughted cares, _115Like thunder-stricken dragons, for a spaceLeft the torn human heart, their food and dwelling-place.
14.Truth’s deathless voice pauses among mankind!If there must be no response to my cry—If men must rise and stamp with fury blind _120On his pure name who loves them,—thou and I,Sweet friend! can look from our tranquillityLike lamps into the world’s tempestuous night,—Two tranquil stars, while clouds are passing byWhich wrap them from the foundering seaman’s sight, _125That burn from year to year with unextinguished light.
NOTES. _54 cloaking edition 1818. See notes at end.
1.When the last hope of trampled France had failedLike a brief dream of unremaining glory,From visions of despair I rose, and scaledThe peak of an aerial promontory, _130Whose caverned base with the vexed surge was hoary;And saw the golden dawn break forth, and wakenEach cloud, and every wave:—but transitoryThe calm; for sudden, the firm earth was shaken,As if by the last wreck its frame were overtaken. _135
2.So as I stood, one blast of muttering thunderBurst in far peals along the waveless deep,When, gathering fast, around, above, and under,Long trains of tremulous mist began to creep,Until their complicating lines did steep _140The orient sun in shadow:—not a soundWas heard; one horrible repose did keepThe forests and the floods, and all aroundDarkness more dread than night was poured upon the ground.
3.Hark! ’tis the rushing of a wind that sweeps _145Earth and the ocean. See! the lightnings yawnDeluging Heaven with fire, and the lashed deepsGlitter and boil beneath: it rages on,One mighty stream, whirlwind and waves upthrown,Lightning, and hail, and darkness eddying by. _150There is a pause—the sea-birds, that were goneInto their caves to shriek, come forth, to spyWhat calm has fall’n on earth, what light is in the sky.
4.For, where the irresistible storm had clovenThat fearful darkness, the blue sky was seen _155Fretted with many a fair cloud interwovenMost delicately, and the ocean green,Beneath that opening spot of blue serene,Quivered like burning emerald; calm was spreadOn all below; but far on high, between _160Earth and the upper air, the vast clouds fled,Countless and swift as leaves on autumn’s tempest shed.
5.For ever, as the war became more fierceBetween the whirlwinds and the rack on high,That spot grew more serene; blue light did pierce _165The woof of those white clouds, which seem to lieFar, deep, and motionless; while through the skyThe pallid semicircle of the moonPassed on, in slow and moving majesty;Its upper horn arrayed in mists, which soon _170But slowly fled, like dew beneath the beams of noon.
6.I could not choose but gaze; a fascinationDwelt in that moon, and sky, and clouds, which drewMy fancy thither, and in expectationOf what I knew not, I remained:—the hue _175Of the white moon, amid that heaven so blue,Suddenly stained with shadow did appear;A speck, a cloud, a shape, approaching grew,Like a great ship in the sun’s sinking sphereBeheld afar at sea, and swift it came anear. _180
7.Even like a bark, which from a chasm of mountains,Dark, vast and overhanging, on a riverWhich there collects the strength of all its fountains,Comes forth, whilst with the speed its frame doth quiver,Sails, oars and stream, tending to one endeavour; _185So, from that chasm of light a winged FormOn all the winds of heaven approaching everFloated, dilating as it came; the stormPursued it with fierce blasts, and lightnings swift and warm.
8.A course precipitous, of dizzy speed, _190Suspending thought and breath; a monstrous sight!For in the air do I behold indeedAn Eagle and a Serpent wreathed in fight:—And now, relaxing its impetuous flight,Before the aerial rock on which I stood, _195The Eagle, hovering, wheeled to left and right,And hung with lingering wings over the flood,And startled with its yells the wide air’s solitude.
9.A shaft of light upon its wings descended,And every golden feather gleamed therein— _200Feather and scale, inextricably blended.The Serpent’s mailed and many-coloured skinShone through the plumes its coils were twined withinBy many a swoln and knotted fold, and highAnd far, the neck, receding lithe and thin, _205Sustained a crested head, which warilyShifted and glanced before the Eagle’s steadfast eye.
10.Around, around, in ceaseless circles wheelingWith clang of wings and scream, the Eagle sailedIncessantly—sometimes on high concealing _210Its lessening orbs, sometimes as if it failed,Drooped through the air; and still it shrieked and wailed,And casting back its eager head, with beakAnd talon unremittingly assailedThe wreathed Serpent, who did ever seek _215Upon his enemy’s heart a mortal wound to wreak.
11.What life, what power, was kindled and aroseWithin the sphere of that appalling fray!For, from the encounter of those wondrous foes,A vapour like the sea’s suspended spray _220Hung gathered; in the void air, far away,Floated the shattered plumes; bright scales did leap,Where’er the Eagle’s talons made their way,Like sparks into the darkness;—as they sweep,Blood stains the snowy foam of the tumultuous deep. _225
12.Swift chances in that combat—many a check,And many a change, a dark and wild turmoil;Sometimes the Snake around his enemy’s neckLocked in stiff rings his adamantine coil,Until the Eagle, faint with pain and toil, _230Remitted his strong flight, and near the seaLanguidly fluttered, hopeless so to foilHis adversary, who then reared on highHis red and burning crest, radiant with victory.
13.Then on the white edge of the bursting surge, _235Where they had sunk together, would the SnakeRelax his suffocating grasp, and scourgeThe wind with his wild writhings; for to breakThat chain of torment, the vast bird would shakeThe strength of his unconquerable wings _240As in despair, and with his sinewy neck,Dissolve in sudden shock those linked rings—Then soar, as swift as smoke from a volcano springs.
14.Wile baffled wile, and strength encountered strength,Thus long, but unprevailing:—the event _245Of that portentous fight appeared at length:Until the lamp of day was almost spentIt had endured, when lifeless, stark, and rent,Hung high that mighty Serpent, and at lastFell to the sea, while o’er the continent _250With clang of wings and scream the Eagle passed,Heavily borne away on the exhausted blast.
15.And with it fled the tempest, so that oceanAnd earth and sky shone through the atmosphere—Only, ’twas strange to see the red commotion _255Of waves like mountains o’er the sinking sphereOf sunset sweep, and their fierce roar to hearAmid the calm: down the steep path I woundTo the sea-shore—the evening was most clearAnd beautiful, and there the sea I found _260Calm as a cradled child in dreamless slumber bound.
