25.Methought that grate was lifted, and the sevenWho brought me thither four stiff corpses bare, _1325And from the frieze to the four winds of HeavenHung them on high by the entangled hair;Swarthy were three—the fourth was very fair;As they retired, the golden moon upsprung,And eagerly, out in the giddy air, _1330Leaning that I might eat, I stretched and clungOver the shapeless depth in which those corpses hung.
26.A woman’s shape, now lank and cold and blue,The dwelling of the many-coloured worm,Hung there; the white and hollow cheek I drew _1335To my dry lips—what radiance did informThose horny eyes? whose was that withered form?Alas, alas! it seemed that Cythna’s ghostLaughed in those looks, and that the flesh was warmWithin my teeth!—a whirlwind keen as frost _1340Then in its sinking gulfs my sickening spirit tossed.
27.Then seemed it that a tameless hurricaneArose, and bore me in its dark careerBeyond the sun, beyond the stars that waneOn the verge of formless space—it languished there, _1345And dying, left a silence lone and drear,More horrible than famine:—in the deepThe shape of an old man did then appear,Stately and beautiful; that dreadful sleepHis heavenly smiles dispersed, and I could wake and weep. _1350
28.And, when the blinding tears had fallen, I sawThat column, and those corpses, and the moon,And felt the poisonous tooth of hunger gnawMy vitals, I rejoiced, as if the boonOf senseless death would be accorded soon;— _1355When from that stony gloom a voice arose,Solemn and sweet as when low winds attuneThe midnight pines; the grate did then unclose,And on that reverend form the moonlight did repose.
29.He struck my chains, and gently spake and smiled; _1360As they were loosened by that Hermit old,Mine eyes were of their madness half beguiled,To answer those kind looks; he did enfoldHis giant arms around me, to upholdMy wretched frame; my scorched limbs he wound _1365In linen moist and balmy, and as coldAs dew to drooping leaves;—the chain, with soundLike earthquake, through the chasm of that steep stair did bound,
30.As, lifting me, it fell!—What next I heard,Were billows leaping on the harbour-bar, _1370And the shrill sea-wind, whose breath idly stirredMy hair;—I looked abroad, and saw a starShining beside a sail, and distant farThat mountain and its column, the known markOf those who in the wide deep wandering are, _1375So that I feared some Spirit, fell and dark,In trance had lain me thus within a fiendish bark.
31.For now indeed, over the salt sea-billowI sailed: yet dared not look upon the shapeOf him who ruled the helm, although the pillow _1380For my light head was hollowed in his lap,And my bare limbs his mantle did enwrap,Fearing it was a fiend: at last, he bentO’er me his aged face; as if to snapThose dreadful thoughts the gentle grandsire bent, _1385And to my inmost soul his soothing looks he sent.
32.A soft and healing potion to my lipsAt intervals he raised—now looked on high,To mark if yet the starry giant dipsHis zone in the dim sea—now cheeringly, _1390Though he said little, did he speak to me.‘It is a friend beside thee—take good cheer,Poor victim, thou art now at liberty!’I joyed as those a human tone to hear,Who in cells deep and lone have languished many a year. _1395
33.A dim and feeble joy, whose glimpses oftWere quenched in a relapse of wildering dreams;Yet still methought we sailed, until aloftThe stars of night grew pallid, and the beamsOf morn descended on the ocean-streams, _1400And still that aged man, so grand and mild,Tended me, even as some sick mother seemsTo hang in hope over a dying child,Till in the azure East darkness again was piled.
34.And then the night-wind steaming from the shore, _1405Sent odours dying sweet across the sea,And the swift boat the little waves which bore,Were cut by its keen keel, though slantingly;Soon I could hear the leaves sigh, and could seeThe myrtle-blossoms starring the dim grove, _1410As past the pebbly beach the boat did fleeOn sidelong wing, into a silent cove,Where ebon pines a shade under the starlight wove.
NOTES: _1223 torches’ editions 1818, 1839. _1385 bent]meant cj. J. Nettleship.
1.The old man took the oars, and soon the barkSmote on the beach beside a tower of stone; _1415It was a crumbling heap, whose portal darkWith blooming ivy-trails was overgrown;Upon whose floor the spangling sands were strown,And rarest sea-shells, which the eternal flood,Slave to the mother of the months, had thrown _1420Within the walls of that gray tower, which stoodA changeling of man’s art nursed amid Nature’s brood.
2.When the old man his boat had anchored,He wound me in his arms with tender care,And very few, but kindly words he said, _1425And bore me through the tower adown a stair,Whose smooth descent some ceaseless step to wearFor many a year had fallen.—We came at lastTo a small chamber, which with mosses rareWas tapestried, where me his soft hands placed _1430Upon a couch of grass and oak-leaves interlaced.
3.The moon was darting through the latticesIts yellow light, warm as the beams of day—So warm, that to admit the dewy breeze,The old man opened them; the moonlight lay _1435Upon a lake whose waters wove their playEven to the threshold of that lonely home:Within was seen in the dim wavering rayThe antique sculptured roof, and many a tomeWhose lore had made that sage all that he had become. _1440
4.The rock-built barrier of the sea was past,—And I was on the margin of a lake,A lonely lake, amid the forests vastAnd snowy mountains:—did my spirit wakeFrom sleep as many-coloured as the snake _1445That girds eternity? in life and truth,Might not my heart its cravings ever slake?Was Cythna then a dream, and all my youth,And all its hopes and fears, and all its joy and ruth?
5.Thus madness came again,—a milder madness, _1450Which darkened nought but time’s unquiet flowWith supernatural shades of clinging sadness;That gentle Hermit, in my helpless woe,By my sick couch was busy to and fro,Like a strong spirit ministrant of good: _1455When I was healed, he led me forth to showThe wonders of his sylvan solitude,And we together sate by that isle-fretted flood.
6.He knew his soothing words to weave with skillFrom all my madness told; like mine own heart, _1460Of Cythna would he question me, untilThat thrilling name had ceased to make me start,From his familiar lips—it was not art,Of wisdom and of justice when he spoke—When mid soft looks of pity, there would dart _1465A glance as keen as is the lightning’s strokeWhen it doth rive the knots of some ancestral oak.
7.Thus slowly from my brain the darkness rolled,My thoughts their due array did re-assumeThrough the enchantments of that Hermit old; _1470Then I bethought me of the glorious doomOf those who sternly struggle to relumeThe lamp of Hope o’er man’s bewildered lot,And, sitting by the waters, in the gloomOf eve, to that friend’s heart I told my thought— _1475That heart which had grown old, but had corrupted not.
