[ { "title": "Epitaph. Intended for Sir Isaac Newton, in Westminster Abbey.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ " ISAACUS NEWTONUS:", " QUEM IMMORTALEM", "TESTANTUR TEMPUS, NATURA, COELUM:", " MORTALEM", " HOC MARMOR FATETUR.", "", "Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night", "God said, Let Newton be! and all was light." ], "linecount": "7" }, { "title": "Not at Home to Callers", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Not at Home to Callers", "Says the Naked Tree --", "Bonnet due in April --", "Wishing you Good Day --" ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "Juvenilia, An Ode to Natural Beauty", "author": "Alan Seeger", "lines": [ "There is a power whose inspiration fills", "Nature's fair fabric, sun- and star-inwrought,", "Like airy dew ere any drop distils,", "Like perfume in the laden flower, like aught", "Unseen which interfused throughout the whole", "Becomes its quickening pulse and principle and soul.", "Now when, the drift of old desire renewing,", "Warm tides flow northward over valley and field,", "When half-forgotten sound and scent are wooing", "From their deep-chambered recesses long sealed", "Such memories as breathe once more", "Of childhood and the happy hues it wore,", "Now, with a fervor that has never been", "In years gone by, it stirs me to respond, --", "Not as a force whose fountains are within", "The faculties of the percipient mind,", "Subject with them to darkness and decay,", "But something absolute, something beyond,", "Oft met like tender orbs that seem to peer", "From pale horizons, luminous behind", "Some fringe of tinted cloud at close of day;", "And in this flood of the reviving year,", "When to the loiterer by sylvan streams,", "Deep in those cares that make Youth loveliest,", "Nature in every common aspect seems", "To comment on the burden in his breast --", "The joys he covets and the dreams he dreams --", "One then with all beneath the radiant skies", "That laughs with him or sighs,", "It courses through the lilac-scented air,", "A blessing on the fields, a wonder everywhere.", "", "", "Spirit of Beauty, whose sweet impulses,", "Flung like the rose of dawn across the sea,", "Alone can flush the exalted consciousness", "With shafts of sensible divinity --", "Light of the World, essential loveliness:", "Him whom the Muse hath made thy votary", "Not from her paths and gentle precepture", "Shall vulgar ends engage, nor break the spell", "That taught him first to feel thy secret charms", "And o'er the earth, obedient to their lure,", "Their sweet surprise and endless miracle,", "To follow ever with insatiate arms.", "On summer afternoons,", "When from the blue horizon to the shore,", "Casting faint silver pathways like the moon's", "Across the Ocean's glassy, mottled floor,", "Far clouds uprear their gleaming battlements", "Drawn to the crest of some bleak eminence,", "When autumn twilight fades on the sere hill", "And autumn winds are still;", "To watch the East for some emerging sign,", "Wintry Capella or the Pleiades", "Or that great huntsman with the golden gear;", "Ravished in hours like these", "Before thy universal shrine", "To feel the invoked presence hovering near,", "He stands enthusiastic. Star-lit hours", "Spent on the roads of wandering solitude", "Have set their sober impress on his brow,", "And he, with harmonies of wind and wood", "And torrent and the tread of mountain showers,", "Has mingled many a dedicative vow", "That holds him, till thy last delight be known,", "Bound in thy service and in thine alone.", "", "", "I, too, among the visionary throng", "Who choose to follow where thy pathway leads,", "Have sold my patrimony for a song,", "And donned the simple, lowly pilgrim's weeds.", "From that first image of beloved walls,", "Deep-bowered in umbrage of ancestral trees,", "Where earliest thy sweet enchantment falls,", "Tingeing a child's fantastic reveries", "With radiance so fair it seems to be", "Of heavens just lost the lingering evidence", "From that first dawn of roseate infancy,", "So long beneath thy tender influence", "My breast has thrilled. As oft for one brief second", "The veil through which those infinite offers beckoned", "Has seemed to tremble, letting through", "Some swift intolerable view", "Of vistas past the sense of mortal seeing,", "So oft, as one whose stricken eyes might see", "In ferny dells the rustic deity,", "I stood, like him, possessed, and all my being,", "Flooded an instant with unwonted light,", "Quivered with cosmic passion; whether then", "On woody pass or glistening mountain-height", "I walked in fellowship with winds and clouds,", "Whether in cities and the throngs of men,", "A curious saunterer through friendly crowds,", "Enamored of the glance in passing eyes,", "Unuttered salutations, mute replies, --", "In every character where light of thine", "Has shed on earthly things the hue of things divine", "I sought eternal Loveliness, and seeking,", "If ever transport crossed my brow bespeaking", "Such fire as a prophetic heart might feel", "Where simple worship blends in fervent zeal,", "It was the faith that only love of thee", "Needed in human hearts for Earth to see", "Surpassed the vision poets have held dear", "Of joy diffused in most communion here;", "That whomsoe'er thy visitations warmed,", "Lover of thee in all thy rays informed,", "Needed no difficulter discipline", "To seek his right to happiness within", "Than, sensible of Nature's loveliness,", "To yield him to the generous impulses", "By such a sentiment evoked. The thought,", "Bright Spirit, whose illuminings I sought,", "That thou unto thy worshipper might be", "An all-sufficient law, abode with me,", "Importing something more than unsubstantial dreams", "To vigils by lone shores and walks by murmuring streams.", "", "", "Youth's flowers like childhood's fade and are forgot.", "Fame twines a tardy crown of yellowing leaves.", "How swift were disillusion, were it not", "That thou art steadfast where all else deceives!", "Solace and Inspiration, Power divine", "That by some mystic sympathy of thine,", "When least it waits and most hath need of thee,", "Can startle the dull spirit suddenly", "With grandeur welled from unsuspected springs, --", "Long as the light of fulgent evenings,", "When from warm showers the pearly shades disband", "And sunset opens o'er the humid land,", "Shows thy veiled immanence in orient skies, --", "Long as pale mist and opalescent dyes", "Hung on far isle or vanishing mountain-crest,", "Fields of remote enchantment can suggest", "So sweet to wander in it matters nought,", "They hold no place but in impassioned thought,", "Long as one draught from a clear sky may be", "A scented luxury;", "Be thou my worship, thou my sole desire,", "Thy paths my pilgrimage, my sense a lyre", "Aeolian for thine every breath to stir;", "Oft when her full-blown periods recur,", "To see the birth of day's transparent moon", "Far from cramped walls may fading afternoon", "Find me expectant on some rising lawn;", "Often depressed in dewy grass at dawn,", "Me, from sweet slumber underneath green boughs,", "Ere the stars flee may forest matins rouse,", "Afoot when the great sun in amber floods", "Pours horizontal through the steaming woods", "And windless fumes from early chimneys start", "And many a cock-crow cheers the traveller's heart", "Eager for aught the coming day afford", "In hills untopped and valleys unexplored.", "Give me the white road into the world's ends,", "Lover of roadside hazard, roadside friends,", "Loiterer oft by upland farms to gaze", "On ample prospects, lost in glimmering haze", "At noon, or where down odorous dales twilit,", "Filled with low thundering of the mountain stream,", "Over the plain where blue seas border it", "The torrid coast-towns gleam.", "", "", "I have fared too far to turn back now; my breast", "Burns with the lust for splendors unrevealed,", "Stars of midsummer, clouds out of the west,", "Pallid horizons, winds that valley and field", "Laden with joy, be ye my refuge still!", "What though distress and poverty assail!", "Though other voices chide, yours never will.", "The grace of a blue sky can never fail.", "Powers that my childhood with a spell so sweet,", "My youth with visions of such glory nursed,", "Ye have beheld, nor ever seen my feet", "On any venture set, but 'twas the thirst", "For Beauty willed them, yea, whatever be", "The faults I wanted wings to rise above;", "I am cheered yet to think how steadfastly", "I have been loyal to the love of Love!" ], "linecount": "175" }, { "title": "Book IV. Ode I. to Venus.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "Again? new tumults in my breast?", " Ah, spare me, Venus! let me, let me rest!", "I am not now, alas! the man", " As in the gentle reign of my Queen Anne.", "Ah, sound no more thy soft alarms,", " Nor circle sober fifty with thy charms.", "Mother too fierce of dear desires!", " Turn, turn to willing hearts your wanton fires,", "To Number Five direct your doves,", " There spread round Murray all your blooming loves", "Noble and young, who strikes the heart", " With every sprightly, every decent part;", "Equal, the injured to defend,", " To charm the mistress, or to fix the friend.", "He, with a hundred arts refined,", " Shall stretch thy conquests over half the kind;", "To him each rival shall submit,", " Make but his riches equal to his wit.", "Then shall thy form the marble grace,", " (Thy Grecian form) and Chloe lend the face:", "His house, embosom'd in the grove,", " Sacred to social life and social love,", "Shall glitter o'er the pendant green,", " Where Thames reflects the visionary scene:", "Thither, the silver-sounding lyres", " Shall call the smiling Loves, and young Desires;", "There, every Grace and Muse shall throng,", " Exalt the dance, or animate the song;", "There, youths and nymphs, in consort gay,", " Shall hail the rising, close the parting day.", "With me, alas! those joys are o'er;", " For me, the vernal garlands bloom no more.", "Adieu! fond hope of mutual fire,", " The still believing, still-renew'd desire;", "Adieu! the heart-expanding bowl,", " And all the kind deceivers of the soul!", "But why? ah, tell me, ah, too dear!", " Steals down my cheek th' involuntary tear?", "Why words so flowing, thoughts so free,", " Stop, or turn nonsense, at one glance of thee?", "Thee, dress'd in fancy's airy beam,", " Absent I follow through th' extended dream;", "Now, now I seize, I clasp thy charms,", " And now you burst (ah, cruel!) from my arms;", "And swiftly shoot along the Mall,", " Or softly glide by the canal,", "Now shown by Cynthia's silver ray,", " And now on rolling waters snatch'd away." ], "linecount": "48" }, { "title": "Blessed Among Women --To The Signora Cairoli", "author": "Algernon Charles Swinburne", "lines": [ "Blessed was she that bare,", "Hidden in flesh most fair,", "For all men's sake the likeness of all love;", "Holy that virgin's womb,", "The old record saith, on whom", "The glory of God alighted as a dove;", "Blessed, who brought to gracious birth", "The sweet-souled Saviour of a man-tormented earth." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Hymn to Proserpine (After the Proclamation of the Christian", "author": "Algernon Charles Swinburne", "lines": [ "Vicisti, Galilæe", "I have lived long enough, having seen one thing, that love hath an end;", "Goddess and maiden and queen, be near me now and befriend.", "Thou art more than the day or the morrow, the seasons that laugh or that weep;", "For these give joy and sorrow; but thou, Proserpina, sleep.", "Sweet is the treading of wine, and sweet the feet of the dove;", "But a goodlier gift is thine than foam of the grapes or love.", "Yea, is not even Apollo, with hair and harpstring of gold,", "A bitter God to follow, a beautiful God to behold?", "I am sick of singing; the bays burn deep and chafe: I am fain", "To rest a little from praise and grievous pleasure and pain.", "For the Gods we know not of, who give us our daily breath,", "We know they are cruel as love or life, and lovely as death.", "O Gods dethroned and deceased, cast forth, wiped out in a day!", "From your wrath is the world released, redeemed from your chains, men say.", "New Gods are crowned in the city; their flowers have broken your rods;", "They are merciful, clothed with pity, the young compassionate Gods.", "But for me their new device is barren, the days are bare;", "Things long past over suffice, and men forgotten that were.", "Time and the Gods are at strife; ye dwell in the midst thereof,", "Draining a little life from the barren breasts of love.", "I say to you, cease, take rest; yea, I say to you all, be at peace,", "Till the bitter milk of her breast and the barren bosom shall cease.", "Wilt thou take all, Galilean? but these thou shalt not take,", "The laurel, the palms and the paean, the breasts of the nymphs in the brake;", "Breasts more soft than a dove's, that tremble with tenderer breath;", "And all the wings of the Loves, and all the joy before death;", "All the feet of the hours that sound as a single lyre,", "Dropped and deep in the flowers, with strings that flicker like fire.", "More than these wilt thou give, things fairer than all these things?", "Nay, for a little we live, and life hath mutable wings.", "A little while and we die; shall life not thrive as it may?", "For no man under the sky lives twice, outliving his day.", "And grief is a grievous thing, and a man hath enough of his tears:", "Why should he labour, and bring fresh grief to blacken his years?", "Thou hast conquered, O pale Galilean; the world has grown grey from thy breath;", "We have drunken of things Lethean, and fed on the fullness of death.", "Laurel is green for a season, and love is sweet for a day;", "But love grows bitter with treason, and laurel outlives not May.", "Sleep, shall we sleep after all? for the world is not sweet in the end;", "For the old faiths loosen and fall, the new years ruin and rend.", "Fate is a sea without shore, and the soul is a rock that abides;", "But her ears are vexed with the roar and her face with the foam of the tides.", "O lips that the live blood faints in, the leavings of racks and rods!", "O ghastly glories of saints, dead limbs of gibbeted Gods!", "Though all men abase them before you in spirit, and all knees bend,", "I kneel not neither adore you, but standing, look to the end.", "All delicate days and pleasant, all spirits and sorrows are cast", "Far out with the foam of the present that sweeps to the surf of the past:", "Where beyond the extreme sea-wall, and between the remote sea-gates,", "Waste water washes, and tall ships founder, and deep death waits:", "Where, mighty with deepening sides, clad about with the seas as with wings,", "And impelled of invisible tides, and fulfilled of unspeakable things,", "White-eyed and poisonous-finned, shark-toothed and serpentine-curled,", "Rolls, under the whitening wind of the future, the wave of the world.", "The depths stand naked in sunder behind it, the storms flee away;", "In the hollow before it the thunder is taken and snared as a prey;", "In its sides is the north-wind bound; and its salt is of all men's tears;", "With light of ruin, and sound of changes, and pulse of years:", "With travail of day after day, and with trouble of hour upon hour;", "And bitter as blood is the spray; and the crests are as fangs that devour:", "And its vapour and storm of its steam as the sighing of spirits to be;", "And its noise as the noise in a dream; and its depth as the roots of the sea:", "And the height of its heads as the height of the utmost stars of the air:", "And the ends of the earth at the might thereof tremble, and time is made bare.", "Will ye bridle the deep sea with reins, will ye chasten the high sea with rods?", "Will ye take her to chain her with chains, who is older than all ye Gods?", "All ye as a wind shall go by, as a fire shall ye pass and be past;", "Ye are Gods, and behold, ye shall die, and the waves be upon you at last.", "In the darkness of time, in the deeps of the years, in the changes of things,", "Ye shall sleep as a slain man sleeps, and the world shall forget you for kings.", "Though the feet of thine high priests tread where thy lords and our forefathers trod,", "Though these that were Gods are dead, and thou being dead art a God,", "Though before thee the throned Cytherean be fallen, and hidden her head,", "Yet thy kingdom shall pass, Galilean, thy dead shall go down to thee dead.", "Of the maiden thy mother men sing as a goddess with grace clad around;", "Thou art throned where another was king; where another was queen she is crowned.", "Yea, once we had sight of another: but now she is queen, say these.", "Not as thine, not as thine was our mother, a blossom of flowering seas,", "Clothed round with the world's desire as with raiment, and fair as the foam,", "And fleeter than kindled fire, and a goddess, and mother of Rome.", "For thine came pale and a maiden, and sister to sorrow; but ours,", "Her deep hair heavily laden with odour and colour of flowers,", "White rose of the rose-white water, a silver splendour, a flame,", "Bent down unto us that besought her, and earth grew sweet with her name.", "For thine came weeping, a slave among slaves, and rejected; but she", "Came flushed from the full-flushed wave, and imperial, her foot on the sea.", "And the wonderful waters knew her, the winds and the viewless ways,", "And the roses grew rosier, and bluer the sea-blue stream of the bays.", "Ye are fallen, our lords, by what token? we wise that ye should not fall.", "Ye were all so fair that are broken; and one more fair than ye all.", "But I turn to her still, having seen she shall surely abide in the end;", "Goddess and maiden and queen, be near me now and befriend.", "O daughter of earth, of my mother, her crown and blossom of birth,", "I am also, I also, thy brother; I go as I came unto earth.", "In the night where thine eyes are as moons are in heaven, the night where thou art,", "Where the silence is more than all tunes, where sleep overflows from the heart,", "Where the poppies are sweet as the rose in our world, and the red rose is white,", "And the wind falls faint as it blows with the fume of the flowers of the night,", "And the murmur of spirits that sleep in the shadow of Gods from afar", "Grows dim in thine ears and deep as the deep dim soul of a star,", "In the sweet low light of thy face, under heavens untrod by the sun,", "Let my soul with their souls find place, and forget what is done and undone.", "Thou art more than the Gods who number the days of our temporal breath;", "Let these give labour and slumber; but thou, Proserpina, death.", "Therefore now at thy feet I abide for a season in silence. I know", "I shall die as my fathers died, and sleep as they sleep, even so.", "For the glass of the years is brittle wherein we gaze for a span;", "A little soul for a little bears up this corpse which is man.", "So long I endure, no longer; and laugh not again, neither weep.", "For there is no God found stronger than death; and death is a sleep." ], "linecount": "111" }, { "title": "Dedication To Joseph Mazzini", "author": "Algernon Charles Swinburne", "lines": [ "Take, since you bade it should bear,", "These, of the seed of your sowing,", "Blossom or berry or weed.", "Sweet though they be not, or fair,", "That the dew of your word kept growing,", "Sweet at least was the seed.", "", "Men bring you love-offerings of tears,", "And sorrow the kiss that assuages,", "And slaves the hate-offering of wrongs,", "And time the thanksgiving of years,", "And years the thanksgiving of ages;", "I bring you my handful of songs.", "", "If a perfume be left, if a bloom,", "Let it live till Italia be risen,", "To be strewn in the dust of her car", "When her voice shall awake from the tomb", "England, and France from her prison,", "Sisters, a star by a star.", "", "I bring you the sword of a song,", "The sword of my spirit's desire,", "Feeble; but laid at your feet,", "That which was weak shall be strong,", "That which was cold shall take fire,", "That which was bitter be sweet.", "", "It was wrought not with hands to smite,", "Nor hewn after swordsmiths' fashion,", "Nor tempered on anvil of steel;", "But with visions and dreams of the night,", "But with hope, and the patience of passion,", "And the signet of love for a seal.", "", "Be it witness, till one more strong,", "Till a loftier lyre, till a rarer", "Lute praise her better than I,", "Be it witness before you, my song,", "That I knew her, the world's banner-bearer,", "Who shall cry the republican cry.", "", "Yea, even she as at first,", "Yea, she alone and none other,", "Shall cast down, shall build up, shall bring home;", "Slake earth's hunger and thirst,", "Lighten, and lead as a mother;", "First name of the world's names, Rome." ], "linecount": "42" }, { "title": "Two Choruses to the Tragedy of Brutus.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "CHORUS OF ATHENIANS.", "", "STROPHE I.", "", "Ye shades, where sacred truth is sought;", "Groves, where immortal sages taught:", " Where heavenly visions Plato fired,", " And Epicurus' lay inspired;", " In vain your guiltless laurels stood", " Unspotted long with human blood.", "War, horrid war, your thoughtful walks invades,", "And steel now glitters in the Muses' shades.", "", "ANTISTROPHE I.", "", " O heaven-born sisters! source of art!", " Who charm the sense, or mend the heart;", " Who lead fair Virtue's train along,", " Moral truth, and mystic song!", " To what new clime, what distant sky,", " Forsaken, friendless, shall ye fly?", "Say, will ye bless the bleak Atlantic shore,", "Or bid the furious Gaul be rude no more?", "", "STROPHE II.", "", " When Athens sinks by fates unjust,", " When wild barbarians spurn her dust;", " Perhaps even Britain's utmost shore", " Shall cease to blush with strangers' gore,", " See Arts her savage sons control,", " And Athens rising near the pole!", "Till some new tyrant lifts his purple hand,", "And civil madness tears them from the land.", "", "ANTISTROPHE II.", "", " Ye gods! what justice rules the ball?", " Freedom and Arts together fall;", " Fools grant whate'er Ambition craves,", " And men, once ignorant, are slaves.", " Oh, cursed effects of civil hate,", " In every age, in every state!", "Still, when the lust of tyrant power succeeds,", "Some Athens perishes, some Tully bleeds.", "", "CHORUS OF YOUTHS AND VIRGINS.", "", "SEMICHORUS.", "", "O tyrant Love! hast thou possess'd", "The prudent, learn'd, and virtuous breast?", "Wisdom and wit in vain reclaim,", "And arts but soften us to feel thy flame.", " Love, soft intruder, enters here,", " But entering learns to be sincere.", " Marcus with blushes owns he loves,", " And Brutus tenderly reproves.", " Why, Virtue, dost thou blame desire,", " Which Nature has impress'd", " Why, Nature, dost thou soonest fire", " The mild and generous breast?", "", "CHORUS.", "", " Love's purer flames the gods approve;", " The gods and Brutus bend to love:", " Brutus for absent Portia sighs,", "And sterner Cassius melts at Junia's eyes.", "What is loose love? a transient gust,", "Spent in a sudden storm of lust,", "A vapour fed from wild desire,", "A wandering, self-consuming fire.", " But Hymen's kinder flames unite,", " And burn for ever one;", " Chaste as cold Cynthia's virgin light,", " Productive as the sun.", "", "SEMICHORUS.", "", " Oh source of every social tie,", " United wish, and mutual joy!", " What various joys on one attend,", "As son, as father, brother, husband, friend!", " Whether his hoary sire he spies,", " While thousand grateful thoughts arise;", " Or meets his spouse's fonder eye;", " Or views his smiling progeny;", " What tender passions take their turns,", " What home-felt raptures move?", " His heart now melts, now leaps, now burns,", " With reverence, hope, and love.", "", "CHORUS.", "", "Hence, guilty joys, distastes, surmises,", "Hence, false tears, deceits, disguises,", "Dangers, doubts, delays, surprises,", " Fires that scorch, yet dare not shine!", "Purest love's unwasting treasure,", "Constant faith, fair hope, long leisure,", "Days of ease, and nights of pleasure;", " Sacred Hymen! these are thine." ], "linecount": "86" }, { "title": "Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "What beckoning ghost, along the moonlight shade", "Invites my steps, and points to yonder glade?", "'Tis she!--but why that bleeding bosom gored,", "Why dimly gleams the visionary sword?", "Oh, ever beauteous, ever friendly! tell,", "Is it, in heaven, a crime to love too well?", "To bear too tender, or too firm a heart,", "To act a lover's or a Roman's part?", "Is there no bright reversion in the sky,", "For those who greatly think, or bravely die?", "", "Why bade ye else, ye Powers! her soul aspire", "Above the vulgar flight of low desire?", "Ambition first sprung from your blest abodes;", "The glorious fault of angels and of gods:", "Thence to their images on earth it flows,", "And in the breasts of kings and heroes glows.", "Most souls, 'tis true, but peep out once an age,", "Dull, sullen prisoners in the body's cage:", "Dim lights of life, that burn a length of years", "Useless, unseen, as lamps in sepulchres;", "Like Eastern kings a lazy state they keep,", "And, close confined to their own palace, sleep.", "", "From these perhaps (ere Nature bade her die)", "Fate snatch'd her early to the pitying sky.", "As into air the purer spirits flow,", "And separate from their kindred dregs below;", "So flew the soul to its congenial place,", "Nor left one virtue to redeem her race.", "", "But thou, false guardian of a charge too good,", "Thou, mean deserter of thy brother's blood!", "See on these ruby lips the trembling breath,", "These cheeks, now fading at the blast of death;", "Cold is that breast which warm'd the world before,", "And those love-darting eyes must roll no more.", "Thus, if Eternal Justice rules the ball,", "Thus shall your wives, and thus your children fall:", "On all the line a sudden vengeance waits,", "And frequent hearses shall besiege your gates.", "There passengers shall stand, and pointing say,", "(While the long funerals blacken all the way)", "'Lo, these were they, whose souls the Furies steel'd,", "And cursed with hearts unknowing how to yield.'", "Thus unlamented pass the proud away,", "The gaze of fools, and pageant of a day!", "So perish all, whose breast ne'er learn'd to glow", "For others' good, or melt at others' woe.", "", "What can atone (O ever-injured Shade!)", "Thy fate unpitied, and thy rites unpaid?", "No friend's complaint, no kind domestic tear", "Pleased thy pale ghost, or graced thy mournful bier,", "By foreign hands thy dying eyes were closed,", "By foreign hands thy decent limbs composed,", "By foreign hands thy humble grave adorn'd,", "By strangers honour'd, and by strangers mourn'd!", "What, though no friends in sable weeds appear,", "Grieve for an hour, perhaps, then mourn a year,", "And bear about the mockery of woe", "To midnight dances, and the public show?", "What, though no weeping loves thy ashes grace,", "Nor polish'd marble emulate thy face?", "What, though no sacred earth allow thee room,", "Nor hallow'd dirge be mutter'd o'er thy tomb?", "Yet shall thy grave with rising flowers be dress'd,", "And the green turf lie lightly on thy breast:", "There shall the morn her earliest tears bestow,", "There the first roses of the year shall blow;", "While angels with their silver wings o'ershade", "The ground, now sacred by thy relics made.", "", "So peaceful rests, without a stone, a name,", "What once had beauty, titles, wealth, and fame.", "How loved, how honour'd once, avails thee not,", "To whom related, or by whom begot;", "A heap of dust alone remains of thee,", "'Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be!", "", "Poets themselves must fall, like those they sung,", "Deaf the praised ear, and mute the tuneful tongue.", "Even he, whose soul now melts in mournful lays,", "Shall shortly want the generous tear he pays;", "Then from his closing eyes thy form shall part,", "And the last pang shall tear thee from his heart;", "Life's idle business at one gasp be o'er,", "The Muse forgot, and thou beloved no more!" ], "linecount": "82" }, { "title": "Epistle to Robert Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "Such were the notes thy once-loved Poet sung,", "Till Death untimely stopp'd his tuneful tongue.", "Oh just beheld and lost! admired and mourn'd!", "With softest manners, gentlest arts adorn'd!", "Blest in each science, blest in every strain!", "Dear to the Muse! to Harley dear--in vain!", "", "For him, thou oft hast bid the world attend,", "Fond to forget the statesman in the friend;", "For Swift and him, despised the farce of state,", "The sober follies of the wise and great;", "Dext'rous, the craving, fawning crowd to quit,", "And pleased to 'scape from Flattery to Wit.", "", "Absent or dead, still let a friend be dear,", "(A sigh the absent claims, the dead a tear,)", "Recall those nights that closed thy toilsome days,", "Still hear thy Parnell in his living lays,", "Who, careless now of interest, fame, or fate,", "Perhaps forgets that Oxford e'er was great;", "Or deeming meanest what we greatest call,", "Behold thee glorious only in thy fall.", "", "And sure, if aught below the seats divine", "Can touch immortals, 'tis a soul like thine:", "A soul supreme, in each hard instance tried,", "Above all pain, all passion, and all pride,", "The rage of power, the blast of public breath,", "The lust of lucre, and the dread of death.", "", "In vain to deserts thy retreat is made;", "The Muse attends thee to thy silent shade:", "'Tis hers the brave man's latest steps to trace,", "Rejudge his acts, and dignify disgrace.", "When interest calls off all her sneaking train,", "And all the obliged desert, and all the vain,", "She waits, or to the scaffold, or the cell,", "When the last lingering friend has bid farewell.", "Even now she shades thy evening-walk with bays,", "(No hireling she, no prostitute to praise),", "Even now, observant of the parting ray,", "Eyes the calm sunset of thy various day;", "Through Fortune's cloud one truly great can see,", "Nor fears to tell that Mortimer is he." ], "linecount": "40" }, { "title": "Epistle to Mr Jervas, With Mr Dryden's Translation of Fresnoy's 'art of Painting.'", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "This verse be thine, my friend, nor thou refuse", "This from no venal or ungrateful Muse.", "Whether thy hand strike out some free design,", "Where life awakes, and dawns at every line;", "Or blend in beauteous tints the colour'd mass,", "And from the canvas call the mimic face:", "Read these instructive leaves, in which conspire", "Fresnoy's close art, and Dryden's native fire:", "And, reading, wish like theirs our fate and fame,", "So mix'd our studies, and so join'd our name;", "Like them to shine through long succeeding age,", "So just thy skill, so regular my rage.", "", "Smit with the love of sister-arts we came,", "And met congenial, mingling flame with flame;", "Like friendly colours found them both unite,", "And each from each contract new strength and light.", "How oft in pleasing tasks we wear the day,", "While summer suns roll unperceived away!", "How oft our slowly-growing works impart,", "While images reflect from art to art!", "How oft review; each finding, like a friend,", "Something to blame, and something to commend!", "", "What flattering scenes our wandering fancy wrought,", "Rome's pompous glories rising to our thought!", "Together o'er the Alps methinks we fly,", "Fired with ideas of fair Italy.", "With thee on Raphael's monument I mourn.", "Or wait inspiring dreams at Maro's urn:", "With thee repose where Tully once was laid,", "Or seek some ruin's formidable shade:", "While fancy brings the vanish'd piles to view.", "And builds imaginary Rome anew.", "Here thy well-studied marbles fix our eye;", "A fading fresco here demands a sigh:", "Each heavenly piece unwearied we compare,", "Match Raphael's grace with thy loved Guide's air,", "Carracci's strength, Correggio's softer line,", "Paulo's free stroke, and Titian's warmth divine.", "", "How finish'd with illustrious toil appears", "This small, well-polish'd gem, the work of years!", "Yet still how faint by precept is express'd", "The living image in the painter's breast!", "Thence endless streams of fair ideas flow,", "Strike in the sketch, or in the picture glow;", "Thence Beauty, waking all her forms, supplies", "An angel's sweetness, or Bridgewater's eyes.", "", "Muse! at that name thy sacred sorrows shed,", "Those tears eternal, that embalm the dead;", "Call round her tomb each object of desire,", "Each purer frame inform'd with purer fire:", "Bid her be all that cheers or softens life,", "The tender sister, daughter, friend, and wife:", "Bid her be all that makes mankind adore;", "Then view this marble, and be vain no more!", "", "Yet still her charms in breathing paint engage;", "Her modest cheek shall warm a future age.", "Beauty, frail flower that every season fears,", "Blooms in thy colours for a thousand years.", "Thus Churchill's race shall other hearts surprise,", "And other beauties envy Worsley's eyes;", "Each pleasing Blount shall endless smiles bestow,", "And soft Belinda's blush for ever glow.", "", "Oh, lasting as those colours may they shine,", "Free as thy stroke, yet faultless as thy line;", "New graces yearly like thy works display,", "Soft without weakness, without glaring gay;", "Led by some rule, that guides, but not constrains;", "And finish'd more through happiness than pains.", "The kindred arts shall in their praise conspire,", "One dip the pencil, and one string the lyre.", "Yet should the Graces all thy figures place,", "And breathe an air divine on every face;", "Yet should the Muses bid my numbers roll", "Strong as their charms, and gentle as their soul;", "With Zeuxis' Helen thy Bridgewater vie,", "And these be sung till Granville's Myra die:", "Alas! how little from the grave we claim!", "Thou but preserv'st a face, and I a name." ], "linecount": "78" }, { "title": "Epistle to Miss Blount, With the Works of Voiture.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "In these gay thoughts the Loves and Graces shine,", "And all the writer lives in every line;", "His easy art may happy nature seem,", "Trifles themselves are elegant in him.", "Sure, to charm all was his peculiar fate,", "Who without flattery pleased the fair and great;", "Still with esteem no less conversed than read;", "With wit well-natured, and with books well-bred:", "His heart, his mistress, and his friend did share,", "His time, the Muse, the witty, and the fair.", "Thus wisely careless, innocently gay,", "Cheerful he play'd the trifle, Life, away;", "Till Fate scarce felt his gentle breath suppress'd,", "As smiling infants sport themselves to rest.", "Even rival wits did Voiture's death deplore,", "And the gay mourn'd who never mourn'd before;", "The truest hearts for Voiture heaved with sighs,", "Voiture was wept by all the brightest eyes:", "The Smiles and Loves had died in Voiture's death,", "But that for ever in his lines they breathe.", "", "Let the strict life of graver mortals be", "A long, exact, and serious comedy;", "In every scene some moral let it teach,", "And if it can, at once both please and preach.", "Let mine an innocent gay farce appear,", "And more diverting still than regular,", "Have humour, wit, a native ease and grace,", "Though not too strictly bound to time and place:", "Critics in wit, or life, are hard to please,", "Few write to those, and none can live to these.", "", "Too much your sex is by their forms confined,", "Severe to all, but most to womankind;", "Custom, grown blind with age, must be your guide;", "Your pleasure is a vice, but not your pride;", "By nature yielding, stubborn but for fame;", "Made slaves by honour, and made fools by shame.", "Marriage may all those petty tyrants chase,", "But sets up one, a greater, in their place;", "Well might you wish for change, by those accursed,", "But the last tyrant ever proves the worst.", "Still in constraint your suffering sex remains,", "Or bound in formal, or in real chains:", "Whole years neglected, for some months adored,", "The fawning servant turns a haughty lord.", "Ah, quit not the free innocence of life,", "For the dull glory of a virtuous wife;", "Nor let false shows, or empty titles please:", "Aim not at joy, but rest content with ease!", "", "The gods, to curse Pamela with her prayers,", "Gave the gilt coach and dappled Flanders mares,", "The shining robes, rich jewels, beds of state,", "And, to complete her bliss, a fool for mate.", "She glares in balls, front boxes, and the Ring,", "A vain, unquiet, glittering, wretched thing!", "Pride, pomp, and state but reach her outward part:", "She sighs, and is no duchess at her heart.", "", "But, madam, if the Fates withstand, and you", "Are destined Hymen's willing victim too:", "Trust not too much your now resistless charms,", "Those, age or sickness, soon or late, disarms:", "Good-humour only teaches charms to last,", "Still makes new conquests, and maintains the past;", "Love, raised on beauty, will like that decay,", "Our hearts may bear its slender chain a day;", "As flowery bands in wantonness are worn,", "A morning's pleasure, and at evening torn;", "This binds in ties more easy, yet more strong,", "The willing heart, and only holds it long.", "", "Thus Voiture's early care still shone the same,", "And Monthansier was only changed in name:", "By this, even now they live, even now they charm,", "Their wit still sparkling, and their flames still warm.", "", "Now crown'd with myrtle, on the Elysian coast,", "Amid those lovers, joys his gentle ghost:", "Pleased, while with smiles his happy lines you view,", "And finds a fairer Rambouillet in you.", "The brightest eyes of France inspired his Muse;", "The brightest eyes of Britain now peruse;", "And dead, as living, 'tis our author's pride", "Still to charm those who charm the world beside." ], "linecount": "80" }, { "title": "Epistle to Mrs Teresa Blount. on Her Leaving the Town After the Coronation.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "As some fond virgin, whom her mother's care", "Drags from the town to wholesome country air,", "Just when she learns to roll a melting eye,", "And hear a spark, yet think no danger nigh;", "From the dear man unwilling she must sever,", "Yet takes one kiss before she parts for ever:", "Thus from the world fair Zephalinda flew,", "Saw others happy, and with sighs withdrew;", "Not that their pleasures caused her discontent,", "She sigh'd not that they staid, but that she went.", "", "She went to plain-work, and to purling brooks,", "Old-fashion'd halls, dull aunts, and croaking rooks:", "She went from opera, park, assembly, play,", "To morning-walks, and prayers three hours a-day:", "To part her time 'twixt reading and bohea,", "To muse, and spill her solitary tea;", "Or o'er cold coffee trifle with the spoon,", "Count the slow clock, and dine exact at noon;", "Divert her eyes with pictures in the fire,", "Hum half a tune, tell stories to the 'squire;", "Up to her godly garret after seven,", "There starve and pray, for that's the way to heaven.", "", "Some 'squire, perhaps, you take delight to rack;", "Whose game is whist, whose treat, a toast in sack;", "Who visits with a gun, presents you birds,", "Then gives a smacking buss, and cries--No words!", "Or with his hound comes hallooing from the stable,", "Makes love with nods, and knees beneath a table;", "Whose laughs are hearty, though his jests are coarse,", "And loves you best of all things--but his horse.", "", "In some fair evening, on your elbow laid,", "You dream of triumphs in the rural shade;", "In pensive thought recall the fancied scene,", "See coronations rise on every green;", "Before you pass the imaginary sights", "Of lords, and earls, and dukes, and garter'd knights,", "While the spread fan o'ershades your closing eyes;", "Then give one flirt, and all the vision flies.", "Thus vanish sceptres, coronets, and balls,", "And leave you in lone woods, or empty walls!", "", "So when your slave, at some dear idle time,", "(Not plagued with headaches, or the want of rhyme)", "Stands in the streets, abstracted from the crew,", "And while he seems to study, thinks of you;", "Just when his fancy paints your sprightly eyes,", "Or sees the blush of soft Parthenia rise,", "Gay pats my shoulder, and you vanish quite,", "Streets, chairs, and coxcombs rush upon my sight;", "Vex'd to be still in town, I knit my brow,", "Look sour, and hum a tune, as you do now." ], "linecount": "50" }, { "title": "To Mrs M. B. on Her Birthday.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "Oh, be thou blest with all that Heaven can send,", "Long health, long youth, long pleasure, and a friend:", "Not with those toys the female world admire,", "Riches that vex, and vanities that tire.", "With added years, if life bring nothing new,", "But, like a sieve, let every blessing through,", "Some joy still lost, as each vain year runs o'er,", "And all we gain, some sad reflection more;", "Is that a birthday? 'tis alas! too clear", "'Tis but the funeral of the former year.", "", "Let joy or ease, let affluence or content,", "And the gay conscience of a life well spent,", "Calm every thought, inspirit every grace,", "Glow in thy heart, and smile upon thy face", "Let day improve on day, and year on year,", "Without a pain, a trouble, or a fear;", "Till death unfelt that tender frame destroy,", "In some soft dream, or ecstasy of joy,", "Peaceful sleep out the Sabbath of the tomb,", "And wake to raptures in a life to come." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "To Mr John Moore, Author of the Celebrated Worm-Powder.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ " How much, egregious Moore, are we", " Deceived by shows and forms!", " Whate'er we think, whate'er we see,", " All humankind are worms.", "", " Man is a very worm by birth,", " Vile reptile, weak and vain!", " A while he crawls upon the earth,", " Then shrinks to earth again.", "", " That woman is a worm, we find", " E'er since our grandame's evil;", " She first conversed with her own kind,", " That ancient worm, the Devil.", "", " The learn'd themselves we book-worms name,", " The blockhead is a slow-worm;", " The nymph whose tail is all on flame,", " Is aptly term'd a glow-worm:", "", " The fops are painted butterflies,", " That flutter for a day;", " First from a worm they take their rise,", " And in a worm decay.", "", " The flatterer an earwig grows;", " Thus worms suit all conditions;", " Misers are muck-worms, silk-worms beaux.", " And death-watches, physicians.", "", " That statesmen have the worm, is seen", " By all their winding play;", " Their conscience is a worm within,", " That gnaws them night and day.", "", " Ah, Moore! thy skill were well employ'd,", " And greater gain would rise,", " If thou couldst make the courtier void", " The worm that never dies!", "", " O learnèd friend of Abchurch Lane,", " Who sett'st our entrails free!", " Vain is thy art, thy powder vain,", " Since worms shall eat even thee.", "", " Our fate thou only canst adjourn", " Some few short years--no more;", " Even Button's Wits to worms shall turn,", " Who maggots were before." ], "linecount": "40" }, { "title": "To Walt Whitman In America", "author": "Algernon Charles Swinburne", "lines": [ "Send but a song oversea for us,", "Heart of their hearts who are free,", "Heart of their singer, to be for us", "More than our singing can be;", "Ours, in the tempest at error,", "With no light but the twilight of terror;", "Send us a song oversea!", "", "Sweet-smelling of pine-leaves and grasses,", "And blown as a tree through and through", "With the winds of the keen mountain-passes,", "And tender as sun-smitten dew;", "Sharp-tongued as the winter that shakes", "The wastes of your limitless lakes,", "Wide-eyed as the sea-line's blue.", "", "O strong-winged soul with prophetic", "Lips hot with the bloodheats of song,", "With tremor of heartstrings magnetic,", "With thoughts as thunders in throng,", "With consonant ardours of chords", "That pierce men's souls as with swords", "And hale them hearing along,", "", "Make us too music, to be with us", "As a word from a world's heart warm,", "To sail the dark as a sea with us,", "Full-sailed, outsinging the storm,", "A song to put fire in our ears", "Whose burning shall burn up tears,", "Whose sign bid battle reform;", "", "A note in the ranks of a clarion,", "A word in the wind of cheer,", "To consume as with lightning the carrion", "That makes time foul for us here;", "In the air that our dead things infest", "A blast of the breath of the west,", "Till east way as west way is clear.", "", "Out of the sun beyond sunset,", "From the evening whence morning shall be,", "With the rollers in measureless onset,", "With the van of the storming sea,", "With the world-wide wind, with the breath", "That breaks ships driven upon death,", "With the passion of all things free,", "", "With the sea-steeds footless and frantic,", "White myriads for death to bestride", "In the charge of the ruining Atlantic", "Where deaths by regiments ride,", "With clouds and clamours of waters,", "With a long note shriller than slaughter's", "On the furrowless fields world-wide,", "", "With terror, with ardour and wonder,", "With the soul of the season that wakes", "When the weight of a whole year's thunder", "In the tidestream of autumn breaks,", "Let the flight of the wide-winged word", "Come over, come in and be heard,", "Take form and fire for our sakes.", "", "For a continent bloodless with travail", "Here toils and brawls as it can,", "And the web of it who shall unravel", "Of all that peer on the plan;", "Would fain grow men, but they grow not,", "And fain be free, but they know not", "One name for freedom and man?", "", "One name, not twain for division;", "One thing, not twain, from the birth;", "Spirit and substance and vision,", "Worth more than worship is worth;", "Unbeheld, unadored, undivined,", "The cause, the centre, the mind,", "The secret and sense of the earth.", "", "Here as a weakling in irons,", "Here as a weanling in bands,", "As a prey that the stake-net environs,", "Our life that we looked for stands;", "And the man-child naked and dear,", "Democracy, turns on us here", "Eyes trembling with tremulous hands", "", "It sees not what season shall bring to it", "Sweet fruit of its bitter desire;", "Few voices it hears yet sing to it,", "Few pulses of hearts reaspire;", "Foresees not time, nor forehears", "The noises of imminent years,", "Earthquake, and thunder, and fire:", "", "When crowned and weaponed and curbless", "It shall walk without helm or shield", "The bare burnt furrows and herbless", "Of war's last flame-stricken field,", "Till godlike, equal with time,", "It stand in the sun sublime,", "In the godhead of man revealed.", "", "Round your people and over them", "Light like raiment is drawn,", "Close as a garment to cover them", "Wrought not of mail nor of lawn;", "Here, with hope hardly to wear,", "Naked nations and bare", "Swim, sink, strike out for the dawn.", "", "Chains are here, and a prison,", "Kings, and subjects, and shame;", "If the God upon you be arisen,", "How should our songs be the same?", "How, in confusion of change,", "How shall we sing, in a strange", "Land, songs praising his name?", "", "God is buried and dead to us,", "Even the spirit of earth,", "Freedom; so have they said to us,", "Some with mocking and mirth,", "Some with heartbreak and tears;", "And a God without eyes, without ears,", "Who shall sing of him, dead in the birth?", "", "The earth-god Freedom, the lonely", "Face lightening, the footprint unshod,", "Not as one man crucified only", "Nor scourged with but one life's rod;", "The soul that is substance of nations,", "Reincarnate with fresh generations;", "The great god Man, which is God.", "", "But in weariest of years and obscurest", "Doth it live not at heart of all things,", "The one God and one spirit, a purest", "Life, fed from unstanchable springs?", "Within love, within hatred it is,", "And its seed in the stripe as the kiss,", "And in slaves is the germ, and in kings.", "", "Freedom we call it, for holier", "Name of the soul's there is none;", "Surelier it labours if slowlier,", "Than the metres of star or of sun;", "Slowlier than life into breath,", "Surelier than time into death,", "It moves till its labour be done.", "", "Till the motion be done and the measure", "Circling through season and clime,", "Slumber and sorrow and pleasure,", "Vision of virtue and crime;", "Till consummate with conquering eyes,", "A soul disembodied, it rise", "From the body transfigured of time.", "", "Till it rise and remain and take station", "With the stars of the worlds that rejoice;", "Till the voice of its heart's exultation", "Be as theirs an invariable voice;", "By no discord of evil estranged,", "By no pause, by no breach in it changed,", "By no clash in the chord of its choice.", "", "It is one with the world's generations,", "With the spirit, the star, and the sod;", "With the kingless and king-stricken nations,", "With the cross, and the chain, and the rod;", "The most high, the most secret, most lonely,", "The earth-soul Freedom, that only", "Lives, and that only is God." ], "linecount": "154" }, { "title": "Upon