16.There was a Woman, beautiful as morning,Sitting beneath the rocks, upon the sandOf the waste sea—fair as one flower adorningAn icy wilderness; each delicate hand _265Lay crossed upon her bosom, and the bandOf her dark hair had fall’n, and so she sateLooking upon the waves; on the bare strandUpon the sea-mark a small boat did wait,Fair as herself, like Love by Hope left desolate. _270
17.It seemed that this fair Shape had looked uponThat unimaginable fight, and nowThat her sweet eyes were weary of the sun,As brightly it illustrated her woe;For in the tears which silently to flow _275Paused not, its lustre hung: she watching ayeThe foam-wreaths which the faint tide wove belowUpon the spangled sands, groaned heavily,And after every groan looked up over the sea.
18.And when she saw the wounded Serpent make _280His path between the waves, her lips grew pale,Parted, and quivered; the tears ceased to breakFrom her immovable eyes; no voice of wailEscaped her; but she rose, and on the galeLoosening her star-bright robe and shadowy hair _285Poured forth her voice; the caverns of the valeThat opened to the ocean, caught it there,And filled with silver sounds the overflowing air.
19.She spake in language whose strange melodyMight not belong to earth. I heard alone, _290What made its music more melodious be,The pity and the love of every tone;But to the Snake those accents sweet were knownHis native tongue and hers; nor did he beatThe hoar spray idly then, but winding on _295Through the green shadows of the waves that meetNear to the shore, did pause beside her snowy feet.
20.Then on the sands the Woman sate again,And wept and clasped her hands, and all between,Renewed the unintelligible strain _300Of her melodious voice and eloquent mien;And she unveiled her bosom, and the greenAnd glancing shadows of the sea did playO’er its marmoreal depth:—one moment seen,For ere the next, the Serpent did obey _305Her voice, and, coiled in rest in her embrace it lay.
21.Then she arose, and smiled on me with eyesSerene yet sorrowing, like that planet fair,While yet the daylight lingereth in the skiesWhich cleaves with arrowy beams the dark-red air, _310And said: ‘To grieve is wise, but the despairWas weak and vain which led thee here from sleep:This shalt thou know, and more, if thou dost dareWith me and with this Serpent, o’er the deep,A voyage divine and strange, companionship to keep.’ _315
22.Her voice was like the wildest, saddest tone,Yet sweet, of some loved voice heard long ago.I wept. ‘Shall this fair woman all alone,Over the sea with that fierce Serpent go?His head is on her heart, and who can know _320How soon he may devour his feeble prey?’—Such were my thoughts, when the tide gan to flow;And that strange boat like the moon’s shade did swayAmid reflected stars that in the waters lay:—
23.A boat of rare device, which had no sail _325But its own curved prow of thin moonstone,Wrought like a web of texture fine and frail,To catch those gentlest winds which are not knownTo breathe, but by the steady speed aloneWith which it cleaves the sparkling sea; and now _330We are embarked—the mountains hang and frownOver the starry deep that gleams below,A vast and dim expanse, as o’er the waves we go.
24.And as we sailed, a strange and awful taleThat Woman told, like such mysterious dream _335As makes the slumberer’s cheek with wonder pale!’Twas midnight, and around, a shoreless stream,Wide ocean rolled, when that majestic themeShrined in her heart found utterance, and she bentHer looks on mine; those eyes a kindling beam _340Of love divine into my spirit sent,And ere her lips could move, made the air eloquent.
25.‘Speak not to me, but hear! Much shalt thou learn,Much must remain unthought, and more untold,In the dark Future’s ever-flowing urn: _345Know then, that from the depth of ages oldTwo Powers o’er mortal things dominion hold,Ruling the world with a divided lot,Immortal, all-pervading, manifold,Twin Genii, equal Gods—when life and thought _350Sprang forth, they burst the womb of inessential Nought.
26.‘The earliest dweller of the world, alone,Stood on the verge of chaos. Lo! afarO’er the wide wild abyss two meteors shone,Sprung from the depth of its tempestuous jar: _355A blood-red Comet and the Morning StarMingling their beams in combat—as he stood,All thoughts within his mind waged mutual war,In dreadful sympathy—when to the floodThat fair Star fell, he turned and shed his brother’s blood. _360
27.‘Thus evil triumphed, and the Spirit of evil,One Power of many shapes which none may know,One Shape of many names; the Fiend did revelIn victory, reigning o’er a world of woe,For the new race of man went to and fro, _365Famished and homeless, loathed and loathing, wild,And hating good—for his immortal foe,He changed from starry shape, beauteous and mild,To a dire Snake, with man and beast unreconciled.
28.‘The darkness lingering o’er the dawn of things, _370Was Evil’s breath and life; this made him strongTo soar aloft with overshadowing wings;And the great Spirit of Good did creep amongThe nations of mankind, and every tongueCursed and blasphemed him as he passed; for none _375Knew good from evil, though their names were hungIn mockery o’er the fane where many a groan,As King, and Lord, and God, the conquering Fiend did own,—
29.‘The Fiend, whose name was Legion: Death, Decay,Earthquake and Blight, and Want, and Madness pale, _380Winged and wan diseases, an arrayNumerous as leaves that strew the autumnal gale;Poison, a snake in flowers, beneath the veilOf food and mirth, hiding his mortal head;And, without whom all these might nought avail, _385Fear, Hatred, Faith, and Tyranny, who spreadThose subtle nets which snare the living and the dead.
30.‘His spirit is their power, and they his slavesIn air, and light, and thought, and language, dwell;And keep their state from palaces to graves, _390In all resorts of men—invisible,But when, in ebon mirror, Nightmare fellTo tyrant or impostor bids them rise,Black winged demon forms—whom, from the hell,His reign and dwelling beneath nether skies, _395He loosens to their dark and blasting ministries.
31.‘In the world’s youth his empire was as firmAs its foundations…Soon the Spirit of Good,Though in the likeness of a loathsome worm,Sprang from the billows of the formless flood, _400Which shrank and fled; and with that Fiend of bloodRenewed the doubtful war…Thrones then first shook,And earth’s immense and trampled multitudeIn hope on their own powers began to look,And Fear, the demon pale, his sanguine shrine forsook. _405
32.‘Then Greece arose, and to its bards and sages,In dream, the golden-pinioned Genii came,Even where they slept amid the night of ages,Steeping their hearts in the divinest flameWhich thy breath kindled, Power of holiest name! _410And oft in cycles since, when darkness gaveNew weapons to thy foe, their sunlike fameUpon the combat shone—a light to save,Like Paradise spread forth beyond the shadowy grave.