8.That hoary man had spent his livelong ageIn converse with the dead, who leave the stampOf ever-burning thoughts on many a page,When they are gone into the senseless damp _1480Of graves;—his spirit thus became a lampOf splendour, like to those on which it fed;Through peopled haunts, the City and the Camp,Deep thirst for knowledge had his footsteps led,And all the ways of men among mankind he read. _1485
9.But custom maketh blind and obdurateThe loftiest hearts;—he had beheld the woeIn which mankind was bound, but deemed that fateWhich made them abject, would preserve them so;And in such faith, some steadfast joy to know, _1490He sought this cell: but when fame went abroadThat one in Argolis did undergoTorture for liberty, and that the crowdHigh truths from gifted lips had heard and understood;
10.And that the multitude was gathering wide,— _1495His spirit leaped within his aged frame;In lonely peace he could no more abide,But to the land on which the victor’s flameHad fed, my native land, the Hermit came:Each heart was there a shield, and every tongue _1500Was as a sword of truth—young Laon’s nameRallied their secret hopes, though tyrants sungHymns of triumphant joy our scattered tribes among.
11.He came to the lone column on the rock,And with his sweet and mighty eloquence _1505The hearts of those who watched it did unlock,And made them melt in tears of penitence.They gave him entrance free to bear me thence.‘Since this,’ the old man said, ‘seven years are spent,While slowly truth on thy benighted sense _1510Has crept; the hope which wildered it has lentMeanwhile, to me the power of a sublime intent.
12.‘Yes, from the records of my youthful state,And from the lore of bards and sages old,From whatsoe’er my wakened thoughts create _1515Out of the hopes of thine aspirings bold,Have I collected language to unfoldTruth to my countrymen; from shore to shoreDoctrines of human power my words have told,They have been heard, and men aspire to more _1520Than they have ever gained or ever lost of yore.
13.‘In secret chambers parents read, and weep,My writings to their babes, no longer blind;And young men gather when their tyrants sleep,And vows of faith each to the other bind; _1525And marriageable maidens, who have pinedWith love, till life seemed melting through their look,A warmer zeal, a nobler hope, now find;And every bosom thus is rapt and shook,Like autumn’s myriad leaves in one swoln mountain-brook. _1530
14.‘The tyrants of the Golden City trembleAt voices which are heard about the streets;The ministers of fraud can scarce dissembleThe lies of their own heart, but when one meetsAnother at the shrine, he inly weets, _1535Though he says nothing, that the truth is known;Murderers are pale upon the judgement-seats,And gold grows vile even to the wealthy crone,And laughter fills the Fane, and curses shake the Throne.
15.‘Kind thoughts, and mighty hopes, and gentle deeds _1540Abound, for fearless love, and the pure lawOf mild equality and peace, succeedsTo faiths which long have held the world in awe,Bloody and false, and cold:—as whirlpools drawAll wrecks of Ocean to their chasm, the sway _1545Of thy strong genius, Laon, which foresawThis hope, compels all spirits to obey,Which round thy secret strength now throng in wide array.
16.‘For I have been thy passive instrument’—(As thus the old man spake, his countenance _1550Gleamed on me like a spirit’s)—‘thou hast lentTo me, to all, the power to advanceTowards this unforeseen deliveranceFrom our ancestral chains—ay, thou didst rearThat lamp of hope on high, which time nor chance _1555Nor change may not extinguish, and my shareOf good, was o’er the world its gathered beams to bear.
17.‘But I, alas! am both unknown and old,And though the woof of wisdom I know wellTo dye in hues of language, I am cold _1560In seeming, and the hopes which inly dwell,My manners note that I did long repel;But Laon’s name to the tumultuous throngWere like the star whose beams the waves compelAnd tempests, and his soul-subduing tongue _1565Were as a lance to quell the mailed crest of wrong.
18.‘Perchance blood need not flow, if thou at lengthWouldst rise, perchance the very slaves would spareTheir brethren and themselves; great is the strengthOf words—for lately did a maiden fair, _1570Who from her childhood has been taught to bearThe Tyrant’s heaviest yoke, arise, and makeHer sex the law of truth and freedom hear,And with these quiet words—“for thine own sakeI prithee spare me;”—did with ruth so take _1575
19.‘All hearts, that even the torturer who had boundHer meek calm frame, ere it was yet impaled,Loosened her, weeping then; nor could be foundOne human hand to harm her—unassailedTherefore she walks through the great City, veiled _1580In virtue’s adamantine eloquence,’Gainst scorn, and death and pain thus trebly mailed,And blending, in the smiles of that defence,The Serpent and the Dove, Wisdom and Innocence.
20.‘The wild-eyed women throng around her path: _1585From their luxurious dungeons, from the dustOf meaner thralls, from the oppressor’s wrath,Or the caresses of his sated lustThey congregate:—in her they put their trust;The tyrants send their armed slaves to quell _1590Her power;—they, even like a thunder-gustCaught by some forest, bend beneath the spellOf that young maiden’s speech, and to their chiefs rebel.
21.‘Thus she doth equal laws and justice teachTo woman, outraged and polluted long; _1595Gathering the sweetest fruit in human reachFor those fair hands now free, while armed wrongTrembles before her look, though it be strong;Thousands thus dwell beside her, virgins bright,And matrons with their babes, a stately throng! _1600Lovers renew the vows which they did plightIn early faith, and hearts long parted now unite,
22.‘And homeless orphans find a home near her,And those poor victims of the proud, no less,Fair wrecks, on whom the smiling world with stir, _1605Thrusts the redemption of its wickedness:—In squalid huts, and in its palacesSits Lust alone, while o’er the land is borneHer voice, whose awful sweetness doth repressAll evil, and her foes relenting turn, _1610And cast the vote of love in hope’s abandoned urn.
23.‘So in the populous City, a young maidenHas baffled Havoc of the prey which heMarks as his own, whene’er with chains o’erladenMen make them arms to hurl down tyranny,— _1615False arbiter between the bound and free;And o’er the land, in hamlets and in townsThe multitudes collect tumultuously,And throng in arms; but tyranny disownsTheir claim, and gathers strength around its trembling thrones. _1620
24.‘Blood soon, although unwillingly, to shedThe free cannot forbear—the Queen of Slaves,The hoodwinked Angel of the blind and dead,Custom, with iron mace points to the gravesWhere her own standard desolately waves _1625Over the dust of Prophets and of Kings.Many yet stand in her array—“she pavesHer path with human hearts,” and o’er it flingsThe wildering gloom of her immeasurable wings.
25.‘There is a plain beneath the City’s wall, _1630Bounded by misty mountains, wide and vast,Millions there lift at Freedom’s thrilling callTen thousand standards wide, they load the blastWhich bears one sound of many voices past,And startles on his throne their sceptred foe: _1635He sits amid his idle pomp aghast,And that his power hath passed away, doth know—Why pause the victor swords to seal his overthrow?