Appleton House, to My Lord Fairfax", "author": "Andrew Marvell", "lines": [ "Within this sober Frame expect", "Work of no Forrain Architect;", "That unto Caves the Quarries drew,", "And Forrests did to Pastures hew;", "Who of his great Design in pain", "Did for a Model vault his Brain,", "Whose Columnes should so high be rais'd", "To arch the Brows that on them gaz'd.", "", "Why should of all things Man unrul'd", "Such unproportion'd dwellings build?", "The Beasts are by their Denns exprest:", "And Birds contrive an equal Nest;", "The low roof'd Tortoises do dwell", "In cases fit of Tortoise-shell:", "No Creature loves an empty space;", "Their Bodies measure out their Place.", "", "But He, superfluously spread,", "Demands more room alive then dead.", "And in his hollow Palace goes", "Where Winds as he themselves may lose.", "What need of all this Marble Crust", "T'impark the wanton Mose of Dust,", "That thinks by Breadth the World t'unite", "Though the first Builders fail'd in Height?", "", "But all things are composed here", "Like Nature, orderly and near:", "In which we the Dimensions find", "Of that more sober Age and Mind,", "When larger sized Men did stoop", "To enter at a narrow loop;", "As practising, in doors so strait,", "To strain themselves through Heavens Gate.", "", "And surely when the after Age", "Shall hither come in Pilgrimage,", "These sacred Places to adore,", "By Vere and Fairfax trod before,", "Men will dispute how their Extent", "Within such dwarfish Confines went:", "And some will smile at this, as well", "As Romulus his Bee-like Cell.", "", "Humility alone designs", "Those short but admirable Lines,", "By which, ungirt and unconstrain'd,", "Things greater are in less contain'd.", "Let others vainly strive t'immure", "The Circle in the Quadrature!", "These holy Mathematics can", "In ev'ry Figure equal Man.", "", "Yet thus the laden House does sweat,", "And scarce indures the Master great:", "But where he comes the swelling Hall", "Stirs, and the Square grows Spherical;", "More by his Magnitude distrest,", "Then he is by its straitness prest:", "And too officiously it slights", "That in it self which him delights.", "", "So Honour better Lowness bears,", "Then That unwonted Greatness wears", "Height with a certain Grace does bend,", "But low Things clownishly ascend.", "And yet what needs there here Excuse,", "Where ev'ry Thing does answer Use?", "Where neatness nothing can condemn,", "Nor Pride invent what to contemn?", "", "A Stately Frontispice Of Poor", "Adorns without the open Door:", "Nor less the Rooms within commends", "Daily new Furniture Of Friends.", "The House was built upon the Place", "Only as for a Mark Of Grace;", "And for an Inn to entertain", "Its Lord a while, but not remain.", "", "Him Bishops-Hill, or Denton may,", "Or Bilbrough, better hold then they:", "But Nature here hath been so free", "As if she said leave this to me.", "Art would more neatly have defac'd", "What she had laid so sweetly wast;", "In fragrant Gardens, shaddy Woods,", "Deep Meadows, and transparent Floods.", "", "While with slow Eyes we these survey,", "And on each pleasant footstep stay,", "We opportunly may relate", "The progress of this Houses Fate.", "A Nunnery first gave it birth.", "For Virgin Buildings oft brought forth.", "And all that Neighbour-Ruine shows", "The Quarries whence this dwelling rose.", "", "Near to this gloomy Cloysters Gates", "There dwelt the blooming Virgin Thwates,", "Fair beyond Measure, and an Heir", "Which might Deformity make fair.", "And oft She spent the Summer Suns", "Discoursing with the Suttle Nuns.", "Whence in these Words one to her weav'd,", "(As 'twere by Chance) Thoughts long conceiv'd.", "", "\"Within this holy leisure we", "\"Live innocently as you see.", "\"these Walls restrain the World without,", "\"But hedge our Liberty about.", "\"These Bars inclose the wider Den", "\"Of those wild Creatures, called Men.", "\"The Cloyster outward shuts its Gates,", "\"And, from us, locks on them the Grates.", "", "\"Here we, in shining Armour white,", "\"Like Virgin Amazons do fight.", "\"And our chast Lamps we hourly trim,", "\"Lest the great Bridegroom find them dim.", "\"Our Orient Breaths perfumed are", "\"With insense of incessant Pray'r.", "\"And Holy-water of our Tears", "\"Most strangly our complexion clears.", "", "\"Not Tears of Grief; but such as those", "\"With which calm Pleasure overflows;", "\"Or Pity, when we look on you", "\"That live without this happy Vow.", "\"How should we grieve that must be seen", "\"Each one a Spouse, and each a Queen;", "\"And can in Heaven hence behold", "\"Our brighter Robes and Crowns of Gold?", "", "\"When we have prayed all our Beads,", "\"Some One the holy Legend reads;", "\"While all the rest with Needles paint", "\"The Face and Graces of the Saint.", "\"But what the Linnen can't receive", "\"They in their Lives do interweave", "\"This work the Saints best represents;", "\"That serves for Altar's Ornaments.", "", "\"But much it to our work would add", "\"If here your hand, your Face we had:", "\"By it we would our Lady touch;", "\"Yet thus She you resembles much.", "\"Some of your Features, as we sow'd,", "\"Through ev'ry Shrine should be bestow'd.", "\"And in one Beauty we would take", "\"Enough a thousand Saints to make.", "", "\"And (for I dare not quench the Fire", "\"That me does for your good inspire)", "\"'Twere Sacriledge a Mant t'admit", "\"To holy things, for Heaven fit.", "\"I see the Angels in a Crown", "\"On you the Lillies show'ring down:", "\"And round about you Glory breaks,", "\"That something more then humane speaks.", "", "\"All Beauty, when at such a height,", "\"Is so already consecrate.", "\"Fairfax I know; and long ere this", "\"Have mark'd the Youth, and what he is.", "\"But can he such a Rival seem", "\"For whom you Heav'n should disesteem?", "\"Ah, no! and 'twould more Honour prove", "\"He your Devoto were, then Love.", "", "Here live beloved, and obey'd:", "Each one your Sister, each your Maid.", "\"And, if our Rule seem strictly pend,", "\"The Rule it self to you shall bend.", "\"Our Abbess too, now far in Age,", "\"Doth your succession near presage.", "\"How soft the yoke on us would lye,", "\"Might such fair Hands as yours it tye!", "", "\"Your voice, the sweetest of the Quire,", "\"Shall draw Heav'n nearer, raise us higher.", "\"And your Example, if our Head,", "\"Will soon us to perfection lead.", "\"Those Virtues to us all so dear,", "\"Will straight grow Sanctity when here:", "\"And that, once sprung, increase so fast", "\"Till Miracles it work at last.", "", "\"Nor is our Order yet so nice,", "\"Delight to banish as a Vice.", "\"Here Pleasure Piety doth meet;", "\"One perfecting the other Sweet.", "\"So through the mortal fruit we boyl", "\"The Sugars uncorrupting Oyl:", "\"And that which perisht while we pull,", "\"Is thus preserved clear and full.", "", "\"For such indeed are all our Arts;", "\"Still handling Natures finest Parts.", "\"Flow'rs dress the Altars; for the Clothes,", "\"The Sea-born Amber we compose;", "\"Balms for the griv'd we draw; and pasts", "\"We mold, as Baits for curious tasts.", "\"What need is here of Man? unless", "\"These as sweet Sins we should confess.", "", "\"Each Night among us to your side", "\"Appoint a fresh and Virgin Bride;", "\"Whom if Our Lord at midnight find,", "\"Yet Neither should be left behind.", "\"Where you may lye as chast in Bed,", "\"As Pearls together billeted.", "\"All Night embracing Arm in Arm,", "\"Like Chrystal pure with Cotton warm.", "", "\"But what is this to all the store", "\"Of Joys you see, and may make more!", "\"Try but a while, if you be wise:", "\"The Tryal neither Costs, nor Tyes.", "Now Fairfax seek her promis'd faith:", "Religion that dispensed hath;", "Which She hence forward does begin;", "The Nuns smooth Tongue has suckt her in.", "", "Oft, though he knew it was in vain,", "Yet would he valiantly complain.", "\"Is this that Sanctity so great,", "\"An Art by which you finly'r cheat", "\"Hypocrite Witches, hence Avant,", "\"Who though in prison yet inchant!", "\"Death only can such Theeves make fast,", "\"As rob though in the Dungeon cast.", "", "\"Were there but, when this House was made,", "\"One Stone that a just Hand had laid,", "\"It must have fall'n upon her Head", "\"Who first Thee from thy Faith misled.", "\"And yet, how well soever ment,", "\"With them 'twould soon grow fraudulent", "\"For like themselves they alter all,", "\"And vice infects the very Wall.", "", "\"But sure those Buildings last not long,", "\"Founded by Folly, kept by Wrong.", "\"I know what Fruit their Gardens yield,", "\"When they it think by Night conceal'd.", "\"Fly from their Vices. 'Tis thy state,", "\"Not Thee, that they would consecrate.", "\"Fly from their Ruine. How I fear", "\"Though guiltless lest thou perish there.", "", "What should he do? He would respect", "Religion, but not Right neglect:", "For first Religion taught him Right,", "And dazled not but clear'd his sight.", "Sometimes resolv'd his Sword he draws,", "But reverenceth then the Laws:", "\"For Justice still that Courage led;", "First from a Judge, then Souldier bred.", "", "Small Honour would be in the Storm.", "The Court him grants the lawful Form;", "Which licens'd either Peace or Force,", "To hinder the unjust Divorce.", "Yet still the Nuns his Right debar'd,", "Standing upon their holy Guard.", "Ill-counsell'd Women, do you know", "Whom you resist, or what you do?", "", "Is not this he whose Offspring fierce", "Shall fight through all the Universe;", "And with successive Valour try", "France, Poland, either Germany;", "Till one, as long since prophecy'd,", "His Horse through conquer'd Britain ride?", "Yet, against Fate, his Spouse they kept;", "And the great Race would intercept.", "", "Some to the Breach against their Foes", "Their Wooden Saints in vain oppose", "Another bolder stands at push", "With their old Holy-Water Brush.", "While the disjointed Abbess threads", "The gingling Chain-shot of her Beads.", "But their lowd'st Cannon were their Lungs;", "And sharpest Weapons were their Tongues.", "", "But, waving these aside like Flyes,", "Young Fairfax through the Wall does rise.", "Then th' unfrequented Vault appear'd,", "And superstitions vainly fear'd.", "The Relicks False were set to view;", "Only the Jewels there were true.", "But truly bright and holy Thwaites", "That weeping at the Altar waites.", "", "But the glad Youth away her bears,", "And to the Nuns bequeaths her Tears:", "Who guiltily their Prize bemoan,", "Like Gipsies that a Child hath stoln.", "Thenceforth (as when th' Inchantment ends", "The Castle vanishes or rends)", "The wasting Cloister with the rest", "Was in one instant dispossest.", "", "At the demolishing, this Seat", "To Fairfax fell as by Escheat.", "And what both Nuns and Founders will'd", "'Tis likely better thus fulfill'd,", "For if the Virgin prov'd not theirs,", "The Cloyster yet remained hers.", "Though many a Nun there made her vow,", "'Twas no Religious-House till now.", "", "From that blest Bed the Heroe came,", "Whom France and Poland yet does fame:", "Who, when retired here to Peace,", "His warlike Studies could not cease;", "But laid these Gardens out in sport", "In the just Figure of a Fort;", "And with five Bastions it did fence,", "As aiming one for ev'ry Sense.", "", "When in the East the Morning Ray", "Hangs out the Colours of the Day,", "The Bee through these known Allies hums,", "Beating the Dian with its Drumms.", "Then Flow'rs their drowsie Eylids raise,", "Their Silken Ensigns each displayes,", "And dries its Pan yet dank with Dew,", "And fills its Flask with Odours new.", "", "These, as their Governour goes by,", "In fragrant Vollyes they let fly;", "And to salute their Governess", "Again as great a charge they press:", "None for the Virgin Nymph; for She", "Seems with the Flow'rs a Flow'r to be.", "And think so still! though not compare", "With Breath so sweet, or Cheek so faire.", "", "Well shot ye Fireman! Oh how sweet,", "And round your equal Fires do meet;", "Whose shrill report no Ear can tell,", "But Ecchoes to the Eye and smell.", "See how the Flow'rs, as at Parade,", "Under their Colours stand displaid:", "Each Regiment in order grows,", "That of the Tulip Pinke and Rose.", "", "But when the vigilant Patroul", "Of Stars walks round about the Pole,", "Their Leaves, that to the stalks are curl'd,", "Seem to their Staves the Ensigns furl'd.", "Then in some Flow'rs beloved Hut", "Each Bee as Sentinel is shut;", "And sleeps so too: but, if once stir'd,", "She runs you through, or askes The Word.", "", "Oh Thou, that dear and happy Isle", "The Garden of the World ere while,", "Thou Paradise of four Seas,", "Which Heaven planted us to please,", "But, to exclude the World, did guard", "With watry if not flaming Sword;", "What luckless Apple did we tast,", "To make us Mortal, and The Wast.", "", "Unhappy! shall we never more", "That sweet Milltia restore,", "When Gardens only had their Towrs,", "And all the Garrisons were Flow'rs,", "When Roses only Arms might bear,", "And Men did rosie Garlands wear?", "Tulips, in several Colours barr'd,", "Were then the Switzers of our Guard.", "", "The Gardiner had the Souldiers place,", "And his more gentle Forts did trace.", "The Nursery of all things green", "Was then the only Magazeen.", "The Winter Quarters were the Stoves,", "Where he the tender Plants removes.", "But War all this doth overgrow:", "We Ord'nance Plant and Powder sow.", "", "And yet their walks one on the Sod", "Who, had it pleased him and God,", "Might once have made our Gardens spring", "Fresh as his own and flourishing.", "But he preferr'd to the Cinque Ports", "These five imaginary Forts:", "And, in those half-dry Trenches, spann'd", "Pow'r which the Ocean might command.", "", "For he did, with his utmost Skill,", "Ambition weed, but Conscience till.", "Conscience, that Heaven-nursed Plant,", "Which most our Earthly Gardens want.", "A prickling leaf it bears, and such", "As that which shrinks at ev'ry touch;", "But Flow'rs eternal, and divine,", "That in the Crowns of Saints do shine.", "", "The sight does from these Bastions ply,", "Th' invisible Artilery;", "And at proud Cawood Castle seems", "To point the Battery of its Beams.", "As if it quarrell'd in the Seat", "Th' Ambition of its Prelate great.", "But ore the Meads below it plays,", "Or innocently seems to gaze.", "", "And now to the Abbyss I pass", "Of that unfathomable Grass,", "Where Men like Grashoppers appear,", "But Grashoppers are Gyants there:", "They, in there squeking Laugh, contemn", "Us as we walk more low then them:", "And, from the Precipices tall", "Of the green spir's, to us do call.", "", "To see Men through this Meadow Dive,", "We wonder how they rise alive.", "As, under Water, none does know", "Whether he fall through it or go.", "But, as the Marriners that sound,", "And show upon their Lead the Ground,", "They bring up Flow'rs so to be seen,", "And prove they've at the Bottom been.", "", "No Scene that turns with Engines strange", "Does oftner then these Meadows change,", "For when the Sun the Grass hath vext,", "The tawny Mowers enter next;", "Who seem like Israaliies to be,", "Walking on foot through a green Sea.", "To them the Grassy Deeps divide,", "And crowd a Lane to either Side.", "", "With whistling Sithe, and Elbow strong,", "These Massacre the Grass along:", "While one, unknowing, carves the Rail,", "Whose yet unfeather'd Quils her fail.", "The Edge all bloody from its Breast", "He draws, and does his stroke detest;", "Fearing the Flesh untimely mow'd", "To him a Fate as black forebode.", "", "But bloody Thestylis, that waites", "To bring the mowing Camp their Cates,", "Greedy as Kites has trust it up,", "And forthwith means on it to sup:", "When on another quick She lights,", "And cryes, he call'd us Israelites;", "But now, to make his saying true,", "Rails rain for Quails, for Manna Dew.", "", "Unhappy Birds! what does it boot", "To build below the Grasses Root;", "When Lowness is unsafe as Hight,", "And Chance o'retakes what scapeth spight?", "And now your Orphan Parents Call", "Sounds your untimely Funeral.", "Death-Trumpets creak in such a Note,", "And 'tis the Sourdine in their Throat.", "", "Or sooner hatch or higher build:", "The Mower now commands the Field;", "In whose new Traverse seemeth wrought", "A Camp of Battail newly fought:", "Where, as the Meads with Hay, the Plain", "Lyes quilted ore with Bodies slain:", "The Women that with forks it filing,", "Do represent the Pillaging.", "", "And now the careless Victors play,", "Dancing the Triumphs of the Hay;", "Where every Mowers wholesome Heat", "Smells like an Alexanders Sweat.", "Their Females fragrant as the Mead", "Which they in Fairy Circles tread:", "When at their Dances End they kiss,", "Their new-made Hay not sweeter is.", "", "When after this 'tis pil'd in Cocks,", "Like a calm Sea it shews the Rocks:", "We wondring in the River near", "How Boats among them safely steer.", "Or, like the Desert Memphis Sand,", "Short Pyramids of Hay do stand.", "And such the Roman Camps do rise", "In Hills for Soldiers Obsequies.", "", "This Scene again withdrawing brings", "A new and empty Face of things;", "A levell'd space, as smooth and plain,", "As Clothes for Lilly strecht to stain.", "The World when first created sure", "Was such a Table rase and pure.", "Or rather such is the Toril", "Ere the Bulls enter at Madril.", "", "For to this naked equal Flat,", "Which Levellers take Pattern at,", "The Villagers in common chase", "Their Cattle, which it closer rase;", "And what below the Sith increast", "Is pincht yet nearer by the Breast.", "Such, in the painted World, appear'd", "Davenant with th'Universal Heard.", "", "They seem within the polisht Grass", "A landskip drawen in Looking-Glass.", "And shrunk in the huge Pasture show", "As spots, so shap'd, on Faces do.", "Such Fleas, ere they approach the Eye,", "In Multiplyiug Glasses lye.", "They feed so wide, so slowly move,", "As Constellatious do above.", "", "Then, to conclude these pleasant Acts,", "Denton sets ope its Cataracts;", "And makes the Meadow truly be", "(What it but seem'd before) a Sea.", "For, jealous of its Lords long stay,", "It try's t'invite him thus away.", "The River in it self is drown'd,", "And Isl's th' astonish Cattle round.", "", "Let others tell the Paradox,", "How Eels now bellow in the Ox;", "How Horses at their Tails do kick,", "Turn'd as they hang to Leeches quick;", "How Boats can over Bridges sail;", "And Fishes do the Stables scale.", "How Salmons trespassing are found;", "And Pikes are taken in the Pound.", "", "But I, retiring from the Flood,", "Take Sanctuary in the Wood;", "And, while it lasts, my self imbark", "In this yet green, yet growing Ark;", "Where the first Carpenter might best", "Fit Timber for his Keel have Prest.", "And where all Creatures might have shares,", "Although in Armies, not in Paires.", "", "The double Wood of ancient Stocks", "Link'd in so thick, an Union locks,", "It like two Pedigrees appears,", "On one hand Fairfax, th' other Veres:", "Of whom though many fell in War,", "Yet more to Heaven shooting are:", "And, as they Natures Cradle deckt,", "Will in green Age her Hearse expect.", "", "When first the Eye this Forrest sees", "It seems indeed as Wood not Trees:", "As if their Neighbourhood so old", "To one great Trunk them all did mold.", "There the huge Bulk takes place, as ment", "To thrust up a Fifth Element;", "And stretches still so closely wedg'd", "As if the Night within were hedg'd.", "", "Dark all without it knits; within", "It opens passable and thin;", "And in as loose an order grows,", "As the Corinthean Porticoes.", "The Arching Boughs unite between", "The Columnes of the Temple green;", "And underneath the winged Quires", "Echo about their tuned Fires.", "", "The Nightingale does here make choice", "To sing the Tryals of her Voice.", "Low Shrubs she sits in, and adorns", "With Musick high the squatted Thorns.", "But highest Oakes stoop down to hear,", "And listning Elders prick the Ear.", "The Thorn, lest it should hurt her, draws", "Within the Skin its shrunken claws.", "", "But I have for my Musick found", "A Sadder, yet more pleasing Sound:", "The Stock-doves whose fair necks are grac'd", "With Nuptial Rings their Ensigns chast;", "Yet always, for some Cause unknown,", "Sad pair unto the Elms they moan.", "O why should such a Couple mourn,", "That in so equal Flames do burn!", "", "Then as I carless on the Bed", "Of gelid Straw-berryes do tread,", "And through the Hazles thick espy", "The hatching Thrastles shining Eye,", "The Heron from the Ashes top,", "The eldest of its young lets drop,", "As if it Stork-like did pretend", "That Tribute to its Lord to send.", "", "But most the Hewel's wonders are,", "Who here has the Holt-felsters care.", "He walks still upright from the Root,", "Meas'ring the Timber with his Foot;", "And all the way, to keep it clean,", "Doth from the Bark the Wood-moths glean.", "He, with his Beak, examines well", "Which fit to stand and which to fell.", "", "The good he numbers up, and hacks;", "As if he mark'd them with the Ax.", "But where he, tinkling with his Beak,", "Does find the hollow Oak to speak,", "That for his building he designs,", "And through the tainted Side he mines.", "Who could have thought the tallest Oak", "Should fall by such a feeble Strok'!", "", "Nor would it, had the Tree not fed", "A Traitor-worm, within it bred.", "(As first our Flesh corrupt within", "Tempts impotent and bashful Sin.", "And yet that Worm triumphs not long,", "But serves to feed the Hewels young.", "While the Oake seems to fall content,", "Viewing the Treason's Punishment.", "", "Thus I, easie Philosopher,", "Among the Birds and Trees confer:", "And little now to make me, wants", "Or of the Fowles, or of the Plants.", "Give me but Wings as they, and I", "Streight floting on the Air shall fly:", "Or turn me but, and you shall see", "I was but an inverted Tree.", "", "Already I begin to call", "In their most-learned Original:", "And where I Language want,my Signs", "The Bird upon the Bough divines;", "And more attentive there doth sit", "Then if She were with Lime-twigs knit.", "No Leaf does tremble in the Wind", "Which I returning cannot find.", "", "Out of these scatter'd Sibyls Leaves", "Strange Prophecies my Phancy weaves:", "And in one History consumes,", "Like Mexique Paintings, all the Plumes.", "What Rome, Greece, Palestine, ere said", "I in this light Mosaick read.", "Thrice happy he who, not mistook,", "Hath read in Natures mystick Book.", "", "And see how Chance's better Wit", "Could with a Mask my studies hit!", "The Oak-Leaves me embroyder all,", "Between which Caterpillars crawl:", "And Ivy, with familiar trails,", "Me licks, and clasps, and curles, and hales.", "Under this antick Cope I move", "Like some great Prelate of the Grove,", "", "Then, languishing with ease, I toss", "On Pallets swoln of Velvet Moss;", "While the Wind, cooling through the Boughs,", "Flatters with Air my panting Brows.", "Thanks for my Rest ye Mossy Banks,", "And unto you cool Zephyr's Thanks,", "Who, as my Hair, my Thoughts too shed,", "And winnow from the Chaff my Head.", "", "How safe, methinks, and strong, behind", "These Trees have I incamp'd my Mind;", "Where Beauty, aiming at the Heart,", "Bends in some Tree its useless Dart;", "And where the World no certain Shot", "Can make, or me it toucheth not.", "But I on it securely play,", "And gaul its Horsemen all the Day.", "", "Bind me ye Woodbines in your 'twines,", "Curle me about ye gadding Vines,", "And Oh so close your Circles lace,", "That I may never leave this Place:", "But, lest your Fetters prove too weak,", "Ere I your Silken Bondage break,", "Do you, O Brambles, chain me too,", "And courteous Briars nail me though.", "", "Here in the Morning tye my Chain,", "Where the two Woods have made a Lane;", "While, like a Guard on either side,", "The Trees before their Lord divide;", "This, like a long and equal Thread,", "Betwixt two Labyrinths does lead.", "But, where the Floods did lately drown,", "There at the Ev'ning stake me down.", "", "For now the Waves are fal'n and dry'd,", "And now the Meadows fresher dy'd;", "Whose Grass, with moister colour dasht,", "Seems as green Silks but newly washt.", "No Serpent new nor Crocodile", "Remains behind our little Nile;", "Unless it self you will mistake,", "Among these Meads the only Snake.", "", "See in what wanton harmless folds", "It ev'ry where the Meadow holds;", "And its yet muddy back doth lick,", "Till as a Chrystal Mirrour slick;", "Where all things gaze themselves, and doubt", "If they be in it or without.", "And for his shade which therein shines,", "Narcissus like, the Sun too pines.", "", "Oh what a Pleasure 'tis to hedge", "My Temples here with heavy sedge;", "Abandoning my lazy Side,", "Stretcht as a Bank unto the Tide;", "Or to suspend my sliding Foot", "On the Osiers undermined Root,", "And in its Branches tough to hang,", "While at my Lines the Fishes twang!", "", "But now away my Hooks, my Quills,", "And Angles, idle Utensils.", "The Young Maria walks to night:", "Hide trifling Youth thy Pleasures slight.", "'Twere shame that such judicious Eyes", "Should with such Toyes a Man surprize;", "She that already is the Law", "Of all her Sex, her Ages Aw.", "", "See how loose Nature, in respect", "To her, it self doth recollect;", "And every thing so whisht and fine,", "Starts forth with to its Bonne Mine.", "The Sun himself, of Her aware,", "Seems to descend with greater Care,", "And lest She see him go to Bed,", "In blushing Clouds conceales his Head.", "", "So when the Shadows laid asleep", "From underneath these Banks do creep,", "And on the River as it flows", "With Eben Shuts begin to close;", "The modest Halcyon comes in sight,", "Flying betwixt the Day and Night;", "And such an horror calm and dumb,", "Admiring Nature does benum.", "", "The viscous Air, wheres'ere She fly,", "Follows and sucks her Azure dy;", "The gellying Stream compacts below,", "If it might fix her shadow so;", "The Stupid Fishes hang, as plain", "As Flies in Chrystal overt'ane,", "And Men the silent Scene assist,", "Charm'd with the saphir-winged Mist.", "", "Maria such, and so doth hush", "The World, and through the Ev'ning rush.", "No new-born Comet such a Train", "Draws through the Skie, nor Star new-slain.", "For streight those giddy Rockets fail,", "Which from the putrid Earth exhale,", "But by her Flames, in Heaven try'd,", "Nature is wholly Vitrifi'd.", "", "'Tis She that to these Gardens gave", "That wondrous Beauty which they have;", "She streightness on the Woods bestows;", "To Her the Meadow sweetness owes;", "Nothing could make the River be", "So Chrystal-pure but only She;", "She yet more Pure, Sweet, Streight, and Fair,", "Then Gardens, Woods, Meads, Rivers are.", "", "Therefore what first She on them spent,", "They gratefully again present.", "The Meadow Carpets where to tread;", "The Garden Flow'rs to Crown Her Head;", "And for a Glass the limpid Brook,", "Where She may all her Beautyes look;", "But, since She would not have them seen,", "The Wood about her draws a Skreen.", "", "For She, to higher Beauties rais'd,", "Disdains to be for lesser prais'd.", "She counts her Beauty to converse", "In all the Languages as hers;", "Not yet in those her self imployes", "But for the Wisdome, not the Noyse;", "Nor yet that Wisdome would affect,", "But as 'tis Heavens Dialect.", "", "Blest Nymph! that couldst so soon prevent", "Those Trains by Youth against thee meant;", "Tears (watry Shot that pierce the Mind;)", "And Sighs (Loves Cannon charg'd with Wind;)", "True Praise (That breaks through all defence;)", "And feign'd complying Innocence;", "But knowing where this Ambush lay,", "She scap'd the safe, but roughest Way.", "", "This 'tis to have been from the first", "In a Domestick Heaven nurst,", "Under the Discipline severe", "Of Fairfax, and the starry Vere;", "Where not one object can come nigh", "But pure, and spotless as the Eye;", "And Goodness doth it self intail", "On Females, if there want a Male.", "", "Go now fond Sex that on your Face", "Do all your useless Study place,", "Nor once at Vice your Brows dare knit", "Lest the smooth Forehead wrinkled sit", "Yet your own Face shall at you grin,", "Thorough the Black-bag of your Skin;", "When knowledge only could have fill'd", "And Virtue all those Furows till'd.", "", "Hence She with Graces more divine", "Supplies beyond her Sex the Line;", "And, like a sprig of Misleto,", "On the Fairfacian Oak does grow;", "Whence, for some universal good,", "The Priest shall cut the sacred Bud;", "While her glad Parents most rejoice,", "And make their Destiny their Choice.", "", "Mean time ye Fields, Springs, Bushes, Flow'rs,", "Where yet She leads her studious Hours,", "(Till Fate her worthily translates,", "And find a Fairfax for our Thwaites)", "Employ the means you have by Her,", "And in your kind your selves preferr;", "That, as all Virgins She preceds,", "So you all Woods, Streams, Gardens, Meads.", "", "For you Thessalian Tempe's Seat", "Shall now be scorn'd as obsolete;", "Aranjeuz, as less, disdain'd;", "The Bel-Retiro as constrain'd;", "But name not the Idalian Grove,", "For 'twas the Seat of wanton Love;", "Much less the Dead's Elysian Fields,", "Yet nor to them your Beauty yields.", "", "'Tis not, what once it was, the World;", "But a rude heap together hurl'd;", "All negligently overthrown,", "Gulfes, Deserts, Precipices, Stone.", "Your lesser World contains the same.", "But in more decent Order tame;", "You Heaven's Center, Nature's Lap.", "And Paradice's only Map.", "", "But now the Salmon-Fishers moist", "Their Leathern Boats begin to hoist;", "And, like Antipodes in Shoes,", "Have shod their Heads in their Canoos.", "How Tortoise like, but not so slow,", "These rational Amphibii go?", "Let's in: for the dark Hemisphere", "Does now like one of them appear." ], "linecount": "776" }, { "title": "Tom May's Death", "author": "Andrew Marvell", "lines": [ "As one put drunk into the Packet-boat,", "Tom May was hurry'd hence and did not know't.", "But was amaz'd on the Elysian side,", "And with an Eye uncertain, gazing wide,", "Could not determine in what place he was,", "For whence in Stevens ally Trees or Grass.", "Nor where the Popes head, nor the Mitre lay,", "Signs by which still he found and lost his way.", "At last while doubtfully he all compares,", "He saw near hand, as he imagin'd Ares.", "Such did he seem for corpulence and port,", "But 'twas a man much of another sort;", "'Twas Ben that in the dusky Laurel shade", "Amongst the Chorus of old Poets laid,", "Sounding of ancient Heroes, such as were", "The Subjects Safety, and the Rebel's Fear.", "But how a double headed Vulture Eats,", "Brutus and Cassius the Peoples cheats.", "But seeing May he varied streight his song,", "Gently to signifie that he was wrong.", "Cups more then civil of Emilthian wine,", "I sing (said he) and the Pharsalian Sign,", "Where the Historian of the Common-wealth", "In his own Bowels sheath'd the conquering health.", "By this May to himself and them was come,", "He found he was tranflated, and by whom.", "Yet then with foot as stumbling as his tongue", "Prest for his place among the Learned throng.", "But Ben, who knew not neither foe nor friend,", "Sworn Enemy to all that do pretend,", "Rose more then ever he was seen severe,", "Shook his gray locks, and his own Bayes did tear", "At this intrusion. Then with Laurel wand,", "The awful Sign of his supream command.", "At whose dread Whisk Virgil himself does quake,", "And Horace patiently its stroke does take,", "As he crowds in he whipt him ore the pate", "Like Pembroke at the Masque, and then did rate.", "Far from these blessed shades tread back agen", "Most servil' wit, and Mercenary Pen.", "Polydore, Lucan, Allan, Vandale, Goth,", "Malignant Poet and Historian both.", "Go seek the novice Statesmen, and obtrude", "On them some Romane cast similitude,", "Tell them of Liberty, the Stories fine,", "Until you all grow Consuls in your wine.", "Or thou Dictator of the glass bestow", "On him the Cato, this the Cicero.", "Transferring old Rome hither in your talk,", "As Bethlem's House did to Loretto walk.", "Foul Architect that hadst not Eye to see", "How ill the measures of these States agree.", "And who by Romes example England lay,", "Those but to Lucan do continue May.", "But the nor Ignorance nor seeming good", "Misled, but malice fixt and understood.", "Because some one than thee more worthy weares", "The sacred Laurel, hence are all these teares?", "Must therefore all the World be set on flame,", "Because a Gazet writer mist his aim?", "And for a Tankard-bearing Muse must we", "As for the Basket Guelphs and Gibellines be?", "When the Sword glitters ore the Judges head,", "And fear has Coward Churchmen silenced,", "Then is the Poets time, 'tis then he drawes,", "And single fights forsaken Vertues cause.", "He, when the wheel of Empire, whirleth back,", "And though the World disjointed Axel crack,", "Sings still of ancient Rights and better Times,", "Seeks wretched good, arraigns successful Crimes.", "But thou base man first prostituted hast", "Our spotless knowledge and the studies chast.", "Apostatizing from our Arts and us,", "To turn the Chronicler to Spartacus.", "Yet wast thou taken hence with equal fate,", "Before thou couldst great Charles his death relate.", "But what will deeper wound thy little mind,", "Hast left surviving Davenant still behind", "Who laughs to see in this thy death renew'd,", "Right Romane poverty and gratitude.", "Poor Poet thou, and grateful Senate they,", "Who thy last Reckoning did so largely pay.", "And with the publick gravity would come,", "When thou hadst drunk thy last to lead thee home.", "If that can be thy home where Spencer lyes", "And reverend Chaucer, but their dust does rise", "Against thee, and expels thee from their side,", "As th' Eagles Plumes from other birds divide.", "Nor here thy shade must dwell, Return, Return,", "Where Sulphrey Phlegeton does ever burn.", "The Cerberus with all his Jawes shall gnash,", "Megera thee with all her Serpents lash.", "Thou rivited unto Ixion's wheel", "Shalt break, and the perpetual Vulture feel.", "'Tis just what Torments Poets ere did feign,", "Thou first Historically shouldst sustain.", "Thus by irrevocable Sentence cast,", "May only Master of these Revels past.", "And streight he vanisht in a Cloud of Pitch,", "Such as unto the Sabboth bears the Witch." ], "linecount": "100" }, { "title": "Upon My Dear and Loving Husband his Going into England Jan. 16", "author": "Anne Bradstreet", "lines": [ "O thou Most High who rulest all", "And hear'st the prayers of thine,", "O hearken, Lord, unto my suit", "And my petition sign.", "", "Into Thy everlasting arms Of mercy", "I commend Thy servant, Lord.", "Keep and preserve My husband,", "my dear friend.", "", "At Thy command, O Lord, he went,", "Nor nought could keep him back.", "Then let Thy promise joy his heart,", "O help and be not slack.", "", "Uphold my heart in Thee, O God.", "Thou art my strength and stay,", "Thou see'st how weak and frail I am,", "Hide not Thy face away.", "", "I in obedience to Thy will", "Thou knowest did submit.", "It was my duty so to do;", "O Lord, accept of it.", "", "Unthankfulness for mercies past", "Impute Thou not to me.", "O Lord, Thou know'st my weak desire", "Was to sing praise to Thee.", "", "Lord, be Thou pilot to the ship", "And send them prosperous gales.", "In storms and sickness, Lord, preserve.", "Thy goodness never fails.", "", "Unto Thy work he hath in hand", "Lord, grant Thou good success", "And favour in their eyes to whom", "He shall make his address.", "", "Remember, Lord, Thy folk whom Thou", "To wilderness hast brought;", "Let not Thine own inheritance", "Be sold away for nought.", "", "But tokens of Thy favour give,", "With joy send back my dear", "That I and all Thy servants may", "Rejoice with heavenly cheer.", "", "Lord, let my eyes see once again", "Him whom Thou gavest me", "That we together may sing praise", "Forever unto Thee.", "", "And the remainder of our days", "Shall consecrated be", "With an engaged heart to sing", "All praises unto Thee." ], "linecount": "48" }, { "title": "To Her Father with Some Verses", "author": "Anne Bradstreet", "lines": [ "Most truly honoured, and as truly dear,", "If worth in me or ought I do appear,", "Who can of right better demand the same", "Than may your worthy self from whom it came?", "The principal might yield a greater sum,", "Yet handled ill, amounts but to this crumb;", "My stock's so small I know not how to pay,", "My bond remains in force unto this day;", "Yet for part payment take this simple mite,", "Where nothing's to be had, kings loose their right.", "Such is my debt I may not say forgive,", "But as I can, I'll pay it while I live;", "Such is my bond, none can discharge but I,", "Yet paying is not paid until I die." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "To my Dear and Loving Husband", "author": "Anne Bradstreet", "lines": [ "If ever two were one, then surely we.", "If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee.", "If ever wife was happy in a man,", "Compare with me, ye women, if you can.", "I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold", "Or all the riches that the East doth hold.", "My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,", "Nor ought but love from thee give recompetence.", "Thy love is such I can no way repay.", "The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.", "Then while we live, in love let's so persever", "That when we live no more, we may live ever." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "In Reference to Her Children", "author": "Anne Bradstreet", "lines": [ "I had eight birds hatched in one nest,", "Four cocks there were, and hens the rest.", "I nursed them up with pain and care,", "Nor cost, nor labour did I spare,", "Till at the last they felt their wing,", "Mounted the trees, and learned to sing;", "Chief of the brood then took his flight", "To regions far and left me quite.", "My mournful chirps I after send,", "Till he return, or I do end:", "Leave not thy nest, thy dam and sire,", "Fly back and sing amidst this choir.", "My second bird did take her flight,", "And with her mate flew out of sight;", "Southward they both their course did bend,", "And seasons twain they there did spend,", "Till after blown by southern gales,", "They norward steered with filled sails.", "A prettier bird was no where seen,", "Along the beach among the treen.", "I have a third of colour white,", "On whom I placed no small delight;", "Coupled with mate loving and true,", "Hath also bid her dam adieu;", "And where Aurora first appears,", "She now hath perched to spend her years.", "One to the academy flew", "To chat among that learned crew;", "Ambition moves still in his breast", "That he might chant above the rest", "Striving for more than to do well,", "That nightingales he might excel.", "My fifth, whose down is yet scarce gone,", "Is 'mongst the shrubs and bushes flown,", "And as his wings increase in strength,", "On higher boughs he'll perch at length.", "My other three still with me nest,", "Until they're grown, then as the rest,", "Or here or there they'll take their flight,", "As is ordained, so shall they light.", "If birds could weep, then would my tears", "Let others know what are my fears", "Lest this my brood some harm should catch,", "And be surprised for want of watch,", "Whilst pecking corn and void of care,", "They fall un'wares in fowler's snare,", "Or whilst on trees they sit and sing,", "Some untoward boy at them do fling,", "Or whilst allured with bell and glass,", "The net be spread, and caught, alas.", "Or lest by lime-twigs they be foiled,", "Or by some greedy hawks be spoiled.", "O would my young, ye saw my breast,", "And knew what thoughts there sadly rest,", "Great was my pain when I you fed,", "Long did I keep you soft and warm,", "And with my wings kept off all harm,", "My cares are more and fears than ever,", "My throbs such now as 'fore were never.", "Alas, my birds, you wisdom want,", "Of perils you are ignorant;", "Oft times in grass, on trees, in flight,", "Sore accidents on you may light.", "O to your safety have an eye,", "So happy may you live and die.", "Meanwhile my days in tunes I'll spend,", "Till my weak lays with me shall end.", "In shady woods I'll sit and sing,", "And things that past to mind I'll bring.", "Once young and pleasant, as are you,", "But former toys (no joys) adieu.", "My age I will not once lament,", "But sing, my time so near is spent.", "And from the top bough take my flight", "Into a country beyond sight,", "Where old ones instantly grow young,", "And there with seraphims set song;", "No seasons cold, nor storms they see;", "But spring lasts to eternity.", "When each of you shall in your nest", "Among your young ones take your rest,", "In chirping language, oft them tell,", "You had a dam that loved you well,", "That did what could be done for young,", "And nursed you up till you were strong,", "And 'fore she once would let you fly,", "She showed you joy and misery;", "Taught what was good, and what was ill,", "What would save life, and what would kill.", "Thus gone, amongst you I may live,", "And dead, yet speak, and counsel give:", "Farewell, my birds, farewell adieu,", "I happy am, if well with you." ], "linecount": "93" }, { "title": "A Letter to Her Husband", "author": "Anne Bradstreet", "lines": [ "Absent upon Public Employment", "", "My head, my heart, mine eyes, my life, nay more,", "My joy, my magazine, of earthly store,", "If two be one, as surely thou and I,", "How stayest thou there, whilst I at Ipswich lie?", "So many steps, head from the heart to sever,", "If but a neck, soon should we be together.", "I, like the Earth this season, mourn in black,", "My Sun is gone so far in's zodiac,", "Whom whilst I 'joyed, nor storms, nor frost I felt,", "His warmth such fridged colds did cause to melt.", "My chilled limbs now numbed lie forlorn;", "Return; return, sweet Sol, from Capricorn;", "In this dead time, alas, what can I more", "Than view those fruits which through thy heart I bore?", "Which sweet contentment yield me for a space,", "True living pictures of their father's face.", "O strange effect! now thou art southward gone,", "I weary grow the tedious day so long;", "But when thou northward to me shalt return,", "I wish my Sun may never set, but burn", "Within the Cancer of my glowing breast,", "The welcome house of him my dearest guest.", "Where ever, ever stay, and go not thence,", "Till nature's sad decree shall call thee hence;", "Flesh of thy flesh, bone of thy bone,", "I here, thou there, yet both but one." ], "linecount": "27" }, { "title": "To My Dear And Loving Husband", "author": "Anne Bradstreet", "lines": [ "If ever two were one, then surely we.", "If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee.", "If ever wife was happy in a man,", "Compare with me, ye women, if you can.", "I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold", "Or all the riches that the East doth hold.", "My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,", "Nor ought but love from thee give recompetence.", "Thy love is such I can no way repay.", "The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.", "Then while we live, in love let's so persever", "That when we live no more, we may live ever." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "TO My Lord Colrane, In Answer to his Complemental Verses sent me under the Name of CLEANOR", "author": "Anne Killigrew", "lines": [ "LOng my dull Muse in heavy slumbers lay,", "Indulging Sloth, and to soft Ease gave way,", "Her Fill of Rest resolving to enjoy,", "Or fancying little worthy her employ.", "When Noble Cleanors obliging Strains", "Her, the neglected Lyre to tune, constrains.", "Confus'd at first, she rais'd her drowsie Head,", "Ponder'd a while, then pleas'd, forsook her Bed.", "Survey'd each Line with Fancy richly fraught,", "Re-read, and then revolv'd them in her Thought.", " And can it be ? she said, and can it be ?", "That 'mong the Great Ones I a Poet see ?", "", "The Great Ones? who their Ill-spent time devide,", "'Twixt dang'rous Politicks, and formal Pride,", "Destructive Vice, expensive Vanity,", "In worse Ways yet, if Worse there any be:", "Leave to Inferiours the despised Arts,", "Let their Retainers be the Men of Parts.", "But here with Wonder and with Joy I find,", "I'th'Noble Born, a no less Noble Mind;", "One, who on Ancestors, does not rely", "For Fame, in Merit, as in Title, high!", "", " The Severe Goddess thus approv'd the Laies:", "Yet too much pleas'd, alas, with her own Praise.", "But to vain Pride, My Muse, cease to give place,", "Virgils immortal Numbers once did grace", "A Smother'd Gnat: By high Applause is shown,", "If undeserv'd, the Praisers worth alone:", "Nor that you should believ't, is't always meant,", "'Tis often for Instruction only sent,", "To praise men to Amendment, and display,", "By its Perfection, where their Weakness lay.", "This Use of these Applauding Numbers make", "Them for Example, not Encomium, take." ], "linecount": "34" }, { "title": "ON THE Dutchess of Grafton Under the Name of Alinda.", "author": "Anne Killigrew", "lines": [ "A SONG.", "", "I.", "TH'ambitious Eye that seeks alone,", "Where Beauties Wonders most are shown;", "Of all that bounteous Heaven displays,", "Let him on bright Alinda gaze;", "And in her high Example see,", "All can admir'd, or wisht-for, be !", "II.", "An unmatch't Form, Mind like endow'd,", "Estate, and Title great and proud;", "A Charge Heaven dares to few commit,", "So few, like her, can manage it;", "Without all Blame or Envy bear.", "The being Witty, Great, and Fair !", "", "III.", "So well these Murd'ring Weapons weild,", "As first Herself with them to shield,", "Then slaughter none in proud Disport,", "Destroy those she invites to Gourt:", "Great are her Charmes, but Vertue more,", "She wounds no Hearts, though All adore.", "IV.", "'Tis Am'rous Beauty Love invites,", "A Passion, like it self, excites:", "The Paragon, though all admire,", "Kindles in none a fond desire:", "No more than those the Kings Renown", "And State applaud, affect his Crown." ], "linecount": "29" }, { "title": "HERODIAS Daughter presenting to her Mother St. JOHN's Head in a Charger, also Painted by her self", "author": "Anne Killigrew", "lines": [ "BEhold, dear Mother, who was late our Fear,", "Disarm'd and Harmless, I present you here;", "The Tongue ty'd up, that made all Jury quake,", "And which so often did our Greatness shake;", "", "No Terror sits upon his Awful Brow,", "Where Fierceness reign'd, there Calmness triumphs now;", "As Lovers use, he gazes on my Face,", "With Eyes that languish, as they sued for Grace;", "Wholly subdu'd by my Victorious Charms,", "See how his Head reposes in my Arms.", "Come, joyn then with me in my just Transport,", "Who thus have brought the Hermite to the Court." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "St. John Baptist Painted by her self in the Wilderness, with Angels appearing to him, and with a Lamb by him", "author": "Anne Killigrew", "lines": [ "THe Sun's my Fire, when it does shine,", "The hollow Spring's my Cave of Wine,", "The Rocks and Woods afford me Meat;", "This Lamb and I on one Dish eat:", "The neighbouring Herds my Garments send,", "My Pallet the kind Earth doth lend:", "Excess and Grandure I decline,", "M'Associates onely are Divine." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "To A Husband", "author": "Anne Kingsmill Finch", "lines": [ "This is to the crown and blessing of my life,", "The much loved husband of a happy wife;", "To him whose constant passion found the art", "To win a stubborn and ungrateful heart,", "And to the world by tenderest proof discovers", "They err, who say that husbands can't be lovers.", "With such return of passion, as is due,", "Daphnis I love, Daphinis my thoughts pursue;", "Daphnis, my hopes and joys are bounded all in you.", "Even I, for Daphnis' and my promise' sake,", "What I in woman censure, undertake.", "But this from love, not vanity proceeds;", "You know who writes, and I who 'tis that reads.", "Judge not my passion by my want of skill:", "Many love well, though they express it ill;", "And I your censure could with pleasure bear,", "Would you but soon return, and speak it here." ], "linecount": "17" }, { "title": "A Farewell to the World", "author": "Ben Jonson", "lines": [ "FALSE world, good night! since thou hast brought", " That hour upon my morn of age;", "Henceforth I quit thee from my thought,", " My part is ended on thy stage.", "", "Yes, threaten, do. Alas! I fear", " As little as I hope from thee:", "I know thou canst not show nor bear", " More hatred than thou hast to me.", "", "My tender, first, and simple years", " Thou didst abuse and then betray;", "Since stir'd'st up jealousies and fears,", " When all the causes were away.", "", "Then in a soil hast planted me", " Where breathe the basest of thy fools;", "Where envious arts professed be,", " And pride and ignorance the schools;", "", "Where nothing is examined, weigh'd,", " But as 'tis rumour'd, so believed;", "Where every freedom is betray'd,", " And every goodness tax'd or grieved.", "", "But what we're born for, we must bear:", " Our frail condition it is such", "That what to all may happen here,", " If 't chance to me, I must not grutch.", "", "Else I my state should much mistake", " To harbour a divided thought", "From all my kind--that, for my sake,", " There should a miracle be wrought.", "", "No, I do know that I was born", " To age, misfortune, sickness, grief:", "But I will bear these with that scorn", " As shall not need thy false relief.", "", "Nor for my peace will I go far,", " As wanderers do, that still do roam;", "But make my strengths, such as they are,", " Here in my bosom, and at home." ], "linecount": "36" }, { "title": "Song To Diana", "author": "Ben Jonson", "lines": [ "Queen and huntress, chaste and fair,", "Now the sun is laid to sleep,", "Seated in thy silver chair", "State in wonted manner keep:", "Hesperus entreats thy light,", "Goddess excellently bright.", "", "Earth, let not thy envious shade", "Dare itself to interpose;", "Cynthia's shining orb was made", "Heaven to clear when day did close:", "Bless us then with wished sight,", "Goddess excellently bright.", "", "Lay thy bow of pearl apart,", "And thy crystal-shining quiver;", "Give unto the flying hart", "Space to breathe, how short soever:", "Thou that mak'st a day of night,", "Goddess excellently bright." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "Song To Celia - II", "author": "Ben Jonson", "lines": [ "Drink to me only with thine eyes,", " And I will pledge with mine;", "Or leave a kiss but in the cup,", " And I'll not look for wine.", "The thirst that from the soul doth rise", " Doth ask a drink divine;", "But might I of Jove's nectar sup,", " I would not change for thine.", "", "I sent thee late a rosy wreath,", " Not so much honouring thee", "As giving it a hope, that there", " It could not withered be.", "But thou thereon didst only breathe,", " And sent'st it back to me;", "Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,", " Not of itself, but thee." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "To The Memory Of My Beloved, The Author, Mr William Shakespeare, And What He Hath Left Us", "author": "Ben Jonson", "lines": [ "To draw no envy, Shakespeare, on thy name", "Am I thus ample to thy book and fame;", "While I confess thy writings to be such", "As neither Man nor Muse can praise too much.", "'Tis true, and all men's suffrage. But these ways", "Were not the paths I meant unto thy praise;", "For silliest ignorance on these may light,", "Which when it sounds at best but echoes right;", "Or blind affection, which doth ne'er advance", "The truth, but gropes, and urges all by chance;", "Or crafty malice might pretend this praise,", "And think to ruin where it seemed to raise.", "These are as some infamous bawd or whore", "Should praise a matron. What could hurt her more?", "But thou art proof against them, and indeed", "Above th' ill fortune of them, or the need.", "I therefore will begin: Soul of the Age!", "The applause, delight, the wonder of our stage!", "My Shakespeare, rise; I will not lodge thee by", "Chaucer, or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie", "A little further, to make thee a room:", "Thou art a monument without a tomb,", "And art alive still, while thy book doth live,", "And we have wits to read, and praise to give.", "That I not mix thee so, my brain excuses,", "I mean with great but disproportioned Muses,", "For if I thought my judgement were of years,", "I should commit thee surely with thy peers,", "And tell how far thou didst our Lyly outshine,", "Or sporting Kyd, or Marlowe's mighty line.", "And though thou hadst small Latin and less Greek,", "From thence to honour thee I would not seek", "For names; but call forth thundering Aeschylus,", "Euripides, and Sophocles to us,", "Pacuvius, Accius, him of Cordova dead,", "To live again, to hear thy buskin tread,", "And shake a stage; or, when thy socks were on,", "Leave thee alone for the comparison", "Of all that insolent Greece or haughty Rome", "Sent forth, or since did from their ashes come.", "Triumph, my Britain, thou hast one to show", "To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe.", "He was not of an age, but for all time!", "And all the Muses still were in their prime", "When, like Apollo, he came forth to warm", "Our ears, or, like a Mercury, to charm!", "Nature herself was proud of his designs,", "And joyed to wear the dressing of his lines!", "Which were so richly spun, and woven so fit,", "As, since, she will vouchsafe no other wit.", "The merry Greek, tart Aristophanes,", "Neat Terence, witty Plautus, now not please;", "But antiquated and deserted lie,", "As they were not of Nature's family.", "Yet must I not give Nature all; thy art,", "My gentle Shakespeare, must enjoy a part.", "For though the poet's matter nature be,", "His art doth give the fashion; and that he", "Who casts to write a living line must sweat", "(Such as thine are) and strike the second heat", "Upon the Muses' anvil; turn the same,", "And himself with it, that he thinks to frame,", "Or for the laurel he may gain a scorn;", "For a good poet's made as well as born.", "And such wert thou. Look how the father's face", "Lives in his issue, even so the race", "Of Shakespeare's mind and manners brightly shines", "In his well turned and true-filed lines:", "In each of which he seems to shake a lance,", "As brandished at the eyes of ignorance.", "Sweet swan of Avon! what a sight it were", "To see thee in our waters yet appear,", "And make those flights upon the banks of Thames,", "That did so take Eliza and our James!", "But stay, I see thee in the hemisphere", "Advanced, and made a constellation there:", "Shine forth, thou Star of Poets, and with rage,", "Or influence, chide or cheer the drooping stage,", "Which, since thy flight from hence, hath mourned like night,", "And despairs day, but for thy volume's light." ], "linecount": "80" }, { "title": "A Hymn to God the Father", "author": "Ben Jonson", "lines": [ "Hear me, O God!", "A broken heart", "Is my best part.", "Use still thy rod,", "That I may prove", "Therein thy Love.", "", "If thou hadst not", "Been stern to me,", "But left me free,", "I had forgot", "Myself and thee.", "", "For sin's so sweet,", "As minds ill-bent", "Rarely repent,", "Until they meet", "Their punishment.", "", "Who more can crave", "Than thou hast done?", "That gav'st a Son,", "To free a slave,", "First made of nought;", "With all since bought.", "", "Sin, Death, and Hell", "His glorious name", "Quite overcame,", "Yet I rebel", "And slight the same.", "", "But I'll come in", "Before my loss", "Me farther toss,", "As sure to win", "Under His cross." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "To Heaven", "author": "Ben Jonson", "lines": [ "Good and great God, can I not think of thee", "But it must straight my melancholy be?", "Is it interpreted in me disease", "That, laden with my sins, I seek for ease?", "Oh be thou witness, that the reins dost know", "And hearts of all, if I be sad for show,", "And judge me after; if I dare pretend", "To ought but grace or aim at other end.", "As thou art all, so be thou all to me,", "First, midst, and last, converted one, and three;", "My faith, my hope, my love; and in this state", "My judge, my witness, and my advocate.", "Where have I been this while exil'd from thee?", "And whither rap'd, now thou but stoop'st to me?", "Dwell, dwell here still. O, being everywhere,", "How can I doubt to find thee ever here?", "I know my state, both full of shame and scorn,", "Conceiv'd in sin, and unto labour borne,", "Standing with fear, and must with horror fall,", "And destin'd unto judgment, after all.", "I feel my griefs too, and there scarce is ground", "Upon my flesh t' inflict another wound.", "Yet dare I not complain, or wish for death", "With holy Paul, lest it be thought the breath", "Of discontent; or that these prayers be", "For weariness of life, not love of thee." ], "linecount": "26" }, { "title": "Song To Celia - I", "author": "Ben Jonson", "lines": [ "Come, my Celia, let us prove", "While we may the sports of love;", "Time will not be ours forever,", "He at length our good will sever.", "", "Spend not then his gifts in vain;", "Suns that set may rise again,", "But if once we lose this light,", "'Tis with us perpetual night.", "", "Why should we defer our joys?", "Fame and rumour are but toys.", "Cannot we delude the eyes", "Of a few poor household spies?", "Or his easier ears beguile,", "So removed by our wile?", "", "'Tis no sin love's fruits to steal;", "But the sweet theft to reveal,", "To be taken, to be seen,", "These have crimes accounted been." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "A Letter From the Trenches to a School Friend", "author": "Charles Sorley", "lines": [ "I have not brought my Odyssey", "With me here across the sea;", "But you'll remember, when I say", "How, when they went down Sparta way,", "To sandy Sparta, long ere dawn", "Horses were harnessed, rations drawn,", "Equipment polished sparkling bright,", "And breakfasts swallowed (as the white", "Of eastern heavens turned to gold) -", "The dogs barked, swift farewells were told.", "The sun springs up, the horses neigh,", "Crackles the whip thrice-then away!", "From sun-go-up to sun-go-down", "All day across the sandy down", "The gallant horses galloped, till", "The wind across the downs more chill", "Blew, the sun sank and all the road", "Was darkened, that it only showed", "Right at the end the town's red light", "And twilight glimmering into night.", "", "The horses never slackened till", "They reached the doorway and stood still.", "Then came the knock, the unlading; then", "The honey-sweet converse of men,", "The splendid bath, the change of dress,", "Then - oh the grandeur of their Mess,", "The henchmen, the prim stewardess!", "And oh the breaking of old ground,", "The tales, after the port went round!", "(The wondrous wiles of old Odysseus,", "Old Agamemnon and his misuse", "Of his command, and that young chit", "Paris - who didn't care a bit", "For Helen - only to annoy her", "He did it really, K.T.A.)", "But soon they led amidst the din", "The honey-sweet -- in,", "Whose eyes were blind, whose soul had sight,", "Who knew the fame of men in fight -", "Bard of white hair and trembling foot,", "Who sang whatever God might put", "Into his heart.", "And there he sung,", "Those war-worn veterans among,", "Tales of great war and strong hearts wrung,", "Of clash of arms, of council's brawl,", "Of beauty that must early fall,", "Of battle hate and battle joy", "By the old windy walls of Troy.", "They felt that they were unreal then,", "Visions and shadow-forms, not men.", "But those the Bard did sing and say", "(Some were their comrades, some were they)", "Took shape and loomed and strengthened more", "Greatly than they had guessed of yore.", "And now the fight begins again,", "The old war-joy, the old war-pain.", "Sons of one school across the sea", "We have no fear to fight -", "", "And soon, oh soon, I do not doubt it,", "With the body or without it,", "We shall all come tumbling down", "To our old wrinkled red-capped town.", "Perhaps the road up llsley way,", "The old ridge-track, will be my way.", "High up among the sheep and sky,", "Look down on Wantage, passing by,", "And see the smoke from Swindon town;", "And then full left at Liddington,", "Where the four winds of heaven meet", "The earth-blest traveller to greet.", "And then my face is toward the south,", "There is a singing on my mouth", "Away to rightward I descry", "My Barbury ensconced in sky,", "Far underneath the Ogbourne twins,", "And at my feet the thyme and whins,", "The grasses with their little crowns", "Of gold, the lovely Aldbourne downs,", "And that old signpost (well I knew", "That crazy signpost, arms askew,", "Old mother of the four grass ways).", "And then my mouth is dumb with praise,", "For, past the wood and chalkpit tiny,", "A glimpse of Marlborough --!", "So I descend beneath the rail", "To warmth and welcome and wassail.", "", "This from the battered trenches - rough,", "Jingling and tedious enough.", "And so I sign myself to you:", "One, who some crooked pathways knew", "Round Bedwyn: who could scarcely leave", "The Downs on a December eve:", "Was at his happiest in shorts,", "And got - not many good reports!", "Small skill of rhyming in his hand -", "But you'll forgive - you'll understand." ], "linecount": "97" }, { "title": "Winter Stores", "author": "Charlotte Bronte", "lines": [ "WE take from life one little share,", "And say that this shall be", "A space, redeemed from toil and care,", "From tears and sadness free.", "", "And, haply, Death unstrings his bow", "And Sorrow stands apart,", "And, for a little while, we know", "The sunshine of the heart.", "", "Existence seems a summer eve,", "Warm, soft, and full of peace;", "Our free, unfettered feelings give", "The soul its full release.", "", "A moment, then, it takes the power,", "To call up thoughts that throw", "Around that charmed and hallowed hour,", "This life's divinest glow.", "", "But Time, though viewlessly it flies,", "And slowly, will not stay;", "Alike, through clear and clouded skies,", "It cleaves its silent way.", "", "Alike the bitter cup of grief,", "Alike the draught of bliss,", "Its progress leaves but moment brief", "For baffled lips to kiss.", "", "The sparkling draught is dried away,", "The hour of rest is gone,", "And urgent voices, round us, say,", "' Ho, lingerer, hasten on !'", "", "And has the soul, then, only gained,", "From this brief time of ease,", "A moment's rest, when overstrained,", "One hurried glimpse of peace ?", "", "No; while the sun shone kindly o'er us,", "And flowers bloomed round our feet,­", "While many a bud of joy before us", "Unclosed its petals sweet,­", "", "An unseen work within was plying;", "Like honey-seeking bee,", "From flower to flower, unwearied, flying,", "Laboured one faculty,­", "", "Thoughtful for Winter's future sorrow,", "Its gloom and scarcity;", "Prescient to-day, of want to-morrow,", "Toiled quiet Memory.", "", "'Tis she that from each transient pleasure", "Extracts a lasting good;", "'Tis she that finds, in summer, treasure", "To serve for winter's food.", "", "And when Youth's summer day is vanished,", "And Age brings Winter's stress,", "Her stores, with hoarded sweets replenished,", "Life's evening hours will bless." ], "linecount": "52" }, { "title": "From Sunset to Star Rise", "author": "Christina Rossetti", "lines": [ "Go from me, summer friends, and tarry not:", "I am no summer friend, but wintry cold,", "A silly sheep benighted from the fold,", "A sluggard with a thorn-choked garden plot.", "Take counsel, sever from my lot your lot,", "Dwell in your pleasant places, hoard your gold;", "Lest you with me should shiver on the wold,", "Athirst and hungering on a barren spot.", "For I have hedged me with a thorny hedge,", "I live alone, I look to die alone:", "Yet sometimes, when a wind sighs through the sedge,", "Ghosts of my buried years, and friends come back,", "My heart goes sighing after swallows flown", "On sometime summer's unreturning track." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "The Passionate Shepherd To His Love", "author": "Christopher Marlowe", "lines": [ "Come live with me, and be my love,", "And we will all the pleasures prove,", "That hills and valleys, dales and fields,", "And all the craggy mountain yields.", "", "There we will sit upon the rocks,", "And see the shepherds feed their flocks", "By shallow rivers, to whose falls", "Melodious birds sing madrigals.", "", "And I will make thee beds of roses,", "With a thousand fragrant posies,", "A cap of flowers and a kirtle", "Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;", "", "A gown made of the finest wool,", "Which from our pretty lambs we pull;", "Fair lined slippers for the cold,", "With buckles of the purest gold;", "", "A belt of straw and ivy buds,", "With coral clasps and amber studs;", "And if these pleasures may thee move,", "Come live with me, and be my love.", "", "The shepherd swains shall dance and sing", "For thy delight each May morning:", "If these delights thy mind may move,", "Then live with me, and be my love." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "A Song To David", "author": "Christopher Smart", "lines": [ "I", "O THOU, that sit'st upon a throne,", "With harp of high majestic tone,", " To praise the King of kings;", "And voice of heav'n-ascending swell,", "Which, while its deeper notes excell,", " Clear, as a clarion, rings:", "", " II", "To bless each valley, grove and coast,", "And charm the cherubs to the post", " Of gratitude in throngs;", "To keep the days on Zion's mount,", "And send the year to his account,", " With dances and with songs:", "", " III", "O Servant of God's holiest charge,", "The minister of praise at large,", " Which thou may'st now receive;", "From thy blest mansion hail and hear,", "From topmost eminence appear", " To this the wreath I weave.", "", " IV", "Great, valiant, pious, good, and clean,", "Sublime, contemplative, serene,", " Strong, constant, pleasant, wise!", "Bright effluence of exceeding grace;", "Best man!—the swiftest and the race,", " The peril, and the prize!", "", " V", "Great—from the lustre of his crown,", "From Samuel's horn, and God's renown,", " Which is the people's voice;", "For all the host, from rear to van,", "Applauded and embrac'd the man—", " The man of God's own choice.", "", " VI", "Valiant—the word, and up he rose;", "The fight—he triumph'd o'er the foes,", " Whom God's just laws abhor;", "And, arm'd in gallant faith, he took", "Against the boaster, from the brook,", " The weapons of the war.", "", " VII", "Pious—magnificent and grand;", "'Twas he the famous temple plann'd;", " (The seraph in his soul:)", "Foremost to give his Lord His dues,", "Foremost to bless the welcome news,", " And foremost to condole.", "", " VIII", "Good—from Jehudah's genuine vein,", "From God's best nature good in grain,", " His aspect and his heart;", "To pity, to forgive, to save,", "Witness En-gedi's conscious cave,", " And Shimei's blunted dart.", "", " IX", "Clean—if perpetual prayer be pure,", "And love, which could itself inure", " To fasting and to fear—", "Clean in his gestures, hands, and feet,", "To smite the lyre, the dance complete,", " To play the sword and spear.", "", " X", "Sublime—invention ever young,", "Of vast conception, tow'ring tongue,", " To God th'eternal theme;", "Notes from yon exaltations caught,", "Unrival'd royalty of thought,", " O'er meaner strains supreme.", "", " XI", "Contemplative—on God to fix", "His musings, and above the six", " The Sabbath-day he blest;", "'Twas then his thoughts self-conquest prun'd,", "And heav'nly melancholy tun'd,", " To bless and bear the rest.", "", " XII", "Serene—to sow the seeds of peace,", "Rememb'ring, when he watch'd the fleece,", " How sweetly Kidron purl'd—", "To further knowledge, silence vice,", "And plant plant perpetual paradise,", " When God had calm'd the world.", "", " XIII", "Strong—in the Lord, Who could defy", "Satan, and all his pow'rs that lie", " In sempiternal night;", "And hell, and horror, and despair", "Were as the lion and the bear", " To his undaunted might.", "", " XIV", "Constant—in love to God, THE TRUTH,", "Age, manhood, infancy, and youth—", " To Jonathan his friend", "Constant, beyond the verge of death;", "And Zilba, and Mephibosheth,", " His endless fame attend.", "", " XV", "Pleasant—various as the year;", "Man, soul, and angel, without peer,", " Priest, champion, sage, and boy;", "In armor, or in ephod clad,", "His pomp, his piety was glad;", " Majestic was his joy.", "", " XVI", "Wise—in recovery from his fall,", "Whence rose his eminence o'er all,", " Of all the most revil'd;", "The light of Israel in his ways,", "Wise are his precepts, prayer and praise,", " And counsel to his child.", "", " XVII", "His muse, bright angel of his verse,", "Gives balm for all the thorns that pierce,", " For all the pangs that rage;", "Blest light, still gaining on the gloom,", "The more than Michal of his bloom,", " Th'Abishag of his age.", "", " XVIII", "He sung of God—the mighty source", "Of all things—the stupendous force", " On which all strength depends;", "From Whose right arm, beneath Whose eyes,", "All period, pow'r, and enterprise", " Commences, reigns, and ends.", "", " XIX", "Angels—their ministry and meed,", "Which to and fro with blessings speed,", " Or with their citherns wait;", "Where Michael with his millions bows,", "Where dwells the seraph and his spouse", " The cherub and her mate.", "", " XX", "O David, scholar of the Lord!", "Of God and Love—the Saint elect", " For infinite applause—", "To rule the land, and briny broad,", "To be laborious in His laud,", " And heroes in His cause.", "", " XXI", "The world—the clust'ring spheres He made,", "The glorious light, the soothing shade,", " Dale, champaign, grove, and hill;", "The multitudinous abyss,", "Where secrecy remains in bliss,", " And wisdom hides her skill", "", " XXII", "Trees, plants, and flow'rs—of virtuous root;", "Gem yielding blossom, yielding fruit,", " Choice gums and precious balm;", "Bless ye the nosegay in the vale,", "And with the sweetness of the gale", " Enrich the thankful psalm.", "", " XXIII", "Of fowl—e'en ev'ry beak and wing", "Which cheer the winter, hail the spring,", " That live in peace or prey;", "They that make music, or that mock,", "The quail, the brave domestic cock,", " The raven, swan, and jay.", "", " XXIV", "Of fishes—ev'ry size and shape,", "Which nature frames of light escape,", " Devouring man to shun:", "The shells are in the wealthy deep,", "The shoals upon the surface leap,", " And love the glancing sun.", "", " XXV", "Of beasts—the beaver plods his task,", "While the sleek tigers roll and bask,", " Nor yet the shades arouse:", "Her cave the mining coney scoops;", "Where o'er the mead the mountain stoops,", " The kids exult and browse.", "", " XXVI", "Of gems—their virtue and their price,", "Which hid in earth from man's device,", " Their darts of lustre sheathe;", "The jasper of the master's stamp,", "The topaz blazing like a lamp,", " Among the mines beneath.", "", " XXVII", "Blest was the tenderness he felt", "When to his graceful harp he knelt,", " And did for audience call;", "When Satan with his hand he quell'd", "And in serene suspense he held", " The frantic throes of Saul.", "", " XXVIII", "His furious foes no more malign'd", "As he such melody divin'd,", " And sense and soul detain'd;", "Now striking strong, now soothing soft,", "He sent the godly sounds aloft,", " Or in delight refrain'd.", "", " XXIX", "When up to heav'n his thoughts he pil'd", "From fervent lips fair Michal smil'd,", " As blush to blush she stood;", "And chose herself the queen, and gave", "Her utmost from her heart, \"so brave,", " And plays his hymns so good.\"", "", " XXX", "The pillars of the Lord are seven,", "Which stand from earth to topmost heav'n;", " His wisdom drew the plan;", "His WORD accomplish'd the design,", "From brightest gem to deepest mine,", " From CHRIST enthron'd to man.", "", " XXXI", "Alpha, the cause of causes, first", "In station, fountain, whence the burst", " Of light, and blaze of day;", "Whence bold attempt, and brave advance,", "Have motion, life, and ordinance", " And heav'n itself its stay.", "", " XXXII", "Gamma supports the glorious arch", "On which angelic legions march,", " And is with sapphires pav'd;", "Thence the fleet clouds are sent adrift,", "And thence the painted folds, that lift", " The crimson veil, are wav'd.", "", " XXXIII", "Eta with living sculpture breathes,", "With verdant carvings, flow'ry wreathes,", " Of never-wasting bloom;", "In strong relief his goodly base", "All instruments of labor grace,", " The trowel, spade, and loom.", "", " XXXIV", "Next Theta stands to the Supreme—", "Who form'd, in number, sign, and scheme,", " Th'illustrious lights that are:", "And one address'd his saffrom robe,", "And one, clad in a silver globe,", " Held rule with ev'ry star.", "", " XXXV", "Iota's tun'd to choral hymns", "Of those that fly, while he that swims", " In thankful safety lurks;", "And foot, and chapitre, and niche,", "The various histories enrich", " Of God's record'd works.", "", " XXXVI", "Sigma presents the social droves,", "With him that solitary roves,", " And man of all the chief;", "Fair on whose face, and stately frame,", "Did God impress His hallow'd name,", " For ocular belief.", "", " XXXVII", "OMEGA! GREATEST and the BEST,", "Stands sacred to the day of rest,", " For gratitude and thought;", "Which bless'd the world upon his pole,", "And gave the universe his goal,", " And clos'd th'infernal draught.", "", " XXXVIII", "O DAVID, scholar of the Lord!", "Such is thy science, whence reward", " And infinite degree;", "O strength, O sweetness, lasting ripe!", "God's harp thy symbol, and thy type", " The lion and the bee!", "", " XXXIX", "There is but One who ne'er rebell'd,", "But One by passion unimpell'd,", " By pleasures unentic'd;", "He from Himself His semblance sent,", "Grand object of His own content,", " And saw the God in CHRIST.", "", " XL", "Tell them, I am, JEHOVAH said", "To MOSES; while earth heard in dread,", " And, smitten to the heart,", "At once above, beneath, around,", "All Nature, without voice or sound,", " Repli'd, \"O Lord, THOU ART.\"", "", " XLI", "Thou art—to give and to confirm,", "For each his talent and his term;", " All flesh thy bounties share:", "Thou shalt not call thy brother fool;", "The porches of the Christian school", " Are meekness, peace, and pray'r.", "", " XLII", "Open, and naked of offence,", "Man's made of mercy, soul, and sense;", " God arm'd the snail and wilk;", "Be good to him that pulls thy plough;", "Due food and care, due rest, allow", " For her that yields thee milk.", "", " XLIII", "Rise up before the hoary head,", "And God's benign commandment dread,", " Which says thou shalt not die:", "\"Not as I will, but as Thou wilt,\"", "Pray'd He Whose conscience knew no guilt;", " With Whose bless'd pattern vie.", "", " XLIV", "Use all thy passions!—love is thine,", "And joy, and jealousy divine;", " Thine hope's eternal fort,", "And care thy leisure to disturb,", "With fear concupiscence to curb,", " And rapture to transport.", "", " XLV", "Act simply, as occasion asks;", "Put mellow wine in season'd casks;", " Till not with ass and bull:", "Remember thy baptismal bond;", "Keep from commixtures foul and fond,", " Nor work thy flax with wool.", "", " XLVI", "Distribute: pay the Lord His tithe,", "And make the widow's heart-strings blythe;", " Resort with those that weep:", "As you from all and each expect,", "For all and each thy love direct,", " And render as you reap.", "", " XLVII", "The slander and its bearer spurn,", "And propagating praise sojourn", " To make thy welcome last;", "Turn from Old Adam to the New;", "By hope futurity pursue;", " Look upwards to the past.", "", " XLVIII", "Control thine eye, salute success,", "Honor the wiser, happier bless,", " And for thy neighbor feel;", "Grutch not of Mammon and his leav'n,", "Work emulation up to heav'n", " By knowledge and by zeal.", "", " XLIX", "O DAVID, highest in the list", "Of worthies, on God's ways insist,", " The genuine word repeat:", "Vain are the documents of men,", "And vain the flourish of the pen", " That keeps the fool's conceit.", "", " L", "PRAISE above all—for praise prevails;", "Heap up the measure, load the scales,", " And good to goodness add:", "The gen'rous soul her Saviour aids,", "But peevish obloquy degrades;", " The Lord is great and glad.", "", " LI", "For ADORATION all the ranks", "Of angels yield eternal thanks,", " And DAVID in the midst;", "With God's good poor, which last and least", "In man's esteem, thou to thy feast,", " O blessed bridegroom, bidst.", " LII", "For ADORATION seasons change,", "And order, truth, and beauty range,", " Adjust, attract, and fill:", "The grass the polyanthus checks;", "And polish'd porphyry reflects,", " By the descending rill.", "", " LIII", "rich almonds color to the prime", "For ADORATION; tendrils climb,", " And fruit-trees pledge their gems;", "And Ivis with her gorgeous vest,", "Builds for her eggs her cunning nest,", " And bell-flowers bow their stems.", "", " LIV", "With vinous syrup cedars spout;", "From rocks pure honey gushing out,", " For ADORATION springs;", "All scenes of painting crowd the map", "Of nature; to the mermaid's pap", " The scaled infant clings.", "", " LV", "The spotted ounce and playsome cubs", "Run rustling 'mongst the flow'ring shrubs,", " And lizards feed the moss;", "For ADORATION beasts embark,", "While waves upholding halcyon's ark", " No longer roar and toss.", "", " LVI", "While Israel sits beneath his fig,", "With coral root and amber sprig", " The wean'd advent'rer sports;", "Where to the palm the jasmine cleaves,", "For ADORATION 'mongst the leaves", " The gale his peace reports.", "", " LVII", "Increasing days their reign exalt,", "Nor in the pink and mottled vault", " The opposing spirits tilt;", "And, by the coasting reader spi'd,", "The silverlings and crusions glide", " For ADORATION gilt.", "", " LVIII", "For ADORATION rip'ning canes", "And cocoa's purest milk detains", " The western pilgrim's staff;", "Where rain in clasping boughs enclos'd,", "And vines with oranges dispos'd,", " Embow'r the social laugh.", "", " LIX", "Now labor his reward receives,", "For ADORATION counts his sheaves", " To peace, her bounteous prince;", "The nect'rine his strong tint imbibes,", "And apples of ten thousand tribes,", " And quick peculiar quince.", "", " LX", "The wealthy crops of whit'ning rice,", "'Mongst thyme woods and groves of spice,", " For ADORATION grow;", "And, marshall'd in the fenced land,", "The peaches and pom'granates stand,", " Where wild carnations blow.", "", " LXI", "The laurels with the winter strive;", "The crocus burnishes alive", " Upon the snow-clad earth:", "For ADORATION myrtles stay", "To keep the garden from dismay,", " And bless the sight from dearth.", "", " LXII", "The pheasant shows his pompous neck;", "The ermine, jealous of a speck,", " With fear eldues offence:", "The sable, with his glossy pride,", "For ADORATION is describ'd,", " Where frosts the waves condense.", "", " LXIII", "The cheerful holly, pensive yew,", "And holy thorn, their trim renew;", " The squirrel hoards his nuts;", "All creatures batten o'er their stores,", "And careful nature all her doors", " For ADORATION shuts.", "", " LXIV", "For ADORATION, DAVID's psalms", "Life up the heart to deeds of alms;", " And he, who kneels and chants,", "Prevails his passions to control,", "Finds meat and med'cine to the soul,", " Which for translation pants.", "", " LXV", "For ADORATION, beyond match,", "The scholar bullfinch aims to catch", " The soft flute's iv'ry touch;", "And, careless on the hazel spray,", "The daring redbreast keeps at bay", " The damsel's greedy clutch.", "", " LXVI", "For ADORATION in the skies,", "The Lord's philosopher espies", " The Dog, the Ram, and Rose;", "The planet's ring, Orion's sword;", "Nor is his greatness less ador'd", " In the vile worm that glows.", "", " LXVII", "For ADORATION, on the strings", "The western breezes work their wings,", " The captive ear to sooth.", "Hark! 'Tis a voice—how still, and small—", "That makes the cataracts to fall,", " Or bids the sea be smooth!", "", " LXVIII", "For ADORATION, incense comes", "From bezoar, and Arabian gums;", " And from the civet's fur:", "But as for prayer, or e'er it faints,", "Far better is the breath of saints", " Than galbanum and myrrh.", "", " LXIX", "For ADORATION from the down", "Of dam'sins to th'anana's crown,", " God sends to tempt the taste;", "And while the luscious zest invites,", "The sense, that in the scene delights,", " Commands desire be chaste.", "", " LXX", "For ADORATION, all the paths", "Of grace are open, all the baths", " Of purity refresh;", "And all the rays of glory beam", "To deck the man of God's esteem,", " Who triumphs o'er the flesh.", "", " LXXI", "For ADORATION, in the dome", "Of Christ, the sparrows find a home;", " And on His olives perch:", "The swallow also dwells with thee,", "O man of God's humility,", " Within his Saviour CHURCH.", "", " LXXII", "Sweet is the dew that falls betimes,", "And drops upon the leafy limes;", " Sweet, Hermon's fragrant air:", "Sweet is the lily's silver bell,", "And sweet the wakeful tapers smell", " That watch for early pray'r.", "", " LXXIII", "Sweet the young nurse with love intense,", "Which smiles o'er sleeping innocence;", " Sweet when the lost arrive:", "Sweet the musician's ardour beats,", "While his vague mind's in quest of sweets,", " The choicest flow'rs to hive.", "", " LXXIV", "Sweeter in all the strains of love,", "The language of thy turtle dove,", " Pair'd to thy swelling chord;", "Sweeter, with ev'ry grace endu'd,", "The glory of thy gratitude,", " Respir'd unto the Lord.", "", " LXXV", "Strong is the horse upon his speed;", "Strong in pursuit the rapid glede,", " Which makes at once his game:", "Strong the tall ostrich on the ground;", "Strong through the turbulent profound", " Shoots xiphias to his aim.", "", " LXXVI", "Strong is the lion—like a coal", "His eyeball—like a bastion's mole", " His chest against his foes:", "Strong, the gier-eagle on his sail,", "Strong against tide, th'enormous whale", " Emerges as he goes.", "", " LXXVII", "But stronger still in earth and air,", "And in the sea, the man of pray'r;", " And far beneath the tide;", "And in the seat to faith assign'd,", "Where ask is have, where seek is find,", " Where knock is open wide.", "", " LXXVIII", "Beauteous the fleet before the gale;", "Beauteous the multitudes in mail,", " Rank'd arms and crested heads:", "Beauteous the garden's umbrage mild,", "Walk, water, meditated wild,", " And all the bloomy beds.", "", " LXXIX", "Beauteous the moon full on the lawn;", "And beauteous, when the veil's withdrawn,", " The virgin to her spouse:", "Beauteous the temple, deck'd and fill'd,", "When to the heav'n of heav'ns they build", " Their heart-directed vows.", "", " LXXX", "Beauteous, yea beauteous more than these,", "The shepherd king upon his knees,", " For his momentous trust;", "With wish of infinite conceit,", "For man, beast, mute, the small and great,", " And prostrate dust to dust.", "", " LXXXI", "Precious the bounteous widow's mite;", "And precious, for extreme delight,", " The largess from the churl:", "Precious the ruby's blushing blaze,", "And alba's blest imperial rays,", " And pure cerulean pearl.", "", " LXXXII", "Precious the penitential tear;", "And precious is the sigh sincere;", " Acceptable to God:", "And precious are the winning flow'rs,", "In gladsome Israel's feast of bow'rs,", " Bound on the hallow'd sod.", "", " LXXXIII", "More precious that diviner part", "Of David, ev'n the Lord's own heart,", " Great, beautiful, and new:", "In all things where it was intent,", "In all extremes, in each event,", " Proof—answ'ring true to true.", "", " LXXXIV", "Glorious the sun in mid career;", "Glorious th'assembled fires appear;", " Glorious the comet's train:", "Glorious the trumpet and alarm;", "Glorious th'almighty stretch'd-out arm;", " Glorious th'enraptur'd main:", "", " LXXXV", "Glorious the northern lights a-stream;", "Glorious the song, when God's the theme;", " Glorious the thunder's roar:", "Glorious hosanna from the den;", "Glorious the catholic amen;", " Glorious the martyr's gore:", "", " LXXXVI", "Glorious—more glorious, is the crown", "Of Him that brought salvation down,", " By meekness, call'd thy Son:", "Thou at stupendous truth believ'd;—", "And now the matchless deed's achiev'd,", " DETERMIN'D, DAR'D, AND DONE." ], "linecount": "602" }, { "title": "Success Comes To Cow Creek", "author": "Edward Taylor", "lines": [ "I sit on the tracks,", "a hundred feet from", "earth, fifty from the", "water. Gerald is", "inching toward me", "as grim, slow, and", "determined as a", "season, because he", "has no trade and wants", "none. It's been nine months", "since I last listened", "to his fate, but I", "know what he will say:", "he's the fire hydrant", "of the underdog.", "", "When he reaches my", "point above the creek,", "he sits down without", "salutation, and", "spits profoundly out", "past the edge, and peeks", "for meaning in the", "ripple it brings. He", "scowls. He speaks: when you", "walk down any street", "you see nothing but", "coagulations", "of shit and vomit,", "and I'm sick of it.", "I suggest suicide;", "he prefers murder,", "and spits again for", "the sake of all the", "great devout losers.", "", "A conductor's horn", "concerto breaks the", "air, and we, two doomed", "pennies on the track,", "shove off and somersault", "like anesthetized", "fleas, ruffling the", "ideal locomotive", "poised on the water", "with our light, dry bodies.", "Gerald shouts", "terrifically as", "he sails downstream like", "a young man with a", "destination. I", "swim toward shore as", "fast as my boots will", "allow; as always,", "neglecting to drown." ], "linecount": "53" }, { "title": "To Flush, My Dog", "author": "Elizabeth Barrett Browning", "lines": [ "Yet, my pretty sportive friend,", "Little is't to such an end", "That I praise thy rareness!", "Other dogs may be thy peers", "Haply in these drooping ears,", "And this glossy fairness.", "", "But of thee it shall be said,", "This dog watched beside a bed", "Day and night unweary—", "Watched within a curtained room,", "Where no sunbeam brake the gloom", "Round the sick and dreary.", "", "Roses, gathered for a vase,", "In that chamber died apace,", "Beam and breeze resigning.", "This dog only, waited on,", "Knowing that when light is gone", "Love remains for shining.", "", "Other dogs in thymy dew", "Tracked the hares, and followed through", "Sunny moor or meadow.", "This dog only, crept and crept", "Next a languid cheek that slept,", "Sharing in the shadow.", "", "Other dogs of loyal cheer", "Bounded at the whistle clear,", "Up the woodside hieing.", "This dog only, watched in reach", "Of a faintly uttered speech,", "Or a louder sighing.", "", "And if one or two quick tears", "Dropped upon his glossy ears,", "Or a sigh came double—", "Up he sprang in eager haste,", "Fawning, fondling, breathing fast,", "In a tender trouble.", "", "And this dog was satisfied", "If a pale thin hand would glide", "Down his dewlaps sloping—", "Which he pushed his nose within,", "After—platforming his chin", "On the palm left open." ], "linecount": "42" }, { "title": "Sonnet 30 - I see thine image through my tears to-night", "author": "Elizabeth Barrett Browning", "lines": [ "I see thine image through my tears to-night,", "And yet to-day I saw thee smiling. How", "Refer the cause?—Beloved, is it thou", "Or I, who makes me sad? The acolyte", "Amid the chanted joy and thankful rite", "May so fall flat, with pale insensate brow,", "On the altar-stair. I hear thy voice and vow,", "Perplexed, uncertain, since thou art out of sight,", "As he, in his swooning ears, the choir's Amen.", "Beloved, dost thou love? or did I see all", "The glory as I dreamed, and fainted when", "Too vehement light dilated my ideal,", "For my soul's eyes? Will that light come again,", "As now these tears come—falling hot and real?" ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 09 - Can it be right to give what I can give?", "author": "Elizabeth Barrett Browning", "lines": [ "Can it be right to give what I can give?", "To let thee sit beneath the fall of tears", "As salt as mine, and hear the sighing years", "Re-sighing on my lips renunciative", "Through those infrequent smiles which fail to live", "For all thy adjurations? O my fears,", "That this can scarce be right! We are not peers,", "So to be lovers; and I own, and grieve,", "That givers of such gifts as mine are, must", "Be counted with the ungenerous. Out, alas!", "I will not soil thy purple with my dust,", "Nor breathe my poison on thy Venice-glass,", "Nor give thee any love—which were unjust.", "Beloved, I only love thee! let it pass." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 19 - The soul's Rialto hath its merchandise", "author": "Elizabeth Barrett Browning", "lines": [ "XIX", "", "The soul's Rialto hath its merchandise;", "I barter curl for curl upon that mart,", "And from my poet's forehead to my heart", "Receive this lock which outweighs argosies,—", "As purply black, as erst to Pindar's eyes", "The dim purpureal tresses gloomed athwart", "The nine white Muse-brows. For this counterpart, . . .", "The bay-crown's shade, Beloved, I surmise,", "Still lingers on thy curl, it is so black!", "Thus, with a fillet of smooth-kissing breath,", "I tie the shadows safe from gliding back,", "And lay the gift where nothing hindereth;", "Here on my heart, as on thy brow, to lack", "No natural heat till mine grows cold in death." ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "Summer begins to have the look", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Summer begins to have the look", "Peruser of enchanting Book", "Reluctantly but sure perceives", "A gain upon the backward leaves --", "", "Autumn begins to be inferred", "By millinery of the cloud", "Or deeper color in the shawl", "That wraps the everlasting hill.", "", "The eye begins its avarice", "A meditation chastens speech", "Some Dyer of a distant tree", "Resumes his gaudy industry.", "", "Conclusion is the course of All", "At most to be perennial", "And then elude stability", "Recalls to immortality." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Her Sweet turn to leave the Homestead", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Her Sweet turn to leave the Homestead", "Came the Darker Way --", "Carriages -- Be Sure -- and Guests -- too --", "But for Holiday", "", "'Tis more pitiful Endeavor", "Than did Loaded Sea", "O'er the Curls attempt to caper", "It had cast away --", "", "Never Bride had such Assembling --", "Never kinsmen kneeled", "To salute so fair a Forehead --", "Garland be indeed --", "", "Fitter Feet -- of Her before us --", "Than whatever Brow", "Art of Snow -- or Trick of Lily", "Possibly bestow", "", "Of Her Father -- Whoso ask Her --", "He shall seek as high", "As the Palm -- that serve the Desert --", "To obtain the Sky --", "", "Distance -- be Her only Motion --", "If 'tis Nay -- or Yes --", "Acquiescence -- or Demurral --", "Whosoever guess --", "", "He -- must pass the Crystal Angle", "That obscure Her face --", "He -- must have achieved in person", "Equal Paradise --" ], "linecount": "28" }, { "title": "So give me back to Death --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "So give me back to Death --", "The Death I never feared", "Except that it deprived of thee --", "And now, by Life deprived,", "In my own Grave I breathe", "And estimate its size --", "Its size is all that Hell can guess --", "And all that Heaven was --" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Yesterday is History,", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Yesterday is History,", "'Tis so far away --", "Yesterday is Poetry --", "'Tis Philosophy --", "", "Yesterday is mystery --", "Where it is Today", "While we shrewdly speculate", "Flutter both away" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Witchcraft was hung, in History,", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "'Twas such a little -- little boat", "That toddled down the bay!", "'Twas such a gallant -- gallant sea", "That beckoned it away!", "", "'Twas such a greedy, greedy wave", "That licked it from the Coast --", "Nor ever guessed the stately sails", "My little craft was lost!" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "No Romance sold unto", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "No Romance sold unto", "Could so enthrall a Man", "As the perusal of", "His Individual One --", "'Tis Fiction's -- When 'tis small enough", "To Credit -- 'Tisn't true!" ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "We grow accustomed to the Dark", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "We grow accustomed to the Dark --", "When light is put away --", "As when the Neighbor holds the Lamp", "To witness her Goodbye --", "", "A Moment -- We uncertain step", "For newness of the night --", "Then -- fit our Vision to the Dark --", "And meet the Road -- erect --", "", "And so of larger -- Darkness --", "Those Evenings of the Brain --", "When not a Moon disclose a sign --", "Or Star -- come out -- within --", "", "The Bravest -- grope a little --", "And sometimes hit a Tree", "Directly in the Forehead --", "But as they learn to see --", "", "Either the Darkness alters --", "Or something in the sight", "Adjusts itself to Midnight --", "And Life steps almost straight." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "Some, too fragile for winter winds", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Some, too fragile for winter winds", "The thoughtful grave encloses --", "Tenderly tucking them in from frost", "Before their feet are cold.", "", "Never the treasures in her nest", "The cautious grave exposes,", "Building where schoolboy dare not look,", "And sportsman is not bold.", "", "This covert have all the children", "Early aged, and often cold,", "Sparrow, unnoticed by the Father --", "Lambs for whom time had not a fold." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Nature affects to be sedate", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Nature affects to be sedate", "Upon occasion, grand", "But let our observation shut", "Her practices extend", "", "To Necromancy and the Trades", "Remote to understand", "Behold our spacious Citizen", "Unto a Juggler turned --" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "\"Heavenly Father\" -- take to thee", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "\"Heavenly Father\" -- take to thee", "The supreme iniquity", "Fashioned by thy candid Hand", "In a moment contraband --", "Though to trust us -- seems to us", "More respectful -- \"We are Dust\" --", "We apologize to thee", "For thine own Duplicity --" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "To tell the Beauty would decrease", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "To tell the Beauty would decrease", "To state the Spell demean --", "There is a syllable-less Sea", "Of which it is the sign --", "My will endeavors for its word", "And fails, but entertains", "A Rapture as of Legacies --", "Of introspective Mines --" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Bereavement in their death to feel", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Bereavement in their death to feel", "Whom We have never seen --", "A Vital Kinsmanship import", "Our Soul and theirs -- between --", "", "For Stranger -- Strangers do not mourn --", "There be Immortal friends", "Whom Death see first -- 'tis news of this", "That paralyze Ourselves --", "", "Who, vital only to Our Thought --", "Such Presence bear away", "In dying -- 'tis as if Our Souls", "Absconded -- suddenly --" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Of Life to own --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Of Life to own --", "From Life to draw --", "But never tough the reservoir --" ], "linecount": "3" }, { "title": "The Stars are old, that stood for me --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "The Stars are old, that stood for me --", "The West a little worn --", "Yet newer glows the only Gold", "I ever cared to earn --", "", "Presuming on that lone result", "Her infinite disdain", "But vanquished her with my defeat", "'Twas Victory was slain." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Going to Heaven!", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Going to Heaven!", "I don't know when --", "Pray do not ask me how!", "Indeed I'm too astonished", "To think of answering you!", "Going to Heaven!", "How dim it sounds!", "And yet it will be done", "As sure as flocks go home at night", "Unto the Shepherd's arm!", "", "Perhaps you're going too!", "Who knows?", "If you should get there first", "Save just a little space for me", "Close to the two I lost --", "The smallest \"Robe\" will fit me", "And just a bit of \"Crown\" --", "For you know we do not mind our dress", "When we are going home --", "", "I'm glad I don't believe it", "For it would stop my breath --", "And I'd like to look a little more", "At such a curious Earth!", "I'm glad they did believe it", "Whom I have never found", "Since the might Autumn afternoon", "I left them in the ground." ], "linecount": "27" }, { "title": "Funny -- to be a Century", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Funny -- to be a Century --", "And see the People -- going by --", "I -- should die of the Oddity --", "But then -- I'm not so staid -- as He --", "", "He keeps His Secrets safely -- very --", "Were He to tell -- extremely sorry", "This Bashful Globe of Ours would be --", "So dainty of Publicity --" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Her spirit rose to such a height", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Her spirit rose to such a height", "Her countenance it did inflate", "Like one that fed on awe.", "More prudent to assault the dawn", "Than merit the ethereal scorn", "That effervesced from her." ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "As Summer into Autumn slips", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "As Summer into Autumn slips", "And yet we sooner say", "\"The Summer\" than \"the Autumn,\" lest", "We turn the sun away,", "", "And almost count it an Affront", "The presence to concede", "Of one however lovely, not", "The one that we have loved --", "", "So we evade the charge of Years", "On one attempting shy", "The Circumvention of the Shaft", "Of Life's Declivity." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Said Death to Passion", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Said Death to Passion", "\"Give of thine an Acre unto me.\"", "Said Passion, through contracting Breaths", "\"A Thousand Times Thee Nay.\"", "", "Bore Death from Passion", "All His East", "He -- sovereign as the Sun", "Resituated in the West", "And the Debate was done." ], "linecount": "9" }, { "title": "She rose to His Requirement -- dropt", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "She rose to His Requirement -- dropt", "The Playthings of Her Life", "To take the honorable Work", "Of Woman, and of Wife --", "", "If ought She missed in Her new Day,", "Of Amplitude, or Awe --", "Or first Prospective -- Or the Gold", "In using, wear away,", "", "It lay unmentioned -- as the Sea", "Develop Pearl, and Weed,", "But only to Himself -- be known", "The Fathoms they abide --" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "On this long storm the Rainbow rose", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "On this long storm the Rainbow rose --", "On this late Morn -- the Sun --", "The clouds -- like listless Elephants --", "Horizons -- straggled down --", "", "The Birds rose smiling, in their nests --", "The gales -- indeed -- were done --", "Alas, how heedless were the eyes --", "On whom the summer shone!", "", "The quiet nonchalance of death --", "No Daybreak -- can bestir --", "The slow -- Archangel's syllables", "Must awaken her!" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "A Murmur in the Trees -- to note", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "A Murmur in the Trees -- to note --", "Not loud enough -- for Wind --", "A Star -- not far enough to seek --", "Nor near enough -- to find --", "", "A long -- long Yellow -- on the Lawn --", "A Hubbub -- as of feet --", "Not audible -- as Ours -- to Us --", "But dapperer -- More Sweet --", "", "A Hurrying Home of little Men", "To Houses unperceived --", "All this -- and more -- if I should tell --", "Would never be believed --", "", "Of Robins in the Trundle bed", "How many I espy", "Whose Nightgowns could not hide the Wings --", "Although I heard them try --", "", "But then I promised ne'er to tell --", "How could I break My Word?", "So go your Way -- and I'll go Mine --", "No fear you'll miss the Road." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "How happy is the little Stone", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "How happy is the little Stone", "That rambles in the Road alone,", "And doesn't care about Careers", "And Exigencies never fears --", "Whose Coat of elemental Brown", "A passing Universe put on,", "And independent as the Sun", "Associates or glows alone,", "Fulfilling absolute Decree", "In casual simplicity --" ], "linecount": "10" }, { "title": "A Tooth upon Our Peace", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "A Tooth upon Our Peace", "The Peace cannot deface --", "Then Wherefore be the Tooth?", "To vitalize the Grace --", "", "The Heaven hath a Hell --", "Itself to signalize --", "And every sign before the Place", "Is Gilt with Sacrifice --" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "I went to Heaven", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "I went to Heaven --", "'Twas a small Town --", "Lit -- with a Ruby --", "Lathed -- with Down --", "", "Stiller -- than the fields", "At the full Dew --", "Beautiful -- as Pictures --", "No Man drew.", "People -- like the Moth --", "Of Mechlin -- frames --", "Duties -- of Gossamer --", "And Eider -- names --", "Almost -- contented --", "I -- could be --", "'Mong such unique", "Society --" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "\"Heaven\" has different Signs -- to me --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "\"Heaven\" has different Signs -- to me --", "Sometimes, I think that Noon", "Is but a symbol of the Place --", "And when again, at Dawn,", "", "A mighty look runs round the World", "And settles in the Hills --", "An Awe if it should be like that", "Upon the Ignorance steals --", "", "The Orchard, when the Sun is on --", "The Triumph of the Birds", "When they together Victory make --", "Some Carnivals of Clouds --", "", "The Rapture of a finished Day --", "Returning to the West --", "All these -- remind us of the place", "That Men call \"paradise\" --", "", "Itself be fairer -- we suppose --", "But how Ourself, shall be", "Adorned, for a Superior Grace --", "Not yet, our eyes can see --" ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "Joy to have merited the Pain --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Joy to have merited the Pain --", "To merit the Release --", "Joy to have perished every step --", "To Compass Paradise --", "", "Pardon -- to look upon thy face --", "With these old fashioned Eyes --", "Better than new -- could be -- for that --", "Though bought in Paradise --", "", "Because they looked on thee before --", "And thou hast looked on them --", "Prove Me -- My Hazel Witnesses", "The features are the same --", "", "So fleet thou wert, when present --", "So infinite -- when gone --", "An Orient's Apparition --", "Remanded of the Morn --", "", "The Height I recollect --", "'Twas even with the Hills --", "The Depth upon my Soul was notched --", "As Floods -- on Whites of Wheels --", "", "To Haunt -- till Time have dropped", "His last Decade away,", "And Haunting actualize -- to last", "At least -- Eternity --" ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Going to Him! Happy letter!", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Going to Him! Happy letter!", "Tell Him --", "Tell Him the page I didn't write --", "Tell Him -- I only said the Syntax --", "And left the Verb and the pronoun out --", "Tell Him just how the fingers hurried --", "Then -- how they waded -- slow -- slow --", "And then you wished you had eyes in your pages --", "So you could see what moved them so --", "", "Tell Him -- it wasn't a Practised Writer --", "You guessed -- from the way the sentence toiled --", "You could hear the Bodice tug, behind you --", "As if it held but the might of a child --", "You almost pitied it -- you -- it worked so --", "Tell Him -- no -- you may quibble there --", "For it would split His Heart, to know it --", "And then you and I, were silenter.", "", "Tell Him -- Night finished -- before we finished --", "And the Old Clock kept neighing \"Day\"!", "And you -- got sleepy -- and begged to be ended --", "What could it hinder so -- to say?", "Tell Him -- just how she sealed you -- Cautious!", "But -- if He ask where you are hid", "Until tomorrow -- Happy letter!", "Gesture Coquette -- and shake your Head!" ], "linecount": "25" }, { "title": "To flee from memory", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "To flee from memory", "Had we the Wings", "Many would fly", "Inured to slower things", "Birds with surprise", "Would scan the cowering Van", "Of men escaping", "From the mind of man" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Talk not to me of Summer Trees", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Talk not to me of Summer Trees", "The foliage of the mind", "A Tabernacle is for Birds", "Of no corporeal kind", "And winds do go that way at noon", "To their Ethereal Homes", "Whose Bugles call the least of us", "To undepicted Realms" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Each Life Converges to some Centre --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Each Life Converges to some Centre --", "Expressed -- or still --", "Exists in every Human Nature", "A Goal --", "", "Embodied scarcely to itself -- it may be --", "Too fair", "For Credibility's presumption", "To mar --", "", "Adored with caution -- as a Brittle Heaven --", "To reach", "Were hopeless, as the Rainbow's Raiment", "To touch --", "", "Yet persevered toward -- sure -- for the Distance --", "How high --", "Unto the Saint's slow diligence --", "The Sky --", "", "Ungained -- it may be -- by a Life's low Venture --", "But then --", "Eternity enable the endeavoring", "Again." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "To her derided Home", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "To her derided Home", "A Weed of Summer came --", "She did not know her station low", "Nor Ignominy's Name --", "Bestowed a summer long", "Upon a frameless flower --", "Then swept as lightly from disdain", "As Lady from her Bower --", "", "Of Bliss the Codes are few --", "As Jesus cites of Him --", "\"Come unto me\" the moiety", "That wafts the Seraphim --" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Tie the Strings to my Life, My Lord,", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Tie the Strings to my Life, My Lord,", "Then, I am ready to go!", "Just a look at the Horses --", "Rapid! That will do!", "", "Put me in on the firmest side --", "So I shall never fall --", "For we must ride to the Judgment --", "And it's partly, down Hill --", "", "But never I mind the steeper --", "And never I mind the Sea --", "Held fast in Everlasting Race --", "By my own Choice, and Thee --", "", "Goodbye to the Life I used to live --", "And the World I used to know --", "And kiss the Hills, for me, just once --", "Then -- I am ready to go!" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "\"Faithful to the end\" Amended", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "\"Faithful to the end\" Amended", "From the Heavenly Clause --", "Constancy with a Proviso", "Constancy abhors --", "", "\"Crowns of Life\" are servile Prizes", "To the stately Heart,", "Given for the Giving, solely,", "No Emolument.", "", "--", "", "\"Faithful to the end\" Amended", "From the Heavenly clause --", "Lucrative indeed the offer", "But the Heart withdraws --", "", "\"I will give\" the base Proviso --", "Spare Your \"Crown of Life\" --", "Those it fits, too fair to wear it --", "Try it on Yourself --" ], "linecount": "17" }, { "title": "I'm sorry for the Dead -- Today --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "I'm sorry for the Dead -- Today --", "It's such congenial times", "Old Neighbors have at fences --", "It's time o' year for Hay.", "", "And Broad -- Sunburned Acquaintance", "Discourse between the Toil --", "And laugh, a homely species", "That makes the Fences smile --", "", "It seems so straight to lie away", "From all of the noise of Fields --", "The Busy Carts -- the fragrant Cocks --", "The Mower's Metre -- Steals --", "", "A Trouble lest they're homesick --", "Those Farmers -- and their Wives --", "Set separate from the Farming --", "And all the Neighbors' lives --", "", "A Wonder if the Sepulchre", "Don't feel a lonesome way --", "When Men -- and Boys -- and Carts -- and June,", "Go down the Fields to \"Hay\" --" ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "To mend each tattered Faith", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "To mend each tattered Faith", "There is a needle fair", "Though no appearance indicate --", "'Tis threaded in the Air --", "", "And though it do not wear", "As if it never Tore", "'Tis very comfortable indeed", "And spacious as before --" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Where Roses would not dare to go,", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Where Roses would not dare to go,", "What Heart would risk the way --", "And so I send my Crimson Scouts", "To sound the Enemy --" ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "Bloom -- is Result -- to meet a Flower", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Bloom -- is Result -- to meet a Flower", "And casually glance", "Would scarcely cause one to suspect", "The minor Circumstance", "", "Assisting in the Bright Affair", "So intricately done", "Then offered as a Butterfly", "To the Meridian --", "", "To pack the Bud -- oppose the Worm --", "Obtain its right of Dew --", "Adjust the Heat -- elude the Wind --", "Escape the prowling Bee", "", "Great Nature not to disappoint", "Awaiting Her that Day --", "To be a Flower, is profound", "Responsibility --" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Touch lightly Nature's sweet Guitar", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Touch lightly Nature's sweet Guitar", "Unless thou know'st the Tune", "Or every Bird will point at thee", "Because a Bard too soon --" ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "I had no time to Hate", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "I had no time to Hate --", "Because", "The Grave would hinder Me --", "And Life was not so", "Ample I", "Could finish -- Enmity --", "", "Nor had I time to Love --", "But since", "Some Industry must be --", "The little Toil of Love --", "I thought", "Be large enough for Me --" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "To lose one's faith -- surpass", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "To lose one's faith -- surpass", "The loss of an Estate --", "Because Estates can be", "Replenished -- faith cannot --", "", "Inherited with Life --", "Belief -- but once -- can be --", "Annihilate a single clause --", "And Being's -- Beggary --" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "If I should cease to bring a Rose", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "If I should cease to bring a Rose", "Upon a festal day,", "'Twill be because beyond the Rose", "I have been called away --", "", "If I should cease to take the names", "My buds commemorate --", "'Twill be because Death's finger", "Claps my murmuring lip!" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Given in Marriage unto Thee", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Given in Marriage unto Thee", "Oh thou Celestial Host --", "Bride of the Father and the Son", "Bride of the Holy Ghost.", "", "Other Betrothal shall dissolve --", "Wedlock of Will, decay --", "Only the Keeper of this Ring", "Conquer Mortality --" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "I cannot dance upon my Toes", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "I cannot dance upon my Toes --", "No Man instructed me --", "But oftentimes, among my mind,", "A Glee possesseth me,", "", "That had I Ballet knowledge --", "Would put itself abroad", "In Pirouette to blanch a Troupe --", "Or lay a Prima, mad,", "", "And though I had no Gown of Gauze --", "No Ringlet, to my Hair,", "Nor hopped to Audiences -- like Birds,", "One Claw upon the Air,", "", "Nor tossed my shape in Eider Balls,", "Nor rolled on wheels of snow", "Till I was out of sight, in sound,", "The House encore me so --", "", "Nor any know I know the Art", "I mention -- easy -- Here --", "Nor any Placard boast me --", "It's full as Opera --" ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "We pray -- to Heaven", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "We pray -- to Heaven --", "We prate -- of Heaven --", "Relate -- when Neighbors die --", "At what o'clock to heaven -- they fled --", "Who saw them -- Wherefore fly?", "", "Is Heaven a Place -- a Sky -- a Tree?", "Location's narrow way is for Ourselves --", "Unto the Dead", "There's no Geography --", "", "But State -- Endowal -- Focus --", "Where -- Omnipresence -- fly?" ], "linecount": "11" }, { "title": "Perhaps you'd like to buy a flower,", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Perhaps you'd like to buy a flower,", "But I could never sell --", "If you would like to borrow,", "Until the Daffodil", "", "Unties her yellow Bonnet", "Beneath the village door,", "Until the Bees, from Clover rows", "Their Hock, and Sherry, draw,", "", "Why, I will lend until just then,", "But not an hour more!" ], "linecount": "10" }, { "title": "Hope is a subtle Glutton --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Hope is a subtle Glutton --", "He feeds upon the Fair --", "And yet -- inspected closely", "What Abstinence is there --", "", "His is the Halcyon Table --", "That never seats but One --", "And whatsoever is consumed", "The same amount remain --" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Had I presumed to hope --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Had I presumed to hope --", "The loss had been to Me", "A Value -- for the Greatness' Sake --", "As Giants -- gone away --", "", "Had I presumed to gain", "A Favor so remote --", "The failure but confirm the Grace", "In further Infinite --", "", "'Tis failure -- not of Hope --", "But Confident Despair --", "Advancing on Celestial Lists --", "With faint -- Terrestial power --", "", "'Tis Honor -- though I die --", "For That no Man obtain", "Till He be justified by Death --", "This -- is the Second Gain --" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "When Roses cease to bloom, Sir,", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "When Roses cease to bloom, Sir,", "And Violets are done --", "When Bumblebees in solemn flight", "Have passed beyond the Sun --", "The hand that paused to gather", "Upon this Summer's day", "Will idle lie -- in Auburn --", "Then take my flowers -- pray!" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "These are the Signs to Nature's Inns --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "These are the Signs to Nature's Inns --", "Her invitation broad", "To Whosoever famishing", "To taste her mystic Bread --", "", "These are the rites of Nature's House --", "The Hospitality", "That opens with an equal width", "To Beggar and to Bee", "", "For Sureties of her staunch Estate", "Her undecaying Cheer", "The Purple in the East is set", "And in the North, the Star --" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "I started Early -- Took my Dog --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "I started Early -- Took my Dog --", "And visited the Sea --", "The Mermaids in the Basement", "Came out to look at me --", "", "And Frigates -- in the Upper Floor", "Extended Hempen Hands --", "Presuming Me to be a Mouse --", "Aground -- upon the Sands --", "", "But no Man moved Me -- till the Tide", "Went past my simple Shoe --", "And past my Apron -- and my Belt --", "And past my Bodice -- too --", "", "And made as He would eat me up --", "As wholly as a Dew", "Upon a Dandelion's Sleeve --", "And then -- I started -- too --", "", "And He -- He followed -- close behind --", "I felt his Silver Heel", "Upon my Ankle -- Then my Shoes", "Would overflow with Pearl --", "", "Until We met the Solid Town --", "No One He seemed to know --", "And bowing -- with a Mighty look --", "At me -- The Sea withdrew --" ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "To see the Summer Sky", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "To see the Summer Sky", "Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie --", "True Poems flee --" ], "linecount": "3" }, { "title": "Go not too near a House of Rose --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Go not too near a House of Rose --", "The depredation of a Breeze --", "Or inundation of a Dew", "Alarms its walls away --", "", "Nor try to tie the Butterfly,", "Nor climb the Bars of Ecstasy,", "In insecurity to lie", "Is Joy's insuring quality." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Somewhat, to hope for,", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Somewhat, to hope for,", "Be it ne'er so far", "Is Capital against Despair --", "", "Somewhat, to suffer,", "Be it ne'er so keen --", "If terminable, may be borne." ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "Too happy Time dissolves itself", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Too happy Time dissolves itself", "And leaves no remnant by --", "'Tis Anguish not a Feather hath", "Or too much weight to fly --" ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "Except to Heaven, she is nought.", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Except to Heaven, she is nought.", "Except for Angels -- lone.", "Except to some wide-wandering Bee", "A flower superfluous blown.", "", "Except for winds -- provincial.", "Except by Butterflies", "Unnoticed as a single dew", "That on the Acre lies.", "", "The smallest Housewife in the grass,", "Yet take her from the Lawn", "And somebody has lost the face", "That made Existence -- Home!" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "The Sea said \"Come\" to the Brook --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "The Sea said \"Come\" to the Brook --", "The Brook said \"Let me grow\" --", "The Sea said \"Then you will be a Sea --", "I want a Brook -- Come now\"!", "", "The Sea said \"Go\" to the Sea --", "The Sea said \"I am he", "You cherished\" -- \"Learned Waters --", "Wisdom is stale -- to Me\"" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "How far is it to Heaven?", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "How far is it to Heaven?", "As far as Death this way --", "Of River or of Ridge beyond", "Was no discovery.", "", "How far is it to Hell?", "As far as Death this way --", "How far left hand the Sepulchre", "Defies Topography." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "A Death blow is a Life blow to Some", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "A Death blow is a Life blow to Some", "Who till they died, did not alive become --", "Who had they lived, had died but when", "They died, Vitality begun." ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "He told a homely tale", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "He told a homely tale", "And spotted it with tears --", "Upon his infant face was set", "The Cicatrice of years --", "", "All crumpled was the cheek", "No other kiss had known", "Than flake of snow, divided with", "The Redbreast of the Barn --", "", "If Mother -- in the Grave --", "Or Father -- on the Sea --", "Or Father in the Firmament --", "Or Brethren, had he --", "", "If Commonwealth below,", "Or Commonwealth above", "Have missed a Barefoot Citizen --", "I've ransomed it -- alive --" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "The stork", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "Last night the Stork came stalking,", "And, Stork, beneath your wing", "Lay, lapped in dreamless slumber,", "The tiniest little thing!", "From Babyland, out yonder", "Beside a silver sea,", "You brought a priceless treasure", "As gift to mine and me!", "", "Last night my dear one listened -", "And, wife, you knew the cry -", "The dear old Stork has sought our home", "A many times gone by!", "And in your gentle bosom", "I found the pretty thing", "That from the realm out yonder", "Our friend the Stork did bring.", "", "Last night a babe awakened,", "And, babe, how strange and new", "Must seem the home and people", "The Stork has brought you to;", "And yet methinks you like them -", "You neither stare nor weep,", "But closer to my dear one", "You cuddle, and you sleep!", "", "Last night my heart grew fonder -", "0 happy heart of mine,", "Sing of the inspirations", "That round my pathway shine!", "And sing your sweetest love-song", "To this dear nestling wee", "The Stork from 'Way-Out-Yonder", "Hath brought to mine and me!" ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "Hugo's \"flower to butterfly\"", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "Sweet, bide with me and let my love", "Be an enduring tether;", "Oh, wanton not from spot to spot,", "But let us dwell together.", "", "You've come each morn to sip the sweets", "With which you found me dripping,", "Yet never knew it was not dew", "But tears that you were sipping.", "", "You gambol over honey meads", "Where siren bees are humming;", "But mine the fate to watch and wait", "For my beloved's coming.", "", "The sunshine that delights you now", "Shall fade to darkness gloomy;", "You should not fear if, biding here,", "You nestled closer to me.", "", "So rest you, love, and be my love,", "That my enraptured blooming", "May fill your sight with tender light,", "Your wings with sweet perfuming.", "", "Or, if you will not bide with me", "Upon this quiet heather,", "Oh, give me wing, thou beauteous thing,", "That we may soar together." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "God Needs Antonio", "author": "George Eliot", "lines": [ "Your soul was lifted by the wings today", "Hearing the master of the violin:", "You praised him, praised the great Sabastian too", "Who made that fine Chaconne; but did you think", "Of old Antonio Stradivari? -him", "Who a good century and a half ago", "Put his true work in that brown instrument", "And by the nice adjustment of its frame", "Gave it responsive life, continuous", "With the master's finger-tips and perfected", "Like them by delicate rectitude of use.", "That plain white-aproned man, who stood at work", "Patient and accurate full fourscore years,", "Cherished his sight and touch by temperance,", "And since keen sense is love of perfectness", "Made perfect violins, the needed paths", "For inspiration and high mastery.", "", "No simpler man than he; he never cried,", "\"why was I born to this monotonous task", "Of making violins?\" or flung them down", "To suit with hurling act well-hurled curse", "At labor on such perishable stuff.", "Hence neighbors in Cremona held him dull,", "Called him a slave, a mill-horse, a machine.", "", "Naldo, a painter of eclectic school,", "Knowing all tricks of style at thirty-one,", "And weary of them, while Antonio", "At sixty-nine wrought placidly his best,", "Making the violin you heard today -", "Naldo would tease him oft to tell his aims.", "\"Perhaps thou hast some pleasant vice to feed -", "the love of louis d'ors in heaps of four,", "Each violin a heap - I've naught to blame;", "My vices waste such heaps. But then, why work", "With painful nicety?\"", "", "Antonio then:", "\"I like the gold - well, yes - but not for meals.", "And as my stomach, so my eye and hand,", "And inward sense that works along with both,", "Have hunger that can never feed on coin.", "Who draws a line and satisfies his soul,", "Making it crooked where it should be straight?", "Antonio Stradivari has an eye", "That winces at false work and loves the true.\"", "Then Naldo: \"'Tis a petty kind of fame", "At best, that comes of making violins;", "And saves no masses, either. Thou wilt go", "To purgatory none the less.\"", "", "But he:", "\"'Twere purgatory here to make them ill;", "And for my fame - when any master holds", "'Twixt chin and hand a violin of mine,", "He will be glad that Stradivari lived,", "Made violins, and made them of the best.", "The masters only know whose work is good:", "They will choose mine, and while God gives them skill", "I give them instruments to play upon,", "God choosing me to help him.", "", "\"What! Were God", "at fault for violins, thou absent?\"", "", "\"Yes;", "He were at fault for Stradivari's work.\"", "", "\"Why, many hold Giuseppe's violins", "As good as thine.\"", "", "\"May be: they are different.", "His quality declines: he spoils his hand", "With over-drinking. But were his the best,", "He could not work for two. My work is mine,", "And, heresy or not, if my hand slacked", "I should rob God - since his is fullest good -", "Leaving a blank instead of violins.", "I say, not God himself can make man's best", "Without best men to help him.", "", "'Tis God gives skill,", "But not without men's hands: he could not make", "Antonio Stradivari's violins", "Without Antonio. Get thee to thy easel.\"" ], "linecount": "77" }, { "title": "The Sea Took Pity", "author": "Gerard Manley Hopkins", "lines": [ "The sea took pity: it interposed with doom:", "‘I have tall daughters dear that heed my hand:", "Let Winter wed one, sow them in her womb,", "And she shall child them on the New-world strand.’", ". . . . . . . ." ], "linecount": "5" }, { "title": "To What Serves Mortal Beauty?", "author": "Gerard Manley Hopkins", "lines": [ "To what serves mortal beauty '—dangerous; does set danc-", "ing blood—the O-seal-that-so ' feature, flung prouder form", "Than Purcell tune lets tread to? ' See: it does this: keeps warm", "Men's wits to the things that are; ' what good means—where a glance", "Master more may than gaze, ' gaze out of countenance.", "Those lovely lads once, wet-fresh ' windfalls of war's storm,", "How then should Gregory, a father, ' have gleanèd else from swarm-", "ed Rome? But God to a nation ' dealt that day's dear chance.", " To man, that needs would worship ' block or barren stone,", "Our law says: Love what are ' love's worthiest, were all known;", "World's loveliest—men's selves. Self ' flashes off frame and face.", "What do then? how meet beauty? ' Merely meet it; own,", "Home at heart, heaven's sweet gift; ' then leave, let that alone.", "Yea, wish that though, wish all, ' God's better beauty, grace." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "To R. B.", "author": "Gerard Manley Hopkins", "lines": [ "The fine delight that fathers thought; the strong", "Spur, live and lancing like the blowpipe flame,", "Breathes once and, quenchèd faster than it came,", "Leaves yet the mind a mother of immortal song.", "Nine months she then, nay years, nine years she long", "Within her wears, bears, cares and moulds the same:", "The widow of an insight lost she lives, with aim", "Now known and hand at work now never wrong.", " Sweet fire the sire of muse, my soul needs this;", "I want the one rapture of an inspiration.", "O then if in my lagging lines you miss", "The roll, the rise, the carol, the creation,", "My winter world, that scarcely breathes that bliss", "Now, yields you, with some sighs, our explanation." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "To a Young Child", "author": "Gerard Manley Hopkins", "lines": [ "Margaret, are you grieving", "Over Goldengrove unleaving?", "Leaves, like the things of man, you", "With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?", "Ah! as the heart grows older", "It will come to such sights colder", "By and by, nor spare a sigh", "Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;", "And yet you will weep and know why.", "Now no matter, child, the name:", "Sorrow's springs are the same.", "Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed", "What heart heard of, ghost guessed:", "It is the blight man was born for,", "It is Margaret you mourn for." ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "The Child Is Father To The Man", "author": "Gerard Manley Hopkins", "lines": [ "'The child is father to the man.'", "How can he be? The words are wild.", "Suck any sense from that who can:", "'The child is father to the man.'", "No; what the poet did write ran,", "'The man is father to the child.'", "'The child is father to the man!'", "How can he be? The words are wild." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Hope Holds to Christ", "author": "Gerard Manley Hopkins", "lines": [ ". . . . . . . .", "Hope holds to Christ the mind’s own mirror out", "To take His lovely likeness more and more.", "It will not well, so she would bring about", "An ever brighter burnish than before", "And turns to wash it from her welling eyes", "And breathes the blots off all with sighs on sighs.", "Her glass is blest but she as good as blind", "Holds till hand aches and wonders what is there;", "Her glass drinks light, she darkles down behind,", "All of her glorious gainings unaware.", ". . . . . . . .", "I told you that she turned her mirror dim", "Betweenwhiles, but she sees herself not Him.", ". . . . . . . ." ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "Spring & Fall: To A Young Child", "author": "Gerard Manley Hopkins", "lines": [ "Margaret, are you grieving", "Over Goldengrove unleaving?", "Leaves, like the things of man, you", "With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?", "Ah! as the heart grows older", "It will come to such sights colder", "By & by, nor spare a sigh", "Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;", "And yet you wíll weep & know why.", "Now no matter, child, the name:", "Sorrow's springs are the same.", "Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed", "What héart héard of, ghóst guéssed:", "It is the blight man was born for,", "It is Margaret you mourn for." ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "Introduction To The Song Of Hiawatha", "author": "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow", "lines": [ "Should you ask me,", "whence these stories?", "Whence these legends and traditions,", "With the odors of the forest", "With the dew and damp of meadows,", "With the curling smoke of wigwams,", "With the rushing of great rivers,", "With their frequent repetitions,", "And their wild reverberations", "As of thunder in the mountains?", "I should answer, I should tell you,", "\"From the forests and the prairies,", "From the great lakes of the Northland,", "From the land of the Ojibways,", "From the land of the Dacotahs,", "From the mountains, moors, and fen-lands", "Where the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,", "Feeds among the reeds and rushes.", "I repeat them as I heard them", "From the lips of Nawadaha,", "The musician, the sweet singer.\"", "Should you ask where Nawadaha", "Found these songs so wild and wayward,", "Found these legends and traditions,", "I should answer, I should tell you,", "\"In the bird's-nests of the forest,", "In the lodges of the beaver,", "In the hoofprint of the bison,", "In the eyry of the eagle!", "\"All the wild-fowl sang them to him,", "In the moorlands and the fen-lands,", "In the melancholy marshes;", "Chetowaik, the plover, sang them,", "Mahng, the loon, the wild-goose, Wawa,", "The blue heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,", "And the grouse, the Mushkodasa!\"", "If still further you should ask me,", "Saying, \"Who was Nawadaha?", "Tell us of this Nawadaha,\"", "I should answer your inquiries", "Straightway in such words as follow.", "\"In the vale of Tawasentha,", "In the green and silent valley,", "By the pleasant water-courses,", "Dwelt the singer Nawadaha.", "Round about the Indian village", "Spread the meadows and the corn-fields,", "And beyond them stood the forest,", "Stood the groves of singing pine-trees,", "Green in Summer, white in Winter,", "Ever sighing, ever singing.", "\"And the pleasant water-courses,", "You could trace them through the valley,", "By the rushing in the Spring-time,", "By the alders in the Summer,", "By the white fog in the Autumn,", "By the black line in the Winter;", "And beside them dwelt the singer,", "In the vale of Tawasentha,", "In the green and silent valley.", "\"There he sang of Hiawatha,", "Sang the Song of Hiawatha,", "Sang his wondrous birth and being,", "How he prayed and how be fasted,", "How he lived, and toiled, and suffered,", "That the tribes of men might prosper,", "That he might advance his people!\"", "Ye who love the haunts of Nature,", "Love the sunshine of the meadow,", "Love the shadow of the forest,", "Love the wind among the branches,", "And the rain-shower and the snow-storm,", "And the rushing of great rivers", "Through their palisades of pine-trees,", "And the thunder in the mountains,", "Whose innumerable echoes", "Flap like eagles in their eyries;-", "Listen to these wild traditions,", "To this Song of Hiawatha!", "Ye who love a nation's legends,", "Love the ballads of a people,", "That like voices from afar off", "Call to us to pause and listen,", "Speak in tones so plain and childlike,", "Scarcely can the ear distinguish", "Whether they are sung or spoken;-", "Listen to this Indian Legend,", "To this Song of Hiawatha!", "Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple,", "Who have faith in God and Nature,", "Who believe that in all ages", "Every human heart is human,", "That in even savage bosoms", "There are longings, yearnings, strivings", "For the good they comprehend not,", "That the feeble hands and helpless,", "Groping blindly in the darkness,", "Touch God's right hand in that darkness", "And are lifted up and strengthened;-", "Listen to this simple story,", "To this Song of Hiawatha!", "Ye, who sometimes, in your rambles", "Through the green lanes of the country,", "Where the tangled barberry-bushes", "Hang their tufts of crimson berries", "Over stone walls gray with mosses,", "Pause by some neglected graveyard,", "For a while to muse, and ponder", "On a half-effaced inscription,", "Written with little skill of song-craft,", "Homely phrases, but each letter", "Full of hope and yet of heart-break,", "Full of all the tender pathos", "Of the Here and the Hereafter;", "Stay and read this rude inscription,", "Read this Song of Hiawatha!" ], "linecount": "116" }, { "title": "TO A CHILD", "author": "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow", "lines": [ "Dear child! how radiant on thy mother's knee,", "With merry-making eyes and jocund smiles,", "Thou gazest at the painted tiles,", "Whose figures grace,", "With many a grotesque form and face.", "The ancient chimney of thy nursery!", "The lady with the gay macaw,", "The dancing girl, the grave bashaw", "With bearded lip and chin;", "And, leaning idly o'er his gate,", "Beneath the imperial fan of state,", "The Chinese mandarin.", "", "With what a look of proud command", "Thou shakest in thy little hand", "The coral rattle with its silver bells,", "Making a merry tune!", "Thousands of years in Indian seas", "That coral grew, by slow degrees,", "Until some deadly and wild monsoon", "Dashed it on Coromandel's sand!", "Those silver bells", "Reposed of yore,", "As shapeless ore,", "Far down in the deep-sunken wells", "Of darksome mines,", "In some obscure and sunless place,", "Beneath huge Chimborazo's base,", "Or Potosi's o'erhanging pines", "And thus for thee, O little child,", "Through many a danger and escape,", "The tall ships passed the stormy cape;", "For thee in foreign lands remote,", "Beneath a burning, tropic clime,", "The Indian peasant, chasing the wild goat,", "Himself as swift and wild,", "In falling, clutched the frail arbute,", "The fibres of whose shallow root,", "Uplifted from the soil, betrayed", "The silver veins beneath it laid,", "The buried treasures of the miser, Time.", "", "But, lo! thy door is left ajar!", "Thou hearest footsteps from afar!", "And, at the sound,", "Thou turnest round", "With quick and questioning eyes,", "Like one, who, in a foreign land,", "Beholds on every hand", "Some source of wonder and surprise!", "And, restlessly, impatiently,", "Thou strivest, strugglest, to be free,", "The four walls of thy nursery", "Are now like prison walls to thee.", "No more thy mother's smiles,", "No more the painted tiles,", "Delight thee, nor the playthings on the floor,", "That won thy little, beating heart before;", "Thou strugglest for the open door.", "", "Through these once solitary halls", "Thy pattering footstep falls.", "The sound of thy merry voice", "Makes the old walls", "Jubilant, and they rejoice", "With the joy of thy young heart,", "O'er the light of whose gladness", "No shadows of sadness", "From the sombre background of memory start.", "", "Once, ah, once, within these walls,", "One whom memory oft recalls,", "The Father of his Country, dwelt.", "And yonder meadows broad and damp", "The fires of the besieging camp", "Encircled with a burning belt.", "Up and down these echoing stairs,", "Heavy with the weight of cares,", "Sounded his majestic tread;", "Yes, within this very room", "Sat he in those hours of gloom,", "Weary both in heart and head.", "", "But what are these grave thoughts to thee?", "Out, out! into the open air!", "Thy only dream is liberty,", "Thou carest little how or where.", "I see thee eager at thy play,", "Now shouting to the apples on the tree,", "With cheeks as round and red as they;", "And now among the yellow stalks,", "Among the flowering shrubs and plants,", "As restless as the bee.", "Along the garden walks,", "The tracks of thy small carriage-wheels I trace;", "And see at every turn how they efface", "Whole villages of sand-roofed tents,", "That rise like golden domes", "Above the cavernous and secret homes", "Of wandering and nomadic tribes of ants.", "Ah, cruel little Tamerlane,", "Who, with thy dreadful reign,", "Dost persecute and overwhelm", "These hapless Troglodytes of thy realm!", "What! tired already! with those suppliant looks,", "And voice more beautiful than a poet's books,", "Or murmuring sound of water as it flows.", "Thou comest back to parley with repose;", "This rustic seat in the old apple-tree,", "With its o'erhanging golden canopy", "Of leaves illuminate with autumnal hues,", "And shining with the argent light of dews,", "Shall for a season be our place of rest.", "Beneath us, like an oriole's pendent nest,", "From which the laughing birds have taken wing,", "By thee abandoned, hangs thy vacant swing.", "Dream-like the waters of the river gleam;", "A sailless vessel drops adown the stream,", "And like it, to a sea as wide and deep,", "Thou driftest gently down the tides of sleep.", "", "O child! O new-born denizen", "Of life's great city! on thy head", "The glory of the morn is shed,", "Like a celestial benison!", "Here at the portal thou dost stand,", "And with thy little hand", "Thou openest the mysterious gate", "Into the future's undiscovered land.", "I see its valves expand,", "As at the touch of Fate!", "Into those realms of love and hate,", "Into that darkness blank and drear,", "By some prophetic feeling taught,", "I launch the bold, adventurous thought,", "Freighted with hope and fear;", "As upon subterranean streams,", "In caverns unexplored and dark,", "Men sometimes launch a fragile bark,", "Laden with flickering fire,", "And watch its swift-receding beams,", "Until at length they disappear,", "And in the distant dark expire.", "", "By what astrology of fear or hope", "Dare I to cast thy horoscope!", "Like the new moon thy life appears;", "A little strip of silver light,", "And widening outward into night", "The shadowy disk of future years;", "And yet upon its outer rim,", "A luminous circle, faint and dim,", "And scarcely visible to us here,", "Rounds and completes the perfect sphere;", "A prophecy and intimation,", "A pale and feeble adumbration,", "Of the great world of light, that lies", "Behind all human destinies.", "", "Ah! if thy fate, with anguish fraught,", "Should be to wet the dusty soil", "With the hot tears and sweat of toil,--", "To struggle with imperious thought,", "Until the overburdened brain,", "Weary with labor, faint with pain,", "Like a jarred pendulum, retain", "Only its motion, not its power,--", "Remember, in that perilous hour,", "When most afflicted and oppressed,", "From labor there shall come forth rest.", "", "And if a more auspicious fate", "On thy advancing steps await", "Still let it ever be thy pride", "To linger by the laborer's side;", "With words of sympathy or song", "To cheer the dreary march along", "Of the great army of the poor,", "O'er desert sand, o'er dangerous moor.", "Nor to thyself the task shall be", "Without reward; for thou shalt learn", "The wisdom early to discern", "True beauty in utility;", "As great Pythagoras of yore,", "Standing beside the blacksmith's door,", "And hearing the hammers, as they smote", "The anvils with a different note,", "Stole from the varying tones, that hung", "Vibrant on every iron tongue,", "The secret of the sounding wire.", "And formed the seven-chorded lyre.", "", "Enough! I will not play the Seer;", "I will no longer strive to ope", "The mystic volume, where appear", "The herald Hope, forerunning Fear,", "And Fear, the pursuivant of Hope.", "Thy destiny remains untold;", "For, like Acestes' shaft of old,", "The swift thought kindles as it flies,", "And burns to ashes in the skies." ], "linecount": "191" }, { "title": "Farewell to Ravelrig", "author": "James Thomson", "lines": [ "Sweet Ravelrig, I ne'er could part", "From thee, but wi' a dowie heart.", "When I think on the happy days", "I spent in youth about your braes,", "When innocence my steps did guide,", "Where murmuring streams did sweetly glide", "Beside the braes well stored wi' trees,", "And sweetest flow'rs that fend the bees:", "", "And there the tuneful tribe doth sing,", "While lightly flitting on the wing;", "And conscious peace was ever found", "Within your mansion to abound.", "Sweet be thy former owner's rest,", "And peace to him that's now possess't", "Of all thy beauties great and small,", "Lang may he live to bruik them all!" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "A Poem Sacred to the Memory of Sir Isaac Newton", "author": "James Thomson", "lines": [ "Shall the great soul of Newton quit this earth,", "To mingle with his stars; and every muse,", "Astonish'd into silence, shun the weight", "Of honours due to his illustrious name?", "But what can man?--Even now the sons of light,", "In strains high-warbled to seraphic lyre,", "Hail his arrival on the coast of bliss.", "Yet am not I deterr'd, though high the theme,", "And sung to harps of angels, for with you,", "Ethereal flames! ambitious, I aspire", "In Nature's general symphony to join.", "", "And what new wonders can ye show your guest!", "Who, while on this dim spot, where mortals toil", "Clouded in dust, from motion's simple laws,", "Could trace the secret hand of Providence,", "Wide-working through this universal frame.", "", "Have ye not listen'd while he bound the suns", "And planets to their spheres! th' unequal task", "Of humankind till then. Oft had they roll'd", "O'er erring man the year, and oft disgrac'd", "The pride of schools, before their course was known", "Full in its causes and effects to him,", "All-piercing sage! who sat not down and dream'd", "Romantic schemes, defended by the din", "Of specious words, and tyranny of names;", "But, bidding his amazing mind attend,", "And with heroic patience years on years", "Deep-searching, saw at last the system dawn,", "And shine, of all his race, on him alone.", "", "What were his raptures then! how pure! how strong!", "And what the triumphs of old Greece and Rome,", "By his diminish'd, but the pride of boys", "In some small fray victorious! when instead", "Of shatter'd parcels of this earth usurp'd", "By violence unmanly, and sore deeds", "Of cruelty and blood, Nature herself", "Stood all subdu'd by him, and open laid", "Her every latent glory to his view.", "", "All intellectual eye, our solar-round", "First gazing through, he by the blended power", "Of gravitation and projection saw", "The whole in silent harmony revolve.", "From unassisted vision hid, the moons", "To cheer remoter planets numerous pour'd,", "By him in all their mingled tracts were seen.", "He also fix'd the wandering Queen of Night,", "Whether she wanes into a scanty orb,", "Or, waxing broad, with her pale shadowy light,", "In a soft deluge overflows the sky.", "Her every motion clear-discerning, he", "Adjusted to the mutual main, and taught", "Why now the mighty mass of water swells", "Resistless, heaving on the broken rocks,", "And the full river turning; till again", "The tide revertive, unattracted, leaves", "A yellow waste of idle sands behind.", "", "Then breaking hence, he took his ardent flight", "Through the blue infinite; and every star,", "Which the clear concave of a winter's night", "Pours on the eye, or astronomic tube,", "Far-stretching, snatches from the dark abyss,", "Or such as farther in successive skies", "To fancy shine alone, at his approach", "Blaz'd into suns, the living centre each", "Of an harmonious system: all combin'd,", "And rul'd unerring by that single power,", "Which draws the stone projected to the ground.", "", "O unprofuse magnificence divine!", "O wisdom truly perfect! thus to call", "From a few causes such a scheme of things,", "Effects so various, beautiful, and great,", "An universe complete! and O belov'd", "Of Heaven! whose well-purg'd penetrative eye,", "The mystic veil transpiercing, inly scann'd", "The rising, moving, wide-establish'd frame.", "", "He, first of men, with awful wing pursu'd", "The comet through the long elliptic curve,", "As round innumerous worlds he wound his way,", "Till, to the forehead of our evening sky", "Return'd, the blazing wonder glares anew,", "And o'er the trembling nations shakes dismay.", "", "The heavens are all his own, from the wild rule", "Of whirling vortices and circling spheres", "To their first great simplicity restor'd.", "The schools astonish'd stood; but found it vain", "To keep at odds with demonstration strong,", "And, unawaken'd, dream beneath the blaze", "Of truth. At once their pleasing visions fled,", "With the gay shadows of the morning mix'd,", "When Newton rose, our philosophic sun!", "Th' aërial flow of sound was known to him,", "From whence it first in wavy circles breaks,", "Till the touch'd organ takes the message in.", "Nor could the darting beam of speed immense", "Escape his swift pursuit and measuring eye.", "Ev'n Light itself, which every thing displays,", "Shone undiscover'd, till his brighter mind", "Untwisted all the shining robe of day;", "And, from the whitening undistinguish'd blaze,", "Collecting every ray into his kind,", "To the charm'd eye educ'd the gorgeous train", "Of parent colours. First the flaming red", "Sprung vivid forth; the tawny orange next;", "And next delicious yellow; by whose side", "Fell the kind beams of all-refreshing green.", "Then the pure blue, that swells autumnal skies", "Ethereal played; and then, of sadder hue,", "Emerg'd the deepen'd indigo, as when", "The heavy-skirted evening droops with frost;", "While the last gleamings of refracted light", "Died in the fainting violet away.", "These, when the clouds distil the rosy shower,", "Shine out distinct adown the wat'ry bow;", "While o'er our heads the dewy vision bends", "Delightful, melting on the fields beneath.", "Myriads of mingling dyes from these result,", "And myriads still remain--infinite source", "Of beauty, ever flushing, ever new.", "", "Did ever poet image aught so fair,", "Dreaming in whisp'ring groves by the hoarse brook?", "Or prophet, to whose rapture heaven descends?", "Ev'n now the setting sun and shifting clouds,", "Seen, Greenwich, from thy lovely heights, declare", "How just, how beauteous the refractive law.", "", "The noiseless tide of time, all bearing down", "To vast eternity's unbounded sea,", "Where the green islands of the happy shine,", "He stemm'd alone; and, to the source (involv'd", "Deep in primeval gloom) ascending, rais'd", "His lights at equal distances, to guide", "Historian wilder'd on his darksome way.", "", "But who can number up his labours? who", "His high discoveries sing? When but a few", "Of the deep-studying race can stretch their minds", "To what he knew--in fancy's lighter thought", "How shall the muse then grasp the mighty theme?", "", "What wonder thence that his devotion swell'd", "Responsive to his knowledge? For could he,", "Whose piercing mental eye diffusive saw", "The finish'd university of things", "In all its order, magnitude, and parts,", "Forbear incessant to adore that Power", "Who fills, sustains, and actuates the whole?", "", "Say, ye who best can tell, ye happy few,", "Who saw him in the softest lights of life,", "All unwithheld, indulging to his friends", "The vast unborrow'd treasures of his mind,", "oh, speak the wondrous man! how mild, how calr", "How greatly humble, how divinely good,", "How firm establish'd on eternal truth;", "Fervent in doing well, with every nerve", "Still pressing on, forgetful of the past,", "And panting for perfection; far above", "Those little cares and visionary joys", "That so perplex the fond impassion'd heart", "Of ever-cheated, ever-trusting man.", "This, Conduitt, from thy rural hours we hope;", "As through the pleasing shade where nature pours", "Her every sweet in studious ease you walk,", "The social passions smiling at thy heart", "That glows with all the recollected sage.", "", "And you, ye hopeless gloomy-minded tribe,", "You who, unconscious of those nobler flights", "That reach impatient at immortal life,", "Against the prime endearing privilege", "Of being dare contend,--say, can a soul", "Of such extensive, deep, tremendous powers,", "Enlarging still, be but a finer breath", "Of spirits dancing through their tubes awhile,", "And then for ever lost in vacant air?", "", "But hark! methinks I hear a warning voice,", "Solemn as when some awful change is come,", "Sound through the world--\" 'Tis done!