33.‘Such is this conflict—when mankind doth strive _415With its oppressors in a strife of blood,Or when free thoughts, like lightnings, are alive,And in each bosom of the multitudeJustice and truth with Custom’s hydra broodWage silent war; when Priests and Kings dissemble _420In smiles or frowns their fierce disquietude,When round pure hearts a host of hopes assemble,The Snake and Eagle meet—the world’s foundations tremble!
34.‘Thou hast beheld that fight—when to thy homeThou dost return, steep not its hearth in tears; _425Though thou may’st hear that earth is now becomeThe tyrant’s garbage, which to his compeers,The vile reward of their dishonoured years,He will dividing give.—The victor Fiend,Omnipotent of yore, now quails, and fears _430His triumph dearly won, which soon will lendAn impulse swift and sure to his approaching end.
35.‘List, stranger, list, mine is an human form,Like that thou wearest—touch me—shrink not now!My hand thou feel’st is not a ghost’s, but warm _435With human blood.—’Twas many years ago,Since first my thirsting soul aspired to knowThe secrets of this wondrous world, when deepMy heart was pierced with sympathy, for woeWhich could not be mine own, and thought did keep, _440In dream, unnatural watch beside an infant’s sleep.
36.‘Woe could not be mine own, since far from menI dwelt, a free and happy orphan child,By the sea-shore, in a deep mountain glen;And near the waves, and through the forests wild, _445I roamed, to storm and darkness reconciled:For I was calm while tempest shook the sky:But when the breathless heavens in beauty smiled,I wept, sweet tears, yet too tumultuouslyFor peace, and clasped my hands aloft in ecstasy. _450
37.‘These were forebodings of my fate—beforeA woman’s heart beat in my virgin breast,It had been nurtured in divinest lore:A dying poet gave me books, and blessedWith wild but holy talk the sweet unrest _455In which I watched him as he died away—A youth with hoary hair—a fleeting guestOf our lone mountains: and this lore did swayMy spirit like a storm, contending there alway.
38.‘Thus the dark tale which history doth unfold _460I knew, but not, methinks, as others know,For they weep not; and Wisdom had unrolledThe clouds which hide the gulf of mortal woe,—To few can she that warning vision show—For I loved all things with intense devotion; _465So that when Hope’s deep source in fullest flow,Like earthquake did uplift the stagnant oceanOf human thoughts—mine shook beneath the wide emotion.
39.‘When first the living blood through all these veinsKindled a thought in sense, great France sprang forth, _470And seized, as if to break, the ponderous chainsWhich bind in woe the nations of the earth.I saw, and started from my cottage-hearth;And to the clouds and waves in tameless gladnessShrieked, till they caught immeasurable mirth— _475And laughed in light and music: soon, sweet madnessWas poured upon my heart, a soft and thrilling sadness.
40.‘Deep slumber fell on me:—my dreams were fire—Soft and delightful thoughts did rest and hoverLike shadows o’er my brain; and strange desire, _480The tempest of a passion, raging overMy tranquil soul, its depths with light did cover,Which passed; and calm, and darkness, sweeter far,Came—then I loved; but not a human lover!For when I rose from sleep, the Morning Star _485Shone through the woodbine-wreaths which round my casement were.
41.‘’Twas like an eye which seemed to smile on me.I watched, till by the sun made pale, it sankUnder the billows of the heaving sea;But from its beams deep love my spirit drank, _490And to my brain the boundless world now shrankInto one thought—one image—yes, for ever!Even like the dayspring, poured on vapours dank,The beams of that one Star did shoot and quiverThrough my benighted mind—and were extinguished never. _495
42.‘The day passed thus: at night, methought, in dreamA shape of speechless beauty did appear:It stood like light on a careering streamOf golden clouds which shook the atmosphere;A winged youth, his radiant brow did wear _500The Morning Star: a wild dissolving blissOver my frame he breathed, approaching near,And bent his eyes of kindling tendernessNear mine, and on my lips impressed a lingering kiss,—
43.‘And said: “A Spirit loves thee, mortal maiden, _505How wilt thou prove thy worth?†Then joy and sleepTogether fled; my soul was deeply laden,And to the shore I went to muse and weep;But as I moved, over my heart did creepA joy less soft, but more profound and strong _510Than my sweet dream; and it forbade to keepThe path of the sea-shore: that Spirit’s tongueSeemed whispering in my heart, and bore my steps along.
44.‘How, to that vast and peopled city led,Which was a field of holy warfare then, _515I walked among the dying and the dead,And shared in fearless deeds with evil men,Calm as an angel in the dragon’s den—How I braved death for liberty and truth,And spurned at peace, and power, and fame—and when _520Those hopes had lost the glory of their youth,How sadly I returned—might move the hearer’s ruth:
45.‘Warm tears throng fast! the tale may not be said—Know then, that when this grief had been subdued,I was not left, like others, cold and dead; _525The Spirit whom I loved, in solitudeSustained his child: the tempest-shaken wood,The waves, the fountains, and the hush of night—These were his voice, and well I understoodHis smile divine, when the calm sea was bright _530With silent stars, and Heaven was breathless with delight.
46.‘In lonely glens, amid the roar of rivers,When the dim nights were moonless, have I knownJoys which no tongue can tell; my pale lip quiversWhen thought revisits them:—know thou alone, _535That after many wondrous years were flown,I was awakened by a shriek of woe;And over me a mystic robe was thrown,By viewless hands, and a bright Star did glowBefore my steps—the Snake then met his mortal foe.’ _540
47.‘Thou fearest not then the Serpent on thy heart?’‘Fear it!’ she said, with brief and passionate cry,And spake no more: that silence made me start—I looked, and we were sailing pleasantly,Swift as a cloud between the sea and sky; _545Beneath the rising moon seen far away,Mountains of ice, like sapphire, piled on high,Hemming the horizon round, in silence layOn the still waters—these we did approach alway.
48.And swift and swifter grew the vessel’s motion, _550So that a dizzy trance fell on my brain—Wild music woke me; we had passed the oceanWhich girds the pole, Nature’s remotest reign—And we glode fast o’er a pellucid plainOf waters, azure with the noontide day. _555Ethereal mountains shone around—a FaneStood in the midst, girt by green isles which layOn the blue sunny deep, resplendent far away.