26.‘The tyrant’s guards resistance yet maintain:Fearless, and fierce, and hard as beasts of blood, _1640They stand a speck amid the peopled plain;Carnage and ruin have been made their foodFrom infancy—ill has become their good,And for its hateful sake their will has woveThe chains which eat their hearts. The multitude _1645Surrounding them, with words of human love,Seek from their own decay their stubborn minds to move.
27.‘Over the land is felt a sudden pause,As night and day those ruthless bands around,The watch of love is kept:—a trance which awes _1650The thoughts of men with hope; as when the soundOf whirlwind, whose fierce blasts the waves and clouds confound,Dies suddenly, the mariner in fearFeels silence sink upon his heart—thus bound,The conquerors pause, and oh! may freemen ne’er _1655Clasp the relentless knees of Dread, the murderer!
28.‘If blood be shed, ’tis but a change and choiceOf bonds,—from slavery to cowardiceA wretched fall!—Uplift thy charmed voice!Pour on those evil men the love that lies _1660Hovering within those spirit-soothing eyes—Arise, my friend, farewell!’—As thus he spake,From the green earth lightly I did arise,As one out of dim dreams that doth awake,And looked upon the depth of that reposing lake. _1665
29.I saw my countenance reflected there;—And then my youth fell on me like a windDescending on still waters—my thin hairWas prematurely gray, my face was linedWith channels, such as suffering leaves behind, _1670Not age; my brow was pale, but in my cheekAnd lips a flush of gnawing fire did findTheir food and dwelling; though mine eyes might speakA subtle mind and strong within a frame thus weak.
30.And though their lustre now was spent and faded, _1675Yet in my hollow looks and withered mienThe likeness of a shape for which was braidedThe brightest woof of genius, still was seen—One who, methought, had gone from the world’s scene,And left it vacant—’twas her lover’s face— _1680It might resemble her—it once had beenThe mirror of her thoughts, and still the graceWhich her mind’s shadow cast, left there a lingering trace.
31.What then was I? She slumbered with the dead.Glory and joy and peace, had come and gone. _1685Doth the cloud perish, when the beams are fledWhich steeped its skirts in gold? or, dark and lone,Doth it not through the paths of night unknown,On outspread wings of its own wind upbornePour rain upon the earth? The stars are shown, _1690When the cold moon sharpens her silver hornUnder the sea, and make the wide night not forlorn.
32.Strengthened in heart, yet sad, that aged manI left, with interchange of looks and tears,And lingering speech, and to the Camp began _1695My war. O’er many a mountain-chain which rearsIts hundred crests aloft, my spirit bearsMy frame; o’er many a dale and many a moor,And gaily now meseems serene earth wearsThe blosmy spring’s star-bright investiture, _1700A vision which aught sad from sadness might allure.
33.My powers revived within me, and I went,As one whom winds waft o’er the bending grass,Through many a vale of that broad continent.At night when I reposed, fair dreams did pass _1705Before my pillow;—my own Cythna was,Not like a child of death, among them ever;When I arose from rest, a woful massThat gentlest sleep seemed from my life to sever,As if the light of youth were not withdrawn for ever. _1710
34.Aye as I went, that maiden who had rearedThe torch of Truth afar, of whose high deedsThe Hermit in his pilgrimage had heard,Haunted my thoughts.—Ah, Hope its sickness feedsWith whatsoe’er it finds, or flowers or weeds! _1715Could she be Cythna?—Was that corpse a shadeSuch as self-torturing thought from madness breeds?Why was this hope not torture? Yet it madeA light around my steps which would not ever fade.
NOTES: _1625 Where]When edition 1818.
1.Over the utmost hill at length I sped, _1720A snowy steep:—the moon was hanging lowOver the Asian mountains, and outspreadThe plain, the City, and the Camp below,Skirted the midnight Ocean’s glimmering flow;The City’s moonlit spires and myriad lamps, _1725Like stars in a sublunar sky did glow,And fires blazed far amid the scattered camps,Like springs of flame, which burst where’er swift Earthquake stamps.
2.All slept but those in watchful arms who stood,And those who sate tending the beacon’s light, _1730And the few sounds from that vast multitudeMade silence more profound.—Oh, what a mightOf human thought was cradled in that night!How many hearts impenetrably veiledBeat underneath its shade, what secret fight _1735Evil and good, in woven passions mailed,Waged through that silent throng—a war that never failed!
3.And now the Power of Good held victory.So, through the labyrinth of many a tent,Among the silent millions who did lie _1740In innocent sleep, exultingly I went;The moon had left Heaven desert now, but lentFrom eastern morn the first faint lustre showedAn armed youth—over his spear he bentHis downward face.—‘A friend!’ I cried aloud, _1745And quickly common hopes made freemen understood.
4.I sate beside him while the morning beamCrept slowly over Heaven, and talked with himOf those immortal hopes, a glorious theme!Which led us forth, until the stars grew dim: _1750And all the while, methought, his voice did swimAs if it drowned in remembrance wereOf thoughts which make the moist eyes overbrim:At last, when daylight ‘gan to fill the air,He looked on me, and cried in wonder—‘Thou art here!’ _1755
5.Then, suddenly, I knew it was the youthIn whom its earliest hopes my spirit found;But envious tongues had stained his spotless truth,And thoughtless pride his love in silence bound,And shame and sorrow mine in toils had wound, _1760Whilst he was innocent, and I deluded;The truth now came upon me, on the groundTears of repenting joy, which fast intruded,Fell fast, and o’er its peace our mingling spirits brooded.
6.Thus, while with rapid lips and earnest eyes _1765We talked, a sound of sweeping conflict spreadAs from the earth did suddenly arise;From every tent roused by that clamour dread,Our bands outsprung and seized their arms—we spedTowards the sound: our tribes were gathering far. _1770Those sanguine slaves amid ten thousand deadStabbed in their sleep, trampled in treacherous warThe gentle hearts whose power their lives had sought to spare.
7.Like rabid snakes, that sting some gentle childWho brings them food, when winter false and fair _1775Allures them forth with its cold smiles, so wildThey rage among the camp;—they overbearThe patriot hosts—confusion, then despair,Descends like night—when ‘Laon!’ one did cry;Like a bright ghost from Heaven that shout did scare _1780The slaves, and widening through the vaulted sky,Seemed sent from Earth to Heaven in sign of victory.
8.In sudden panic those false murderers fled,Like insect tribes before the northern gale:But swifter still, our hosts encompassed _1785Their shattered ranks, and in a craggy vale,Where even their fierce despair might nought avail,Hemmed them around!—and then revenge and fearMade the high virtue of the patriots fail:One pointed on his foe the mortal spear— _1790I rushed before its point, and cried ‘Forbear, forbear!’