--the measure's full;", "And I resign my charge.\"--Ye mouldering stones", "That build the towering pyramid, the proud", "Triumphal arch, the monument effac'd", "By ruthless ruin, and whate'er supports", "The worship'd name of hoar antiquity--", "Down to the dust! What grandeur can ye boast", "While Newton lifts his column to the skies,", "Beyond the waste of time. Let no weak drop", "Be shed for him. The virgin in her bloom", "Cut off, the joyous youth, and darling child--", "These are the tombs that claim the tender tear", "And elegiac song. But Newton calls", "For other notes of gratulation high,", "That now he wanders through those endless worlds", "He here so well descried, and wondering talks,", "And hymns their Author with his glad compeers.", "", "O Britain's boast! whether with angels thou", "Sittest in dread discourse, or fellow-blest,", "Who joy to see the honour of their kind;", "Or whether, mounted on cherubic wing,", "Thy swift career is with the whirling orbs,", "Comparing things with things, in rapture lost,", "And grateful adoration for that light", "So plenteous ray'd into thy mind below", "From Light Himself; oh, look with pity down", "On humankind, a frail erroneous race!", "Exalt the spirit of a downward world!", "O'er thy dejected country chief preside,", "And be her Genius call'd! her studies raise,", "Correct her manners, and inspire her youth;", "For, though deprav'd and sunk, she brought thee forth,", "And glories in thy name! she points thee out", "To all her sons, and bids them eye thy star:", "While, in expectance of the second life,", "When time shall be no more, thy sacred dust", "Sleeps with her kings, and dignifies the scene." ], "linecount": "209" }, { "title": "Ike Walton's Prayer", "author": "James Whitcomb Riley", "lines": [ "I crave, dear Lord,", "No boundless hoard", "Of gold and gear,", "Nor jewels fine,", "Nor lands, nor kine,", "Nor treasure-heaps of anything.-", "Let but a little hut be mine", "Where at the hearthstore I may hear", "The cricket sing,", "And have the shine", "Of one glad woman's eyes to make,", "For my poor sake,", "Our simple home a place divine;-", "Just the wee cot-the cricket's chirr-", "Love, and the smiling face of her.", "", "I pray not for", "Great riches, nor", "For vast estates, and castle-halls,-", "Give me to hear the bare footfalls", "Of children o’er", "An oaken floor,", "New-risen with sunshine, or bespread", "With but the tiny coverlet", "And pillow for the baby’s head;", "And pray Thou, may", "The door stand open and the day", "Send ever in a gentle breeze,", "With fragrance from the locust-trees,", "And drowsy moan of doves, and blur", "Of robin-chirps, and drove of bees,", "With afterhushes of the stir", "Of intermingling sounds, and then", "The good-wife and the smile of her", "Filling the silences again-", "The cricket’s call,", "And the wee cot,", "Dear Lord of all,", "Deny me not!", "", "I pray not that", "Men tremble at", "My power of place", "And lordly sway, -", "I only pray for simple grace", "To look my neighbor in the face", "Full honestly from day to day-", "Yield me this horny palm to hold,", "And I’ll not pray", "For gold;-", "The tanned face, garlanded with mirth,", "It hath the kingliest smile on earth-", "The swart brow, diamonded with sweat,", "Hath never need of coronet.", "And so I reach,", "Dear Lord, to Thee,", "And do beseech", "Thou givest me", "The wee cot, and the cricket’s chirr,", "Love, and the glad sweet face of her." ], "linecount": "58" }, { "title": "To the Memory of Mrs. Lefroy who died Dec:r 16 -- my Birthday.", "author": "Jane Austen", "lines": [ "The day returns again, my natal day;", "What mix'd emotions with the Thought arise!", "Beloved friend, four years have pass'd away", "Since thou wert snatch'd forever from our eyes.--", "The day, commemorative of my birth", "Bestowing Life and Light and Hope on me,", "Brings back the hour which was thy last on Earth.", "Oh! bitter pang of torturing Memory!--", "", "Angelic Woman! past my power to praise", "In Language meet, thy Talents, Temper, mind.", "Thy solid Worth, they captivating Grace!--", "Thou friend and ornament of Humankind!--", "", "At Johnson's death by Hamilton t'was said,", "'Seek we a substitute--Ah! vain the plan,", "No second best remains to Johnson dead--", "None can remind us even of the Man.'", "", "So we of thee--unequall'd in thy race", "Unequall'd thou, as he the first of Men.", "Vainly we wearch around the vacant place,", "We ne'er may look upon thy like again.", "", "Come then fond Fancy, thou indulgant Power,--", "--Hope is desponding, chill, severe to thee!--", "Bless thou, this little portion of an hour,", "Let me behold her as she used to be.", "", "I see her here, with all her smiles benign,", "Her looks of eager Love, her accents sweet.", "That voice and Countenance almost divine!--", "Expression, Harmony, alike complete.--", "", "I listen--'tis not sound alone--'tis sense,", "'Tis Genius, Taste and Tenderness of Soul.", "'Tis genuine warmth of heart without pretence", "And purity of Mind that crowns the whole.", "", "She speaks; 'tis Eloquence--that grace of Tongue", "So rare, so lovely!--Never misapplied", "By her to palliate Vice, or deck a Wrong,", "She speaks and reasons but on Virtue's side.", "", "Her's is the Engergy of Soul sincere.", "Her Christian Spirit ignorant to feign,", "Seeks but to comfort, heal, enlighten, chear,", "Confer a pleasure, or prevent a pain.--", "", "Can ought enhance such Goodness?--Yes, to me,", "Her partial favour from my earliest years", "Consummates all.--Ah! Give me yet to see", "Her smile of Love.--the Vision diappears.", "", "'Tis past and gone--We meet no more below.", "Short is the Cheat of Fancy o'er the Tomb.", "Oh! might I hope to equal Bliss to go!", "To meet thee Angel! in thy future home!--", "", "Fain would I feel an union in thy fate,", "Fain would I seek to draw an Omen fair", "From this connection in our Earthly date.", "Indulge the harmless weakness--Reason, spare.--" ], "linecount": "52" }, { "title": "Holy Sonnet XIX: Oh, To Vex Me, Contraries Meet In One", "author": "John Donne", "lines": [ "Oh, to vex me, contraries meet in one:", "Inconstancy unnaturally hath begot", "A constant habit; that when I would not", "I change in vows, and in devotion.", "As humorous is my contrition", "As my profane love, and as soon forgot:", "As riddlingly distempered, cold and hot,", "As praying, as mute; as infinite, as none.", "I durst not view heaven yesterday; and today", "In prayers and flattering speeches I court God:", "Tomorrow I quake with true fear of his rod.", "So my devout fits come and go away", "Like a fantastic ague; save that here", "Those are my best days, when I shake with feare." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "A Hymn To God The Father", "author": "John Donne", "lines": [ "Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,", "Which is my sin, though it were done before?", "Wilt thou forgive that sin through which I run,", "And do run still, though still I do deplore?", "When thou hast done, thou hast not done,", "For I have more.", "", "Wilt thou forgive that sin by which I have won", "Others to sin? and made my sin their door?", "Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun", "A year or two, but wallowed in a score?", "When thou hast done, thou hast not done,", "For I have more.", "", "I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun", "My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;", "Swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son", "Shall shine as he shines now and heretofore;", "And, having done that, thou hast done,", "I fear no more." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "Farewell, Ungrateful Traitor!", "author": "John Dryden", "lines": [ "Farewell, ungrateful traitor!", "Farewell, my perjur'd swain!", "Let never injur'd woman", "Believe a man again.", "The pleasure of possessing", "Surpasses all expressing,", "But 'tis too short a blessing,", "And love too long a pain.", "", "'Tis easy to deceive us", "In pity of your pain,", "But when we love, you leave us", "To rail at you in vain.", "Before we have descried it,", "There is no joy beside it,", "But she that once has tried it", "Will never love again.", "", "The passion you pretended", "Was only to obtain,", "But once the charm is ended,", "The charmer you disdain.", "Your love by ours we measure", "Till we have lost our treasure,", "But dying is a pleasure", "When living is a pain." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "To The Memory Of Mr Oldham", "author": "John Dryden", "lines": [ "Farewell, too little and too lately known,", "Whom I began to think and call my own;", "For sure our souls were near allied, and thine", "Cast in the same poetic mould with mine.", "One common note on either lyre did strike,", "And knaves and fools we both abhorred alike.", "To the same goal did both our studies drive;", "The last set out the soonest did arrive.", "Thus Nisus fell upon the slippery place,", "While his young friend performed and won the race.", "O early ripe! to thy abundant store", "What could advancing age have added more?", "It might (what Nature never gives the young)", "Have taught the numbers of thy native tongue.", "But satire needs not those, and wit will shine", "Through the harsh cadence of a rugged line.", "A noble error, and but seldom made,", "When poets are by too much force betrayed.", "Thy generous fruits, though gathered ere their prime,", "Still showed a quickness; and maturing time", "But mellows what we write to the dull sweets of rhyme.", "Once more, hail and farewell! farewell, thou young,", "But ah too short, Marcellus of our tongue!", "Thy brows with ivy and with laurels bound;", "But fate and gloomy night encompass thee around." ], "linecount": "25" }, { "title": "Song To A Fair Young Lady Going Out Of Town In The Spring", "author": "John Dryden", "lines": [ "Ask not the cause why sullen spring", " So long delays her flow'rs to bear;", "Why warbling birds forget to sing,", " And winter storms invert the year?", "Chloris is gone; and Fate provides", "To make it spring where she resides.", "", "Chloris is gone, the cruel fair;", " She cast not back a pitying eye:", "But left her lover in despair,", " To sigh, to languish, and to die:", "Ah, how can those fair eyes endure", "To give the wounds they will not cure!", "", "Great god of Love, why hast thou made", " A face that can all hearts command,", "That all religions can invade,", " And change the laws of ev'ry land?", "Where thou hadst plac'd such pow'r before,", "Thou shouldst have made her mercy more.", "", "When Chloris to the temple comes,", " Adoring crowds before her fall;", "She can restore the dead from tombs,", " And ev'ry life but mine recall.", "I only am by love design'd", "To be the victim for mankind." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "To The Pious Memory Of The Accomplished Young Lady Mrs. Anne Killigrew", "author": "John Dryden", "lines": [ "Thou youngest virgin-daughter of the skies,", " Made in the last promotion of the Blest;", "Whose palms, new pluck'd from Paradise,", "In spreading branches more sublimely rise,", "Rich with immortal green above the rest:", "Whether, adopted to some neighbouring star,", "Thou roll'st above us, in thy wand'ring race,", " Or, in procession fix'd and regular,", " Mov'd with the Heavens' majestic pace:", " Or, call'd to more superior bliss,", "Thou tread'st, with seraphims, the vast abyss.", "What ever happy region is thy place,", "Cease thy celestial song a little space;", "(Thou wilt have time enough for hymns divine,", " Since Heav'n's eternal year is thine.)", "Hear then a mortal Muse thy praise rehearse,", " In no ignoble verse;", "But such as thy own voice did practise here,", "When thy first fruits of poesy were giv'n;", "To make thyself a welcome inmate there:", " While yet a young probationer,", " And Candidate of Heav'n.", "", " If by traduction came thy mind,", " Our wonder is the less to find", "A soul so charming from a stock so good;", "Thy father was transfus'd into thy blood:", "So wert thou born into the tuneful strain,", "(An early, rich, and inexhausted vein.)", " But if thy preexisting soul", " Was form'd, at first, with myriads more,", "It did through all the mighty poets roll,", " Who Greek or Latin laurels wore,", "And was that Sappho last, which once it was before.", " If so, then cease thy flight, O Heav'n-born mind!", " Thou hast no dross to purge from thy rich ore:", " Nor can thy soul a fairer mansion find,", " Than was the beauteous frame she left behind:", "Return, to fill or mend the choir, of thy celestial kind.", "", "May we presume to say, that at thy birth,", "New joy was sprung in Heav'n as well as here on earth.", "For sure the milder planets did combine", "On thy auspicious horoscope to shine,", "And ev'n the most malicious were in trine.", " Thy brother-angels at thy birth", " Strung each his lyre, and tun'd it high,", " That all the people of the sky", "Might know a poetess was born on earth;", " And then if ever, mortal ears", " Had heard the music of the spheres!", " And if no clust'ring swarm of bees", " On thy sweet mouth distill'd their golden dew,", " 'Twas that, such vulgar miracles,", " Heav'n had not leisure to renew:", " For all the blest fraternity of love", "Solemniz'd there thy birth, and kept thy Holyday above.", "", " O Gracious God! How far have we", "Profan'd thy Heav'nly gift of poesy?", "Made prostitute and profligate the Muse,", "Debas'd to each obscene and impious use,", "Whose harmony was first ordain'd above", "For tongues of angels, and for hymns of love?", "O wretched we! why were we hurried down", " This lubrique and adult'rate age,", " (Nay added fat pollutions of our own)", " T'increase the steaming ordures of the stage?", " What can we say t'excuse our Second Fall?", " Let this thy vestal, Heav'n, atone for all!", " Her Arethusian stream remains unsoil'd,", " Unmix'd with foreign filth, and undefil'd,", "Her wit was more than man, her innocence a child!", "", " Art she had none, yet wanted none:", " For Nature did that want supply,", " So rich in treasures of her own,", " She might our boasted stores defy:", "Such noble vigour did her verse adorn,", "That it seem'd borrow'd, where 'twas only born.", "Her morals too were in her bosom bred", " By great examples daily fed,", "What in the best of Books, her Father's Life, she read.", " And to be read her self she need not fear,", " Each test, and ev'ry light, her Muse will bear,", " Though Epictetus with his lamp were there.", " Ev'n love (for love sometimes her Muse express'd)", "Was but a lambent-flame which play'd about her breast:", " Light as the vapours of a morning dream,", "So cold herself, whilst she such warmth express'd,", " 'Twas Cupid bathing in Diana's stream.", "", "Born to the spacious empire of the Nine,", "One would have thought, she should have been content", "To manage well that mighty government;", "But what can young ambitious souls confine?", " To the next realm she stretch'd her sway,", " For painture near adjoining lay,", "A plenteous province, and alluring prey.", "A chamber of dependences was fram'd,", "(As conquerors will never want pretence,", " When arm'd, to justify th'offence)", "And the whole fief, in right of poetry she claim'd.", " The country open lay without defence:", "For poets frequent inroads there had made,", " And perfectly could represent", "The shape, the face, with ev'ry lineament:", "And all the large domains which the Dumb-sister sway'd,", "All bow'd beneath her government,", "Receiv'd in triumph wheresoe'er she went,", "Her pencil drew, what e'er her soul design'd,", "And oft the happy draught surpass'd the image in her mind.", "The sylvan scenes of herds and flocks,", "And fruitful plains and barren rocks,", "Of shallow brooks that flow'd so clear,", "The bottom did the top appear;", "Of deeper too and ampler floods,", "Which as in mirrors, show'd the woods;", "Of lofty trees, with sacred shades,", "And perspectives of pleasant glades,", "Where nymphs of brightest form appear,", "And shaggy satyrs standing near,", "Which them at once admire and fear.", "The ruins too of some majestic piece,", "Boasting the pow'r of ancient Rome or Greece,", "Whose statues, friezes, columns broken lie,", "And tho' defac'd, the wonder of the eye,", "What Nature, art, bold fiction e'er durst frame,", "Her forming hand gave feature to the name.", "So strange a concourse ne'er was seen before,", "But when the peopl'd Ark the whole creation bore.", "", "The scene then chang'd, with bold erected look", "Our martial king the sight with reverence strook:", "For not content t'express his outward part,", "Her hand call'd out the image of his heart,", "His warlike mind, his soul devoid of fear,", "His high-designing thoughts, were figur'd there,", "As when, by magic, ghosts are made appear.", "Our phoenix queen was portray'd too so bright,", "Beauty alone could beauty take so right:", "Her dress, her shape, her matchless grace,", "Were all observ'd, as well as heav'nly face.", "With such a peerless majesty she stands,", "As in that day she took the crown from sacred hands:", "Before a train of heroines was seen,", "In beauty foremost, as in rank, the queen!", "Thus nothing to her genius was deny'd,", "But like a ball of fire the further thrown,", " Still with a greater blaze she shone,", "And her bright soul broke out on ev'ry side.", "What next she had design'd, Heaven only knows,", "To such immod'rate growth her conquest rose,", "That fate alone its progress could oppose.", "", "Now all those charms, that blooming grace,", "The well-proportion'd shape, and beauteous face,", "Shall never more be seen by mortal eyes;", "In earth the much lamented virgin lies!", "Not wit, not piety could fate prevent;", "Nor was the cruel destiny content", "To finish all the murder at a blow,", "To sweep at once her life, and beauty too;", "But, like a harden'd felon, took a pride", " To work more mischievously slow,", " And plunder'd first, and then destroy'd.", "O double sacrilege on things divine,", "To rob the relique, and deface the shrine!", " But thus Orinda died:", "Heav'n, by the same disease, did both translate,", "As equal were their souls, so equal was their fate.", "", "Meantime her warlike brother on the seas", "His waving streamers to the winds displays,", "And vows for his return, with vain devotion, pays.", "Ah, generous youth, that wish forbear,", "The winds too soon will waft thee here!", "Slack all thy sails, and fear to come,", "Alas, thou know'st not, thou art wreck'd at home!", "No more shalt thou behold thy sister's face,", "Thou hast already had her last embrace.", "But look aloft, and if thou ken'st from far,", "Among the Pleiad's, a new-kindl'd star,", "If any sparkles, than the rest, more bright,", "'Tis she that shines in that propitious light.", "", "When in mid-air, the golden trump shall sound,", "To raise the nations under ground;", "When in the valley of Jehosophat,", "The Judging God shall close the book of fate;", "And there the last Assizes keep,", "For those who wake, and those who sleep;", "When rattling bones together fly,", "From the four corners of the sky,", "When sinews o'er the skeletons are spread,", "Those cloth'd with flesh, and life inspires the dead;", "The sacred poets first shall hear the sound,", "And foremost from the tomb shall bound:", "For they are cover'd with the lightest ground,", "And straight, with in-born vigour, on the wing,", "Like mounting larks, to the new morning sing.", "There thou, sweet saint, before the choir shall go,", "As harbinger of Heav'n, the way to show,", "The way which thou so well hast learn'd below." ], "linecount": "195" }, { "title": "Absalom And Achitophel", "author": "John Dryden", "lines": [ "In pious times, ere priest-craft did begin,", "Before polygamy was made a sin;", "When man, on many, multipli'd his kind,", "Ere one to one was cursedly confin'd:", "When Nature prompted, and no Law deni'd", "Promiscuous use of concubine and bride;", "Then, Israel's monarch, after Heaven's own heart,", "His vigorous warmth did variously impart", "To wives and slaves: and, wide as his command,", "Scatter'd his Maker's image through the land.", "Michal, of royal blood, the crown did wear;", "A soil ungrateful to the tiller's care:", "Not so the rest; for several mothers bore", "To god-like David, several sons before.", "But since like slaves his bed they did ascend,", "No true succession could their seed attend.", "Of all this numerous progeny was none", "So beautiful, so brave, as Absalom:", "Whether, inspir'd by some diviner lust,", "His father got him with a greater gust;", "Or that his conscious destiny made way,", "By manly beauty to imperial sway.", "Early in foreign fields he won renown,", "With kings and states alli'd to Israel's crown:", "In peace the thoughts of war he could remove,", "And seem'd as he were only born for love.", "Whate'er he did, was done with so much ease,", "In him alone, 'twas natural to please:", "His motions all accompani'd with grace;", "And Paradise was open'd in his face.", "With secret joy, indulgent David view'd", "His youthful image in his son renew'd:", "To all his wishes nothing he deni'd;", "And made the charming Annabel his bride.", "What faults he had (for who from faults is free?)", "His father could not, or he would not see.", "Some warm excesses, which the Law forbore,", "Were constru'd youth that purged by boiling o'er:", "And Amnon's murther, by a specious name,", "Was call'd a just revenge for injur'd fame.", "Thus prais'd, and lov'd, the noble youth remain'd,", "While David, undisturb'd, in Sion reign'd.", "But life can never be sincerely blest:", "Heav'n punishes the bad, and proves the best.", "The Jews, a headstrong, moody, murm'ring race,", "As ever tri'd th'extent and stretch of grace;", "God's pamper'd people whom, debauch'd with ease,", "No king could govern, nor no God could please;", "(Gods they had tri'd of every shape and size,", "That god-smiths could produce, or priests devise:)", "These Adam-wits, too fortunately free,", "Began to dream they wanted liberty:", "And when no rule, no precedent, was found", "Of men, by laws less circumscrib'd and bound,", "They led their wild desires to woods and caves,", "And thought that all but savages were slaves.", "They who, when Saul was dead, without a blow,", "Made foolish Ishbosheth the crown forego;", "Who banisht David did from Hebron bring,", "And, with a general shout, proclaim'd him king:", "Those very Jews, who, at their very best,", "Their Humour more than loyalty exprest,", "Now, wonder'd why, so long, they had obey'd", "An idol-monarch which their hands had made:", "Thought they might ruin him they could create;", "Or melt him to that golden calf, a state.", "But these were random bolts: no form'd design,", "Nor interest made the factious crowd to join:", "The sober part of Israel, free from stain,", "Well knew the value of a peaceful reign:", "And, looking backward with a wise afright,", "Saw seams of wounds, dishonest to the sight:", "In contemplation of whose ugly scars,", "They curst the memory of civil wars.", "The moderate sort of men, thus qualifi'd,", "Inclin'd the balance to the better side:", "And, David's mildness manag'd it so well,", "The bad found no occasion to rebel.", "But, when to sin our bias'd nature leans,", "The careful Devil is still at hand with means;", "And providently pimps for ill desires:", "The good old cause reviv'd, a plot requires.", "Plots, true or false, are necessary things,", "To raise up common-wealths, and ruin kings.", "", " Th' inhabitants of old Jerusalem", "Were Jebusites: the town so call'd from them;", "And theirs the native right—", "But when the chosen people grew more strong,", "The rightful cause at length became the wrong:", "And every loss the men of Jebus bore,", "They still were thought God's enemies the more.", "Thus, worn and weaken'd, well or ill content,", "Submit they must to David's government:", "Impoverish'd and depriv'd of all command,", "Their taxes doubled as they lost their land;", "And, what was harder yet to flesh and blood,", "Their gods disgrac'd, and burnt like common wood.", "This set the heathen priesthood in a flame;", "For priests of all religions are the same:", "Of whatsoe'er descent their godhead be,", "Stock, stone, or other homely pedigree,", "In his defence his servants are as bold,", "As if he had been born of beaten gold.", "The Jewish Rabbins though their Enemies,", "In this conclude them honest men and wise:", "For 'twas their duty, all the learned think,", "T'espouse his cause by whom they eat and drink.", "From hence began that plot, the nation's curse,", "Bad in itself, but represented worse.", "Rais'd in extremes, and in extremes decri'd;", "With oaths affirm'd, with dying vows deni'd.", "Not weigh'd, or winnow'd by the multitude;", "But swallow'd in the mass, unchew'd and crude.", "Some truth there was, but dash'd and brew'd with lies;", "To please the fools, and puzzle all the wise.", "Succeeding times did equal folly call,", "Believing nothing, or believing all.", "Th' Egyptian rites the Jebusites embrac'd;", "Where gods were recommended by their taste.", "Such sav'ry deities must needs be good,", "As serv'd at once for worship and for food.", "By force they could not introduce these gods;", "For ten to one, in former days was odds.", "So fraud was us'd, (the sacrificers' trade,)", "Fools are more hard to conquer than persuade.", "Their busy teachers mingled with the Jews;", "And rak'd, for converts, even the court and stews:", "Which Hebrew priests the more unkindly took,", "Because the fleece accompanies the flock.", "Some thought they God's anointed meant to slay", "By guns, invented since full many a day:", "Our author swears it not; but who can know", "How far the Devil and Jebusites may go?", "This plot, which fail'd for want of common sense,", "Had yet a deep and dangerous consequence:", "For, as when raging fevers boil the blood,", "The standing lake soon floats into a flood;", "And ev'ry hostile humour, which before", "Slept quiet in its channels, bubbles o'er:", "So, several factions from this first ferment,", "Work up to foam, and threat the government.", "Some by their friends, more by themselves thought wise,", "Oppos'd the pow'r, to which they could not rise.", "Some had in courts been great, and thrown from thence,", "Like fiends, were harden'd in impenitence.", "Some by their monarch's fatal mercy grown,", "From pardon'd rebels, kinsmen to the throne;", "Were rais'd in pow'r and public office high;", "Strong bands, if bands ungrateful men could tie.", "", "Of these the false Achitophel was first:", "A name to all succeeding ages curst.", "For close designs, and crooked counsels fit;", "Sagacious, bold and turbulent of wit:", "Restless, unfixt in principles and place;", "In pow'r unpleas'd, impatient of disgrace.", "A fiery soul, which working out its way,", "Fretted the pigmy-body to decay:", "And o'er inform'd the tenement of clay.", "A daring pilot in extremity;", "Pleas'd with the danger, when the waves went high", "He sought the storms; but for a calm unfit,", "Would steer too nigh the sands, to boast his wit.", "Great wits are sure to madness near alli'd;", "And thin partitions do their bounds divide:", "Else, why should he, with wealth and honour blest,", "Refuse his age the needful hours of rest?", "Punish a body which he could not please;", "Bankrupt of life, yet prodigal of ease?", "And all to leave, what with his toil he won", "To that unfeather'd, two-legg'd thing, a son:", "Got, while his soul did huddled notions try;", "And born a shapeless lump, like anarchy.", "In friendship false, implacable in hate:", "Resolv'd to ruin or to rule the state.", "To compass this, the triple bond he broke;", "The pillars of the public safety shook:", "And fitted Israel for a foreign yoke.", "Then, seiz'd with fear, yet still affecting fame,", "Usurp'd a patriot's all-atoning name.", "So easy still it proves in factious times,", "With public zeal to cancel private crimes:", "How safe is treason, and how sacred ill,", "Where none can sin against the people's will:", "Where crowds can wink; and no offence be known,", "Since in another's guilt they find their own.", "Yet, fame deserv'd, no enemy can grudge;", "The statesman we abhor, but praise the judge.", "In Jewish courts ne'er sat an Abbethdin", "With more discerning eyes, or hands more clean:", "Unbrib'd, unsought, the wretched to redress;", "Swift of dispatch, and easy of access.", "Oh, had he been content to serve the crown,", "With virtues only proper to the gown;", "Or, had the rankness of the soil been freed", "From cockle, that opprest the noble seed:", "David, for him his tuneful harp had strung,", "And heav'n had wanted one immortal song.", "But wild ambition loves to slide, not stand;", "And fortune's ice prefers to virtue's land:", "Achitophel, grown weary to possess", "A lawful fame, and lazy happiness;", "Disdain'd the golden fruit to gather free,", "And lent the crowd his arm to shake the tree.", "Now, manifest of crimes, contriv'd long since,", "He stood at bold defiance with his prince:", "Held up the buckler of the people's cause,", "Against the crown; and skulk'd behind the laws.", "The wish'd occasion of the plot he takes;", "Some circumstances finds, but more he makes.", "By buzzing emissaries, fills the ears", "Of list'ning crowds, with jealousies and fears", "Of arbitrary counsels brought to light,", "And proves the king himself a Jebusite.", "Weak arguments! which yet he knew full well,", "Were strong with people easy to rebel.", "For, govern'd by the moon, the giddy Jews", "Tread the same track when she the prime renews:", "And once in twenty years, their scribes record,", "By natural instinct they change their lord.", "Achitophel still wants a chief, and none", "Was found so fit as warlike Absalom:", "Not, that he wish'd his greatness to create,", "(For politicians neither love nor hate:)", "But, for he knew, his title not allow'd,", "Would keep him still depending on the crowd:", "That kingly pow'r, thus ebbing out, might be", "Drawn to the dregs of a democracy.", "Him he attempts, with studied arts to please,", "And sheds his venom, in such words as these.", "", "Auspicious Prince! at whose nativity", "Some royal planet rul'd the southern sky;", "Thy longing country's darling and desire;", "Their cloudy pillar, and their guardian fire:", "Their second Moses, whose extended wand", "Divides the seas, and shows the promis'd land:", "Whose dawning day, in very distant age,", "Has exercis'd the sacred prophet's rage:", "The people's pray'r, the glad diviner's theme,", "The young men's vision, and the old men's dream!", "Thee, Saviour, thee, the nation's vows confess;", "And, never satisfi'd with seeing, bless:", "Swift, unbespoken pomps, thy steps proclaim,", "And stammering babes are taught to lisp thy name.", "How long wilt thou the general joy detain;", "Starve, and defraud the people of thy reign?", "Content ingloriously to pass thy days", "Like one of virtue's fools that feeds on praise;", "Till thy fresh glories, which now shine so bright,", "Grow stale and tarnish with our daily sight.", "Believe me, royal youth, thy fruit must be,", "Or gather'd ripe, or rot upon the tree.", "Heav'n has to all allotted, soon or late,", "Some lucky revolution of their fate:", "Whose motions if we watch and guide with skill,", "(For human good depends on human will,)", "Our fortune rolls, as from a smooth descent,", "And, from the first impression, takes the bent:", "But, if unseiz'd, she glides away like wind;", "And leaves repenting folly far behind.", "Now, now she meets you, with a glorious prize,", "And spreads her locks before her as she flies.", "Had thus Old David, from whose loins you spring,", "Not dar'd, when fortune call'd him, to be king.", "At Gath an exile he might still remain;", "And Heaven's anointing oil had been in vain.", "Let his successful youth your hopes engage;", "But shun th'example of declining age:", "Behold him setting in his western skies,", "The shadows lengthening as the vapours rise.", "He is not now, as when on Jordan's sand", "The joyful people throng'd to see him land,", "Cov'ring the beach, and black'ning all the strand:", "But, like the Prince of Angels from his height,", "Comes tumbling downward with diminish'd light:", "Betray'd by one poor plot to public scorn:", "(Our only blessing since his curst return:)", "Those heaps of people which one sheaf did bind,", "Blown off, and scatter'd by a puff of wind.", "What strength can he to your designs oppose,", "Naked of friends and round beset with foes?", "If Pharaoh's doubtful succour he should use,", "A foreign aid would more incense the Jews:", "Proud Egypt would dissembled friendship bring;", "Foment the war, but not support the king:", "Nor would the royal party e'er unite", "With Pharaoh's arms, t'assist the Jebusite;", "Or if they should, their interest soon would break,", "And with such odious aid, make David weak.", "All sorts of men, by my successful arts,", "Abhorring kings, estrange their alter'd hearts", "From David's rule: And 'tis the general Cry,", "Religion, Common-wealth, and Liberty.", "If, you, as champion of the public good,", "Add to their arms a chief of royal blood;", "What may not Israel hope, and what applause", "Might such a general gain by such a cause?", "Not barren praise alone, that gaudy flow'r,", "Fair only to the sight, but solid pow'r:", "And nobler is a limited command,", "Giv'n by the love of all your native land,", "Than a successive title, long, and dark,", "Drawn from the mouldy rolls of Noah's Ark.", "", "What cannot praise effect in mighty minds,", "When flattery soothes, and when ambition blinds!", "Desire of pow'r, on earth a vicious weed,", "Yet, sprung from high, is of celestial seed:", "In God 'tis glory: And when men aspire,", "'Tis but a spark too much of heavenly fire.", "Th' ambitious youth, too covetous of fame,", "Too full of angel's metal in his frame;", "Unwarily was led from virtue's ways;", "Made drunk with honour, and debauch'd with praise.", "Half loath, and half consenting to the ill,", "(For loyal blood within him struggled still)", "He thus repli'd.—And what pretence have I", "To take up arms for public liberty?", "My Father governs with unquestion'd right;", "The Faith's defender, and mankind's delight:", "Good, gracious, just, observant of the laws;", "And Heav'n by wonders has espous'd his cause.", "Whom has he wrong'd in all his peaceful reign?", "Who sues for justice to his throne in vain?", "What millions has he pardon'd of his foes,", "Whom just revenge did to his wrath expose?", "Mild, easy, humble, studious of our good;", "Inclin'd to mercy, and averse from blood.", "If mildness ill with stubborn Israel suit,", "His crime is God's beloved attribute.", "What could he gain, his people to betray,", "Or change his right, for arbitrary sway?", "Let haughty Pharaoh curse with such a reign,", "His fruitful Nile, and yoke a servile train.", "If David's rule Jerusalem displease,", "The Dog-star heats their brains to this disease.", "Why then should I, encouraging the bad,", "Turn rebel, and run popularly mad?", "Were he a tyrant who, by lawless might,", "Oppress'd the Jews, and rais'd the Jebusite,", "Well might I mourn; but nature's holy bands", "Would curb my spirits, and restrain my hands:", "The people might assert their liberty;", "But what was right in them, were crime in me.", "His favour leaves me nothing to require;", "Prevents my wishes, and out-runs desire.", "What more can I expect while David lives?", "All but his kingly diadem he gives:", "And that: but there he paus'd; then sighing, said,", "Is justly destin'd for a worthier head.", "For when my father from his toils shall rest,", "And late augment the number of the blest:", "His lawful issue shall the throne ascend;", "Or the collat'ral line where that shall end.", "His brother, though oppress'd with vulgar spite,", "Yet dauntless and secure of native right,", "Of every royal virtue stands possess'd;", "Still dear to all the bravest, and the best.", "His courage foes, his friends his truth proclaim;", "His loyalty the king, the world his fame.", "His mercy ev'n th'offending crowd will find:", "For sure he comes of a forgiving kind.", "Why should I then repine at Heaven's decree;", "Which gives me no pretence to royalty?", "Yet oh that Fate, propitiously inclin'd,", "Had rais'd my birth, or had debas'd my mind;", "To my large soul, not all her treasure lent,", "And then betray'd it to a mean descent.", "I find, I find my mounting spirits bold,", "And David's part disdains my mother's mold.", "Why am I scanted by a niggard-birth?", "My soul disclaims the kindred of her earth:", "And made for empire, whispers me within;", "Desire of greatness is a god-like sin.", "", "Him staggering so when Hell's dire agent found,", "While fainting virtue scarce maintain'd her ground,", "He pours fresh forces in, and thus replies:", "", "Th'eternal God, supremely good and wise,", "Imparts not these prodigious gifts in vain;", "What wonders are reserv'd to bless your reign?", "Against your will your arguments have shown,", "Such virtue's only giv'n to guide a throne.", "Not that your father's mildness I contemn;", "But manly force becomes the diadem.", "'Tis true, he grants the people all they crave;", "And more perhaps than subjects ought to have:", "For lavish grants suppose a monarch tame,", "And more his goodness than his wit proclaim.", "But when should people strive their bonds to break,", "If not when kings are negligent or weak?", "Let him give on till he can give no more,", "The thrifty Sanhedrin shall keep him poor:", "And every shekel which he can receive,", "Shall cost a limb of his prerogative.", "To ply him with new plots, shall be my care;", "Or plunge him deep in some expensive war;", "Which, when his treasure can no more supply,", "He must, with the remains of kingship, buy.", "His faithful friends, our jealousies and fears", "Call Jebusites; and Pharaoh's pensioners:", "Whom, when our fury from his aid has torn,", "He shall be naked left to public scorn.", "The next successor, whom I fear and hate,", "My arts have made obnoxious to the state;", "Turn'd all his virtues to his overthrow,", "And gain'd our elders to pronounce a foe.", "His right, for sums of necessary gold,", "Shall first be pawn'd, and afterwards be sold:", "Till time shall ever-wanting David draw,", "To pass your doubtful title into law:", "If not; the people have a right supreme", "To make their kings; for kings are made for them.", "All empire is no more than pow'r in trust:", "Which when resum'd, can be no longer just.", "Succession, for the general good design'd,", "In its own wrong a nation cannot bind:", "If altering that, the people can relieve,", "Better one suffer, than a nation grieve.", "The Jews well know their pow'r: ere Saul they chose,", "God was their king, and God they durst depose.", "Urge now your piety, your filial name,", "A father's right, and fear of future fame;", "The public good, the universal call,", "To which even Heav'n submitted, answers all.", "Nor let his love enchant your generous mind;", "'Tis Nature's trick to propagate her kind.", "Our fond begetters, who would never die,", "Love but themselves in their posterity.", "Or let his kindness by th'effects be tri'd,", "Or let him lay his vain pretence aside.", "God said he lov'd your father; could he bring", "A better proof, than to anoint him king?", "It surely show'd he lov'd the shepherd well,", "Who gave so fair a flock as Israel.", "Would David have you thought his darling son?", "What means he then, to alienate the crown?", "The name of godly he may blush to bear:", "'Tis after God's own heart to cheat his heir.", "He to his brother gives supreme command;", "To you a legacy of barren land:", "Perhaps th'old harp, on which he thrums his lays:", "Or some dull Hebrew ballad in your praise.", "Then the next heir, a prince, severe and wise", "Already looks on you with jealous eyes;", "Sees through the thin disguises of your arts,", "And marks your progress in the people's hearts.", "Though now his mighty soul in grief contains,", "He meditates revenge who least complains;", "And like a lion, slumb'ring in the way,", "Or sleep-dissembling, while he waits his prey,", "His fearless foes within his distance draws;", "Constrains his roaring and contracts his paws:", "Till at the last, his time for fury found,", "He shoots with sudden vengeance from the ground:", "The prostrate vulgar, passes o'er, and spares;", "But with a lordly rage, his hunters tears.", "Your case no tame expedients will afford;", "Resolve on death, or conquest by the sword,", "Which for no less a stake than life, you draw;", "And self-defence is Nature's eldest law.", "Leave the warm people no considering time;", "For then rebellion may be thought a crime.", "Prevail yourself of what occasion gives,", "But try your title while your father lives:", "And that your arms may have a fair pretence,", "Proclaim, you take them in the king's defence:", "Whose sacred life each minute would expose", "To plots from seeming friends and secret foes.", "And who can sound the depth of David's soul?", "Perhaps his fear, his kindness may control.", "He fears his brother, though he loves his son,", "For plighted vows too late to be undone.", "If so, by force he wishes to be gain'd;", "Like women's lechery, to seem constrain'd:", "Doubt not; but when he most affects the frown,", "Commit a pleasing rape upon the crown.", "Secure his person to secure your cause;", "They who possess the prince, possess the laws.", "", "He said, and this advice above the rest", "With Absalom's mild nature suited best;", "Unblam'd of life, (ambition set aside,)", "Not stain'd with cruelty, nor puff'd with pride.", "How happy had he been, if destiny", "Had higher plac'd his birth, or not so high!", "His kingly virtues might have claim'd a throne;", "And blest all other countries but his own:", "But charming greatness since so few refuse,", "'Tis juster to lament him, than accuse.", "Strong were his hopes a rival to remove,", "With blandishments to gain the public love;", "To head the faction while their zeal was hot,", "And popularly prosecute the plot.", "To farther this Achitophel unites", "The malcontents of all the Israelites:", "Whose differing parties he could wisely join,", "For several ends, to serve the same design.", "The best, and of the princes some were such,", "Who thought the pow'r of monarchy too much:", "Mistaken men, and patriots in their hearts;", "Not wicked, but seduc'd by impious arts.", "By these the springs of property were bent,", "And wound so high, they crack'd the government.", "The next for interest sought t'embroil the state,", "To sell their duty at a dearer rate;", "And make their Jewish markets of the throne;", "Pretending public good, to serve their own.", "Others thought kings an useless heavy load,", "Who cost too much, and did too little good.", "These were for laying honest David by,", "On principles of pure good husbandry.", "With them join'd all th'haranguers of the throng,", "That thought to get preferment by the tongue.", "Who follow next, a double danger bring,", "Not only hating David, but the king;", "The Solymaean rout; well vers'd of old", "In godly faction, and in treason bold;", "Cow'ring and quaking at a conqu'ror's sword,", "But lofty to a lawful prince restor'd;", "Saw with disdain an Ethnic plot begun,", "And scorn'd by Jebusites to be out-done.", "Hot Levites headed these; who pull'd before", "From th'Ark, which in the Judges' days they bore,", "Resum'd their Cant, and with a zealous cry,", "Pursu'd their old belov'd Theocracy.", "Where Sanhedrin and Priest enslav'd the nation,", "And justifi'd their spoils by inspiration:", "For who so fit for reign as Aaron's race,", "If once dominion they could found in Grace?", "These led the pack; though not of surest scent,", "Yet deepest mouth'd against the government.", "A numerous host of dreaming saints succeed;", "Of the true old enthusiastic breed:", "'Gainst form and order they their pow'r employ;", "Nothing to build, and all things to destroy.", "But far more numerous was the herd of such,", "Who think too little, and who talk too much.", "These, out of mere instinct, they knew not why,", "Ador'd their father's God, and property:", "And by the same blind benefit of fate,", "The Devil and the Jebusite did hate:", "Born to be saved even in their own despite;", "Because they could not help believing right.", "Such were the tools; but a whole Hydra more", "Remains, of sprouting heads too long, to score.", "Some of their chiefs were princes of the land:", "In the first rank of these did Zimri stand:", "A man so various, that he seem'd to be", "Not one, but all Mankind's Epitome.", "Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong;", "Was everything by starts, and nothing long:", "But in the course of one revolving moon,", "Was chemist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon:", "Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking;", "Besides ten thousand freaks that died in thinking.", "Blest madman, who could every hour employ,", "With something new to wish, or to enjoy!", "Railing and praising were his usual themes;", "And both (to show his judgment) in extremes:", "So over violent, or over civil,", "That every man, with him, was god or devil.", "In squandering wealth was his peculiar art:", "Nothing went unrewarded, but desert.", "Beggar'd by fools, whom still he found too late:", "He had his jest, and they had his estate.", "He laugh'd himself from court; then sought relief", "By forming parties, but could ne'er be chief:", "For, spite of him, the weight of business fell", "On Absalom and wise Achitophel:", "Thus, wicked but in will, of means bereft,", "He left not faction, but of that was left.", "", "Titles and names 'twere tedious to rehearse", "Of lords, below the dignity of verse.", "Wits, warriors, commonwealths-men, were the best:", "Kind husbands and mere nobles all the rest.", "And, therefore in the name of dullness, be", "The well-hung Balaam and cold Caleb free.", "And canting Nadab let oblivion damn,", "Who made new porridge for the Paschal Lamb.", "Let friendship's holy band some names assure:", "Some their own worth, and some let scorn secure.", "Nor shall the rascal rabble