49.It was a Temple, such as mortal handHas never built, nor ecstasy, nor dream _560Reared in the cities of enchanted land:’Twas likest Heaven, ere yet day’s purple streamEbbs o’er the western forest, while the gleamOf the unrisen moon among the cloudsIs gathering—when with many a golden beam _565The thronging constellations rush in crowds,Paving with fire the sky and the marmoreal floods.
50.Like what may be conceived of this vast dome,When from the depths which thought can seldom pierceGenius beholds it rise, his native home, _570Girt by the deserts of the Universe;Yet, nor in painting’s light, or mightier verse,Or sculpture’s marble language, can investThat shape to mortal sense—such glooms immerseThat incommunicable sight, and rest _575Upon the labouring brain and overburdened breast.
51.Winding among the lawny islands fair,Whose blosmy forests starred the shadowy deep,The wingless boat paused where an ivory stairIts fretwork in the crystal sea did steep, _580Encircling that vast Fane’s aerial heap:We disembarked, and through a portal wideWe passed—whose roof of moonstone carved, did keepA glimmering o’er the forms on every side,Sculptures like life and thought, immovable, deep-eyed. _585
52.We came to a vast hall, whose glorious roofWas diamond, which had drunk the lightning’s sheenIn darkness, and now poured it through the woofOf spell-inwoven clouds hung there to screenIts blinding splendour—through such veil was seen _590That work of subtlest power, divine and rare;Orb above orb, with starry shapes between,And horned moons, and meteors strange and fair,On night-black columns poised—one hollow hemisphere!
53.Ten thousand columns in that quivering light _595Distinct—between whose shafts wound far awayThe long and labyrinthine aisles—more brightWith their own radiance than the Heaven of Day;And on the jasper walls around, there layPaintings, the poesy of mightiest thought, _600Which did the Spirit’s history display;A tale of passionate change, divinely taught,Which, in their winged dance, unconscious Genii wrought.
54.Beneath, there sate on many a sapphire throne,The Great, who had departed from mankind, _605A mighty Senate;—some, whose white hair shoneLike mountain snow, mild, beautiful, and blind;Some, female forms, whose gestures beamed with mind;And ardent youths, and children bright and fair;And some had lyres whose strings were intertwined _610With pale and clinging flames, which ever thereWaked faint yet thrilling sounds that pierced the crystal air.
55.One seat was vacant in the midst, a throne,Reared on a pyramid like sculptured flame,Distinct with circling steps which rested on _615Their own deep fire—soon as the Woman cameInto that hall, she shrieked the Spirit’s nameAnd fell; and vanished slowly from the sight.Darkness arose from her dissolving frame,Which gathering, filled that dome of woven light, _620Blotting its sphered stars with supernatural night.
56.Then first, two glittering lights were seen to glideIn circles on the amethystine floor,Small serpent eyes trailing from side to side,Like meteors on a river’s grassy shore, _625They round each other rolled, dilating moreAnd more—then rose, commingling into one,One clear and mighty planet hanging o’erA cloud of deepest shadow, which was thrownAthwart the glowing steps and the crystalline throne. _630
57.The cloud which rested on that cone of flameWas cloven; beneath the planet sate a Form,Fairer than tongue can speak or thought may frame,The radiance of whose limbs rose-like and warmFlowed forth, and did with softest light inform _635The shadowy dome, the sculptures, and the stateOf those assembled shapes—with clinging charmSinking upon their hearts and mine. He sateMajestic, yet most mild—calm, yet compassionate.
58.Wonder and joy a passing faintness threw _640Over my brow—a hand supported me,Whose touch was magic strength; an eye of blueLooked into mine, like moonlight, soothingly;And a voice said:—‘Thou must a listener beThis day—two mighty Spirits now return, _645Like birds of calm, from the world’s raging sea,They pour fresh light from Hope’s immortal urn;A tale of human power—despair not—list and learn!
59.I looked, and lo! one stood forth eloquently.His eyes were dark and deep, and the clear brow _650Which shadowed them was like the morning sky,The cloudless Heaven of Spring, when in their flowThrough the bright air, the soft winds as they blowWake the green world—his gestures did obeyThe oracular mind that made his features glow, _655And where his curved lips half-open lay,Passion’s divinest stream had made impetuous way.
60.Beneath the darkness of his outspread hairHe stood thus beautiful; but there was OneWho sate beside him like his shadow there, _660And held his hand—far lovelier; she was knownTo be thus fair, by the few lines aloneWhich through her floating locks and gathered cloak,Glances of soul-dissolving glory, shone:—None else beheld her eyes—in him they woke _665Memories which found a tongue as thus he silence broke.
1.The starlight smile of children, the sweet looksOf women, the fair breast from which I fed,The murmur of the unreposing brooks,And the green light which, shifting overhead, _670Some tangled bower of vines around me shed,The shells on the sea-sand, and the wild flowers,The lamp-light through the rafters cheerly spread,And on the twining flax—in life’s young hoursThese sights and sounds did nurse my spirit’s folded powers. _675
2.In Argolis, beside the echoing sea,Such impulses within my mortal frameArose, and they were dear to memory,Like tokens of the dead:—but others cameSoon, in another shape: the wondrous fame _680Of the past world, the vital words and deedsOf minds whom neither time nor change can tame,Traditions dark and old, whence evil creedsStart forth, and whose dim shade a stream of poison feeds.
3.I heard, as all have heard, the various story _685Of human life, and wept unwilling tears.Feeble historians of its shame and glory,False disputants on all its hopes and fears,Victims who worshipped ruin, chroniclersOf daily scorn, and slaves who loathed their state _690Yet, flattering power, had given its ministersA throne of judgement in the grave:—’twas fate,That among such as these my youth should seek its mate.
4.The land in which I lived, by a fell baneWas withered up. Tyrants dwelt side by side, _695And stabled in our homes,—until the chainStifled the captive’s cry, and to abideThat blasting curse men had no shame—all viedIn evil, slave and despot; fear with lustStrange fellowship through mutual hate had tied, _700Like two dark serpents tangled in the dust,Which on the paths of men their mingling poison thrust.
5.Earth, our bright home, its mountains and its waters,And the ethereal shapes which are suspendedOver its green expanse, and those fair daughters, _705The clouds, of Sun and Ocean, who have blendedThe colours of the air since first extendedIt cradled the young world, none wandered forthTo see or feel; a darkness had descendedOn every heart; the light which shows its worth, _710Must among gentle thoughts and fearless take its birth.