9.The spear transfixed my arm that was upliftedIn swift expostulation, and the bloodGushed round its point: I smiled, and—‘Oh! thou giftedWith eloquence which shall not be withstood, _1795Flow thus!’ I cried in joy, ‘thou vital flood,Until my heart be dry, ere thus the causeFor which thou wert aught worthy be subdued—Ah, ye are pale,—ye weep,—your passions pause,—’Tis well! ye feel the truth of love’s benignant laws. _1800
10.‘Soldiers, our brethren and our friends are slain.Ye murdered them, I think, as they did sleep!Alas, what have ye done? the slightest painWhich ye might suffer, there were eyes to weep,But ye have quenched them—there were smiles to steep _1805Your hearts in balm, but they are lost in woe;And those whom love did set his watch to keepAround your tents, truth’s freedom to bestow,Ye stabbed as they did sleep—but they forgive ye now.
11.‘Oh wherefore should ill ever flow from ill, _1810And pain still keener pain for ever breed?We all are brethren—even the slaves who killFor hire, are men; and to avenge misdeedOn the misdoer, doth but Misery feedWith her own broken heart! O Earth, O Heaven! _1815And thou, dread Nature, which to every deedAnd all that lives, or is, to be hath given,Even as to thee have these done ill, and are forgiven!
12.‘Join then your hands and hearts, and let the pastBe as a grave which gives not up its dead _1820To evil thoughts.’—A film then overcastMy sense with dimness, for the wound, which bledFreshly, swift shadows o’er mine eyes had shed.When I awoke, I lay mid friends and foes,And earnest countenances on me shed _1825The light of questioning looks, whilst one did closeMy wound with balmiest herbs, and soothed me to repose;
13.And one whose spear had pierced me, leaned besideWith quivering lips and humid eyes;—and allSeemed like some brothers on a journey wide _1830Gone forth, whom now strange meeting did befallIn a strange land, round one whom they might callTheir friend, their chief, their father, for assayOf peril, which had saved them from the thrallOf death, now suffering. Thus the vast array _1835Of those fraternal bands were reconciled that day.
14.Lifting the thunder of their acclamation,Towards the City then the multitude,And I among them, went in joy—a nationMade free by love;—a mighty brotherhood _1840Linked by a jealous interchange of good;A glorious pageant, more magnificentThan kingly slaves arrayed in gold and blood,When they return from carnage, and are sentIn triumph bright beneath the populous battlement. _1845
15.Afar, the city-walls were thronged on high,And myriads on each giddy turret clung,And to each spire far lessening in the skyBright pennons on the idle winds were hung;As we approached, a shout of joyance sprung _1850At once from all the crowd, as if the vastAnd peopled Earth its boundless skies amongThe sudden clamour of delight had cast,When from before its face some general wreck had passed.
16.Our armies through the City’s hundred gates _1855Were poured, like brooks which to the rocky lairOf some deep lake, whose silence them awaits,Throng from the mountains when the storms are thereAnd, as we passed through the calm sunny airA thousand flower-inwoven crowns were shed, _1860The token flowers of truth and freedom fair,And fairest hands bound them on many a head,Those angels of love’s heaven that over all was spread.
17.I trod as one tranced in some rapturous vision:Those bloody bands so lately reconciled, _1865Were, ever as they went, by the contritionOf anger turned to love, from ill beguiled,And every one on them more gently smiled,Because they had done evil:—the sweet aweOf such mild looks made their own hearts grow mild, _1870And did with soft attraction ever drawTheir spirits to the love of freedom’s equal law.
18.And they, and all, in one loud symphonyMy name with Liberty commingling, lifted,‘The friend and the preserver of the free! _1875The parent of this joy!’ and fair eyes giftedWith feelings, caught from one who had upliftedThe light of a great spirit, round me shone;And all the shapes of this grand scenery shiftedLike restless clouds before the steadfast sun,— _1880Where was that Maid? I asked, but it was known of none.
19.Laone was the name her love had chosen,For she was nameless, and her birth none knew:Where was Laone now?—The words were frozenWithin my lips with fear; but to subdue _1885Such dreadful hope, to my great task was due,And when at length one brought reply, that sheTo-morrow would appear, I then withdrewTo judge what need for that great throng might be,For now the stars came thick over the twilight sea. _1890
20.Yet need was none for rest or food to care,Even though that multitude was passing great,Since each one for the other did prepareAll kindly succour—Therefore to the gateOf the Imperial House, now desolate, _1895I passed, and there was found aghast, alone,The fallen Tyrant!—Silently he sateUpon the footstool of his golden throne,Which, starred with sunny gems, in its own lustre shone.
21.Alone, but for one child, who led before him _1900A graceful dance: the only living thingOf all the crowd, which thither to adore himFlocked yesterday, who solace sought to bringIn his abandonment!—She knew the KingHad praised her dance of yore, and now she wove _1905Its circles, aye weeping and murmuringMid her sad task of unregarded love,That to no smiles it might his speechless sadness move.
22.She fled to him, and wildly clasped his feetWhen human steps were heard:—he moved nor spoke, _1910Nor changed his hue, nor raised his looks to meetThe gaze of strangers—our loud entrance wokeThe echoes of the hall, which circling brokeThe calm of its recesses,—like a tombIts sculptured walls vacantly to the stroke _1915Of footfalls answered, and the twilight’s gloomLay like a charnel’s mist within the radiant dome.
23.The little child stood up when we came nigh;Her lips and cheeks seemed very pale and wan,But on her forehead, and within her eye _1920Lay beauty, which makes hearts that feed thereonSick with excess of sweetness; on the throneShe leaned;—the King, with gathered brow, and lipsWreathed by long scorn, did inly sneer and frownWith hue like that when some great painter dips _1925His pencil in the gloom of earthquake and eclipse.
24.She stood beside him like a rainbow braidedWithin some storm, when scarce its shadows vastFrom the blue paths of the swift sun have faded;A sweet and solemn smile, like Cythna’s, cast _1930One moment’s light, which made my heart beat fast,O’er that child’s parted lips—a gleam of bliss,A shade of vanished days,—as the tears passedWhich wrapped it, even as with a father’s kissI pressed those softest eyes in trembling tenderness. _1935
25.The sceptred wretch then from that solitudeI drew, and, of his change compassionate,With words of sadness soothed his rugged mood.But he, while pride and fear held deep debate,With sullen guile of ill-dissembled hate _1940Glared on me as a toothless snake might glare:Pity, not scorn I felt, though desolateThe desolator now, and unawareThe curses which he mocked had caught him by the hair.
26.I led him forth from that which now might seem _1945A gorgeous grave: through portals sculptured deepWith imagery beautiful as dreamWe went, and left the shades which tend on sleepOver its unregarded gold to keepTheir silent watch.—The child trod faintingly, _1950And as she went, the tears which she did weepGlanced in the starlight; wildered seemed she,And, when I spake, for sobs she could not answer me.