here have place,", "Whom kings no titles gave, and God no grace:", "Not bull-faced Jonas, who could statutes draw", "To mean rebellion, and make treason law.", "But he, though bad, is follow'd by a worse,", "The wretch, who Heav'n's Anointed dar'd to curse.", "Shimei, whose youth did early promise bring", "Of zeal to God, and hatred to his king;", "Did wisely from expensive sins refrain,", "And never broke the Sabbath, but for gain:", "Nor ever was he known an oath to vent,", "Or curse, unless against the government.", "Thus, heaping wealth, by the most ready way", "Among the Jews, which was to cheat and pray;", "The city, to reward his pious hate", "Against his master, chose him magistrate:", "His hand a vare of justice did uphold;", "His neck was loaded with a chain of gold.", "During his office, treason was no crime.", "The sons of Belial had a glorious time:", "For Shimei, though not prodigal of pelf,", "Yet lov'd his wicked neighbour as himself:", "When two or three were gather'd to declaim", "Against the monarch of Jerusalem,", "Shimei was always in the midst of them.", "And, if they curst the king when he was by,", "Would rather curse, than break good company.", "If any durst his factious friends accuse,", "He pack'd a jury of dissenting Jews:", "Whose fellow-feeling, in the godly cause,", "Would free the suff'ring saint from human laws.", "For laws are only made to punish those", "Who serve the king, and to protect his foes.", "If any leisure time he had from pow'r,", "(Because 'tis sin to mis-employ an hour;)", "His bus'ness was, by writing, to persuade,", "That kings were useless, and a clog to trade:", "And, that his noble style he might refine,", "No Rechabite more shunn'd the fumes of wine.", "Chaste were his cellars; and his shrieval board", "The grossness of a city feast abhorr'd:", "His cooks, with long disuse, their trade forgot;", "Cool was his kitchen, though his brains were hot.", "Such frugal virtue malice may accuse;", "But sure 'twas necessary to the Jews:", "For towns once burnt, such magistrates require", "As dare not tempt God's providence by fire.", "With spiritual food he fed his servants well,", "But free from flesh, that made the Jews rebel:", "And Moses' laws he held in more account", "For forty days of fasting in the mount.", "To speak the rest, who better are forgot,", "Would tire a well-breath'd witness of the plot:", "Yet, Corah, thou shalt from oblivion pass;", "Erect thyself thou monumental brass:", "High as the serpent of thy metal made,", "While nations stand secure beneath thy shade.", "What though his birth were base, yet comets rise", "From earthy vapours e'er they shine in skies.", "Prodigious actions may as well be done", "By weaver's issue, as by prince's son.", "This arch-attestor, for the public good,", "By that one deed ennobles all his blood.", "Who ever ask'd the witnesses' high race,", "Whose oath with martyrdom did Stephen grace?", "Ours was a Levite, and as times went then,", "His tribe were God-almighty's gentlemen.", "Sunk were his eyes, his voice was harsh and loud,", "Sure signs he neither choleric was, nor proud:", "His long chin prov'd his wit; his saint-like grace", "A church vermilion, and a Moses' face.", "His memory, miraculously great,", "Could plots exceeding man's belief, repeat;", "Which therefore cannot be accounted lies,", "For human wit could never such devise.", "Some future truths are mingled in his book;", "But, where the witness fail'd, the Prophet spoke:", "Some things like visionary flights appear;", "The spirit caught him up, the Lord knows where:", "And gave him his rabbinical degree,", "Unknown to foreign university.", "His judgment yet his mem'ry did excel:", "Which piec'd his wondrous evidence so well:", "And suited to the temper of the times;", "Then groaning under Jebusitic crimes.", "Let Israel's foes suspect his Heav'nly call,", "And rashly judge his writ apocryphal;", "Our laws for such affronts have forfeits made:", "He takes his life, who takes away his trade.", "Were I myself in witness Corah's place,", "The wretch who did me such a dire disgrace,", "Should whet my memory, though once forgot,", "To make him an appendix of my plot.", "His zeal to Heav'n made him his prince despise,", "And load his person with indignities:", "But Zeal peculiar privilege affords,", "Indulging latitude to deeds and words.", "And Corah might for Agag's murther call,", "In terms as coarse as Samuel us'd to Saul.", "What others in his evidence did join,", "(The best that could be had for love or coin,)", "In Corah's own predicament will fall:", "For Witness is a common name to all.", "", "Surrounded thus with friends of every sort,", "Deluded Absalom forsakes the court:", "Impatient of high hopes, urg'd with renown,", "And fir'd with near possession of a crown:", "Th' admiring crowd are dazzled with surprise,", "And on his goodly person feed their eyes:", "His joy conceal'd, he sets himself to show;", "On each side bowing popularly low:", "His looks, his gestures, and his words he frames,", "And with familiar ease repeats their names.", "Thus, form'd by Nature, furnish'd out with arts,", "He glides unfelt into their secret hearts:", "Then, with a kind compassionating look,", "And sighs, bespeaking pity e'er he spoke:", "Few words he said; but easy those and fit:", "More slow than Hybla drops, and far more sweet.", "", "I mourn, my country-men, your lost estate;", "Though far unable to prevent your fate:", "Behold a banish'd man, for your dear cause", "Expos'd a prey to arbitrary laws!", "Yet oh! that I alone could be undone,", "Cut off from empire, and no more a son!", "Now all your liberties a spoil are made;", "Egypt and Tyrus intercept your trade,", "And Jebusites your sacred rites invade.", "My father, whom with reverence yet I name,", "Charm'd into ease, is careless of his fame:", "And, brib'd with petty sums of foreign gold,", "Is grown in Bathsheba's embraces old:", "Exalts his enemies, his friends destroys:", "And all his pow'r against himself employs.", "He gives, and let him give my right away:", "But why should he his own, and yours betray?", "He, only he can make the nation bleed,", "And he alone from my revenge is freed.", "Take then my tears (with that he wip'd his eyes)", "'Tis all the aid my present pow'r supplies:", "No court-informer can these arms accuse;", "These arms may sons against their fathers use;", "And, 'tis my wish, the next successor's reign", "May make no other Israelite complain.", "", "Youth, beauty, graceful action, seldom fail:", "But common interest always will prevail:", "And pity never ceases to be shown", "To him, who makes the people's wrongs his own.", "The crowd, (that still believe their kings oppress,)", "With lifted hands their young Messiah bless:", "Who now begins his progress to ordain;", "With chariots, horsemen, and a num'rous train:", "From East to West his glories he displays:", "And, like the sun, the Promis'd Land surveys.", "Fame runs before him, as the Morning-Star;", "And shouts of joy salute him from afar:", "Each house receives him as a guardian God;", "And consecrates the place of his abode:", "But hospitable treats did most commend", "Wise Issachar, his wealthy western friend.", "This moving court, that caught the people's eyes,", "And seem'd but pomp, did other ends disguise:", "Achitophel had form'd it, with intent", "To sound the depths, and fathom where it went,", "The people's hearts; distinguish friends from foes;", "And try their strength, before they came to blows.", "Yet all was colour'd with a smooth pretence", "Of specious love, and duty to their prince.", "Religion, and redress of grievances,", "Two names, that always cheat and always please,", "Are often urg'd; and good King David's life", "Endanger'd by a brother and a wife.", "Thus, in a pageant show, a plot is made;", "And peace itself is war in masquerade.", "Oh foolish Israel! never warn'd by ill:", "Still the same bait, and circumvented still!", "Did ever men forsake their present ease,", "In midst of health imagine a disease;", "Take pains contingent mischiefs to foresee,", "Make heirs for monarchs, and for God decree?", "What shall we think! Can people give away", "Both for themselves and sons, their native sway?", "Then they are left defenceless to the sword", "Of each unbounded arbitrary lord:", "And laws are vain, by which we right enjoy,", "If kings unquestion'd can those laws destroy.", "Yet, if the crowd be judge of fit and just,", "And kings are only officers in trust,", "Then this resuming cov'nant was declar'd", "When Kings were made, or is for ever bar'd:", "If those who gave the sceptre could not tie", "By their own deed their own posterity,", "How then could Adam bind his future race?", "How could his forfeit on mankind take place?", "Or how could heavenly justice damn us all,", "Who ne'er consented to our father's fall?", "Then kings are slaves to those whom they command,", "And tenants to their people's pleasure stand.", "Add, that the pow'r for property allow'd,", "Is mischievously seated in the crowd:", "For who can be secure of private right,", "If sovereign sway may be dissolv'd by might?", "Nor is the people's judgment always true:", "The most may err as grossly as the few.", "And faultless kings run down, by common cry,", "For vice, oppression and for tyranny.", "What standard is there in a fickle rout,", "Which, flowing to the mark, runs faster out?", "Nor only crowds, but Sanhedrins may be", "Infected with this public lunacy:", "And share the madness of rebellious times,", "To murther monarchs for imagin'd crimes.", "If they may give and take whene'er they please,", "Not kings alone, (the godhead's images,)", "But government itself at length must fall", "To nature's state, where all have right to all.", "Yet, grant our lords the people kings can make,", "What prudent men a settled throne would shake?", "For whatsoe'er their sufferings were before,", "That change they covet makes them suffer more.", "All other errors but disturb a state;", "But innovation is the blow of fate.", "If ancient fabrics nod, and threat to fall,", "To patch the flaws, and buttress up the wall,", "Thus far 'tis duty; but here fix the mark:", "For all beyond it is to touch our Ark.", "To change foundations, cast the frame anew,", "Is work for rebels who base ends pursue:", "At once divine and human laws control;", "And mend the parts by ruin of the whole.", "The tamp'ring world is subject to this curse,", "To physic their disease into a worse.", "", "Now what relief can righteous David bring?", "How fatal 'tis to be too good a king!", "Friends he has few, so high the madness grows;", "Who dare be such, must be the people's foes:", "Yet some there were, ev'n in the worst of days;", "Some let me name, and naming is to praise.", "", "In this short file Barzillai first appears;", "Barzillai crown'd with honour and with years:", "Long since, the rising rebels he withstood", "In regions waste, beyond the Jordan's flood:", "Unfortunately brave to buoy the state;", "But sinking underneath his master's fate:", "In exile with his god-like prince he mourn'd:", "For him he suffer'd, and with him return'd.", "The court he practis'd, not the courtier's art:", "Large was his wealth, but larger was his heart:", "Which well the noblest objects knew to choose,", "The fighting warrior, and recording Muse.", "His bed could once a fruitful issue boast:", "Now more than half a father's name is lost.", "His eldest hope, with every grace adorn'd,", "By me (so Heav'n will have it) always mourn'd,", "And always honour'd, snatch'd in manhood's prime", "B' unequal Fates, and Providence's crime:", "Yet not before the goal of honour won,", "All parts fulfill'd, of subject and of son;", "Swift was the race, but short the time to run.", "Oh narrow circle, but of pow'r divine,", "Scanted in space, but perfect in thy line!", "By sea, by land, thy matchless worth was known;", "Arms thy delight, and war was all thy own:", "Thy force infus'd, the fainting Tyrians propp'd:", "And haughty Pharaoh found his fortune stopp'd.", "Oh ancient honour, Oh unconquer'd Hand,", "Whom foes unpunish'd never could withstand!", "But Israel was unworthy of thy name:", "Short is the date of all immoderate fame.", "It looks as Heav'n our ruin had design'd,", "And durst not trust thy fortune and thy mind.", "Now, free from earth, thy disencumber'd Soul", "Mounts up, and leaves behind the clouds and starry pole:", "From thence thy kindred legions may'st thou bring,", "To aid the Guardian Angel of thy king.", "Here stop my Muse, here cease thy painful flight;", "No pinions can pursue immortal height:", "Tell good Barzillai thou canst sing no more,", "And tell thy soul she should have fled before;", "Or fled she with his life, and left this verse", "To hang on her departed patron's hearse?", "Now take thy steepy flight from Heav'n, and see", "If thou canst find on earth another he;", "Another he would be too hard to find,", "See then whom thou canst see not far behind.", "Zadoc the priest whom, shunning, pow'r and place,", "His lowly mind advanc'd to David's grace:", "With him the Sagan of Jerusalem,", "Of hospitable soul and noble stem;", "Him of the western dome, whose weighty sense", "Flows in fit words and heavenly eloquence.", "The Prophet's sons by such example led,", "To learning and to loyalty were bred:", "For colleges on bounteous kings depend,", "And never rebel was to arts a friend.", "To these succeed the pillars of the laws,", "Who best could plead, and best can judge a cause.", "Next them a train of loyal peers ascend:", "Sharp judging Adriel, the Muse's friend,", "Himself a Muse:—in Sanhedrin's debate", "True to his prince; but not a slave of state.", "Whom David's love with honours did adorn,", "That from his disobedient son were torn.", "Jotham of piercing wit and pregnant thought,", "Endow'd by Nature, and by learning taught", "To move assemblies, who but only tri'd", "The worse awhile, then chose the better side;", "Nor chose alone, but turn'd the balance too;", "So much the weight of one brave man can do.", "Hushai, the friend of David in distress,", "In public storms of manly steadfastness;", "By foreign treaties he inform'd his youth;", "And join'd experience to his native truth.", "His frugal care suppli'd the wanting throne;", "Frugal for that, but bounteous of his own:", "'Tis easy conduct when exchequers flow;", "But hard the task to manage well the low:", "For sovereign power is too depress'd or high,", "When kings are forc'd to sell, or crowds to buy.", "Indulge one labour more, my weary Muse,", "For Amiel, who can Amiel's praise refuse?", "Of ancient race by birth, but nobler yet", "In his own worth, and without title great:", "The Sanhedrin long time as chief he rul'd,", "Their reason guided, and their passion cool'd;", "So dext'rous was he in the crown's defence,", "So form'd to speak a loyal nation's sense,", "That as their band was Israel's tribes in small,", "So fit was he to represent them all.", "Now rasher charioteers the seat ascend,", "Whose loose careers his steady skill commend:", "They, like th'unequal ruler of the day,", "Misguide the seasons and mistake the way;", "While he withdrawn at their mad labour smiles,", "And safe enjoys the sabbath of his toils.", "", "These were the chief; a small but faithful band", "Of worthies, in the breach who dar'd to stand,", "And tempt th'united fury of the land.", "With grief they view'd such powerful engines bent,", "To batter down the lawful government.", "A numerous faction with pretended frights,", "In Sanhedrins to plume the regal rights.", "The true successor from the court remov'd:", "The plot, by hireling witnesses, improv'd.", "These ills they saw, and as their duty bound,", "They show'd the king the danger of the wound:", "That no concessions from the throne would please;", "But lenitives fomented the disease:", "That Absalom, ambitious of the crown,", "Was made the lure to draw the people down:", "That false Achitophel's pernicious hate,", "Had turn'd the plot to ruin church and state:", "The Council violent, the rabble worse:", "That Shimei taught Jerusalem to curse.", "", "With all these loads of injuries opprest,", "And long revolving in his careful breast", "Th'event of things; at last his patience tir'd,", "Thus from his royal throne, by Heav'n inspir'd,", "The god-like David spoke; and awful fear", "His train their Maker in their Master hear.", "", "Thus long have I by native mercy sway'd,", "My wrongs dissembl'd, my revenge delay'd:", "So willing to forgive th'offending age;", "So much the father did the king assuage.", "But now so far my clemency they slight,", "Th' offenders question my forgiving right.", "That one was made for many, they contend:", "But 'tis to rule, for that's a monarch's end.", "They call my tenderness of blood, my fear:", "Though manly tempers can the longest bear.", "Yet, since they will divert my native course,", "'Tis time to shew I am not good by force.", "Those heap'd affronts that haughty subjects bring,", "Are burdens for a camel, not a king:", "Kings are the public pillars of the state,", "Born to sustain and prop the nation's weight:", "If my young Sampson will pretend a call", "To shake the column, let him share the fall:", "But oh that yet he would repent and live!", "How easy 'tis for parents to forgive!", "With how few tears a pardon might be won", "From Nature, pleading for a darling son!", "Poor pitied youth, by my paternal care,", "Rais'd up to all the heights his frame could bear:", "Had God ordain'd his fate for empire born,", "He would have giv'n his soul another turn:", "Gull'd with a patriot's name, whose modern sense", "Is one that would by law supplant his prince:", "The people's brave, the politician's tool;", "Never was patriot yet, but was a fool.", "Whence comes it that religion and the laws", "Should more be Absalom's than David's cause?", "His old instructor, e'er he lost his place,", "Was never thought endued with so much grace.", "Good heav'ns, how faction can a patriot paint!", "My rebel ever proves my people's saint;", "Would they impose an heir upon the throne?", "Let Sanhedrins be taught to give their own.", "A king's at least a part of government;", "And mine as requisite as their consent:", "Without my leave a future king to choose,", "Infers a right the present to depose;", "True, they petition me t'approve their choice:", "But Esau's hands suit ill with Jacob's voice.", "My pious subjects for my safety pray,", "Which to secure they take my pow'r away.", "From plots and treasons Heav'n preserve my years", "But save me most from my petitioners.", "Unsatiate as the barren womb or grave;", "God cannot grant so much as they can crave.", "What then is left but with a jealous eye", "To guard the small remains of royalty?", "The law shall still direct my peaceful sway,", "And the same law teach rebels to obey:", "Votes shall no more establish'd pow'r control,", "Such votes as make a part exceed the whole:", "No groundless clamours shall my friends remove,", "Nor crowds have pow'r to punish ere they prove:", "For gods, and god-like kings their care express,", "Still to defend their servants in distress.", "Oh that my pow'r to saving were confin'd:", "Why am I forc'd, like Heav'n, against my mind,", "To make examples of another kind?", "Must I at length the sword of justice draw?", "Oh curst effects of necessary law!", "How ill my fear they by my mercy scan,", "Beware the fury of a patient man.", "Law they require, let law then show her face;", "They could not be content to look on grace,", "Her hinder parts, but with a daring eye", "To tempt the terror of her front, and die.", "By their own arts 'tis righteously decreed,", "Those dire artificers of death shall bleed.", "Against themselves their witnesses will swear,", "Till viper-like their mother plot they tear:", "And suck for nutriment that bloody gore", "Which was their principle of life before.", "Their Belial with the Belzebub will fight;", "Thus on my foes, my foes shall do me right:", "Nor doubt th'event: for factious crowds engage", "In their first onset, all their brutal rage;", "Then, let 'em take an unresisted course:", "Retire and traverse, and delude their force:", "But when they stand all breathless, urge the fight,", "And rise upon 'em with redoubled might:", "For lawful pow'r is still superior found,", "When long driv'n back, at length it stands the ground.", "", "He said. Th' Almighty, nodding, gave consent;", "And peals of thunder shook the firmament.", "Henceforth a series of new time began,", "The mighty years in long procession ran:", "Once more the god-like David was restor'd,", "And willing nations knew their lawful lord." ], "linecount": "1031" }, { "title": "To Hope", "author": "John Keats", "lines": [ "When by my solitary hearth I sit,", " And hateful thoughts enwrap my soul in gloom;", "When no fair dreams before my \"mind's eye\" flit,", " And the bare heath of life presents no bloom;", " Sweet Hope, ethereal balm upon me shed,", " And wave thy silver pinions o'er my head!", "", "Whene'er I wander, at the fall of night,", " Where woven boughs shut out the moon's bright ray,", "Should sad Despondency my musings fright,", " And frown, to drive fair Cheerfulness away,", " Peep with the moonbeams through the leafy roof,", " And keep that fiend Despondence far aloof!", "", "Should Disappointment, parent of Despair,", " Strive for her son to seize my careless heart;", "When, like a cloud, he sits upon the air,", " Preparing on his spell-bound prey to dart:", " Chase him away, sweet Hope, with visage bright,", " And fright him as the morning frightens night!", "", "Whene'er the fate of those I hold most dear", " Tells to my fearful breast a tale of sorrow,", "O bright-eyed Hope, my morbidfancy cheer;", " Let me awhile thy sweetest comforts borrow:", " Thy heaven-born radiance around me shed,", " And wave thy silver pinions o'er my head!", "", "Should e'er unhappy love my bosom pain,", " From cruel parents, or relentless fair;", "O let me think it is not quite in vain", " To sigh out sonnets to the midnight air!", " Sweet Hope, ethereal balm upon me shed,", " And wave thy silver pinions o'er my head!", "", "In the long vista of the years to roll,", " Let me not see our country's honour fade:", "O let me see our land retain her soul,", " Her pride, her freedom; and not freedom's shade.", " From thy bright eyes unusual brightness shed---", " Beneath thy pinions canopy my head!", "", "Let me not see the patriot's high bequest,", " Great Liberty! how great in plain attire!", "With the base purple of a court oppress'd,", " Bowing her head, and ready to expire:", " But let me see thee stoop from heaven on wings", " That fill the skies with silver glitterings!", "", "And as, in sparkling majesty, a star", " Gilds the bright summit of some gloomy cloud;", "Brightening the half veil'd face of heaven afar:", " So, when dark thoughts my boding spirit shroud,", " Sweet Hope, celestial influence round me shed,", " Waving thy silver pinions o'er my head!" ], "linecount": "48" }, { "title": "To My Brothers", "author": "John Keats", "lines": [ "Small, busy flames play through the fresh-laid coals,", "And their faint cracklings o'er our silence creep", "Like whispers of the household gods that keep", "A gentle empire o'er fraternal souls.", "And while for rhymes I search around the poles,", "Your eyes are fixed, as in poetic sleep,", "Upon the lore so voluble and deep,", "That aye at fall of night our care condoles.", "This is your birthday, Tom, and I rejoice", "That thus it passes smoothly, quietly:", "Many such eves of gently whispering noise", "May we together pass, and calmly try", "What are this world's true joys,—ere the great Voice", "From its fair face shall bid our spirits fly." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "To Homer", "author": "John Keats", "lines": [ "Standing aloof in giant ignorance,", " Of thee I hear and of the Cyclades,", "As one who sits ashore and longs perchance", " To visit dolphin-coral in deep seas.", "So thou wast blind;--but then the veil was rent,", " For Jove uncurtain'd Heaven to let thee live,", "And Neptune made for thee a spumy tent,", " And Pan made sing for thee his forest-hive;", "Aye on the shores of darkness there is light,", " And precipices show untrodden green,", "There is a budding morrow in midnight,", " There is a triple sight in blindness keen;", "Such seeing hadst thou, as it once befel", "To Dian, Queen of Earth, and Heaven, and Hell." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "To Autumn", "author": "John Keats", "lines": [ "I", "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,", " Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;", "Conspiring with him how to load and bless", " With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;", "To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,", " And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;", " To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells", " With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,", "And still more, later flowers for the bees,", "Until they think warm days will never cease,", " For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.", "", "II", "Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?", " Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find", "Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,", " Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;", "Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,", " Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook", " Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:", "And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep", " Steady thy laden head across a brook;", " Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,", " Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.", "", "III", "Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?", " Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,--", "While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,", " And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;", "Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn", " Among the river sallows, borne aloft", " Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;", "And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;", " Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft", " The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;", " And gathering swallows twitter in the skies." ], "linecount": "36" }, { "title": "To A Friend Who Sent Me Some Roses", "author": "John Keats", "lines": [ "As late I rambled in the happy fields,", "What time the skylark shakes the tremulous dew", "From his lush clover covert;—when anew", "Adventurous knights take up their dinted shields;", "I saw the sweetest flower wild nature yields,", "A fresh-blown musk-rose; 'twas the first that threw", "Its sweets upon the summer: graceful it grew", "As is the wand that Queen Titania wields.", "And, as I feasted on its fragrancy,", "I thought the garden-rose it far excelled;", "But when, O Wells! thy roses came to me,", "My sense with their deliciousness was spelled:", "Soft voices had they, that with tender plea", "Whispered of peace, and truth, and friendliness unquelled." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer", "author": "John Keats", "lines": [ "Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold,", " And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;", " Round many western islands have I been", "Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.", "Oft of one wide expanse had I been told", " That deep-brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne;", " Yet did I never breathe its pure serene", "Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:", "Then felt I like some watcher of the skies", " When a new planet swims into his ken;", "Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes", " He star'd at the Pacific--and all his men", "Look'd at each other with a wild surmise--", " Silent, upon a peak in Darien." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "To My Brother George", "author": "John Keats", "lines": [ "Many the wonders I this day have seen:", "The sun, when first he kissed away the tears", "That filled the eyes of Morn;—the laurelled peers", "Who from the feathery gold of evening lean;—", "The ocean with its vastness, its blue green,", "Its ships, its rocks, its caves, its hopes, its fears,", "Its voice mysterious, which whoso hears", "Must think on what will be, and what has been.", "E'en now, dear George, while this for you I write,", "Cynthia is from her silken curtains peeping", "So scantly, that it seems her bridal night,", "And she her half-discovered revels keeping.", "But what, without the social thought of thee,", "Would be the wonders of the sky and sea?" ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Epistle To My Brother George", "author": "John Keats", "lines": [ "Full many a dreary hour have I past,", "My brain bewildered, and my mind o'ercast", "With heaviness; in seasons when I've thought", "No spherey strains by me could e'er be caught", "From the blue dome, though I to dimness gaze", "On the far depth where sheeted lightning plays;", "Or, on the wavy grass outstretched supinely,", "Pry 'mong the stars, to strive to think divinely:", "That I should never hear Apollo's song,", "Though feathery clouds were floating all along", "The purple west, and, two bright streaks between,", "The golden lyre itself were dimly seen:", "That the still murmur of the honey bee", "Would never teach a rural song to me:", "That the bright glance from beauty's eyelids slanting", "Would never make a lay of mine enchanting,", "Or warm my breast with ardour to unfold", "Some tale of love and arms in time of old.", "", "But there are times, when those that love the bay,", "Fly from all sorrowing far, far away;", "A sudden glow comes on them, nought they see", "In water, earth, or air, but poesy.", "It has been said, dear George, and true I hold it,", "(For knightly Spenser to Libertas told it,)", "That when a Poet is in such a trance,", "In air her sees white coursers paw, and prance,", "Bestridden of gay knights, in gay apparel,", "Who at each other tilt in playful quarrel,", "And what we, ignorantly, sheet-lightning call,", "Is the swift opening of their wide portal,", "When the bright warder blows his trumpet clear,", "Whose tones reach nought on earth but Poet's ear.", "When these enchanted portals open wide,", "And through the light the horsemen swiftly glide,", "The Poet's eye can reach those golden halls,", "And view the glory of their festivals:", "Their ladies fair, that in the distance seem", "Fit for the silv'ring of a seraph's dream;", "Their rich brimmed goblets, that incessant run", "Like the bright spots that move about the sun;", "And, when upheld, the wine from each bright jar", "Pours with the lustre of a falling star.", "Yet further off, are dimly seen their bowers,", "Of which, no mortal eye can reach the flowers;", "And 'tis right just, for well Apollo knows", "'Twould make the Poet quarrel with the rose.", "All that's revealed from that far seat of blisses", "Is the clear fountains' interchanging kisses,", "As gracefully descending, light and thin,", "Like silver streaks across a dolphin's fin,", "When he upswimmeth from the coral caves,", "And sports with half his tail above the waves.", "", "These wonders strange he sees, and many more,", "Whose head is pregnant with poetic lore.", "Should he upon an evening ramble fare", "With forehead to the soothing breezes bare,", "Would he nought see but the dark, silent blue", "With all its diamonds trembling through and through?", "Or the coy moon, when in the waviness", "Of whitest clouds she does her beauty dress,", "And staidly paces higher up, and higher,", "Like a sweet nun in holy-day attire?", "Ah, yes! much more would start into his sight—", "The revelries and mysteries of night:", "And should I ever see them, I will tell you", "Such tales as needs must with amazement spell you.", "", "These are the living pleasures of the bard:", "But richer far posterity's reward.", "What does he murmur with his latest breath,", "While his proud eye looks though the film of death?", "\"What though I leave this dull and earthly mould,", "Yet shall my spirit lofty converse hold", "With after times.—The patriot shall feel", "My stern alarum, and unsheath his steel;", "Or, in the senate thunder out my numbers", "To startle princes from their easy slumbers.", "The sage will mingle with each moral theme", "My happy thoughts sententious; he will teem", "With lofty periods when my verses fire him,", "And then I'll stoop from heaven to inspire him.", "Lays have I left of such a dear delight", "That maids will sing them on their bridal night.", "Gay villagers, upon a morn of May,", "When they have tired their gentle limbs with play", "And formed a snowy circle on the grass,", "And placed in midst of all that lovely lass", "Who chosen is their queen,—with her fine head", "Crowned with flowers purple, white, and red:", "For there the lily, and the musk-rose, sighing,", "Are emblems true of hapless lovers dying:", "Between her breasts, that never yet felt trouble,", "A bunch of violets full blown, and double,", "Serenely sleep:—she from a casket takes", "A little book,—and then a joy awakes", "About each youthful heart,—with stifled cries,", "And rubbing of white hands, and sparkling eyes:", "For she's to read a tale of hopes, and fears;", "One that I fostered in my youthful years:", "The pearls, that on each glist'ning circlet sleep,", "Must ever and anon with silent creep,", "Lured by the innocent dimples. To sweet rest", "Shall the dear babe, upon its mother's breast,", "Be lulled with songs of mine. Fair world, adieu!", "Thy dales, and hills, are fading from my view:", "Swiftly I mount, upon wide spreading pinions,", "Far from the narrow bound of thy dominions.", "Full joy I feel, while thus I cleave the air,", "That my soft verse will charm thy daughters fair,", "And warm thy sons!\" Ah, my dear friend and brother,", "Could I, at once, my mad ambition smother,", "For tasting joys like these, sure I should be", "Happier, and dearer to society.", "At times, 'tis true, I've felt relief from pain", "When some bright thought has darted through my brain:", "Through all that day I've felt a greater pleasure", "Than if I'd brought to light a hidden treasure.", "As to my sonnets, though none else should heed them,", "I feel delighted, still, that you should read them.", "Of late, too, I have had much calm enjoyment,", "Stretched on the grass at my best loved employment", "Of scribbling lines for you. These things I thought", "While, in my face, the freshest breeze I caught.", "E'en now I'm pillowed on a bed of flowers", "That crowns a lofty clift, which proudly towers", "Above the ocean-waves, The stalks, and blades,", "Chequer my tablet with their quivering shades.", "On one side is a field of drooping oats,", "Through which the poppies show their scarlet coats;", "So pert and useless, that they bring to mind", "The scarlet coats that pester human-kind.", "And on the other side, outspread, is seen", "Ocean's blue mantle streaked with purple, and green.", "Now 'tis I see a canvassed ship, and now", "Mark the bright silver curling round her prow.", "I see the lark dowm-dropping to his nest,", "And the broad winged sea-gull never at rest;", "For when no more he spreads his feathers free,", "His breast is dancing on the restless sea.", "Now I direct my eyes into the west,", "Which at this moment is in sunbeams drest:", "Why westward turn? 'Twas but to say adieu!", "'Twas but to kiss my hand, dear George, to you!" ], "linecount": "142" }, { "title": "Ode To Autumn", "author": "John Keats", "lines": [ "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,", "Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;", "Conspiring with him how to load and bless", "With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;", "To bend with apples the mossed cottage-trees,", "And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;", "To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells", "With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,", "And still more, later flowers for the bees,", "Until they think warm days will never cease,", "For Summer has o'er-brimmed their clammy cell.", "", "Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?", "Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find", "Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,", "Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;", "Or on a half-reaped furrow sound asleep,", "Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook", "Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers;", "And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep", "Steady thy laden head across a brook;", "Or by a cider-press, with patient look,", "Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.", "", "Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?", "Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,---", "While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,", "And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;", "Then in a wailful choir, the small gnats mourn", "Among the river sallows, borne aloft", "Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;", "And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;", "Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft", "The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft,", "And gathering swallows twitter in the skies." ], "linecount": "33" }, { "title": "M'Fingal - Canto IV", "author": "John Trumbull", "lines": [ "Now Night came down, and rose full soon", "That patroness of rogues, the Moon;", "Beneath whose kind protecting ray,", "Wolves, brute and human, prowl for prey.", "The honest world all snored in chorus,", "While owls and ghosts and thieves and Tories,", "Whom erst the mid-day sun had awed,", "Crept from their lurking holes abroad.", "", "", "On cautious hinges, slow and stiller,", "Wide oped the great M'Fingal's cellar,", "Where safe from prying eyes, in cluster,", "The Tory Pandemonium muster.", "Their chiefs all sitting round descried are,", "On kegs of ale and seats of cider;", "When first M'Fingal, dimly seen,", "Rose solemn from the turnip-bin.", "Nor yet his form had wholly lost", "Th' original brightness it could boast,", "Nor less appear'd than Justice Quorum,", "In feather'd majesty before 'em.", "Adown his tar-streak'd visage, clear", "Fell glistening fast th' indignant tear,", "And thus his voice, in mournful wise,", "Pursued the prologue of his sighs.", "", "", "\"Brethren and friends, the glorious band", "Of loyalty in rebel land!", "It was not thus you've seen me sitting,", "Return'd in triumph from town-meeting;", "When blust'ring Whigs were put to stand,", "And votes obey'd my guiding hand,", "And new commissions pleased my eyes;", "Blest days, but ah, no more to rise!", "Alas, against my better light,", "And optics sure of second-sight,", "My stubborn soul, in error strong,", "Had faith in Hutchinson too long.", "See what brave trophies still we bring", "From all our battles for the king;", "And yet these plagues, now past before us,", "Are but our entering wedge of sorrows!", "", "", "\"I see, in glooms tempestuous, stand", "The cloud impending o'er the land;", "That cloud, which still beyond their hopes", "Serves all our orators with tropes;", "Which, though from our own vapors fed,", "Shall point its thunders on our head!", "I see the Mob, beflipp'd at taverns,", "Hunt us, like wolves, through wilds and caverns!", "What dungeons open on our fears!", "What horsewhips whistle round our ears!", "Tar, yet in embryo in the pine,", "Shall run on Tories' backs to shine;", "Trees, rooted fair in groves of sallows,", "Are growing for our future gallows;", "And geese unhatch'd, when pluck'd in fray,", "Shall rue the feathering of that day.", "", "", "\"For me, before that fatal time,", "I mean to fly th' accursed clime,", "And follow omens, which of late", "Have warn'd me of impending fate.", "", "", "\"For late in visions of the night", "The gallows stood before my sight;", "I saw its ladder heaved on end;", "I saw the deadly rope descend,", "And in its noose, that wavering swang,", "Friend Malcolm hung, or seem'd to hang.", "How changed from him, who bold as lion,", "Stood Aid-de-camp to Gen'ral Tryon,", "Made rebels vanish once, like witches,", "And saved his life, but dropp'd his breeches.", "I scarce had made a fearful bow,", "And trembling ask'd him, \"How d'ye do;\"", "When lifting up his eyes so wide,", "His eyes alone, his hands were tied;", "With feeble voice, as spirits use,", "Now almost choak'd by gripe of noose;", "", "", "\"Ah, fly my friend, he cried, escape,", "And keep yourself from this sad scrape;", "Enough you've talk'd and writ and plann'd;", "The Whigs have got the upper hand.", "Could mortal arm our fears have ended,", "This arm (and shook it) had defended.", "Wait not till things grow desperater,", "For hanging is no laughing matter.", "Adventure then no longer stay;", "But call your friends and haste away.", "", "", "\"For lo, through deepest glooms of night,", "I come to aid thy second-sight,", "Disclose the plagues that round us wait,", "And scan the dark decrees of fate.", "", "", "\"Ascend this ladder, whence unfurl'd", "The curtain opes of t'other world;", "For here new worlds their scenes unfold,", "Seen from this backdoor of the old.", "As when Æneas risk'd his life,", "Like Orpheus vent'ring for his wife,", "And bore in show his mortal carcase", "Through realms of Erebus and Orcus,", "Then in the happy fields Elysian,", "Saw all his embryon sons in vision;", "As shown by great Archangel, Michael,", "Old Adam saw the world's whole sequel,", "And from the mount's extended space,", "The rising fortunes of his race:", "So from this stage shalt thou behold", "The war its coming scenes unfold,", "Raised by my arm to meet thine eye;", "My Adam, thou; thine Angel, I.", "", "", "But first my pow'r, for visions bright,", "Must cleanse from clouds thy mental sight,", "Remove the dim suffusions spread,", "Which bribes and salaries there have bred;", "And from the well of Bute infuse", "Three genuine drops of Highland dews,", "To purge, like euphrasy and rue,", "Thine eyes, for much thou hast to view.", "", "", "Now freed from Tory darkness, raise", "Thy head and spy the coming days.", "For lo, before our second-sight,", "The Continent ascends in light.", "From north to south, what gath'ring swarms", "Increase the pride of rebel arms!", "Through every State our legions brave", "Speed gallant marches to the grave,", "Of battling Whigs the frequent prize,", "While rebel trophies stain the skies.", "Behold o'er northern realms afar", "Extend the kindling flames of war!", "See famed St. John's and Montreal", "Doom'd by Montgomery's arm to fall!", "Where Hudson with majestic sway", "Through hills disparted plows his way,", "Fate spreads on Bemus' heights alarms,", "And pours destruction on our arms;", "There Bennington's ensanguined plain,", "And Stony-Point, the prize of Wayne.", "Behold near Del'ware's icy roar,", "Where morning dawns on Trenton's shore,", "While Hessians spread their Christmas feasts,", "Rush rude these uninvited guests;", "Nor aught avails the captured crew", "Their martial whiskers' grisly hue!", "On Princeton plains our heroes yield,", "And spread in flight the vanquish'd field;", "While fear to Mawhood's heels puts on", "Wings, wide as worn by Maia's son.", "Behold the Pennsylvanian shore", "Enrich'd with streams of British gore;", "Where many a veteran chief in bed", "Of honor rests his slumb'ring head,", "And in soft vales, in land of foes,", "Their wearied virtue finds repose!", "See plund'ring Dunmore's negro band", "Fly headlong from Virginia's strand;", "And far on southern hills our cousins,", "The Scotch M'Donalds, fall by dozens;", "Or where King's Mountain lifts its head,", "Our ruin'd bands in triumph led!", "Behold, o'er Tarlton's blustring train", "Defeat extends the captive chain!", "Afar near Eutaw's fatal springs,", "Lo, rebel Vict'ry spreads her wings!", "Through all the land, in varied chace,", "We hunt the rainbow of success,", "In vain! their Chief, superior still,", "Eludes our force with Fabian skill;", "Or swift descending by surprize,", "Like Prussia's eagle, sweeps the prize.", "", "", "\"I look'd; nor yet, oppress'd with fears,", "Gave credit to my eyes or ears;", "But held the sights an empty dream,", "On Berkley's immaterial scheme;", "And pond'ring sad with troubled breast,", "At length my rising doubts express'd.", "'Ah, whither thus, by rebels smitten,", "Is fled th' omnipotence of Britain;", "Or fail'd its usual guard to keep,", "Absent from home or fast asleep?", "Did not, retired to bowers Flysian,", "Great Mars leave with her his commission,", "And Neptune erst, in treaty free,", "Give up dominion o'er the sea?", "Else where's the faith of famed orations,", "Address, debate and proclamations,", "Or courtly sermon, laureat ode,", "And ballads on the wat'ry God;", "With whose high strains great George enriches", "His eloquence of gracious speeches?", "Not faithful to our Highland eyes,", "These deadly forms of vision rise.", "Some whig-inspiring rebel sprite", "Now palms delusion on our sight.", "I'd scarcely trust a tale so vain,", "Should revelation prompt the strain;", "Or Ossian's ghost the scenes rehearse", "In all the melody of Erse.\"", "", "", "\"Too long,\" quoth Malcolm, \"from confusion,", "You've dwelt already in delusion;", "As sceptics, of all fools the chief,", "Hold faith in creeds of unbelief.", "I come to draw thy veil aside", "Of error, prejudice and pride.", "Fools love deception, but the wise", "Prefer sad truths to pleasing lies.", "For know, those hopes can ne'er succeed,", "That trust on Britain's breaking reed.", "For weak'ning long from bad to worse,", "By cureless atrophy of purse,", "She feels at length with trembling heart,", "Her foes have found her mortal part.", "As famed Achilles, dipp'd by Thetis", "In Styx, as sung in antient ditties,", "Grew all case-harden'd o'er, like steel,", "Invulnerable, save his heel;", "And laugh'd at swords and spears and squibs,", "And all diseases, but the kibes;", "Yet met at last his deadly wound,", "By Paris' arrow nail'd to ground:", "So Britain's boasted strength deserts", "In these her empire's utmost skirts,", "Removed beyond her fierce impressions,", "And atmosphere of omnipresence;", "Nor to this shore's remoter ends", "Her dwarf-omnipotence extends.", "Hence in this turn of things so strange,", "'Tis time our principles to change:", "For vain that boasted faith, that gathers", "No perquisite, but tar and feathers;", "No pay, but stripes from whiggish malice,", "And no promotion, but the gallows.", "I've long enough stood firm and steady,", "Half-hang'd for loyalty already,", "And could I save my neck and pelf,", "I'd turn a flaming whig myself.", "But since, obnoxious here to fate,", "This saving wisdom comes too late,", "Our noblest hopes already crost,", "Our sal'ries gone, our titles lost,", "Doom'd to worse suff'rings from the mob,", "Than Satan's surg'ries used on Job;", "What hope remains, but now with sleight", "What's left of us to save by flight?", "", "", "'Now raise thine eyes, for visions true", "Again ascending wait thy view.'", "", "", "\"I look'd; and clad in early light,", "The spires of Boston met my sight;", "The morn o'er eastern hills afar", "Illumed the varied scenes of war;", "Great Howe had sweetly in the lap", "Of Loring taken out his nap;", "When all th' encircling hills around", "With instantaneous breastworks crown'd,", "With pointed thunders met his sight,", "Like magic, rear'd the former night.", "Each summit, far as eye commands,", "Shone, peopled with rebellious bands.", "Aloft their tow'ring heroes rise,", "As Titans erst assail'd the skies;", "Leagued in superior force to prove", "The sceptred hand of British Jove.", "Mounds piled on hills ascended fair", "With batt'ries placed in middle air,", "That hurl'd their fiery bolts amain,", "In thunder on the trembling plain.", "I saw, along the prostrate strand", "Our baffled generals quit the land,", "Eager, as frighted mermaids, flee", "T' our boasted element, the sea,", "And tow'rd their town of refuge fly,", "Like convict Jews condemn'd to die.", "Then to the north I turn'd my eyes,", "Where Saratoga's heights arise,", "And saw our chosen vet'ran band", "Descend in terror o'er the land;", "T' oppose this fury of alarms,", "Saw all New-England wake to arms,", "And every Yankee, full of mettle,", "Swarm forth, like bees at sound of kettle.", "Not Rome, when Tarquin raped Lucretia,", "Saw wilder must'ring of militia.", "Through all the woods and plains of fight,", "What mortal battles pain'd my sight,", "While British corses strew'd the shore,", "And Hudson tinged his streams with gore.", "What tongue can tell the dismal day,", "Or paint the parti-color'd fray,", "When yeomen left their fields afar", "To plow the crimson plains of war;", "When zeal to swords transform'd their shares,", "And turn'd their pruning hooks to spears,", "Changed tailor's geese to guns and ball,", "And stretch'd to pikes the cobbler's awl;", "While hunters, fierce like mighty Nimrod,", "Made on our troops a furious inroad,", "And levelling squint on barrel round,", "Brought our beau-officers to ground;", "While sunburnt wigs, in high command,", "Rush daring on our frighted band,", "And ancient beards and hoary hair,", "Like meteors, stream in troubled air;", "While rifle-frocks drove Gen'rals cap'ring,", "And Red-coats shrunk from leathern apron,", "And epaulette and gorget run", "From whinyard brown and rusty gun.", "With locks unshorn not Samson more", "Made useless all the show of war,", "Nor fought with ass's jaw for rarity", "With more success, or singularity.", "I saw our vet'ran thousands yield,", "And pile their muskets on the field,", "And peasant guards, in rueful plight,", "March off our captured bands from fight;", "While every rebel fife in play", "To Yankee-doodle tuned its lay,", "And like the music of the spheres,", "Mellifluous sooth'd their vanquish'd ears.