6.This vital world, this home of happy spirits,Was as a dungeon to my blasted kind;All that despair from murdered hope inheritsThey sought, and in their helpless misery blind, _715A deeper prison and heavier chains did find,And stronger tyrants:—a dark gulf before,The realm of a stern Ruler, yawned; behind,Terror and Time conflicting drove, and boreOn their tempestuous flood the shrieking wretch from shore. _720
7.Out of that Ocean’s wrecks had Guilt and WoeFramed a dark dwelling for their homeless thought,And, starting at the ghosts which to and froGlide o’er its dim and gloomy strand, had broughtThe worship thence which they each other taught. _725Well might men loathe their life, well might they turnEven to the ills again from which they soughtSuch refuge after death!—well might they learnTo gaze on this fair world with hopeless unconcern!
8.For they all pined in bondage; body and soul, _730Tyrant and slave, victim and torturer, bentBefore one Power, to which supreme controlOver their will by their own weakness lent,Made all its many names omnipotent;All symbols of things evil, all divine; _735And hymns of blood or mockery, which rentThe air from all its fanes, did intertwineImposture’s impious toils round each discordant shrine.
9.I heard, as all have heard, life’s various story,And in no careless heart transcribed the tale; _740But, from the sneers of men who had grown hoaryIn shame and scorn, from groans of crowds made paleBy famine, from a mother’s desolate wailO’er her polluted child, from innocent bloodPoured on the earth, and brows anxious and pale _745With the heart’s warfare, did I gather foodTo feed my many thoughts—a tameless multitude!
10.I wandered through the wrecks of days departedFar by the desolated shore, when evenO’er the still sea and jagged islets darted _750The light of moonrise; in the northern Heaven,Among the clouds near the horizon driven,The mountains lay beneath one planet pale;Around me, broken tombs and columns rivenLooked vast in twilight, and the sorrowing gale _755Waked in those ruins gray its everlasting wail!
11.I knew not who had framed these wonders then,Nor had I heard the story of their deeds;But dwellings of a race of mightier men,And monuments of less ungentle creeds _760Tell their own tale to him who wisely heedsThe language which they speak; and now, to meThe moonlight making pale the blooming weeds,The bright stars shining in the breathless sea,Interpreted those scrolls of mortal mystery. _765
12.Such man has been, and such may yet become!Ay, wiser, greater, gentler even than theyWho on the fragments of yon shattered domeHave stamped the sign of power—I felt the swayOf the vast stream of ages bear away _770My floating thoughts—my heart beat loud and fast—Even as a storm let loose beneath the rayOf the still moon, my spirit onward passedBeneath truth’s steady beams upon its tumult cast.
13.It shall be thus no more! too long, too long, _775Sons of the glorious dead, have ye lain boundIn darkness and in ruin!—Hope is strong,Justice and Truth their winged child have found—Awake! arise! until the mighty soundOf your career shall scatter in its gust _780The thrones of the oppressor, and the groundHide the last altar’s unregarded dust,Whose Idol has so long betrayed your impious trust!
14.It must be so—I will arise and wakenThe multitude, and like a sulphurous hill, _785Which on a sudden from its snows has shakenThe swoon of ages, it shall burst and fillThe world with cleansing fire; it must, it will—It may not be restrained!—and who shall standAmid the rocking earthquake steadfast still, _790But Laon? on high Freedom’s desert landA tower whose marble walls the leagued storms withstand!
15.One summer night, in commune with the hopeThus deeply fed, amid those ruins grayI watched, beneath the dark sky’s starry cope; _795And ever from that hour upon me layThe burden of this hope, and night or day,In vision or in dream, clove to my breast:Among mankind, or when gone far awayTo the lone shores and mountains, ’twas a guest _800Which followed where I fled, and watched when I did rest.
16.These hopes found words through which my spirit soughtTo weave a bondage of such sympathy,As might create some response to the thoughtWhich ruled me now—and as the vapours lie _805Bright in the outspread morning’s radiancy,So were these thoughts invested with the lightOf language: and all bosoms made replyOn which its lustre streamed, whene’er it mightThrough darkness wide and deep those tranced spirits smite. _810
17.Yes, many an eye with dizzy tears was dim,And oft I thought to clasp my own heart’s brother,When I could feel the listener’s senses swim,And hear his breath its own swift gaspings smotherEven as my words evoked them—and another, _815And yet another, I did fondly deem,Felt that we all were sons of one great mother;And the cold truth such sad reverse did seemAs to awake in grief from some delightful dream.
18.Yes, oft beside the ruined labyrinth _820Which skirts the hoary caves of the green deep,Did Laon and his friend, on one gray plinth,Round whose worn base the wild waves hiss and leap,Resting at eve, a lofty converse keep:And that this friend was false, may now be said _825Calmly—that he like other men could weepTears which are lies, and could betray and spreadSnares for that guileless heart which for his own had bled.
19.Then, had no great aim recompensed my sorrow,I must have sought dark respite from its stress _830In dreamless rest, in sleep that sees no morrow—For to tread life’s dismaying wildernessWithout one smile to cheer, one voice to bless,Amid the snares and scoffs of human kind,Is hard—but I betrayed it not, nor less _835With love that scorned return sought to unbindThe interwoven clouds which make its wisdom blind.
20.With deathless minds which leave where they have passedA path of light, my soul communion knew;Till from that glorious intercourse, at last, _840As from a mine of magic store, I drewWords which were weapons;—round my heart there grewThe adamantine armour of their power;And from my fancy wings of golden hueSprang forth—yet not alone from wisdom’s tower, _845A minister of truth, these plumes young Laon bore.
21.An orphan with my parents lived, whose eyesWere lodestars of delight, which drew me homeWhen I might wander forth; nor did I prizeAught human thing beneath Heaven’s mighty dome _850Beyond this child; so when sad hours were come,And baffled hope like ice still clung to me,Since kin were cold, and friends had now becomeHeartless and false, I turned from all, to be,Cythna, the only source of tears and smiles to thee. _855
22.What wert thou then? A child most infantine,Yet wandering far beyond that innocent ageIn all but its sweet looks and mien divine;Even then, methought, with the world’s tyrant rageA patient warfare thy young heart did wage, _860When those soft eyes of scarcely conscious thoughtSome tale, or thine own fancies, would engageTo overflow with tears, or converse fraughtWith passion, o’er their depths its fleeting light had wrought.