27.At last the tyrant cried, ‘She hungers, slave!Stab her, or give her bread!’—It was a tone _1955Such as sick fancies in a new-made graveMight hear. I trembled, for the truth was known;He with this child had thus been left alone,And neither had gone forth for food,—but heIn mingled pride and awe cowered near his throne, _1960And she a nursling of captivityKnew nought beyond those walls, nor what such change might be.
28.And he was troubled at a charm withdrawnThus suddenly; that sceptres ruled no more—That even from gold the dreadful strength was gone, _1965Which once made all things subject to its power—Such wonder seized him, as if hour by hourThe past had come again; and the swift fallOf one so great and terrible of yore,To desolateness, in the hearts of all _1970Like wonder stirred, who saw such awful change befall.
29.A mighty crowd, such as the wide land poursOnce in a thousand years, now gathered roundThe fallen tyrant;—like the rush of showersOf hail in spring, pattering along the ground, _1975Their many footsteps fell, else came no soundFrom the wide multitude: that lonely manThen knew the burden of his change, and found,Concealing in the dust his visage wan,Refuge from the keen looks which through his bosom ran. _1980
30.And he was faint withal: I sate beside himUpon the earth, and took that child so fairFrom his weak arms, that ill might none betide himOr her;—when food was brought to them, her shareTo his averted lips the child did bear, _1985But, when she saw he had enough, she ateAnd wept the while;—the lonely man’s despairHunger then overcame, and of his stateForgetful, on the dust as in a trance he sate.
31.Slowly the silence of the multitudes _1990Passed, as when far is heard in some lone dellThe gathering of a wind among the woods—‘And he is fallen!’ they cry, ‘he who did dwellLike famine or the plague, or aught more fellAmong our homes, is fallen! the murderer _1995Who slaked his thirsting soul as from a wellOf blood and tears with ruin! he is here!Sunk in a gulf of scorn from which none may him rear!’
32.Then was heard—‘He who judged let him be broughtTo judgement! blood for blood cries from the soil _2000On which his crimes have deep pollution wrought!Shall Othman only unavenged despoil?Shall they who by the stress of grinding toilWrest from the unwilling earth his luxuries,Perish for crime, while his foul blood may boil, _2005Or creep within his veins at will?—Arise!And to high justice make her chosen sacrifice!’
33.‘What do ye seek? what fear ye,’ then I cried,Suddenly starting forth, ‘that ye should shedThe blood of Othman?—if your hearts are tried _2010In the true love of freedom, cease to dreadThis one poor lonely man—beneath Heaven spreadIn purest light above us all, through earth—Maternal earth, who doth her sweet smiles shedFor all, let him go free; until the worth _2015Of human nature win from these a second birth.
34.‘What call ye “justice”? Is there one who ne’erIn secret thought has wished another’s ill?—Are ye all pure? Let those stand forth who hearAnd tremble not. Shall they insult and kill, _2020If such they be? their mild eyes can they fillWith the false anger of the hypocrite?Alas, such were not pure!—the chastened willOf virtue sees that justice is the lightOf love, and not revenge, and terror and despite.’ _2025
35.The murmur of the people, slowly dying,Paused as I spake, then those who near me were,Cast gentle looks where the lone man was lyingShrouding his head, which now that infant fairClasped on her lap in silence;—through the air _2030Sobs were then heard, and many kissed my feetIn pity’s madness, and to the despairOf him whom late they cursed, a solace sweetHis very victims brought—soft looks and speeches meet.
36.Then to a home for his repose assigned, _2035Accompanied by the still throng, he wentIn silence, where, to soothe his rankling mind,Some likeness of his ancient state was lent;And if his heart could have been innocentAs those who pardoned him, he might have ended _2040His days in peace; but his straight lips were bent,Men said, into a smile which guile portended,A sight with which that child like hope with fear was blended.
37.’Twas midnight now, the eve of that great dayWhereon the many nations at whose call _2045The chains of earth like mist melted away,Decreed to hold a sacred Festival,A rite to attest the equality of allWho live. So to their homes, to dream or wakeAll went. The sleepless silence did recall _2050Laone to my thoughts, with hopes that makeThe flood recede from which their thirst they seek to slake.
38.The dawn flowed forth, and from its purple fountainsI drank those hopes which make the spirit quail,As to the plain between the misty mountains _2055And the great City, with a countenance pale,I went:—it was a sight which might availTo make men weep exulting tears, for whomNow first from human power the reverend veilWas torn, to see Earth from her general womb _2060Pour forth her swarming sons to a fraternal doom:
39.To see, far glancing in the misty morning,The signs of that innumerable host;To hear one sound of many made, the warningOf Earth to Heaven from its free children tossed, _2065While the eternal hills, and the sea lostIn wavering light, and, starring the blue skyThe city’s myriad spires of gold, almostWith human joy made mute society—Its witnesses with men who must hereafter be. _2070
40.To see, like some vast island from the Ocean,The Altar of the Federation rearIts pile i’ the midst; a work, which the devotionOf millions in one night created there,Sudden as when the moonrise makes appear _2075Strange clouds in the east; a marble pyramidDistinct with steps: that mighty shape did wearThe light of genius; its still shadow hidFar ships: to know its height the morning mists forbid!
41.To hear the restless multitudes for ever _2080Around the base of that great Altar flow,As on some mountain-islet burst and shiverAtlantic waves; and solemnly and slowAs the wind bore that tumult to and fro,To feel the dreamlike music, which did swim _2085Like beams through floating clouds on waves belowFalling in pauses, from that Altar dim,As silver-sounding tongues breathed an aerial hymn.
42.To hear, to see, to live, was on that mornLethean joy! so that all those assembled _2090Cast off their memories of the past outworn;Two only bosoms with their own life trembled,And mine was one,—and we had both dissembled;So with a beating heart I went, and one,Who having much, covets yet more, resembled; _2095A lost and dear possession, which not won,He walks in lonely gloom beneath the noonday sun.
43.To the great Pyramid I came: its stairWith female choirs was thronged: the loveliestAmong the free, grouped with its sculptures rare; _2100As I approached, the morning’s golden mist,Which now the wonder-stricken breezes kissedWith their cold lips, fled, and the summit shoneLike Athos seen from Samothracia, dressedIn earliest light, by vintagers, and one _2105Sate there, a female Shape upon an ivory throne:
44.A Form most like the imagined habitantOf silver exhalations sprung from dawn,By winds which feed on sunrise woven, to enchantThe faiths of men: all mortal eyes were drawn, _2110As famished mariners through strange seas goneGaze on a burning watch-tower, by the lightOf those divinest lineaments—aloneWith thoughts which none could share, from that fair sightI turned in sickness, for a veil shrouded her countenance bright. _2115
45.And neither did I hear the acclamations,Which from brief silence bursting, filled the airWith her strange name and mine, from all the nationsWhich we, they said, in strength had gathered thereFrom the sleep of bondage; nor the vision fair _2120Of that bright pageantry beheld,—but blindAnd silent, as a breathing corpse did fare,Leaning upon my friend, till like a windTo fevered cheeks, a voice flowed o’er my troubled mind.