\"", "", "", "\"Alas, I cried, what baleful star", "Sheds fatal influence on the war?", "And who that chosen Chief of fame,", "That heads this grand parade of shame?\"", "", "", "\"There see how fate, great Malcolm cried,", "Strikes with its bolts the tow'rs of pride!", "Behold that martial Macaroni,", "Compound of Phoebus and Bellona,", "Equipp'd alike for feast or fray,", "With warlike sword and singsong lay,", "Where equal wit and valour join!", "This, this is he--the famed Burgoyne!", "Who pawn'd his honor and commission,", "To coax the patriots to submission,", "By songs and balls secure allegiance,", "And dance the ladies to obedience.", "Oft his Camp-Muses he'll parade", "At Boston in the grand blockade;", "And well inspired with punch of arrack,", "Hold converse sweet in tent or barrack,", "Aroused to more poetic passion,", "Both by his theme and situation.", "For genius works more strong and clear", "When close confined, like bottled beer.", "So Prior's wit gain'd matchless power", "By inspiration of the Tower;", "And Raleigh, once to prison hurl'd,", "Wrote the whole hist'ry of the world;", "So Wilkes grew, while in jail he lay,", "More patriotic every day,", "But found his zeal, when not confined,", "Soon sink below the freezing point,", "And public spirit, once so fair,", "Evaporate in open air.", "But thou, great favourite of Venus,", "By no such luck shalt cramp thy genius;", "Thy friendly stars, till wars shall cease,", "Shall ward th' ill fortune of release,", "And hold thee fast in bonds not feeble,", "In good condition still to scribble.", "Such merit fate shall shield from firing,", "Bomb, carcase, langridge and cold iron,", "Nor trust thy doubly-laurell'd head,", "To rude assaults of flying lead.", "Hence thou, from Yankee troops retreating,", "For pure good fortune shalt be beaten,", "Not taken oft, released or rescued,", "Pass for small change, like simple Prescott;", "But captured then, as fates befall,", "Shall stand thy fortune, once for all.", "Then raise thy daring thoughts sublime,", "And dip thy conq'ring pen in rhyme,", "And changing war for puns and jokes,", "Write new Blockades and Maids of Oaks.\"", "", "", "This said, he turn'd and saw the tale", "Had dyed my trembling cheeks with pale;", "Then pitying in a milder vein,", "Pursued the visionary strain;", "", "", "\"Too much perhaps hath pain'd your view,", "From vict'ries of the Rebel crew.", "Now see the deeds, not small or scanty,", "Of British valour and humanity;", "And learn from this heroic sight,", "How England's sons and friends can fight,", "In what dread scenes their courage grows,", "And how they conquer all their foes.\"", "", "", "I look'd, and saw in wintry skies", "Our spacious prison-walls arise,", "Where Britons, all their captives taming,", "Plied them with scourging, cold and famine,", "By noxious food and plagues contagious", "Reduced to life's last, fainting stages.", "Amid the dead, that crowd the scene,", "The moving skeletons were seen.", "Aloft the haughty Loring stood,", "And thrived, like Vampire, on their blood,", "And counting all his gains arising,", "Dealt daily rations out, of poison.", "At hand our troops, in vaunting strain,", "Insulted all their wants and pain,", "And turn'd upon the dying tribe", "The bitter taunt and scornful gibe;", "And British captains, chiefs of might,", "Exulting in the joyous sight,", "On foes disarm'd, with courage daring,", "Exhausted all their tropes of swearing.", "Distain'd around with rebel blood,", "Like Milton's Lazar house it stood,", "Where grim Despair presided Nurse,", "And Death was Regent of the house.", "", "", "Amazed I cried, \"Is this the way", "That British valor wins the day?\"", "More had I said in strains unwelcome,", "Till interrupted thus by Malcolm.", "", "", "\"Blame not, said he, but learn the reason", "Of this new mode of conq'ring treason.", "'Tis but a wise, politic plan", "To root out all the rebel clan;", "For surely treason ne'er can thrive", "Where not a soul is left alive;", "A scheme all other chiefs to surpass,", "And do th' effectual work to purpose.", "Know, War itself is nothing further", "Than th' art and mystery of Murther;", "He, who most methods has essay'd,", "Is the best Gen'ral of the trade,", "And stands Death's plenipotentiary", "To conquer, poison, starve and bury.", "This Howe well knew and thus began;", "(Despising Carlton's coaxing plan,", "To keep his pris'ners well and merry,", "And deal them food, like commissary,", "And by parol or ransom vain,", "Dismiss them all to fight again)", "Hence his first captives, with great spirit", "He tied up, for his troops to fire at,", "And hoped they'd learn on foes thus taken,", "To aim at rebels without shaking.", "Then deep in stratagem, he plann'd", "The sure destruction of the land;", "Turn'd famine, torture and despair", "To useful enginry of war;", "Sent forth the small-pox, and the greater,", "To thin the land of every traitor;", "Spread desolation o'er their head,", "And plagues in providence's stead;", "Perform'd with equal skill and beauty", "Th' avenging Angel's tour of duty:", "Then bade these prison-walls arise,", "Like temple tow'ring to the skies,", "Where British Clemency renown'd", "Might fix her seat on hallow'd ground,", "(That Virtue, as each herald saith,", "Of whole blood kin to Punic Faith)", "Where all her godlike pow'rs unveiling,", "She finds a grateful shrine to dwell in:", "And at this altar for her honor,", "Chose this High-priest to wait upon her,", "Who with just rites, in ancient guise,", "Offers the human sacrifice.", "Here every day, her vot'ries tell,", "She more devours, than th' idol Bel;", "And thirsts more rav'nously for gore,", "Than any worshipp'd Power before.", "That ancient heathen godhead, Moloch,", "Oft stay'd his stomach with a bullock;", "And if his morning rage you'd check first,", "One child sufficed him for a breakfast:", "But British clemency with zeal", "Devours her hundreds at a meal;", "Right well by nat'ralists defined", "A being of carniv'rous kind:", "So erst Gargantua pleased his palate,", "And eat six pilgrims up in sallad.", "Not blest with maw less ceremonious", "The wide-mouth'd whale, that swallow'd Jonas;", "Like earthquake gapes, to death devote,", "That open sepulchre, her throat;", "The grave or barren womb you'd stuff,", "And sooner bring to cry, enough;", "Or fatten up to fair condition", "The lean-flesh'd kine of Pharaoh's vision.", "", "", "Behold her temple, where it stands", "Erect, by famed Britannic hands.", "'Tis the Black-hole of Indian structure,", "New-built in English architecture,", "On plan, 'tis said, contrived and wrote", "By Clive, before he cut his throat;", "Who, ere he took himself in hand,", "Was her high-priest in nabob-land:", "And when with conq'ring triumph crown'd,", "He'd well enslaved the nation round,", "With tender British heart, the Chief,", "Since slavery's worse than loss of life,", "Bade desolation circle far,", "And famine end the work of war;", "And loosed their chains, and for their merits", "Dismiss'd them free to worlds of spirits.", "Whence they with choral hymns of praise,", "Return'd to sooth his latter days,", "And hov'ring round his restless bed,", "Spread nightly visions o'er his head.", "", "", "Now turn thine eyes to nobler sights,", "And mark the prowess of our fights.", "Behold, like whelps of Britain's lion,", "Our warriors, Clinton, Vaughan, and Tryon,", "March forth with patriotic joy", "To ravish, plunder, burn, destroy.", "Great Gen'rals, foremost in their nation,", "The journeymen of Desolation!", "Like Samson's foxes, each assails,", "Let loose with firebrands in their tails,", "And spreads destruction more forlorn,", "Than they among Philistine corn.", "And see in flames their triumphs rise,", "Illuming all the nether skies,", "O'er-streaming, like a new Aurora,", "The western hemisphere with glory!", "What towns, in ashes laid, confess", "These heroes' prowess and success!", "What blacken'd walls and burning fanes,", "For trophies spread the ruin'd plains!", "What females, caught in evil hour,", "By force submit to British power;", "Or plunder'd negroes in disaster", "Confess King George their lord and master!", "What crimson corses strew their way,", "What smoaking carnage dims the day!", "Along the shore, for sure reduction,", "They wield the besom of destruction.", "Great Homer likens, in his Ilias,", "To dogstar bright the fierce Achilles;", "But ne'er beheld in red procession", "Three dogstars rise in constellation,", "Nor saw, in glooms of evening misty,", "Such signs of fiery triplicity,", "Which, far beyond the comet's tail,", "Portend destruction where they sail.", "Oh, had Great-Britain's warlike shore", "Produced but ten such heroes more,", "They'd spared the pains, and held the station", "Of this world's final conflagration;", "Which when its time comes, at a stand,", "Would find its work all done t' its hand!", "", "", "Yet though gay hopes our eyes may bless,", "Malignant fate forbids success;", "Like morning dreams our conquest flies,", "Dispersed before the dawn arise.\"", "", "", "Here Malcolm paused; when pond'ring long", "Grief thus gave utt'rance to my tongue.", "\"Where shrink in fear our friends dismay'd,", "And where the Tories' promised aid?", "Can none, amid these fierce alarms,", "Assist the power of royal arms?\"", "\"In vain, he cried, our King depends", "On promised aid of Tory friends.", "When our own efforts want success,", "Friends ever fail, as fears increase.", "As leaves, in blooming verdure wove,", "In warmth of summer clothe the grove,", "But when autumnal frosts arise,", "Leave bare their trunks to wintry skies:", "So, while your power can aid their ends,", "You ne'er can need ten thousand friends;", "But once in want, by foes dismay'd,", "May advertise them, stol'n or stray'd.", "Thus ere Great-Britain's force grew slack,", "She gain'd that aid she did not lack;", "But now in dread, imploring pity,", "All hear unmoved her dol'rous ditty;", "Allegiance wand'ring turns astray,", "And Faith grows dim for lack of pay.", "In vain she tries, by new inventions,", "Fear, falsehood, flatt'ry, threats and pensions;", "Or sends Commiss'ners with credentials", "Of promises and penitentials.", "As, for his fare o'er Styx of old,", "The Trojan stole the bough of gold,", "And least grim Cerb'rus should make head,", "Stuff'd both his fobs with ginger-bread:", "Behold, at Britain's utmost shifts,", "Comes Johnstone loaded with like gifts,", "To venture through the whiggish tribe,", "To cuddle, wheedle, coax and bribe:", "And call, to aid his desp'rate mission,", "His petticoated politician,", "While Venus, join'd to act the farce,", "Strolls forth embassadress for Mars.", "In vain he strives, for while he lingers,", "These mastiffs bite his off'ring fingers;", "Nor buys for George and realms infernal", "One spaniel, but the mongrel, Arnold.", "", "", "\"'Twere vain to paint, in vision'd show,", "The mighty nothings done by Howe;", "What towns he takes in mortal fray,", "As stations whence to run away;", "What triumphs gain'd in conflict warm,", "No aid to us, to them no harm;", "For still th' event alike is fatal,", "Whate'er success attend the battle,", "Whether he vict'ry gain or lose it,", "Who ne'er had skill enough to use it.", "And better 'twere, at their expense,", "T' have drubb'd him into common sense,", "And waked, by bastings on his rear,", "Th' activity, though but of fear.", "By slow advance his arms prevail,", "Like emblematic march of snail,", "That, be Millennium nigh or far,", "'Twould long before him end the war.", "From York to Philadelphian ground,", "He sweeps the pompous flourish round,", "Wheel'd circ'lar by eccentric stars,", "Like racing boys at prison-bars,", "Who take th' opposing crew in whole,", "By running round the adverse goal;", "Works wide the traverse of his course,", "Like ship t' evade the tempest's force;", "Like mill-horse circling in his race,", "Advances not a single pace,", "And leaves no trophies of reduction,", "Save that of cankerworms, destruction.", "Thus having long both countries curst,", "He quits them as he found them first,", "Steers home disgraced, of little worth,", "To join Burgoyne and rail at North.", "", "", "\"Now raise thine eyes and view with pleasure,", "The triumphs of his famed successor.\"", "", "", "\"I look'd, and now by magic lore", "Faint rose to view the Jersey shore:", "But dimly seen in gloom array'd,", "For night had pour'd her sable shade,", "And every star, with glimm'rings pale,", "Was muffled deep in ev'ning veil.", "Scarce visible, in dusky night", "Advancing red-coats rose in sight;", "The length'ning train in gleaming rows", "Stole silent from their slumb'ring foes;", "No trembling soldier dared to speak,", "And not a wheel presumed to creak.", "My looks my new surprize confess'd,", "Till by great Malcolm thus address'd.", "\"Spend not thy wits in vain researches;", "'Tis one of Clinton's moonlight marches.", "From Philadelphia now retreating", "To save his baffled troops a beating,", "With hasty strides he flies in vain,", "His rear attack'd on Monmouth plain.", "With various chance the dread affray", "Holds in suspense till close of day,", "When his tired bands, o'ermatch'd in fight,", "Are rescued by descending night.", "He forms his camp, with great parade,", "While evening spreads the world in shade,", "Then still, like some endanger'd spark,", "Steals off on tiptoe in the dark:", "Yet writes his king in boasting tone", "How grand he march'd by light of moon.", "I see him, but thou canst not; proud", "He leads in front the trembling crowd,", "And wisely knows, as danger's near,", "'Twill fall much heaviest on his rear.", "Go on, great Gen'ral, nor regard", "The scoffs of every scribbling bard;", "Who sings how gods, that fearful night,", "Aided by miracle your flight,", "As once they used, in Homer's day,", "To help weak heroes run away;", "Tells how the hours, at this sad trial,", "Went back, as erst on Ahaz' dial,", "While British Joshua stay'd the moon", "On Monmouth plains for Ajalon.", "Heed not their sneers or gibes so arch,", "Because she set before your march.", "A small mistake! your meaning right;", "You take her influence for her light:", "Her influence, which shall be your guide,", "And o'er your Gen'ralship preside.", "Hence still shall teem your empty skull", "With vict'ries, when the moon's at full,", "Which by transition passing strange", "Wane to defeats before the change.", "Still shall you steer, on land or ocean,", "By like eccentric lunar motion;", "Eclips'd in many a fatal crisis,", "And dimm'd when Washington arises.", "", "", "\"And see how Fate, herself turn'd traitor,", "Inverts the ancient course of nature;", "And changes manners, tempers, climes,", "To suit the genius of the times!", "See, Bourbon forms a gen'rous plan,", "New guardian of the rights of man,", "And prompt in firm alliance joins", "To aid the Rebels' proud designs!", "Behold from realms of eastern day", "His sails innum'rous shape their way,", "In warlike line the billows sweep,", "And roll the thunders of the deep!", "See, low in equinoctial skies,", "The western islands fall their prize;", "See British flags, o'ermatch'd in might,", "Put all their faith in instant flight,", "Or broken squadrons, from th' affray,", "Drag slow their wounded hulks away!", "Behold his Chiefs, in daring setts,", "D'Estaignes, De Grasses and Fayettes,", "Spread through our camps their dread alarms,", "And swell the fear of rebel arms!", "Yet ere our glories sink in night,", "A gleam of hope shall strike your sight;", "As lamps, that fail of oil and fire,", "Collect one glimm'ring to expire.", "", "", "\"For lo, where southern shores extend,", "Behold our gather'd hosts descend,", "Where Charleston views, with varying beams", "Her turrets gild th' encircling streams!", "There by superior force compell'd,", "Behold their gallant Lincoln yield;", "Nor aught the wreaths avail him now,", "Pluck'd from Burgoyne's imperious brow.", "See, furious from the vanquish'd strand,", "Cornwallis leads his mighty band;", "The southern realms and Georgian shore", "Submit and own the victor's power;", "Lo! sunk before his wasting way,", "The Carolinas fall his prey!", "See, shrinking from his conq'ring eye,", "The Rebel legions fall or fly;", "And with'ring in these torrid skies,", "The northern laurel fades and dies!", "With rapid force he leads his train", "To fair Virginia's cultured plain,", "Triumphant eyes the travell'd zone,", "And boasts the southern realm his own.", "", "", "\"Nor yet this hero's glories bright", "Blaze only in the fields of fight.", "Not Howe's humanity more deserving", "In gifts of hanging and of starving;", "Not Arnold plunders more tobacco,", "Or steals more negroes for Jamaica;", "Scarce Rodney's self, among th' Eustatians,", "Insults so well the laws of nations;", "Ev'n Tryon's fame grows dim, and mourning", "He yields the civic crown of burning.", "I see, with pleasure and surprize,", "New triumph sparkling in your eyes;", "But view, where now renew'd in might,", "Again the Rebels dare the fight.\"", "\"I look'd, and far in southern skies", "Saw Greene, their second hope, arise,", "And with his small, but gallant, band.", "Invade the Carolinian land.", "As winds, in stormy circles whirl'd,", "Rush billowy o'er the darken'd world,", "And where their wasting fury roves", "Successive sweep th' astonish'd groves:", "Thus where he pours the rapid fight,", "Our boasted conquests sink in night,", "And far o'er all the extended field", "Our forts resign, our armies yield,", "Till now, regain'd the vanquish'd land,", "He lifts his standard on the strand.", "", "", "\"Again to fair Virginia's coast", "I turn'd and view'd the British host,", "Where Chesapeak's wide waters lave", "Her shores and join th' Atlantic wave.", "There famed Cornwallis tow'ring rose,", "And scorn'd secure his distant foes;", "His bands the haughty rampart raise,", "And bid the Royal standard blaze.", "When lo, where ocean's bounds extend,", "Behold the Gallic sails ascend,", "With fav'ring breezes stem their way,", "And crowd with ships the spacious bay.", "Lo! Washington, from northern shores,", "O'er many a region wheels his force,", "And Rochambeau, with legions bright,", "Descends in terror to the fight.", "Not swifter cleaves his rapid way", "The eagle, cow'ring o'er his prey;", "Or knights in famed romance, that fly", "On fairy pinions through the sky.", "Amazed, the Briton's startled pride", "Sees ruin wake on every side,", "And all his troops, to fate consign'd,", "By instantaneous stroke, Burgoyned.", "Not Cadmus view'd with more surprise,", "From earth embattled armies rise,", "Who from the dragon's teeth beheld", "Men starting fierce with spear and shield.", "I saw, with looks downcast and grave,", "The Chief emerging from his cave,", "Where chased, like fox, in mighty round,", "His hunters earth'd him first in ground;", "And doom'd by fate to rebel sway,", "Yield all his captured host a prey.", "There while I view'd the vanquish'd town,", "Thus with a sigh my friend went on.\"", "", "", "\"Behold'st thou not that band forlorn,", "Like slaves in Roman triumphs borne,", "Their faces length'ning with their fears,", "And cheeks distain'd with streams of tears;", "Like dramatis personæ sage,", "Equipp'd to act on Tyburn's stage.", "Lo, these are they, who lured by follies", "Left all, and follow'd great Cornwallis,", "Expectant of the promised glories,", "And new Millennial reign of Tories!", "Alas! in vain, all doubts forgetting,", "They tried th' omnipotence of Britain;", "But found her arm, once strong and brave,", "So shorten'd now, she cannot save.", "Not more aghast, departed souls", "Who risk'd their fate on Popish bulls,", "And find St. Peter, at the wicket,", "Refuse to countersign their ticket,", "When driven to purgatory back,", "With each his pardon in his pack;", "Than Tories, must'ring at their stations,", "On faith of royal proclamations.", "As Pagan chiefs at every crisis,", "Confirm'd their leagues by sacrifices,", "And herds of beasts, to all their deities,", "Oblations fell, at close of treaties:", "Cornwallis thus, in ancient fashion,", "Concludes his grand capitulation;", "And heedless of their screams or suff'rings,", "Gives up the Tories for sin-off'rings.", "See where, relieved from sad embargo,", "Steer off consign'd a recreant cargo;", "Like old scape-goats to roam in pain,", "Mark'd like their great forerunner, Cain.", "The rest now doom'd by British leagues", "To vengeance of resentful Whigs,", "Hold doubtful lives on tenure ill", "Of tenancy at Rebel-will,", "While hov'ring o'er their forfeit persons,", "The gallows waits his just reversions.", "", "", "\"Thou too, M'Fingal, ere that day,", "Shalt taste the terrors of th' affray.", "See, o'er thee hangs in angry skies,", "Where Whiggish Constellations rise,", "And while plebeian signs ascend,", "Their mob-inspiring aspects bend,", "That baleful Star, whose horrid hair", "Shakes forth the plagues of down and tar!", "I see the pole, that rears on high", "Its flag terrific through the sky;", "The mob beneath prepared t' attack,", "And tar predestined for thy back.", "Ah quit, my friend, this dang'rous home,", "Nor wait the darker scenes to come.", "For know, that fate's auspicious door,", "Once shut to flight, is oped no more;", "Nor wears its hinge, by changing stations,", "Like Mercy's door in Proclamations.", "", "", "\"But lest thou pause, or doubt to fly,", "To stranger visions turn thine eye.", "Each cloud, that dimm'd thy mental ray,", "And all the mortal mists decay.", "See, more than human pow'rs befriend,", "And lo! their hostile forms ascend.", "There tow'ring o'er the extended strand,", "The Genius of this western land,", "For vengeance arm'd, his sword assumes,", "And stands, like Tories, dress'd in plumes!", "See, o'er yon Council-seat, with pride", "How Freedom spreads her banners wide!", "There Patriotism, with torch address'd", "To fire with zeal each daring breast;", "While all the Virtues in their train,", "Escaped with pleasure o'er the main,", "Desert their ancient British station,", "Possess'd with rage of emigration.", "Honor, his bus'ness at a stand,", "For fear of starving quits their land;", "And Justice, long disgraced at Court, had", "By Mansfield's sentence been transported.", "Vict'ry and Fame attend their way,", "Though Britain wish their longer stay;", "Care not what George or North would be at,", "Nor heed their writs of Ne exeat;", "But fired with love of colonizing,", "Quit the fall'n empire for the rising.\"", "", "", "\"I look'd, and saw, with horror smitten,", "These hostile pow'rs averse to Britain.", "", "", "\"When lo, an awful spectre rose,", "With languid paleness on his brows;", "Wan dropsies swell'd his form beneath,", "And iced his bloated cheeks with death;", "His tatter'd robes exposed him bare", "To every blast of ruder air;", "On two weak crutches propp'd he stood,", "That bent at every step he trod;", "Gilt titles graced their sides so slender,", "One, \"Regulation,\" t'other, \"Tender;\"", "His breastplate graved, with various dates,", "\"The Faith of all th' United States;\"", "Before him went his funeral pall,", "His grave stood, dug to wait his fall.", "", "", "\"I started, and aghast I cried,", "\"What means this spectre at their side?", "What danger from a pow'r so vain,", "Or union with that splendid train?\"", "", "", "\"Alas, great Malcolm cried, experience", "Might teach you not to trust appearance.", "Here stands, as dress'd by fell Bellona,", "The ghost of Continental Money!", "Of Dame Necessity descended,", "With whom Credulity engender'd:", "Though born with constitution frail,", "And feeble strength, that soon must fail,", "Yet strangely vers'd in magic lore,", "And gifted with transforming power.", "His skill the wealth Peruvian joins,", "With diamonds of Brazilian mines.", "As erst Jove fell, by subtle wiles,", "On Danae's apron through the tiles,", "In show'rs of gold; his potent wand", "Shall shed like show'rs o'er all the land.", "Less great the wondrous art was reckon'd", "Of tallies cast by Charles the second,", "Or Law's famed Missisippi schemes,", "Or all the wealth of South-Sea dreams.", "For he, of all the world, alone", "Owns the long-sought Philos'pher's stone,", "Restores the fabulous times to view,", "And proves the tale of Midas true.", "O'er heaps of rags he waves his wand;", "All turn to gold at his command,", "Provide for present wants and future,", "Raise armies, victual, clothe, accoutre,", "Adjourn our conquests by essoin,", "Check Howe's advance, and take Burgoyne;", "Then makes all days of payment vain,", "And turns all back to rags again.", "In vain great Howe shall play his part", "To ape and counterfeit his art;", "In vain shall Clinton, more belated,", "A conj'rer turn to imitate it.", "With like ill luck and pow'rs as narrow,", "They'll fare, like sorcerers of old Pharaoh;", "Who, though the art they understood", "Of turning rivers into blood,", "And caused their frogs and snakes t' exist,", "That with some merit croak'd and hiss'd,", "Yet ne'er by every quaint device", "Could frame the true Mosaic lice.", "He for the Whigs his arts shall try,", "Their first, and long their sole, ally;", "A Patriot firm, while breath he draws,", "He'll perish in his Country's cause,", "And when his magic labors cease,", "Lie buried in eternal peace.", "", "", "Now view the scenes, in future hours,", "That wait the famed European powers.", "See, where yon chalky cliffs arise,", "The hills of Britain strike your eyes;", "Its small extension long supplied", "By full immensity of pride;", "So small, that had it found a station", "In this new world, at first creation,", "Or doom'd by justice, been betimes", "Transported over for its crimes,", "We'd find full room for't in lake Erie, or", "That larger water-pond, Superior,", "Where North at margin taking stand,", "Would scarce be able to spy land.", "See, dwindling from her height amain,", "What piles of ruin spread the plain;", "With mould'ring hulks her ports are fill'd,", "And brambles clothe the lonely field!", "See, on her cliffs her Genius lies,", "His handkerchief at both his eyes,", "With many a deep-drawn sigh and groan,", "To mourn her ruin, and his own!", "While joyous Holland, France and Spain", "With conq'ring navies awe the main;", "And Russian banners wide unfurl'd", "Spread commerce round the eastern world.", "", "", "And see, (sight hateful and tormenting!)", "This Rebel Empire, proud and vaunting,", "From anarchy shall change her crasis,", "And fix her pow'r on firmer basis;", "To glory, wealth and fame ascend,", "Her commerce wake, her realms extend;", "Where now the panther guards his den,", "Her desert forests swarm with men;", "Gay cities, tow'rs and columns rise,", "And dazzling temples meet the skies;", "Her pines, descending to the main,", "In triumph spread the wat'ry plain,", "Ride inland seas with fav'ring gales,", "And crowd her ports with whitening sails:", "Till to the skirts of western day,", "The peopled regions own her sway.\"", "", "", "Thus far M'Fingal told his tale,", "When startling shouts his ears assail;", "And strait the Constable, their sentry,", "Aghast rush'd headlong down the entry,", "And with wild outcry, like magician,", "Dispersed the residue of vision.", "For now the Whigs the news had found", "Of Tories must'ring under ground,", "And with rude bangs and loud uproar,", "'Gan thunder furious at the door.", "The lights put out, each tory calls,", "To cover him on cellar walls,", "Creeps in each box, or bin, or tub,", "To hide him from the rage of mob,", "Or lurks, where cabbage-heads in row", "Adorn'd the sides with verdant show.", "M'Fingal deem'd it vain to stay,", "And risk his bones in second fray:", "But chose a grand retreat from foes,", "In literal sense, beneath their nose.", "The window then, which none else knew,", "He softly open'd and crept through,", "And crawling slow in deadly fear,", "By movements wise made good his rear.", "Then scorning all the fame of martyr,", "For Boston took his swift departure,", "Nor look'd back on the fatal spot,", "More than the family of Lot.", "Not North in more distress'd condition,", "Out-voted first by opposition;", "Nor good King George, when our dire phantom", "Of Independence came to haunt him,", "Which hov'ring round by night and day,", "Not all his conj'rors e'er could lay.", "His friends, assembled for his sake,", "He wisely left in pawn, at stake,", "To tarring, feath'ring, kicks and drubs", "Of furious, disappointed mobs,", "Or with their forfeit heads to pay", "For him, their leader, crept away.", "So when wise Noah summon'd greeting,", "All animals to gen'ral meeting,", "From every side the members went,", "All kinds of beasts to represent;", "Each, from the flood, took care t' embark,", "And save his carcase in the ark:", "But as it fares in state and church,", "Left his constituents in the lurch." ], "linecount": "1040" }, { "title": "M'Fingal - Canto II", "author": "John Trumbull", "lines": [ "The Sun, who never stops to dine,", "Two hours had pass'd the mid-way line,", "And driving at his usual rate,", "Lash'd on his downward car of state.", "And now expired the short vacation,", "And dinner o'er in epic fashion,", "While all the crew, beneath the trees,", "Eat pocket-pies, or bread and cheese,", "(Nor shall we, like old Homer, care", "To versify their bill of fare)", "Each active party, feasted well,", "Throng'd in, like sheep, at sound of bell;", "With equal spirit took their places,", "And meeting oped with three Oh Yesses:", "When first, the daring Whigs t' oppose,", "Again the great M'Fingal rose,", "Stretch'd magisterial arm amain,", "And thus resumed th' accusing strain.", "", "", "\"Ye Whigs attend, and hear affrighted", "The crimes whereof ye stand indicted;", "The sins and follies past all compass,", "That prove you guilty, or non compos.", "I leave the verdict to your senses,", "And jury of your consciences;", "Which though they're neither good nor true,", "Must yet convict you and your crew.", "", "", "\"Ungrateful sons! a factious band,", "That rise against your parent land!", "Ye viper race, that burst in strife", "The genial womb that gave you life,", "Tear with sharp fangs and forked tongue", "The indulgent bowels whence ye sprung;", "And scorn the debt and obligation,", "You justly owe the British nation,", "Which, since you cannot pay, your crew", "Affect to swear was never due.", "", "", "\"Did not the deeds of England's primate", "First drive your fathers to this climate,", "Whom jails and fines and every ill", "Forced to their good against their will?", "Ye owe to their obliging temper", "The peopling your new-fangled empire,", "While every British act and canon", "Stood forth your causa sine qua non.", "Who'd seen, except for these restraints,", "Your witches, quakers, whigs and saints,", "Or heard of Mather's famed Magnalia,", "If Charles and Laud had chanced to fail you?", "Did they not send your charters o'er,", "And give you lands you own'd before,", "Permit you all to spill your blood,", "And drive out heathens where you could;", "On these mild terms, that, conquest won,", "The realm you gain'd should be their own?", "And when of late attack'd by those,", "Whom her connection made your foes,", "Did they not then, distress'd by war,", "Send generals to your help from far,", "Whose aid you own'd, in terms less haughty,", "And thankfully o'erpaid your quota?", "Say, at what period did they grudge", "To send you Governor or Judge,", "With all their Missionary crew,", "To teach you law and gospel too?", "They brought all felons in the nation", "To help you on in population;", "Proposed their Bishops to surrender,", "And made their Priests a legal tender,", "Who only ask'd, in surplice clad,", "The simple tithe of all you had:", "And now, to keep all knaves in awe,", "Have sent their troops t' establish law,", "And with gunpowder, fire and ball,", "Reform your people, one and all.", "Yet when their insolence and pride", "Have anger'd all the world beside;", "When fear and want at once invade,", "Can you refuse to lend them aid,", "And rather risk your heads in fight,", "Than gratefully throw in your mite?", "Can they for debts make satisfaction,", "Should they dispose their realm at auction,", "And sell off Britain's goods and land all", "To France and Spain, by inch of candle?", "Shall good King George, with want oppress'd,", "Insert his name in bankrupt list,", "And shut up shop, like failing merchant,", "That fears the bailiffs should make search in't;", "With poverty shall princes strive,", "And nobles lack whereon to live?", "Have they not rack'd their whole inventions", "To feed their brats on posts and pensions;", "Made their Scotch friends with taxes groan,", "And pick'd poor Ireland to the bone:", "Yet have on hand, as well deserving,", "Ten thousand bastards, left for starving?", "And can you now, with conscience clear,", "Refuse them an asylum here,", "And not maintain, in manner fitting,", "These genuine sons of mother Britain?", "", "", "\"T' evade these crimes of blackest grain", "You prate of liberty in vain,", "And strive to hide your vile designs", "In terms abstruse, like school-divines.", "", "", "\"Your boasted patriotism is scarce,", "And country's love is but a farce:", "For after all the proofs you bring,", "We Tories know there's no such thing.", "Hath not Dalrymple show'd in print,", "And Johnson too, there's nothing in't;", "Produced you demonstration ample,", "From others' and their own example,", "That self is still, in either faction,", "The only principle of action;", "The loadstone, whose attracting tether", "Keeps the politic world together:", "And spite of all your double dealing,", "We all are sure 'tis so, from feeling.", "", "", "\"Who heeds your babbling of transmitting", "Freedom to brats of your begetting,", "Or will proceed, as tho' there were a tie,", "And obligation to posterity?", "We get them, bear them, breed and nurse.", "What has posterity done for us,", "That we, least they their rights should lose,", "Should trust our necks to gripe of noose?", "", "", "\"And who believes you will not run?", "Ye're cowards, every mother's son;", "And if you offer to deny,", "We've witnesses to prove it by.", "Attend th' opinion first, as referee,", "Of your old general, stout Sir Jeffery;", "Who swore that with five thousand foot", "He'd rout you all, and in pursuit", "Run thro' the land, as easily", "As camel thro' a needle's eye?", "Did not the mighty Colonel Grant", "Against your courage pour his rant,", "Affirm your universal failure", "In every principle of valour,", "And swear no scamperers e'er could match you,", "So swift, a bullet scarce could catch you?", "And will you not confess, in this", "A judge most competent he is;", "Well skill'd on running to decide,", "As what himself has often tried?", "'Twould not methinks be labor lost,", "If you'd sit down and count the cost,", "And ere you call your Yankies out,", "First think what work you've set about.", "Have you not roused, his force to try on,", "That grim old beast, the British Lion:", "And know you not, that at a sup", "He's large enough to eat you up?", "Have you survey'd his jaws beneath,", "Drawn inventories of his teeth,", "Or have you weigh'd, in even balance,", "His strength and magnitude of talons?", "His roar would change your boasts to fear,", "As easily, as sour small beer;", "And make your feet from dreadful fray,", "By native instinct run away.", "Britain, depend on't, will take on her", "T' assert her dignity and honor,", "And ere she'd lose your share of pelf,", "Destroy your country, and herself.", "For has not North declared they fight", "To gain substantial rev'nue by't,", "Denied he'd ever deign to treat,", "Till on your knees and at his feet?", "And feel you not a trifling ague", "From Van's \"Delenda est Carthago?", "For this now Britain has projected,", "Think you she has not means t' effect it?", "Has she not set at work all engines", "To spirit up the native Indians,", "Send on your backs the tawney band,", "With each an hatchet in his hand,", "T' amuse themselves with scalping knives.", "And butcher children and your wives;", "And paid them for your scalps at sale", "More than your heads would fetch by tale;", "That she might boast again with vanity,", "Her English national humanity?", "For now in its primeval sense", "This term, humanity, comprehends", "All things of which, on this side hell,", "The human mind is capable;", "And thus 'tis well, by writers sage,", "Applied to Britain and to Gage.", "On this brave work to raise allies,", "She sent her duplicate of Guys,", "To drive at different parts at once on,", "Her stout Guy Carlton and Guy Johnson;", "To each of whom, to send again you,", "Old Guy of Warwick were a ninny,", "Though the dun cow he fell'd in war,", "These killcows are his betters far.", "", "", "\"And has she not essay'd her notes", "To rouse your slaves to cut your throats;", "Sent o'er ambassadors with guineas,", "To bribe your blacks in Carolinas?", "And has not Gage, her missionary,", "Turn'd many an Afric to a Tory;", "Made the New-England Bishop's see grow,", "By many a new-converted negro?", "As friends to government, when he", "Your slaves at Boston late set free,", "Enlisted them in black parade,", "Emboss'd with regimental red;", "While flared the epaulette, like flambeau,", "On Captain Cuff and Ensign Sambo:", "And were they not accounted then", "Among his very bravest men?", "And when such means she stoops to take,", "Think you she is not wide awake?", "As the good man of old in Job", "Own'd wondrous allies through the globe,", "Had brought the stones along the street", "To ratify a cov'nant meet,", "And every beast, from lice to lions,", "To join in leagues of strict alliance:", "Has she not cringed, in spite of pride,", "For like assistance, far and wide,", "Till all this formidable league rose", "Of Indians, British troops and Negroes?", "And can you break these triple bands", "By all your workmanship of hands?", "", "", "\"Sir,\" quoth Honorius, \"we presume", "You guess from past feats what's to come,", "And from the mighty deeds of Gage", "Foretell how fierce the war he'll wage.", "You doubtless recollected here", "The annals of his first great year:", "While, wearying out the Tories' patience,", "He spent his breath in proclamations;", "While all his mighty noise and vapour", "Was used in wrangling upon paper,", "And boasted military fits", "Closed in the straining of his wits;", "While troops, in Boston commons placed,", "Laid nought, but quires of paper, waste;", "While strokes alternate stunn'd the nation,", "Protest, Address and Proclamation,", "And speech met speech, fib clash'd with fib,", "And Gage still answer'd, squib for squib.", "", "", "\"Though this not all his time was lost on;", "He fortified the town of Boston,", "Built breastworks, that might lend assistance", "To keep the patriots at a distance;", "For howsoe'er the rogues might scoff,", "He liked them best the farthest off;", "Works of important use to aid", "His courage, when he felt afraid,", "And whence right off, in manful station,", "He'd boldly pop his proclamation.", "Our hearts must in our bosoms freeze,", "At such heroic deeds as these.\"", "", "", "\"Vain,\" said the 'Squire, \"you'll find to sneer", "At Gage's first triumphant year;", "For Providence, disposed to teaze us,", "Can use what instruments it pleases.", "To pay a tax, at Peter's wish,", "His chief cashier was once a fish;", "An ass, in Balaam's sad disaster,", "Turn'd orator and saved his master;", "A goose, placed sentry on his station,", "Preserved old Rome from desolation;", "An English bishop's cur of late", "Disclosed rebellions 'gainst the state;", "So frogs croak'd Pharaoh to repentance,", "And lice delay'd the fatal sentence:", "And heaven can ruin you at pleasure,", "By Gage, as soon as by a Cæsar.", "Yet did our hero in these days", "Pick up some laurel wreaths of praise.", "And as the statuary of Seville", "Made his crackt saint an exc'llent devil;", "So though our war small triumph brings,", "We gain'd great fame in other things.", "", "", "\"Did not our troops show great discerning,", "And skill your various arts in learning?", "Outwent they not each native noodle", "By far, in playing Yankee-doodle,", "Which as 'twas your New-England tune,", "'Twas marvellous they took so soon?", "And ere the year was fully through,", "Did not they learn to foot it too,", "And such a dance, as ne'er was known,", "For twenty miles on end lead down?", "Did they not lay their heads together,", "And gain your art to tar and feather,", "When Colonel Nesbit, thro' the town,", "In triumph bore the country-clown?", "Oh what a glorious work to sing", "The veteran troops of Britain's king,", "Adventuring for th' heroic laurel", "With bag of feathers and tar-barrel!", "To paint the cart where culprits ride,", "And Nesbitt marching at its side,", "Great executioner and proud,", "Like hangman high on Holborn road;", "And o'er the slow-drawn rumbling car,", "The waving ensigns of the war!", "As when a triumph Rome decreed", "For great Caligula's valiant deed,", "Who had subdued the British seas,", "By gath'ring cockles from their base;", "In pompous car the conq'ror bore", "His captive scallops from the shore,", "Ovations gain'd his crabs for fetching,", "And mighty feats of oyster-catching:", "'Gainst Yankies thus the war begun,", "They tarr'd, and triumph'd over, one;", "And fought and boasted through the season,", "With force as great and equal reason.", "", "", "\"Yet thus though skill'd in vict'ry's toils,", "They boast, not unexpert, in wiles.", "For gain'd they not an equal fame in", "The arts of secrecy and scheming;", "In stratagem show'd wondrous force,", "And modernized the Trojan horse,", "Play'd o'er again the tricks Ulyssean,", "In their famed Salem expedition?", "For as that horse, the poets tell ye,", "Bore Grecian armies in its belly,", "Till their full reckoning run, with joy", "Shrewd Sinon midwived them in Troy:", "So in one ship was Leslie bold", "Cramm'd with three hundred men in hold,", "Equipp'd for enterprize and sail,", "Like Jonas stow'd in womb of whale.", "To Marblehead in depth of night", "The cautious vessel wing'd her flight.", "And now the sabbath's silent day", "Call'd all your Yankies off to pray;", "Safe from each prying jealous neighbour,", "The scheme and vessel fell in labor.", "Forth from its hollow womb pour'd hast'ly", "The Myrmidons of Colonel Leslie.", "Not thicker o'er the blacken'd strand,", "The frogs detachment, rush'd to land,", "Furious by onset and surprize", "To storm th' entrenchment of the mice.", "Through Salem straight, without delay,", "The bold battalion took its way,", "March'd o'er a bridge, in open sight", "Of several Yankies arm'd for fight;", "Then without loss of time or men,", "Veer'd round for Boston back again,", "And found so well their projects thrive,", "That every soul got home alive.", "", "", "\"Thus Gage's arms did fortune bless", "With triumph, safety and success.", "But mercy is without dispute", "His first and darling attribute;", "So great, it far outwent and conquer'd", "His military skill at Concord.", "There, when the war he chose to wage,", "Shone the benevolence of Gage;", "Sent troops to that ill-omen'd place,", "On errands mere of special grace;", "And all the work, he chose them for,", "Was to prevent a civil war;", "For which kind purpose he projected", "The only certain way t' effect it,", "To seize your powder, shot and arms,", "And all your means of doing harms;", "As prudent folks take knives away,", "Lest children cut themselves at play.", "And yet, when this was all his scheme,", "The war you still will charge on him;", "And tho' he oft has swore and said it,", "Stick close to facts, and give no credit.", "Think you, he wish'd you'd brave and beard him?", "Why, 'twas the very thing, that scared him.", "He'd rather you should all have run,", "Than staid to fire a single gun.", "So, for the civil war you lament,", "Faith, you yourselves must take the blame in't;", "For had you then, as he intended,", "Given up your arms, it must have ended:", "Since that's no war, each mortal knows,", "Where one side only gives the blows,", "And t'other bears them; on reflection", "The most we call it is correction.", "Nor could the contest have gone higher,", "If you had ne'er return'd the fire:", "But when you shot, and not before,", "It then commenced a civil war.", "Else Gage, to end this controversy,", "Had but corrected you in mercy;", "Whom mother Britain, old and wise,", "Sent o'er, the colonies to chastise;", "Command obedience on their peril", "Of ministerial whip and ferule;", "And since they ne'er must come of age,", "Govern'd and tutor'd them by Gage.", "Still more, that mercy was their errand,", "The army's conduct makes apparent.", "What though at Lexington you can say,", "They kill'd a few, they did not fancy;", "At Concord then with manful popping,", "Discharged a round, the ball to open;", "Yet when they saw your rebel rout", "Determined still to brave it out,", "Did they not show their love of peace,", "Their wish that discord straight might cease;", "Demonstrate, and by proofs uncommon,", "Their orders were to injure no man?", "For did not every regular run,", "As soon as e'er you fired a gun;", "Take the first shot you sent them, greeting,", "As meant their signal for retreating;", "And fearful, if they staid for sport,", "You might by accident be hurt,", "Convey themselves with speed away", "Full twenty miles in half a day;", "Race till their legs were grown so weary,", "They scarce sufficed their weight to carry?", "Whence Gage extols, from general hearsay,", "The great activity of Lord Percy;", "Whose brave example led them on,", "And spirited the troops to run;", "Who now may boast, at royal levees,", "A Yankee-chace worth forty Chevys.", "", "", "\"Yet you, as vile as they were kind,", "Pursued, like tygers, still behind;", "Fired on them at your will, and shut", "The town, as though you'd starve them out;", "And with parade preposterous hedged,", "Affect to hold them there besieged:", "Though Gage, whom proclamations call", "Your Gov'rnor and Vice-Admiral,", "Whose power gubernatorial still", "Extends as far as Bunker's hill,", "Whose admiralty reaches, clever,", "Near half a mile up Mistic river,", "Whose naval force yet keeps the seas,", "Can run away whene'er he'd please.", "Nay, stern with rage grim Putnam boiling", "Plunder'd both Hogg and Noddle Island;", "Scared troops of Tories into town,", "Burn'd all their hay and houses down,", "And menaced Gage, unless he'd flee,", "To drive him headlong to the sea;", "As once, to faithless Jews a sign,", "The De'el, turn'd hog-reeve, did the swine.", "", "", "\"But now your triumphs all are o'er;", "For see from Britain's angry shore,", "With deadly hosts of valor join", "Her Howe, her Clinton and Burgoyne!", "As comets thro' th' affrighted skies", "Pour baleful ruin as they rise;", "As Ætna with infernal roar", "In conflagration sweeps the shore;", "Or as Abijah White, when sent", "Our Marshfield friends to represent,", "Himself while dread array involves,", "Commissions, pistols, swords, resolves,", "In awful pomp descending down", "Bore terror on the factious town:", "Not with less glory and affright,", "Parade these generals forth to fight.", "No more each British colonel runs", "From whizzing beetles, as air-guns;", "Thinks horn-bugs bullets, or thro' fears", "Muskitoes takes for musketeers;", "Nor scapes, as if you'd gain'd supplies,", "From Beelzebub's whole host of flies.", "No bug these warlike hearts appalls;", "They better know the sound of balls.", "I hear the din of battle bray;", "The trump of horror marks its way.", "I see afar the sack of cities,", "The gallows strung with Whig-committees;", "Your moderators triced, like vermin,", "And gate-posts graced with heads of chairmen;", "Your Congress for wave-off'rings hanging,", "And ladders throng'd with priests haranguing.", "What pillories glad the Tories' eyes", "With patriot ears for sacrifice!", "What whipping-posts your chosen race", "Admit successive in embrace,", "While each bears off his sins, alack!", "Like Bunyan's pilgrim, on his back!", "Where then, when Tories scarce get clear,", "Shall Whigs and Congresses appear?", "What rocks and mountains will you call", "To wrap you over with their fall,", "And save your heads, in these sad weathers,", "From fire and sword, and tar and feathers?", "For lo! with British troops tar-bright,", "Again our Nesbitt heaves in sight;", "He comes, he comes, your lines to storm,", "And rig your troops in uniform.", "To meet such heroes will ye brag,", "With fury arm'd, and feather-bag,", "Who wield their missile pitch and tar", "With engines new in British war?", "", "", "\"Lo! where our mighty navy brings", "Destruction on her canvass wings,", "While through the deep the British thunder", "Shall sound th' alarm, to rob and plunder!", "As Phoebus first, so Homer speaks,", "When he march'd out t' attack the Greeks,", "'Gainst mules sent forth his arrows fatal,", "And slew th' auxiliaries, their cattle:", "So where our ships shall stretch the keel,", "What vanquish'd oxen shall they steal!", "What heroes, rising from the deep,", "Invade your marshall'd hosts of sheep;", "Disperse whole troops of horse, and pressing,", "Make cows surrender at discretion;", "Attack your hens, like Alexanders,", "And regiments rout of geese and ganders;", "Or where united arms combine,", "Lead captive many a herd of swine!", "Then rush in dreadful fury down", "To fire on every seaport town;", "Display their glory and their wits,", "Fright helpless children into fits;", "And stoutly, from the unequal fray,", "Make many a woman run away.", "", "", "\"And can ye doubt, whene'er we please,", "Our chiefs shall boast such deeds as these?", "Have we not chiefs transcending far", "The old famed thunderbolts of war;", "Beyond the brave knight-errant fighters,", "Stiled swords of death, by novel-writers;", "Nor in romancing ages e'er rose", "So terrible a tier of heroes.", "From Gage what sounds alarm the waves!", "How loud a blunderbuss is Graves!", "How Newport dreads the blustering sallies,", "That thunder from our popgun, Wallace,", "While noise in formidable strains,", "Spouts from his thimble-full of brains!", "I see you sink in awed surprise!", "I see our Tory brethren rise!", "And as the sect'ries Sandemanian,", "Our friends, describe their hoped millennium;", "Boast how the world in every region", "At once shall own their true religion,", "For heaven shall knock, with vengeance dread,", "All unbelievers on the head;", "And then their church, the meek in spirit,", "The earth, as promised, shall inherit", "From the dead wicked, as heirs male,", "Or next remainder-men in tail:", "Such ruin shall the Whigs oppress;", "Such spoils our Tory friends shall bless:", "While Confiscation at command", "Shall stalk in terror through the land,", "Shall give all whig-estates away,", "And call our brethren into play.", "", "", "\"And can you pause, or scruple more?", "These things are near you, at the door.", "Behold! for though to reasoning blind,", "Signs of the times you still might mind,", "And view impending fate, as plain", "As you'd foretell a shower of rain.", "", "", "\"Hath not heaven warn'd you what must ensue.", "And providence declared against you?", "Hung forth the dire portents of war", "By fires and beacons in the air;", "Alarm'd old women all around", "With fearful noises under ground,", "While earth, for many a hundred leagues,", "Groan'd with her dismal load of Whigs?", "Was there a meteor, far and wide,", "But muster'd on the Tory side;", "A star malign, that has not bent", "Its aspects for the parliament,", "Foreboding your defeat and misery,", "As once they fought against old Sisera?", "Was there a cloud, that spread the skies,", "But bore our armies of allies,", "While dreadful hosts of flame stood forth", "In baleful streamers from the north?", "Which plainly show'd what part they join'd:", "For North's the minister, ye mind;", "Whence oft your quibblers in gazettes", "On Northern blasts have strain'd their wits;", "And think you not, the clouds know how", "To make the pun, as well you?", "Did there arise an apparition,", "But grinn'd forth ruin to sedition;", "A death-watch, but has join'd our leagues,", "And click'd destruction to the Whigs?", "Heard ye not, when the wind was fair,", "At night our prophets in the air,", "Who, loud, like admiralty libel,", "Read awful chapters from the Bible,", "And war and plague and death denounced,", "And told you how you'd soon be trounced?", "I see, to join our conq'ring side,", "Heaven, earth and hell at once allied;", "See from your overthrow and end,", "The Tory paradise ascend,", "Like that new world, which claims its station,", "Beyond the final conflagration.", "I see the day, that lots your share", "In utter darkness and despair;", "The day of joy, when North, our lord,", "His faithful fav'rites shall reward.", "No Tory then shall set before him", "Small wish of 'Squire and Justice Quorum;", "But to his unmistaken eyes", "See lordships, posts and pensions rise.", "", "", "\"Awake to gladness then, ye Tories!", "Th' unbounded prospect lies before us.", "The power, display'd in Gage's banners,", "Shall cut their fertile lands to manors;", "And o'er our happy conquer'd ground,", "Dispense estates and titles round.", "Behold! the world shall stare at new setts", "Of home-made Earls in Massachusetts;", "Admire, array'd in ducal tassels,", "Your Ol'vers, Hutchinsons and Vassals;", "See join'd in ministerial work", "His Grace of Albany, and York.", "What lordships from each carved estate,", "On our New-York Assembly wait!", "What titled Jauncys, Gales and Billops;", "Lord Brush, Lord Wilkins and Lord Philips!", "In wide-sleeved pomp of godly guise,", "What solemn rows of Bishops rise!", "Aloft a Cardinal's hat is spread", "O'er punster Cooper's reverend head.", "In Vardell, that poetic zealot,", "I view a lawn-bedizen'd Prelate;", "While mitres fall, as 'tis their duty,", "On heads of Chandler and Auchmuty!", "Knights, Viscounts, Barons, shall ye meet,", "As thick as pebbles in the street;", "E'en I perhaps (heaven speed my claim!)", "Shall fix a Sir before my name.", "For titles all our foreheads ache,", "For what blest changes can they make!", "Place Reverence, Grace and Excellence,", "Where neither claim'd the least pretence;", "Transform by patent's magic words", "Men, likest devils, into Lords;", "Whence commoners, to Peers translated,", "Are justly said to be created.", "Now where commissioners you saw,", "Shall boards of nobles deal you law;", "Long-robed comptrollers judge your rights,", "And tide-waiters start up in knights.", "While Whigs subdued, in slavish awe,", "Our wood shall hew, our water draw,", "And bless the mildness, when past hope,", "That saved their necks from noose of rope.", "For since our leaders have decreed,", "Their blacks, who join us, shall be freed,", "To hang the conquer'd whigs, we all see,", "Would prove but weak, and thriftless policy,", "Except their Chiefs: the vulgar knaves", "Will do more good, preserved for slaves.