23.She moved upon this earth a shape of brightness, _865A power, that from its objects scarcely drewOne impulse of her being—in her lightnessMost like some radiant cloud of morning dew,Which wanders through the waste air’s pathless blue,To nourish some far desert; she did seem _870Beside me, gathering beauty as she grew,Like the bright shade of some immortal dreamWhich walks, when tempest sleeps, the wave of life’s dark stream.
24.As mine own shadow was this child to me,A second self, far dearer and more fair; _875Which clothed in undissolving radiancyAll those steep paths which languor and despairOf human things, had made so dark and bare,But which I trod alone—nor, till bereftOf friends, and overcome by lonely care, _880Knew I what solace for that loss was left,Though by a bitter wound my trusting heart was cleft.
25.Once she was dear, now she was all I hadTo love in human life—this playmate sweet,This child of twelve years old—so she was made _885My sole associate, and her willing feetWandered with mine where earth and ocean meet,Beyond the aereal mountains whose vast cellsThe unreposing billows ever beat,Through forests wild and old, and lawny dells _890Where boughs of incense droop over the emerald wells.
26.And warm and light I felt her clasping handWhen twined in mine; she followed where I went,Through the lone paths of our immortal land.It had no waste but some memorial lent _895Which strung me to my toil—some monumentVital with mind; then Cythna by my side,Until the bright and beaming day were spent,Would rest, with looks entreating to abide,Too earnest and too sweet ever to be denied. _900
27.And soon I could not have refused her—thusFor ever, day and night, we two were ne’erParted, but when brief sleep divided us:And when the pauses of the lulling airOf noon beside the sea had made a lair _905For her soothed senses, in my arms she slept,And I kept watch over her slumbers there,While, as the shifting visions over her swept,Amid her innocent rest by turns she smiled and wept.
28.And, in the murmur of her dreams was heard _910Sometimes the name of Laon:—suddenlyShe would arise, and, like the secret birdWhom sunset wakens, fill the shore and skyWith her sweet accents, a wild melody!Hymns which my soul had woven to Freedom, strong _915The source of passion, whence they rose, to be;Triumphant strains, which, like a spirit’s tongue,To the enchanted waves that child of glory sung—
29.Her white arms lifted through the shadowy streamOf her loose hair. Oh, excellently great _920Seemed to me then my purpose, the vast themeOf those impassioned songs, when Cythna sateAmid the calm which rapture doth createAfter its tumult, her heart vibrating,Her spirit o’er the Ocean’s floating state _925From her deep eyes far wandering, on the wingOf visions that were mine, beyond its utmost spring!
30.For, before Cythna loved it, had my songPeopled with thoughts the boundless universe,A mighty congregation, which were strong _930Where’er they trod the darkness to disperseThe cloud of that unutterable curseWhich clings upon mankind:—all things becameSlaves to my holy and heroic verse,Earth, sea and sky, the planets, life and fame _935And fate, or whate’er else binds the world’s wondrous frame.
31.And this beloved child thus felt the swayOf my conceptions, gathering like a cloudThe very wind on which it rolls away:Hers too were all my thoughts, ere yet, endowed _940With music and with light, their fountains flowedIn poesy; and her still and earnest face,Pallid with feelings which intensely glowedWithin, was turned on mine with speechless grace,Watching the hopes which there her heart had learned to trace. _945
32.In me, communion with this purest beingKindled intenser zeal, and made me wiseIn knowledge, which, in hers mine own mind seeing,Left in the human world few mysteries:How without fear of evil or disguise _950Was Cythna!—what a spirit strong and mild,Which death, or pain or peril could despise,Yet melt in tenderness! what genius wildYet mighty, was enclosed within one simple child!
33.New lore was this—old age with its gray hair, _955And wrinkled legends of unworthy things,And icy sneers, is nought: it cannot dareTo burst the chains which life for ever flingsOn the entangled soul’s aspiring wings,So is it cold and cruel, and is made _960The careless slave of that dark power which bringsEvil, like blight, on man, who, still betrayed,Laughs o’er the grave in which his living hopes are laid.
34.Nor are the strong and the severe to keepThe empire of the world: thus Cythna taught _965Even in the visions of her eloquent sleep,Unconscious of the power through which she wroughtThe woof of such intelligible thought,As from the tranquil strength which cradled layIn her smile-peopled rest, my spirit sought _970Why the deceiver and the slave has swayO’er heralds so divine of truth’s arising day.
35.Within that fairest form, the female mind,Untainted by the poison clouds which restOn the dark world, a sacred home did find: _975But else, from the wide earth’s maternal breast,Victorious Evil, which had dispossessedAll native power, had those fair children torn,And made them slaves to soothe his vile unrest,And minister to lust its joys forlorn, _980Till they had learned to breathe the atmosphere of scorn.
36.This misery was but coldly felt, till sheBecame my only friend, who had enduedMy purpose with a wider sympathy;Thus, Cythna mourned with me the servitude _985In which the half of humankind were mewedVictims of lust and hate, the slaves of slaves,She mourned that grace and power were thrown as foodTo the hyena lust, who, among graves,Over his loathed meal, laughing in agony, raves. _990
37.And I, still gazing on that glorious child,Even as these thoughts flushed o’er her:—‘Cythna sweet,Well with the world art thou unreconciled;Never will peace and human nature meetTill free and equal man and woman greet _995Domestic peace; and ere this power can makeIn human hearts its calm and holy seat,This slavery must be broken’—as I spake,From Cythna’s eyes a light of exultation brake.
38.She replied earnestly:—‘It shall be mine, _1000This task,—mine, Laon!—thou hast much to gain;Nor wilt thou at poor Cythna’s pride repine,If she should lead a happy female trainTo meet thee over the rejoicing plain,When myriads at thy call shall throng around _1005The Golden City.’—Then the child did strainMy arm upon her tremulous heart, and woundHer own about my neck, till some reply she found.
39.I smiled, and spake not.—‘Wherefore dost thou smileAt what I say? Laon, I am not weak, _1010And, though my cheek might become pale the while,With thee, if thou desirest, will I seekThrough their array of banded slaves to wreakRuin upon the tyrants. I had thoughtIt was more hard to turn my unpractised cheek _1015To scorn and shame, and this beloved spotAnd thee, O dearest friend, to leave and murmur not.
40.‘Whence came I what I am? Thou, Laon, knowestHow a young child should thus undaunted be;Methinks, it is a power which thou bestowest, _1020Through which I seek, by most resembling thee,So to become most good and great and free;Yet far beyond this Ocean’s utmost roar,In towers and huts are many like to me,Who, could they see thine eyes, or feel such lore _1025As I have learnt from them, like me would fear no more.