46.Like music of some minstrel heavenly gifted, _2125To one whom fiends enthral, this voice to me;Scarce did I wish her veil to be uplifted,I was so calm and joyous.—I could seeThe platform where we stood, the statues threeWhich kept their marble watch on that high shrine, _2130The multitudes, the mountains, and the sea;As when eclipse hath passed, things sudden shineTo men’s astonished eyes most clear and crystalline.
47.At first Laone spoke most tremulously:But soon her voice the calmness which it shed _2135Gathered, and—‘Thou art whom I sought to see,And thou art our first votary here,’ she said:‘I had a dear friend once, but he is dead!—And of all those on the wide earth who breathe,Thou dost resemble him alone—I spread _2140This veil between us two that thou beneathShouldst image one who may have been long lost in death.
48.‘For this wilt thou not henceforth pardon me?Yes, but those joys which silence well requiteForbid reply;—why men have chosen me _2145To be the Priestess of this holiest riteI scarcely know, but that the floods of lightWhich flow over the world, have borne me hitherTo meet thee, long most dear; and now uniteThine hand with mine, and may all comfort wither _2150From both the hearts whose pulse in joy now beat together,
49.‘If our own will as others’ law we bind,If the foul worship trampled here we fear;If as ourselves we cease to love our kind!’—She paused, and pointed upwards—sculptured there _2155Three shapes around her ivory throne appear;One was a Giant, like a child asleepOn a loose rock, whose grasp crushed, as it wereIn dream, sceptres and crowns; and one did keepIts watchful eyes in doubt whether to smile or weep; _2160
50.A Woman sitting on the sculptured diskOf the broad earth, and feeding from one breastA human babe and a young basilisk;Her looks were sweet as Heaven’s when loveliestIn Autumn eves. The third Image was dressed _2165In white wings swift as clouds in winter skies;Beneath his feet, ‘mongst ghastliest forms, repressedLay Faith, an obscene worm, who sought to rise,While calmly on the Sun he turned his diamond eyes.
51.Beside that Image then I sate, while she _2170Stood, mid the throngs which ever ebbed and flowed,Like light amid the shadows of the seaCast from one cloudless star, and on the crowdThat touch which none who feels forgets, bestowed;And whilst the sun returned the steadfast gaze _2175Of the great Image, as o’er Heaven it glode,That rite had place; it ceased when sunset’s blazeBurned o’er the isles. All stood in joy and deep amaze——When in the silence of all spirits thereLaone’s voice was felt, and through the air _2180Her thrilling gestures spoke, most eloquently fair:—
51.1.‘Calm art thou as yon sunset! swift and strongAs new-fledged Eagles, beautiful and young,That float among the blinding beams of morning;And underneath thy feet writhe Faith, and Folly, _2185Custom, and Hell, and mortal Melancholy—Hark! the Earth starts to hear the mighty warningOf thy voice sublime and holy;Its free spirits here assembledSee thee, feel thee, know thee now,— _2190To thy voice their hearts have trembledLike ten thousand clouds which flowWith one wide wind as it flies!—Wisdom! thy irresistible children riseTo hail thee, and the elements they chain _2195And their own will, to swell the glory of thy train.
51.2.‘O Spirit vast and deep as Night and Heaven!Mother and soul of all to which is givenThe light of life, the loveliness of being,Lo! thou dost re-ascend the human heart, _2200Thy throne of power, almighty as thou wertIn dreams of Poets old grown pale by seeingThe shade of thee;—now, millions startTo feel thy lightnings through them burning:Nature, or God, or Love, or Pleasure, _2205Or Sympathy the sad tears turningTo mutual smiles, a drainless treasure,Descends amidst us;—Scorn and Hate,Revenge and Selfishness are desolate—A hundred nations swear that there shall be _2210Pity and Peace and Love, among the good and free!
51.3.‘Eldest of things, divine Equality!Wisdom and Love are but the slaves of thee,The Angels of thy sway, who pour around theeTreasures from all the cells of human thought, _2215And from the Stars, and from the Ocean brought,And the last living heart whose beatings bound thee:The powerful and the wise had soughtThy coming, thou in light descendingO’er the wide land which is thine own _2220Like the Spring whose breath is blendingAll blasts of fragrance into one,Comest upon the paths of men!—Earth bares her general bosom to thy ken,And all her children here in glory meet _2225To feed upon thy smiles, and clasp thy sacred feet.
51.4‘My brethren, we are free! the plains and mountains,The gray sea-shore, the forests and the fountains,Are haunts of happiest dwellers;—man and woman,Their common bondage burst, may freely borrow _2230From lawless love a solace for their sorrow;For oft we still must weep, since we are human.A stormy night’s serenest morrow,Whose showers are pity’s gentle tears,Whose clouds are smiles of those that die _2235Like infants without hopes or fears,And whose beams are joys that lieIn blended hearts, now holds dominion;The dawn of mind, which upwards on a pinionBorne, swift as sunrise, far illumines space, _2240And clasps this barren world in its own bright embrace!
51.5‘My brethren, we are free! The fruits are glowingBeneath the stars, and the night-winds are flowingO’er the ripe corn, the birds and beasts are dreaming—Never again may blood of bird or beast _2245Stain with its venomous stream a human feast,To the pure skies in accusation steaming;Avenging poisons shall have ceasedTo feed disease and fear and madness,The dwellers of the earth and air _2250Shall throng around our steps in gladness,Seeking their food or refuge there.Our toil from thought all glorious forms shall cull,To make this Earth, our home, more beautiful,And Science, and her sister Poesy, _2255Shall clothe in light the fields and cities of the free!
51.6‘Victory, Victory to the prostrate nations!Bear witness Night, and ye mute ConstellationsWho gaze on us from your crystalline cars!Thoughts have gone forth whose powers can sleep no more! _2260Victory! Victory! Earth’s remotest shore,Regions which groan beneath the Antarctic stars,The green lands cradled in the roarOf western waves, and wildernessesPeopled and vast, which skirt the oceans _2265Where morning dyes her golden tresses,Shall soon partake our high emotions:Kings shall turn pale! Almighty Fear,The Fiend-God, when our charmed name he hear,Shall fade like shadow from his thousand fanes, _2270While Truth with Joy enthroned o’er his lost empire reigns!’