41.‘Think’st thou that I shall speak unskilfully,And none will heed me? I remember now,How once, a slave in tortures doomed to die,Was saved, because in accents sweet and low _1030He sung a song his Judge loved long ago,As he was led to death.—All shall relentWho hear me—tears, as mine have flowed, shall flow,Hearts beat as mine now beats, with such intentAs renovates the world; a will omnipotent! _1035
42.‘Yes, I will tread Pride’s golden palaces,Through Penury’s roofless huts and squalid cellsWill I descend, where’er in abjectnessWoman with some vile slave her tyrant dwells,There with the music of thine own sweet spells _1040Will disenchant the captives, and will pourFor the despairing, from the crystal wellsOf thy deep spirit, reason’s mighty lore,And power shall then abound, and hope arise once more.
43.‘Can man be free if woman be a slave? _1045Chain one who lives, and breathes this boundless air,To the corruption of a closed grave!Can they whose mates are beasts, condemned to bearScorn, heavier far than toil or anguish, dareTo trample their oppressors? in their home _1050Among their babes, thou knowest a curse would wearThe shape of woman—hoary Crime would comeBehind, and Fraud rebuild religion’s tottering dome.
44.‘I am a child:—I would not yet depart.When I go forth alone, bearing the lamp _1055Aloft which thou hast kindled in my heart,Millions of slaves from many a dungeon dampShall leap in joy, as the benumbing crampOf ages leaves their limbs—no ill may harmThy Cythna ever—truth its radiant stamp _1060Has fixed, as an invulnerable charm,Upon her children’s brow, dark Falsehood to disarm.
45.‘Wait yet awhile for the appointed day—Thou wilt depart, and I with tears shall standWatching thy dim sail skirt the ocean gray; _1065Amid the dwellers of this lonely landI shall remain alone—and thy commandShall then dissolve the world’s unquiet trance,And, multitudinous as the desert sandBorne on the storm, its millions shall advance, _1070Thronging round thee, the light of their deliverance.
46.‘Then, like the forests of some pathless mountain,Which from remotest glens two warring windsInvolve in fire which not the loosened fountainOf broadest floods might quench, shall all the kinds _1075Of evil, catch from our uniting mindsThe spark which must consume them;—Cythna thenWill have cast off the impotence that bindsHer childhood now, and through the paths of menWill pass, as the charmed bird that haunts the serpent’s den. _1080
47.‘We part!—O Laon, I must dare nor tremble,To meet those looks no more!—Oh, heavy stroke!Sweet brother of my soul! can I dissembleThe agony of this thought?’—As thus she spokeThe gathered sobs her quivering accents broke, _1085And in my arms she hid her beating breast.I remained still for tears—sudden she wokeAs one awakes from sleep, and wildly pressedMy bosom, her whole frame impetuously possessed.
48.‘We part to meet again—but yon blue waste, _1090Yon desert wide and deep, holds no recess,Within whose happy silence, thus embracedWe might survive all ills in one caress:Nor doth the grave—I fear ’tis passionless—Nor yon cold vacant Heaven:—we meet again _1095Within the minds of men, whose lips shall blessOur memory, and whose hopes its light retainWhen these dissevered bones are trodden in the plain.’
49.I could not speak, though she had ceased, for nowThe fountains of her feeling, swift and deep, _1100Seemed to suspend the tumult of their flow;So we arose, and by the starlight steepWent homeward—neither did we speak nor weep,But, pale, were calm with passion—thus subduedLike evening shades that o’er the mountains creep, _1105We moved towards our home; where, in this mood,Each from the other sought refuge in solitude.
1.What thoughts had sway o’er Cythna’s lonely slumberThat night, I know not; but my own did seemAs if they might ten thousand years outnumber _1110Of waking life, the visions of a dreamWhich hid in one dim gulf the troubled streamOf mind; a boundless chaos wild and vast,Whose limits yet were never memory’s theme:And I lay struggling as its whirlwinds passed, _1115Sometimes for rapture sick, sometimes for pain aghast.
2.Two hours, whose mighty circle did embraceMore time than might make gray the infant world,Rolled thus, a weary and tumultuous space:When the third came, like mist on breezes curled, _1120From my dim sleep a shadow was unfurled:Methought, upon the threshold of a caveI sate with Cythna; drooping briony, pearledWith dew from the wild streamlet’s shattered wave,Hung, where we sate to taste the joys which Nature gave. _1125
3.We lived a day as we were wont to live,But Nature had a robe of glory on,And the bright air o’er every shape did weaveIntenser hues, so that the herbless stone,The leafless bough among the leaves alone, _1130Had being clearer than its own could be,And Cythna’s pure and radiant self was shown,In this strange vision, so divine to me,That if I loved before, now love was agony.
4.Morn fled, noon came, evening, then night descended, _1135And we prolonged calm talk beneath the sphereOf the calm moon—when suddenly was blendedWith our repose a nameless sense of fear;And from the cave behind I seemed to hearSounds gathering upwards!—accents incomplete, _1140And stifled shrieks,—and now, more near and near,A tumult and a rush of thronging feetThe cavern’s secret depths beneath the earth did beat.
5.The scene was changed, and away, away, away!Through the air and over the sea we sped, _1145And Cythna in my sheltering bosom lay,And the winds bore me—through the darkness spreadAround, the gaping earth then vomitedLegions of foul and ghastly shapes, which hungUpon my flight; and ever, as we fled, _1150They plucked at Cythna—soon to me then clungA sense of actual things those monstrous dreams among.
6.And I lay struggling in the impotenceOf sleep, while outward life had burst its bound,Though, still deluded, strove the tortured sense _1155To its dire wanderings to adapt the soundWhich in the light of morn was poured aroundOur dwelling; breathless, pale and unawareI rose, and all the cottage crowded foundWith armed men, whose glittering swords were bare, _1160And whose degraded limbs the tyrant’s garb did wear.