51.52.Ere she had ceased, the mists of night entwiningTheir dim woof, floated o’er the infinite throng;She, like a spirit through the darkness shining,In tones whose sweetness silence did prolong, _2275As if to lingering winds they did belong,Poured forth her inmost soul: a passionate speechWith wild and thrilling pauses woven among,Which whoso heard was mute, for it could teachTo rapture like her own all listening hearts to reach. _2280
53.Her voice was as a mountain stream which sweepsThe withered leaves of Autumn to the lake,And in some deep and narrow bay then sleepsIn the shadow of the shores; as dead leaves wake,Under the wave, in flowers and herbs which make _2285Those green depths beautiful when skies are blue,The multitude so moveless did partakeSuch living change, and kindling murmurs flewAs o’er that speechless calm delight and wonder grew.
54.Over the plain the throngs were scattered then _2290In groups around the fires, which from the seaEven to the gorge of the first mountain-glenBlazed wide and far: the banquet of the freeWas spread beneath many a dark cypress-tree,Beneath whose spires, which swayed in the red flame, _2295Reclining, as they ate, of Liberty,And Hope, and Justice, and Laone’s name,Earth’s children did a woof of happy converse frame.
55.Their feast was such as Earth, the general mother,Pours from her fairest bosom, when she smiles _2300In the embrace of Autumn;—to each otherAs when some parent fondly reconcilesHer warring children, she their wrath beguilesWith her own sustenance, they relenting weep:Such was this Festival, which from their isles _2305And continents, and winds, and oceans deep,All shapes might throng to share, that fly, or walk or creep,—
56.Might share in peace and innocence, for goreOr poison none this festal did pollute,But, piled on high, an overflowing store _2310Of pomegranates and citrons, fairest fruit,Melons, and dates, and figs, and many a rootSweet and sustaining, and bright grapes ere yetAccursed fire their mild juice could transmuteInto a mortal bane, and brown corn set _2315In baskets; with pure streams their thirsting lips they wet.
57.Laone had descended from the shrine,And every deepest look and holiest mindFed on her form, though now those tones divineWere silent as she passed; she did unwind _2320Her veil, as with the crowds of her own kindShe mixed; some impulse made my heart refrainFrom seeking her that night, so I reclinedAmidst a group, where on the utmost plainA festal watchfire burned beside the dusky main. _2325
58.And joyous was our feast; pathetic talk,And wit, and harmony of choral strains,While far Orion o’er the waves did walkThat flow among the isles, held us in chainsOf sweet captivity which none disdains _2330Who feels; but when his zone grew dim in mistWhich clothes the Ocean’s bosom, o’er the plainsThe multitudes went homeward, to their rest,Which that delightful day with its own shadow blessed.
NOTES: _2295 flame]light edition 1818.
1.Beside the dimness of the glimmering sea, _2335Weaving swift language from impassioned themes,With that dear friend I lingered, who to meSo late had been restored, beneath the gleamsOf the silver stars; and ever in soft dreamsOf future love and peace sweet converse lapped _2340Our willing fancies, till the pallid beamsOf the last watchfire fell, and darkness wrappedThe waves, and each bright chain of floating fire was snapped;
2.And till we came even to the City’s wallAnd the great gate; then, none knew whence or why, _2345Disquiet on the multitudes did fall:And first, one pale and breathless passed us by,And stared and spoke not;—then with piercing cryA troop of wild-eyed women, by the shrieksOf their own terror driven,—tumultuously _2350Hither and thither hurrying with pale cheeks,Each one from fear unknown a sudden refuge seeks—
3.Then, rallying cries of treason and of dangerResounded: and—‘They come! to arms! to arms!The Tyrant is amongst us, and the stranger _2355Comes to enslave us in his name! to arms!’In vain: for Panic, the pale fiend who charmsStrength to forswear her right, those millions sweptLike waves before the tempest—these alarmsCame to me, as to know their cause I lept _2360On the gate’s turret, and in rage and grief and scorn I wept!
4.For to the North I saw the town on fire,And its red light made morning pallid now,Which burst over wide Asia;—louder, higher,The yells of victory and the screams of woe _2365I heard approach, and saw the throng belowStream through the gates like foam-wrought waterfallsFed from a thousand storms—the fearful glowOf bombs flares overhead—at intervalsThe red artillery’s bolt mangling among them falls. _2370
5.And now the horsemen come—and all was doneSwifter than I have spoken—I beheldTheir red swords flash in the unrisen sun.I rushed among the rout, to have repelledThat miserable flight—one moment quelled _2375By voice and looks and eloquent despair,As if reproach from their own hearts withheldTheir steps, they stood; but soon came pouring thereNew multitudes, and did those rallied bands o’erbear.
6.I strove, as, drifted on some cataract _2380By irresistible streams, some wretch might striveWho hears its fatal roar:—the files compactWhelmed me, and from the gate availed to driveWith quickening impulse, as each bolt did riveTheir ranks with bloodier chasm:—into the plain _2385Disgorged at length the dead and the aliveIn one dread mass, were parted, and the stainOf blood, from mortal steel fell o’er the fields like rain.
7.For now the despot’s bloodhounds with their preyUnarmed and unaware, were gorging deep _2390Their gluttony of death; the loose arrayOf horsemen o’er the wide fields murdering sweep,And with loud laughter for their tyrant reapA harvest sown with other hopes; the while,Far overhead, ships from Propontis keep _2395A killing rain of fire:—when the waves smileAs sudden earthquakes light many a volcano-isle,
8.Thus sudden, unexpected feast was spreadFor the carrion-fowls of Heaven.—I saw the sight—I moved—I lived—as o’er the heaps of dead, _2400Whose stony eyes glared in the morning lightI trod;—to me there came no thought of flight,But with loud cries of scorn, which whoso heardThat dreaded death, felt in his veins the mightOf virtuous shame return, the crowd I stirred, _2405And desperation’s hope in many hearts recurred.
9.A band of brothers gathering round me, made,Although unarmed, a steadfast front, and stillRetreating, with stern looks beneath the shadeOf gathered eyebrows, did the victors fill _2410With doubt even in success; deliberate willInspired our growing troop; not overthrownIt gained the shelter of a grassy hill,And ever still our comrades were hewn down,And their defenceless limbs beneath our footsteps strown. _2415
10.Immovably we stood—in joy I found,Beside me then, firm as a giant pineAmong the mountain-vapours driven around,The old man whom I loved—his eyes divineWith a mild look of courage answered mine, _2420And my young friend was near, and ardentlyHis hand grasped mine a moment—now the lineOf war extended, to our rallying cryAs myriads flocked in love and brotherhood to die.