7.And, ere with rapid lips and gathered browI could demand the cause—a feeble shriek—It was a feeble shriek, faint, far and low,Arrested me—my mien grew calm and meek, _1165And grasping a small knife, I went to seekThat voice among the crowd—’twas Cythna’s cry!Beneath most calm resolve did agony wreakIts whirlwind rage:—so I passed quietlyTill I beheld, where bound, that dearest child did lie. _1170
8.I started to behold her, for delightAnd exultation, and a joyance free,Solemn, serene and lofty, filled the lightOf the calm smile with which she looked on me:So that I feared some brainless ecstasy, _1175Wrought from that bitter woe, had wildered her—‘Farewell! farewell!’ she said, as I drew nigh;‘At first my peace was marred by this strange stir,Now I am calm as truth—its chosen minister.
9.‘Look not so, Laon—say farewell in hope, _1180These bloody men are but the slaves who bearTheir mistress to her task—it was my scopeThe slavery where they drag me now, to share,And among captives willing chains to wearAwhile—the rest thou knowest—return, dear friend! _1185Let our first triumph trample the despairWhich would ensnare us now, for in the end,In victory or in death our hopes and fears must blend.’
10.These words had fallen on my unheeding ear,Whilst I had watched the motions of the crew _1190With seeming-careless glance; not many wereAround her, for their comrades just withdrewTo guard some other victim—so I drewMy knife, and with one impulse, suddenlyAll unaware three of their number slew, _1195And grasped a fourth by the throat, and with loud cryMy countrymen invoked to death or liberty!
11.What followed then, I know not—for a strokeOn my raised arm and naked head, came down,Filling my eyes with blood.—When I awoke, _1200I felt that they had bound me in my swoon,And up a rock which overhangs the town,By the steep path were bearing me; below,The plain was filled with slaughter,—overthrownThe vineyards and the harvests, and the glow _1205Of blazing roofs shone far o’er the white Ocean’s flow.
12.Upon that rock a mighty column stood,Whose capital seemed sculptured in the sky,Which to the wanderers o’er the solitudeOf distant seas, from ages long gone by, _1210Had made a landmark; o’er its height to flyScarcely the cloud, the vulture, or the blast,Has power—and when the shades of evening lieOn Earth and Ocean, its carved summits castThe sunken daylight far through the aerial waste. _1215
13.They bore me to a cavern in the hillBeneath that column, and unbound me there;And one did strip me stark; and one did fillA vessel from the putrid pool; one bareA lighted torch, and four with friendless care _1220Guided my steps the cavern-paths along,Then up a steep and dark and narrow stairWe wound, until the torch’s fiery tongueAmid the gushing day beamless and pallid hung.
14.They raised me to the platform of the pile, _1225That column’s dizzy height:—the grate of brassThrough which they thrust me, open stood the while,As to its ponderous and suspended mass,With chains which eat into the flesh, alas!With brazen links, my naked limbs they bound: _1230The grate, as they departed to repass,With horrid clangour fell, and the far soundOf their retiring steps in the dense gloom was drowned.
15.The noon was calm and bright:—around that columnThe overhanging sky and circling sea _1235Spread forth in silentness profound and solemnThe darkness of brief frenzy cast on me,So that I knew not my own misery:The islands and the mountains in the dayLike clouds reposed afar; and I could see _1240The town among the woods below that lay,And the dark rocks which bound the bright and glassy bay.
16.It was so calm, that scarce the feathery weedSown by some eagle on the topmost stoneSwayed in the air:—so bright, that noon did breed _1245No shadow in the sky beside mine own—Mine, and the shadow of my chain alone.Below, the smoke of roofs involved in flameRested like night, all else was clearly shownIn that broad glare; yet sound to me none came, _1250But of the living blood that ran within my frame.
17.The peace of madness fled, and ah, too soon!A ship was lying on the sunny main,Its sails were flagging in the breathless noon—Its shadow lay beyond—that sight again _1255Waked, with its presence, in my tranced brainThe stings of a known sorrow, keen and cold:I knew that ship bore Cythna o’er the plainOf waters, to her blighting slavery sold,And watched it with such thoughts as must remain untold. _1260
18.I watched until the shades of evening wrappedEarth like an exhalation—then the barkMoved, for that calm was by the sunset snapped.It moved a speck upon the Ocean dark:Soon the wan stars came forth, and I could mark _1265Its path no more!—I sought to close mine eyes,But like the balls, their lids were stiff and stark;I would have risen, but ere that I could rise,My parched skin was split with piercing agonies.
19.I gnawed my brazen chain, and sought to sever _1270Its adamantine links, that I might die:O Liberty! forgive the base endeavour,Forgive me, if, reserved for victory,The Champion of thy faith e’er sought to fly.—That starry night, with its clear silence, sent _1275Tameless resolve which laughed at miseryInto my soul—linked remembrance lentTo that such power, to me such a severe content.
20.To breathe, to be, to hope, or to despairAnd die, I questioned not; nor, though the Sun _1280Its shafts of agony kindling through the airMoved over me, nor though in evening dun,Or when the stars their visible courses run,Or morning, the wide universe was spreadIn dreary calmness round me, did I shun _1285Its presence, nor seek refuge with the deadFrom one faint hope whose flower a dropping poison shed.
21.Two days thus passed—I neither raved nor died—Thirst raged within me, like a scorpion’s nestBuilt in mine entrails; I had spurned aside _1290The water-vessel, while despair possessedMy thoughts, and now no drop remained! The uprestOf the third sun brought hunger—but the crustWhich had been left, was to my craving breastFuel, not food. I chewed the bitter dust, _1295And bit my bloodless arm, and licked the brazen rust.
22.My brain began to fail when the fourth mornBurst o’er the golden isles—a fearful sleep,Which through the caverns dreary and forlornOf the riven soul, sent its foul dreams to sweep _1300With whirlwind swiftness—a fall far and deep,—A gulf, a void, a sense of senselessness—These things dwelt in me, even as shadows keepTheir watch in some dim charnel’s loneliness,A shoreless sea, a sky sunless and planetless! _1305
23.The forms which peopled this terrific tranceI well remember—like a choir of devils,Around me they involved a giddy dance;Legions seemed gathering from the misty levelsOf Ocean, to supply those ceaseless revels, _1310Foul, ceaseless shadows:—thought could not divideThe actual world from these entangling evils,Which so bemocked themselves, that I descriedAll shapes like mine own self, hideously multiplied.
24.The sense of day and night, of false and true, _1315Was dead within me. Yet two visions burstThat darkness—one, as since that hour I knew,Was not a phantom of the realms accursed,Where then my spirit dwelt—but of the firstI know not yet, was it a dream or no. _1320But both, though not distincter, were immersedIn hues which, when through memory’s waste they flow,Make their divided streams more bright and rapid now.