11.For ever while the sun was climbing Heaven _2425The horseman hewed our unarmed myriads downSafely, though when by thirst of carnage drivenToo near, those slaves were swiftly overthrownBy hundreds leaping on them:—flesh and boneSoon made our ghastly ramparts; then the shaft _2430Of the artillery from the sea was thrownMore fast and fiery, and the conquerors laughedIn pride to hear the wind our screams of torment waft.
12.For on one side alone the hill gave shelter,So vast that phalanx of unconquered men, _2435And there the living in the blood did welterOf the dead and dying, which in that green glen,Like stifled torrents, made a plashy fenUnder the feet—thus was the butchery wagedWhile the sun clomb Heaven’s eastern steep—but when _2440It ‘gan to sink—a fiercer combat raged,For in more doubtful strife the armies were engaged.
13.Within a cave upon the hill were foundA bundle of rude pikes, the instrumentOf those who war but on their native ground _2445For natural rights: a shout of joyance sentEven from our hearts the wide air pierced and rent,As those few arms the bravest and the bestSeized, and each sixth, thus armed, did now presentA line which covered and sustained the rest, _2450A confident phalanx, which the foes on every side invest.
14.That onset turned the foes to flight almost;But soon they saw their present strength, and knewThat coming night would to our resolute hostBring victory; so dismounting, close they drew _2455Their glittering files, and then the combat grewUnequal but most horrible;—and everOur myriads, whom the swift bolt overthrew,Or the red sword, failed like a mountain riverWhich rushes forth in foam to sink in sands for ever. _2460
15.Sorrow and shame, to see with their own kindOur human brethren mix, like beasts of blood,To mutual ruin armed by one behindWho sits and scoffs!—That friend so mild and good,Who like its shadow near my youth had stood, _2465Was stabbed!—my old preserver’s hoary hairWith the flesh clinging to its roots, was strewedUnder my feet!—I lost all sense or care,And like the rest I grew desperate and unaware.
16.The battle became ghastlier—in the midst _2470I paused, and saw, how ugly and how fellO Hate! thou art, even when thy life thou shedd’stFor love. The ground in many a little dellWas broken, up and down whose steeps befellAlternate victory and defeat, and there _2475The combatants with rage most horribleStrove, and their eyes started with cracking stare,And impotent their tongues they lolled into the air,
17.Flaccid and foamy, like a mad dog’s hanging;Want, and Moon-madness, and the pest’s swift Bane _2480When its shafts smite—while yet its bow is twanging—Have each their mark and sign—some ghastly stain;And this was thine, O War! of hate and painThou loathed slave! I saw all shapes of deathAnd ministered to many, o’er the plain _2485While carnage in the sunbeam’s warmth did seethe,Till twilight o’er the east wove her serenest wreath.
18.The few who yet survived, resolute and firmAround me fought. At the decline of dayWinding above the mountain’s snowy term _2490New banners shone; they quivered in the rayOf the sun’s unseen orb—ere night the arrayOf fresh troops hemmed us in—of those brave bandsI soon survived alone—and now I layVanquished and faint, the grasp of bloody hands _2495I felt, and saw on high the glare of falling brands,
19.When on my foes a sudden terror came,And they fled, scattering—lo! with reinless speedA black Tartarian horse of giant frameComes trampling over the dead, the living bleed _2500Beneath the hoofs of that tremendous steed,On which, like to an Angel, robed in white,Sate one waving a sword;—the hosts recedeAnd fly, as through their ranks with awful might,Sweeps in the shadow of eve that Phantom swift and bright; _2505
20.And its path made a solitude.—I roseAnd marked its coming: it relaxed its courseAs it approached me, and the wind that flowsThrough night, bore accents to mine ear whose forceMight create smiles in death—the Tartar horse _2510Paused, and I saw the shape its might which swayed,And heard her musical pants, like the sweet sourceOf waters in the desert, as she said,‘Mount with me, Laon, now’—I rapidly obeyed.
21.Then: ‘Away! away!’ she cried, and stretched her sword _2515As ’twere a scourge over the courser’s head,And lightly shook the reins.—We spake no word,But like the vapour of the tempest fledOver the plain; her dark hair was dispreadLike the pine’s locks upon the lingering blast; _2520Over mine eyes its shadowy strings it spreadFitfully, and the hills and streams fled fast,As o’er their glimmering forms the steed’s broad shadow passed.
22.And his hoofs ground the rocks to fire and dust,His strong sides made the torrents rise in spray, _2525And turbulence, as of a whirlwind’s gustSurrounded us;—and still away! away!Through the desert night we sped, while she alwayGazed on a mountain which we neared, whose crest,Crowned with a marble ruin, in the ray _2530Of the obscure stars gleamed;—its rugged breastThe steed strained up, and then his impulse did arrest.
23.A rocky hill which overhung the Ocean:—From that lone ruin, when the steed that pantedPaused, might be heard the murmur of the motion _2535Of waters, as in spots for ever hauntedBy the choicest winds of Heaven, which are enchantedTo music, by the wand of Solitude,That wizard wild, and the far tents implantedUpon the plain, be seen by those who stood _2540Thence marking the dark shore of Ocean’s curved flood.
24.One moment these were heard and seen—anotherPassed; and the two who stood beneath that night,Each only heard, or saw, or felt the other;As from the lofty steed she did alight, _2545Cythna, (for, from the eyes whose deepest lightOf love and sadness made my lips feel paleWith influence strange of mournfullest delight,My own sweet Cythna looked), with joy did quail,And felt her strength in tears of human weakness fail. _2550
25.And for a space in my embrace she rested,Her head on my unquiet heart reposing,While my faint arms her languid frame invested;At length she looked on me, and half unclosingHer tremulous lips, said, ‘Friend, thy bands were losing _2555The battle, as I stood before the KingIn bonds.—I burst them then, and swiftly choosingThe time, did seize a Tartar’s sword, and springUpon his horse, and swift, as on the whirlwind’s wing,
26.‘Have thou and I been borne beyond pursuer, _2560And we are here.’—Then, turning to the steed,She pressed the white moon on his front with pureAnd rose-like lips, and many a fragrant weedFrom the green ruin plucked, that he might feed;—But I to a stone seat that Maiden led, _2565And, kissing her fair eyes, said, ‘Thou hast needOf rest,’ and I heaped up the courser’s bedIn a green mossy nook, with mountain flowers dispread.
27.Within that ruin, where a shattered portalLooks to the eastern stars, abandoned now _2570By man, to be the home of things immortal,Memories, like awful ghosts which come and go,And must inherit all he builds below,When he is gone, a hall stood; o’er whose roofFair clinging weeds with ivy pale did grow, _2575Clasping its gray rents with a verdurous woof,A hanging dome of leaves, a canopy moon-proof.