\"", "", "", "\"'Tis well,\" Honorius cried; \"your scheme", "Has painted out a pretty dream.", "We can't confute your second-sight;", "We shall be slaves and you a knight.", "These things must come, but I divine,", "They'll come not in your day, nor mine.", "", "", "\"But, oh my friends, my brethren, hear;", "And turn for once th' attentive ear.", "Ye see how prompt to aid our woes", "The tender mercies of our foes;", "Ye see with what unvaried rancour", "Still for our blood their minions hanker;", "Nor aught can sate their mad ambition,", "From us, but death, or worse, submission.", "Shall these then riot in our spoil,", "Reap the glad harvest of our toil,", "Rise from their country's ruins proud,", "And roll their chariot-wheels in blood?", "See Gage, with inauspicious star,", "Has oped the gates of civil war,", "When streams of gore, from freemen slain,", "Encrimson'd Concord's fatal plain;", "Whose warning voice, with awful sound,", "Still cries, like Abel's, from the ground;", "And heaven, attentive to its call,", "Shall doom the proud oppressor's fall.", "", "", "\"Rise then, ere ruin swift surprize,", "To victory, to vengeance, rise.", "Hark, how the distant din alarms;", "The echoing trumpet breathes, to arms.", "From provinces remote afar,", "The sons of glory rouse to war.", "'Tis Freedom calls! the raptured sound", "The Apalachian hills rebound.", "The Georgian coasts her voice shall hear,", "And start from lethargies of fear.", "From the parch'd zone, with glowing ray", "Where pours the sun intenser day,", "To shores where icy waters roll,", "And tremble to the glimm'ring pole,", "Inspired by freedom's heavenly charms,", "United nations wake to arms.", "The star of conquest lights their way,", "And guides their vengeance on their prey.", "Yes, though tyrannic force oppose,", "Still shall they triumph o'er their foes;", "Till heaven the happy land shall bless", "With safety, liberty and peace.", "", "", "\"And ye, whose souls of dastard mould", "Start at the bravery of the bold;", "To love your country who pretend,", "Yet want all spirit to defend;", "Who feel your fancies so prolific,", "Engend'ring visions whims terrific,", "O'errun with horrors of coercion,", "Fire, blood and thunder in reversion;", "King's standards, pill'ries, confiscations,", "And Gage's scare-crow proclamations;", "Who scarce could rouse, if caught in fray,", "Presence of mind to run away;", "See nought but halters rise to view,", "In all your dreams, and deem them true;", "And while these phantoms haunt your brains,", "Bow down your willing necks to chains.", "Heavens! are ye sons of sires so great,", "Immortal in the fields of fate,", "Who braved all deaths, by land or sea,", "Who bled, who conquer'd, to be free?", "Hence coward souls, the worst disgrace", "Of our forefathers' valiant race;", "Hie homeward from the glorious field,", "There turn the wheel, the distaff wield;", "Act what ye are, nor dare to stain", "The warrior's arms with touch profane;", "There beg your more heroic wives", "To guard your own, your children's, lives;", "Beneath their aprons seek a screen,", "Nor dare to mingle more with men.\"", "", "", "As thus he spake, the Tories' anger", "Could now restrain itself no longer;", "Who tried before by many a freak, or", "Insulting noise, to stop the speaker;", "Swung th' un-oil'd hinge of each pew-door,", "Their feet kept shuffling on the floor;", "Made their disapprobation known", "By many a murmur, hum and groan,", "That to his speech supplied the place", "Of counterpart in thorough bass.", "Thus bagpipes, while the tune they breathe,", "Still drone and grumble underneath;", "And thus the famed Demosthenes", "Harangued the rumbling of the seas,", "Held forth with elocution grave,", "To audience loud of wind and wave;", "And had a stiller congregation,", "Than Tories are, to hear th' oration.", "The uproar now grew high and louder,", "As nearer thund'rings of a cloud are,", "And every soul with heart and voice", "Supplied his quota of the noise.", "Each listening ear was set on torture,", "Each Tory bellowing, \"Order, Order;\"", "And some, with tongue not low or weak,", "Were clam'ring fast, for leave to speak;", "The Moderator, with great vi'lence,", "The cushion thump'd with, \"Silence, Silence!\"", "The Constable to every prater", "Bawl'd out, \"Pray hear the moderator;\"", "Some call'd the vote, and some in turn", "Were screaming high, \"Adjourn, Adjourn.\"", "Not Chaos heard such jars and clashes,", "When all the el'ments fought for places.", "The storm each moment fiercer grew;", "His sword the great M'Fingal drew,", "Prepared in either chance to share,", "To keep the peace, or aid the war.", "Nor lack'd they each poetic being,", "Whom bards alone are skill'd in seeing;", "Plumed Victory stood perch'd on high,", "Upon the pulpit-canopy,", "To join, as is her custom tried,", "Like Indians, on the strongest side;", "The Destinies, with shears and distaff,", "Drew near their threads of life to twist off;", "The Furies 'gan to feast on blows,", "And broken head, and bloody nose:", "When on a sudden from without", "Arose a loud terrific shout;", "And straight the people all at once heard", "Of tongues an universal concert;", "Like Æsop's times, as fable runs,", "When every creature talk'd at once,", "Or like the variegated gabble,", "That crazed the carpenters of Babel.", "Each party soon forsook the quarrel,", "And let the other go on parol,", "Eager to know what fearful matter", "Had conjured up such general clatter;", "And left the church in thin array,", "As though it had been lecture-day.", "Our 'Squire M'Fingal straitway beckon'd", "The Constable to stand his second;", "And sallied forth with aspect fierce", "The crowd assembled to disperse.", "", "", "The Moderator, out of view,", "Beneath the desk had lain perdue;", "Peep'd up his head to view the fray,", "Beheld the wranglers run away,", "And left alone, with solemn face", "Adjourn'd them without time or place." ], "linecount": "810" }, { "title": "M'Fingal - Canto III", "author": "John Trumbull", "lines": [ "Now warm with ministerial ire,", "Fierce sallied forth our loyal 'Squire,", "And on his striding steps attends", "His desperate clan of Tory friends.", "When sudden met his wrathful eye", "A pole ascending through the sky,", "Which numerous throngs of whiggish race", "Were raising in the market-place.", "Not higher school-boy's kites aspire,", "Or royal mast, or country spire;", "Like spears at Brobdignagian tilting,", "Or Satan's walking-staff in Milton.", "And on its top, the flag unfurl'd", "Waved triumph o'er the gazing world,", "Inscribed with inconsistent types", "Of Liberty and thirteen stripes.", "Beneath, the crowd without delay", "The dedication-rites essay,", "And gladly pay, in antient fashion,", "The ceremonies of libation;", "While briskly to each patriot lip", "Walks eager round the inspiring flip:", "Delicious draught! whose powers inherit", "The quintessence of public spirit;", "Which whoso tastes, perceives his mind", "To nobler politics refined;", "Or roused to martial controversy,", "As from transforming cups of Circe;", "Or warm'd with Homer's nectar'd liquor,", "That fill'd the veins of gods with ichor.", "At hand for new supplies in store,", "The tavern opes its friendly door,", "Whence to and fro the waiters run,", "Like bucket-men at fires in town.", "Then with three shouts that tore the sky,", "'Tis consecrate to Liberty.", "To guard it from th' attacks of Tories,", "A grand Committee cull'd of four is;", "Who foremost on the patriot spot,", "Had brought the flip, and paid the shot.", "", "", "By this, M'Fingal with his train", "Advanced upon th' adjacent plain,", "And full with loyalty possest,", "Pour'd forth the zeal, that fired his breast.", "", "", "\"What mad-brain'd rebel gave commission,", "To raise this May-pole of sedition?", "Like Babel, rear'd by bawling throngs,", "With like confusion too of tongues,", "To point at heaven and summon down", "The thunders of the British crown?", "Say, will this paltry Pole secure", "Your forfeit heads from Gage's power?", "Attack'd by heroes brave and crafty,", "Is this to stand your ark of safety;", "Or driven by Scottish laird and laddie,", "Think ye to rest beneath its shadow?", "When bombs, like fiery serpents, fly,", "And balls rush hissing through the sky,", "Will this vile Pole, devote to freedom,", "Save like the Jewish pole in Edom;", "Or like the brazen snake of Moses,", "Cure your crackt skulls and batter'd noses?", "", "", "\"Ye dupes to every factious rogue", "And tavern-prating demagogue,", "Whose tongue but rings, with sound more full,", "On th' empty drumhead of his scull;", "Behold you not what noisy fools", "Use you, worse simpletons, for tools?", "For Liberty, in your own by-sense,", "Is but for crimes a patent license,", "To break of law th' Egyptian yoke,", "And throw the world in common stock;", "Reduce all grievances and ills", "To Magna Charta of your wills;", "Establish cheats and frauds and nonsense,", "Framed to the model of your conscience;", "Cry justice down, as out of fashion,", "And fix its scale of depreciation;", "Defy all creditors to trouble ye,", "And keep new years of Jewish jubilee;", "Drive judges out, like Aaron's calves,", "By jurisdiction of white staves,", "And make the bar and bench and steeple", "Submit t' our Sovereign Lord, The People;", "By plunder rise to power and glory,", "And brand all property, as Tory;", "Expose all wares to lawful seizures", "By mobbers or monopolizers;", "Break heads and windows and the peace,", "For your own interest and increase;", "Dispute and pray and fight and groan", "For public good, and mean your own;", "Prevent the law by fierce attacks", "From quitting scores upon your backs;", "Lay your old dread, the gallows, low,", "And seize the stocks, your ancient foe,", "And turn them to convenient engines", "To wreak your patriotic vengeance;", "While all, your rights who understand,", "Confess them in their owner's hand;", "And when by clamours and confusions,", "Your freedom's grown a public nuisance,", "Cry \"Liberty,\" with powerful yearning,", "As he does \"Fire!\" whose house is burning;", "Though he already has much more", "Than he can find occasion for.", "While every clown, that tills the plains,", "Though bankrupt in estate and brains,", "By this new light transform'd to traitor,", "Forsakes his plough to turn dictator,", "Starts an haranguing chief of Whigs,", "And drags you by the ears, like pigs.", "All bluster, arm'd with factious licence,", "New-born at once to politicians.", "Each leather-apron'd dunce, grown wise,", "Presents his forward face t' advise,", "And tatter'd legislators meet,", "From every workshop through the street.", "His goose the tailor finds new use in,", "To patch and turn the Constitution;", "The blacksmith comes with sledge and grate", "To iron-bind the wheels of state;", "The quack forbears his patients' souse,", "To purge the Council and the House;", "The tinker quits his moulds and doxies,", "To cast assembly-men and proxies.", "From dunghills deep of blackest hue,", "Your dirt-bred patriots spring to view,", "To wealth and power and honors rise,", "Like new-wing'd maggots changed to flies,", "And fluttering round in high parade,", "Strut in the robe, or gay cockade.", "See Arnold quits, for ways more certain,", "His bankrupt-perj'ries for his fortune,", "Brews rum no longer in his store,", "Jockey and skipper now no more,", "Forsakes his warehouses and docks,", "And writs of slander for the pox;", "And cleansed by patriotism from shame,", "Grows General of the foremost name.", "For in this ferment of the stream", "The dregs have work'd up to the brim,", "And by the rule of topsy-turvies,", "The scum stands foaming on the surface.", "You've caused your pyramid t' ascend,", "And set it on the little end.", "Like Hudibras, your empire's made,", "Whose crupper had o'ertopp'd his head.", "You've push'd and turn'd the whole world up-", "Side down, and got yourselves at top,", "While all the great ones of your state", "Are crush'd beneath the popular weight;", "Nor can you boast, this present hour,", "The shadow of the form of power.", "For what's your Congress or its end?", "A power, t' advise and recommend;", "To call forth troops, adjust your quotas--", "And yet no soul is bound to notice;", "To pawn your faith to th' utmost limit,", "But cannot bind you to redeem it;", "And when in want no more in them lies,", "Than begging from your State-Assemblies;", "Can utter oracles of dread,", "Like friar Bacon's brazen head,", "But when a faction dares dispute 'em,", "Has ne'er an arm to execute 'em:", "As tho' you chose supreme dictators,", "And put them under conservators.", "You've but pursued the self-same way", "With Shakespeare's Trinc'lo in the play;", "\"You shall be Viceroys here, 'tis true,", "\"But we'll be Viceroys over you.\"", "What wild confusion hence must ensue?", "Tho' common danger yet cements you:", "So some wreck'd vessel, all in shatters,", "Is held up by surrounding waters,", "But stranded, when the pressure ceases,", "Falls by its rottenness to pieces.", "And fall it must! if wars were ended,", "You'll ne'er have sense enough to mend it:", "But creeping on, by low intrigues,", "Like vermin of a thousand legs,", "'Twill find as short a life assign'd,", "As all things else of reptile kind.", "Your Commonwealth's a common harlot,", "The property of every varlet;", "Which now in taste, and full employ,", "All sorts admire, as all enjoy:", "But soon a batter'd strumpet grown,", "You'll curse and drum her out of town.", "Such is the government you chose;", "For this you bade the world be foes;", "For this, so mark'd for dissolution,", "You scorn the British Constitution,", "That constitution form'd by sages,", "The wonder of all modern ages;", "Which owns no failure in reality,", "Except corruption and venality;", "And merely proves the adage just,", "That best things spoil'd corrupt to worst:", "So man supreme in earthly station,", "And mighty lord of this creation,", "When once his corse is dead as herring,", "Becomes the most offensive carrion,", "And sooner breeds the plague, 'tis found,", "Than all beasts rotting on the ground.", "Yet with republics to dismay us,", "You've call'd up Anarchy from chaos,", "With all the followers of her school,", "Uproar and Rage and wild Misrule:", "For whom this rout of Whigs distracted,", "And ravings dire of every crack'd head;", "These new-cast legislative engines", "Of County-meetings and Conventions;", "Committees vile of correspondence,", "And mobs, whose tricks have almost undone 's:", "While reason fails to check your course,", "And Loyalty's kick'd out of doors,", "And Folly, like inviting landlord,", "Hoists on your poles her royal standard;", "While the king's friends, in doleful dumps,", "Have worn their courage to the stumps,", "And leaving George in sad disaster,", "Most sinfully deny their master.", "What furies raged when you, in sea,", "In shape of Indians, drown'd the tea;", "When your gay sparks, fatigued to watch it,", "Assumed the moggison and hatchet,", "With wampum'd blankets hid their laces,", "And like their sweethearts, primed their faces:", "While not a red-coat dared oppose,", "And scarce a Tory show'd his nose;", "While Hutchinson, for sure retreat,", "Manoeuvred to his country seat,", "And thence affrighted, in the suds,", "Stole off bareheaded through the woods.", "", "", "\"Have you not roused your mobs to join,", "And make Mandamus-men resign,", "Call'd forth each dufill-drest curmudgeon,", "With dirty trowsers and white bludgeon,", "Forced all our Councils through the land,", "To yield their necks at your command;", "While paleness marks their late disgraces,", "Through all their rueful length of faces?", "", "", "\"Have you not caused as woeful work", "In our good city of New-York,", "When all the rabble, well cockaded,", "In triumph through the streets paraded,", "And mobb'd the Tories, scared their spouses,", "And ransack'd all the custom-houses;", "Made such a tumult, bluster, jarring,", "That mid the clash of tempests warring,", "Smith's weather-cock, in veers forlorn,", "Could hardly tell which way to turn?", "Burn'd effigies of higher powers,", "Contrived in planetary hours;", "As witches with clay-images", "Destroy or torture whom they please:", "Till fired with rage, th' ungrateful club", "Spared not your best friend, Beelzebub,", "O'erlook'd his favors, and forgot", "The reverence due his cloven foot,", "And in the selfsame furnace frying,", "Stew'd him, and North and Bute and Tryon?", "Did you not, in as vile and shallow way,", "Fright our poor Philadelphian, Galloway,", "Your Congress, when the loyal ribald", "Belied, berated and bescribbled?", "What ropes and halters did you send,", "Terrific emblems of his end,", "Till, least he'd hang in more than effigy,", "Fled in a fog the trembling refugee?", "Now rising in progression fatal,", "Have you not ventured to give battle?", "When Treason chaced our heroes troubled,", "With rusty gun, and leathern doublet;", "Turn'd all stone-walls and groves and bushes,", "To batteries arm'd with blunderbusses;", "And with deep wounds, that fate portend,", "Gaul'd many a Briton's latter end;", "Drove them to Boston, as in jail,", "Confined without mainprize or bail.", "Were not these deeds enough betimes,", "To heap the measure of your crimes:", "But in this loyal town and dwelling,", "You raise these ensigns of rebellion?", "'Tis done! fair Mercy shuts her door;", "And Vengeance now shall sleep no more.", "Rise then, my friends, in terror rise,", "And sweep this scandal from the skies.", "You'll see their Dagon, though well jointed,", "Will shrink before the Lord's anointed;", "And like old Jericho's proud wall,", "Before our ram's horns prostrate fall.\"", "", "", "This said, our 'Squire, yet undismay'd,", "Call'd forth the Constable to aid,", "And bade him read, in nearer station,", "The Riot-act and Proclamation.", "He swift, advancing to the ring,", "Began, \"Our Sovereign Lord, the King\"--", "When thousand clam'rous tongues he hears,", "And clubs and stones assail his ears.", "To fly was vain; to fight was idle;", "By foes encompass'd in the middle,", "His hope, in stratagems, he found,", "And fell right craftily to ground;", "Then crept to seek an hiding place,", "'Twas all he could, beneath a brace;", "Where soon the conq'ring crew espied him,", "And where he lurk'd, they caught and tied him.", "", "", "At once with resolution fatal,", "Both Whigs and Tories rush'd to battle.", "Instead of weapons, either band", "Seized on such arms as came to hand.", "And as famed Ovid paints th' adventures", "Of wrangling Lapithæ and Centaurs,", "Who at their feast, by Bacchus led,", "Threw bottles at each other's head;", "And these arms failing in their scuffles,", "Attack'd with andirons, tongs and shovels:", "So clubs and billets, staves and stones", "Met fierce, encountering every sconce,", "And cover'd o'er with knobs and pains", "Each void receptacle for brains;", "Their clamours rend the skies around,", "The hills rebellow to the sound;", "And many a groan increas'd the din", "From batter'd nose and broken shin.", "M'Fingal, rising at the word,", "Drew forth his old militia-sword;", "Thrice cried \"King George,\" as erst in distress,", "Knights of romance invoked a mistress;", "And brandishing the blade in air,", "Struck terror through th' opposing war.", "The Whigs, unsafe within the wind", "Of such commotion, shrunk behind.", "With whirling steel around address'd,", "Fierce through their thickest throng he press'd,", "(Who roll'd on either side in arch,", "Like Red Sea waves in Israel's march)", "And like a meteor rushing through,", "Struck on their Pole a vengeful blow.", "Around, the Whigs, of clubs and stones", "Discharged whole vollies, in platoons,", "That o'er in whistling fury fly;", "But not a foe dares venture nigh.", "And now perhaps with glory crown'd", "Our 'Squire had fell'd the pole to ground,", "Had not some Pow'r, a whig at heart,", "Descended down and took their part;", "(Whether 'twere Pallas, Mars or Iris,", "'Tis scarce worth while to make inquiries)", "Who at the nick of time alarming,", "Assumed the solemn form of Chairman,", "Address'd a Whig, in every scene", "The stoutest wrestler on the green,", "And pointed where the spade was found,", "Late used to set their pole in ground,", "And urged, with equal arms and might,", "To dare our 'Squire to single fight.", "The Whig thus arm'd, untaught to yield,", "Advanced tremendous to the field:", "Nor did M'Fingal shun the foe,", "But stood to brave the desp'rate blow;", "While all the party gazed, suspended", "To see the deadly combat ended;", "And Jove in equal balance weigh'd", "The sword against the brandish'd spade,", "He weigh'd; but lighter than a dream,", "The sword flew up, and kick'd the beam.", "Our 'Squire on tiptoe rising fair", "Lifts high a noble stroke in air,", "Which hung not, but like dreadful engines,", "Descended on his foe in vengeance.", "But ah! in danger, with dishonor", "The sword perfidious fails its owner;", "That sword, which oft had stood its ground,", "By huge trainbands encircled round;", "And on the bench, with blade right loyal,", "Had won the day at many a trial,", "Of stones and clubs had braved th' alarms,", "Shrunk from these new Vulcanian arms.", "The spade so temper'd from the sledge,", "Nor keen nor solid harm'd its edge,", "Now met it, from his arm of might,", "Descending with steep force to smite;", "The blade snapp'd short--and from his hand,", "With rust embrown'd the glittering sand.", "Swift turn'd M'Fingal at the view,", "And call'd to aid th' attendant crew,", "In vain; the Tories all had run,", "When scarce the fight was well begun;", "Their setting wigs he saw decreas'd", "Far in th' horizon tow'rd the west.", "Amazed he view'd the shameful sight,", "And saw no refuge, but in flight:", "But age unwieldy check'd his pace,", "Though fear had wing'd his flying race;", "For not a trifling prize at stake;", "No less than great M'Fingal's back.", "With legs and arms he work'd his course,", "Like rider that outgoes his horse,", "And labor'd hard to get away, as", "Old Satan struggling on through chaos;", "Till looking back, he spied in rear", "The spade-arm'd chief advanced too near:", "Then stopp'd and seized a stone, that lay", "An ancient landmark near the way;", "Nor shall we as old bards have done,", "Affirm it weigh'd an hundred ton;", "But such a stone, as at a shift", "A modern might suffice to lift,", "Since men, to credit their enigmas,", "Are dwindled down to dwarfs and pigmies,", "And giants exiled with their cronies", "To Brobdignags and Patagonias.", "But while our Hero turn'd him round,", "And tugg'd to raise it from the ground,", "The fatal spade discharged a blow", "Tremendous on his rear below:", "His bent knee fail'd, and void of strength", "Stretch'd on the ground his manly length.", "Like ancient oak o'erturn'd, he lay,", "Or tower to tempests fall'n a prey,", "Or mountain sunk with all his pines,", "Or flow'r the plow to dust consigns,", "And more things else--but all men know 'em,", "If slightly versed in epic poem.", "At once the crew, at this dread crisis,", "Fall on, and bind him, ere he rises;", "And with loud shouts and joyful soul,", "Conduct him prisoner to the pole.", "When now the mob in lucky hour", "Had got their en'mies in their power,", "They first proceed, by grave command,", "To take the Constable in hand.", "Then from the pole's sublimest top", "The active crew let down the rope,", "At once its other end in haste bind,", "And make it fast upon his waistband;", "Till like the earth, as stretch'd on tenter,", "He hung self-balanced on his centre.", "Then upwards, all hands hoisting sail,", "They swung him, like a keg of ale,", "Till to the pinnacle in height", "He vaulted, like balloon or kite.", "As Socrates of old at first did", "To aid philosophy get hoisted,", "And found his thoughts flow strangely clear,", "Swung in a basket in mid air:", "Our culprit thus, in purer sky,", "With like advantage raised his eye,", "And looking forth in prospect wide,", "His Tory errors clearly spied,", "And from his elevated station,", "With bawling voice began addressing.", "", "", "\"Good Gentlemen and friends and kin,", "For heaven's sake hear, if not for mine!", "I here renounce the Pope, the Turks,", "The King, the Devil and all their works;", "And will, set me but once at ease,", "Turn Whig or Christian, what you please;", "And always mind your rules so justly,", "Should I live long as old Methus'lah,", "I'll never join in British rage,", "Nor help Lord North, nor Gen'ral Gage;", "Nor lift my gun in future fights,", "Nor take away your Charter-rights;", "Nor overcome your new-raised levies,", "Destroy your towns, nor burn your navies;", "Nor cut your poles down while I've breath,", "Though raised more thick than hatchel-teeth:", "But leave King George and all his elves", "To do their conq'ring work themselves.\"", "", "", "This said, they lower'd him down in state,", "Spread at all points, like falling cat;", "But took a vote first on the question,", "That they'd accept this full confession,", "And to their fellowship and favor,", "Restore him on his good behaviour.", "", "", "Not so our 'Squire submits to rule,", "But stood, heroic as a mule.", "\"You'll find it all in vain, quoth he,", "To play your rebel tricks on me.", "All punishments, the world can render,", "Serve only to provoke th' offender;", "The will gains strength from treatment horrid,", "As hides grow harder when they're curried.", "No man e'er felt the halter draw,", "With good opinion of the law;", "Or held in method orthodox", "His love of justice, in the stocks;", "Or fail'd to lose by sheriff's shears", "At once his loyalty and ears.", "Have you made Murray look less big,", "Or smoked old Williams to a Whig?", "Did our mobb'd Ol'ver quit his station,", "Or heed his vows of resignation?", "Has Rivington, in dread of stripes,", "Ceased lying since you stole his types?", "And can you think my faith will alter,", "By tarring, whipping or the halter?", "I'll stand the worst; for recompense", "I trust King George and Providence.", "And when with conquest gain'd I come,", "Array'd in law and terror home,", "Ye'll rue this inauspicious morn,", "And curse the day, when ye were born,", "In Job's high style of imprecations,", "With all his plagues, without his patience.\"", "", "", "Meanwhile beside the pole, the guard", "A Bench of Justice had prepared,", "Where sitting round in awful sort", "The grand Committee hold their Court;", "While all the crew, in silent awe,", "Wait from their lips the lore of law.", "Few moments with deliberation", "They hold the solemn consultation;", "When soon in judgment all agree,", "And Clerk proclaims the dread decree;", "\"That 'Squire M'Fingal having grown", "The vilest Tory in the town,", "And now in full examination", "Convicted by his own confession,", "Finding no tokens of repentance,", "This Court proceeds to render sentence:", "That first the Mob a slip-knot single", "Tie round the neck of said M'Fingal,", "And in due form do tar him next,", "And feather, as the law directs;", "Then through the town attendant ride him", "In cart with Constable beside him,", "And having held him up to shame,", "Bring to the pole, from whence he came.\"", "", "", "Forthwith the crowd proceed to deck", "With halter'd noose M'Fingal's neck,", "While he in peril of his soul", "Stood tied half-hanging to the pole;", "Then lifting high the ponderous jar,", "Pour'd o'er his head the smoaking tar.", "With less profusion once was spread", "Oil on the Jewish monarch's head,", "That down his beard and vestments ran,", "And cover'd all his outward man.", "As when (so Claudian sings) the Gods", "And earth-born Giants fell at odds,", "The stout Enceladus in malice", "Tore mountains up to throw at Pallas;", "And while he held them o'er his head,", "The river, from their fountains fed,", "Pour'd down his back its copious tide,", "And wore its channels in his hide:", "So from the high-raised urn the torrents", "Spread down his side their various currents;", "His flowing wig, as next the brim,", "First met and drank the sable stream;", "Adown his visage stern and grave", "Roll'd and adhered the viscid wave;", "With arms depending as he stood,", "Each cuff capacious holds the flood;", "From nose and chin's remotest end,", "The tarry icicles descend;", "Till all o'erspread, with colors gay,", "He glitter'd to the western ray,", "Like sleet-bound trees in wintry skies,", "Or Lapland idol carved in ice.", "And now the feather-bag display'd", "Is waved in triumph o'er his head,", "And clouds him o'er with feathers missive,", "And down, upon the tar, adhesive:", "Not Maia's son, with wings for ears,", "Such plumage round his visage wears;", "Nor Milton's six-wing'd angel gathers", "Such superfluity of feathers.", "Now all complete appears our 'Squire,", "Like Gorgon or Chimæra dire;", "Nor more could boast on Plato's plan", "To rank among the race of man,", "Or prove his claim to human nature,", "As a two-legg'd, unfeather'd creature.", "", "", "Then on the fatal cart, in state", "They raised our grand Duumvirate.", "And as at Rome a like committee,", "Who found an owl within their city,", "With solemn rites and grave processions", "At every shrine perform'd lustrations;", "And least infection might take place", "From such grim fowl with feather'd face,", "All Rome attends him through the street", "In triumph to his country seat:", "With like devotion all the choir", "Paraded round our awful 'Squire;", "In front the martial music comes", "Of horns and fiddles, fifes and drums,", "With jingling sound of carriage bells,", "And treble creak of rusted wheels.", "Behind, the croud, in lengthen'd row", "With proud procession, closed the show.", "And at fit periods every throat", "Combined in universal shout;", "And hail'd great Liberty in chorus,", "Or bawl'd 'confusion to the Tories.'", "Not louder storm the welkin braves", "From clamors of conflicting waves;", "Less dire in Lybian wilds the noise", "When rav'ning lions lift their voice;", "Or triumphs at town-meetings made,", "On passing votes to regulate trade.", "", "", "Thus having borne them round the town,", "Last at the pole they set them down;", "And to the tavern take their way", "To end in mirth the festal day.", "", "", "And now the Mob, dispersed and gone,", "Left 'Squire and Constable alone.", "The constable with rueful face", "Lean'd sad and solemn o'er a brace;", "And fast beside him, cheek by jowl,", "Stuck 'Squire M'Fingal 'gainst the pole,", "Glued by the tar t' his rear applied,", "Like barnacle on vessel's side.", "But though his body lack'd physician,", "His spirit was in worse condition.", "He found his fears of whips and ropes", "By many a drachm outweigh'd his hopes.", "As men in jail without mainprize", "View every thing with other eyes,", "And all goes wrong in church and state,", "Seen through perspective of the grate:", "So now M'Fingal's Second-sight", "Beheld all things in gloomier light;", "His visual nerve, well purged with tar,", "Saw all the coming scenes of war.", "As his prophetic soul grew stronger,", "He found he could hold in no longer.", "First from the pole, as fierce he shook,", "His wig from pitchy durance broke,", "His mouth unglued, his feathers flutter'd,", "His tarr'd skirts crack'd, and thus he utter'd.", "", "", "\"Ah, Mr. Constable, in vain", "We strive 'gainst wind and tide and rain!", "Behold my doom! this feathery omen", "Portends what dismal times are coming.", "Now future scenes, before my eyes,", "And second-sighted forms arise.", "I hear a voice, that calls away,", "And cries 'The Whigs will win the day.'", "My beck'ning Genius gives command,", "And bids me fly the fatal land;", "Where changing name and constitution,", "Rebellion turns to Revolution,", "While Loyalty, oppress'd, in tears,", "Stands trembling for its neck and ears.", "", "", "\"Go, summon all our brethren, greeting,", "To muster at our usual meeting;", "There my prophetic voice shall warn 'em", "Of all things future that concern 'em,", "And scenes disclose on which, my friend,", "Their conduct and their lives depend.", "There I--but first 'tis more of use,", "From this vile pole to set me loose;", "Then go with cautious steps and steady,", "While I steer home and make all ready." ], "linecount": "662" }, { "title": "To This Moment a Rebel", "author": "John Wilmot", "lines": [ "To this moment a rebel I throw down my arms,", "Great Love, at first sight of Olinda's bright charms.", "Make proud and secure by such forces as these,", "You may now play the tyrant as soon as you please.", "", "When Innocence, Beauty, and Wit do conspire", "To betray, and engage, and inflame my Desire,", "Why should I decline what I cannot avoid?", "And let pleasing Hope by base Fear be destroyed?", "", "Her innocence cannot contrive to undo me,", "Her beauty's inclined, or why should it pursue me?", "And Wit has to Pleasure been ever a friend,", "Then what room for Despair, since Delight is Love's end?", "", "There can be no danger in sweetness and youth,", "Where Love is secured by good nature and truth;", "On her beauty I'll gaze and of pleasure complain", "While every kind look adds a link to my chain.", "", "'Tis more to maintain than it was to surprise,", "But her Wit leads in triumpth the slave of her eyes;", "I beheld, with the loss of my freedom before,", "But hearing, forever must serve and adore.", "", "Too bright is my Goddess, her temple too weak:", "Retire, divine image! I feel my heart break.", "Help, Love! I dissolve in a rapture of charms", "At the thought of those joys I should meet in her arms." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "A Letter from Artemesia in the Town to Chloe in the Country", "author": "John Wilmot", "lines": [ "Chloe,", "", "In verse by your command I write.", "Shortly you'll bid me ride astride, and fight:", "These talents better with our sex agree", "Than lofty flights of dangerous poetry.", "Amongst the men, I mean the men of wit", "(At least they passed for such before they writ),", "How many bold adventureers for the bays,", "Proudly designing large returns of praise,", "Who durst that stormy, pathless world explore,", "Were soon dashed back, and wrecked on the dull shore,", "Broke of that little stock they had before!", "How would a woman's tottering bark be tossed", "Where stoutest ships, the men of wit, are lost?", "When I reflect on this, I straight grow wise,", "And my own self thus gravely I advise:", "--Dear Artemesia, poetry's a snare;", "Bedlam has many mansions; have a care.", "Your muse diverts you, makes the reader sad:", "Consider, too, 'twill be discreetly done", "To make yourself the fiddle of the town,", "To find th' ill-humored pleasure at their need,", "Cursed if you fail, and scorned though you succeed!", "Thus, like an errant woman as I am,", "No sooner well convinced writing's a shame,", "That whore is scarce a more reproachful name", "Than poetess-", "Like men that marry, or like maids that woo,", "'Cause 'tis the very worst thing they can do,", "Pleased with the contradiction and the sin,", "Methinks I stand n thorns till I begin.", "--Y' expect at least to hear what loves have passed", "In this lewd town, since you and I met last;", "What change has happened of intrigues, and whether", "The old ones last, and who and who's together.", "But how, my dearest Chloe, shall I set", "My pet to write what I would fain forget?", "Or name that lost thing, love, without a tear,", "Since so debauched by ill-bred customs here?", "Love, the most generous passion of the mind,", "The softest refuge innocence can find,", "The safe director of unguided youth,", "Fraught with kind wishes, and secured by truth;", "That cordial drop heaven in our cup has thrown", "To make the nauseous draught of life go down;", "On which one only blessing; God might raise", "In lands of atheists, subsidies of praise,", "For none did e'er so dull and stupid prove", "But felt a god, and blessed his power in love -", "This only joy for which poor we were made", "Is grown, like play, to be an arrant trade.", "The rooks creep in, and it has got of late", "As many little cheats and tricks as that.", "--But what yet more a woman's heart would vex,", "'Tis chiefly carried on by our own sex;", "Our silly sex! who, born like monarchs free,", "turn gypsies for a meaner liberty,", "And hate restraint, though but from infamy.", "They call whatever is not common, nice,", "And deaf to nature's rule, or love's advice,", "Forsake the pleasure to pursue the vice.", "To an exact perfection they have wrought", "The action, love; the passion is forgot.", "'Tis below wit, they tell you, to admire,", "And ev'n without approving, they desire.", "Their private wish obeys the public vice;", "'Twixt good and bad, whimsey decides, not choice.", "Fashions grow up for taste; at forms they strike;", "They know what they would have, not what they like.", "Bovey's a beauty, of some few agree", "To call him so; the rest to that degree", "Affected are, that with their ears they see.", "--Where I was visiting the other night", "Comes a fine lady, with her humble knight,", "Who had prevailed on her, through her own skill,", "At his request, thought much against his will,", "To come to London.", "As the coach stopped, we heard her voice, more loud", "Than a great-bellied woman's in a crowd,", "Telling the knight that her affairs require", "He, for some hours, obsequiously retire.", "I think she was ashamed to have him seen:", "Hard fate of husbands! The gallant had been,", "Though a diseased, ill-favored fool, brought in.", "\"Dispatch,\" says she, \"that business you pretend,", "Your beastly visit to your drunken friend!", "A bottle ever makes you look so fine;", "Methinks I long to smell you stink of wine!", "Your country drinking breath's enough to kill:", "Sour ale corrected with a lemon peel.", "Prithee, farewell! We'll meet again anon.\"", "The necessary thing bows, and is gone.", "--She flies upstairs, and all the haste does show", "That fifty antic postures will allow,", "And then bursts out: \"Dear madam, am not I", "The altered'st creature breathing? Let me die,", "I find myself ridiculously grown,", "Embarassee with being out of town,", "Rude and untaught like any Indian queen:", "My country nakedness is strangely seen.", "--\"How is love governed, love that rules the state,", "And pray, who are the men most worn of late?", "When I was married, fools were a la mode.", "The men of wit were then held incommode,", "Slow of belief, and fickle in desire,", "Who, ere they'll be persuaded, must inquire", "As if they came to spy, not to admire.", "With searching wisdom, fatal to their ease,", "They still find out why what may, should not please;", "Nay, take themselves for injured when we dare", "Make 'em think better of us than we are,", "And if we hide our frailties from their sights,", "Call us deceitful jilts and hypocrites.", "They little guess, who at our arts are grieved,", "The perfect joy of being well deceived;", "Inquisitive as jealous cuckolds grow:", "Rather than not be knowing, they will know", "What, being known, creates their certain woe.", "Women should these, of all mankind avoid,", "For wonder by clear knowledge is destroyed.", "Woman, who is an arrant bird of knight,", "Bold in the dusk before a fool's dull sight,", "Should fly when reason brings the glaring light.", "--\"But the kind, easy fool, apt to admire", "Himself, trusts us; his follies all conspire", "To flatter his, and favor our desire.", "Vain of his proper merit, he with ease", "Believes we love him best who best can please.", "On him our gross, dull, common flatteries pass,", "Ever most joyful when most made an ass.", "Heavy to apprehend, though all mankind", "Perceive us false, the fop concerned is blind,", "Who, doting on himself,", "Thinks everyone that sees him of his mind.", "These are true women's men.\"", "", "-------------------------- Here forced to cease", "Through want of breath, not will to hold her peace,", "She to the window runs, where she had spied", "Her much esteemed dear friend, the monkey, tied.", "With forty smiles, as many antic bows,", "As if 't had been the lady of the house,", "The dirty, chattering monster she embraced,", "And made it this fine, tender speech at last:", "\"Kiss me, thou curious miniature of man!", "How odd thou art! how pretty! how japan!", "Oh, I could live and die with thee!\" Then on", "For half an hour in compliment she run.", "--I took this time to think what nature meant", "When this mixed thing into the world she sent,", "So very wise, yet so impertinent:", "One who knew everything; who, God thought fit,", "Should be an ass through choice, not want of wit;", "Whose foppery, without the help of sense,", "Could ne'er have rose to such an excellence.", "Nature's as lame in making a true fop", "As a philosopher; the very top", "And dignity of folly we attain", "By studious search, and labor of the brain,", "By observation, counsel, and deep thought:", "God never made a coxcomb worth a groat.", "We owe that name to industry and arts:", "An eminent fool must be a fool of parts.", "And such a one was she, who had turned o'er", "As many books as men; loved much, read more;", "Had a discerning wit; to her was known", "Everyone's fault and merit, but her own.", "All the good qualities that ever blessed", "A woman so distinguished from the rest,", "Except discretion only, she possessed.", "--But now, \"Mon cher dear Pug,\" she cries, \"adieu!\"", "And the discourse broke off does thus renew:", "--\"You smile to see me, whom the world perchance", "Mistakes to have some wit, so far advance", "The interest of fools, that I approve", "Their merit, more than men's of wit, in love.", "But, in our sex, too many proofs there are", "Of such whom wits undo, and fools repair.", "This, in my time, was so observed a rule", "Hardly a wench in town but had her fool.", "The meanest common slut, who long was grown", "The jest and scorn of every pit buffoon,", "Had yet left charms enough to have subdued", "Some fop or other, fond to be thought lewd.", "Foster could make an Irish lord a Nokes,", "And Betty Morris had her City cokes.", "A woman's ne'er so ruined but she can", "Be still revenged on her undoer, man;", "How lost so'er, she'll find some lover, more", "A lewd, abandoned fool than she a whore.", "--\"That wretched thing Corinna, who had run", "Through all the several ways of being undone,", "Cozened at first by love, and living then", "By turning the too dear-bought trick on men -", "Gay were the hours, and winged with joys they flew,", "When first the town her early beauties knew;", "Courted, admired, and loved, with presents fed;", "Youth in her looks, and pleasure in her bed;", "Till fate, or her ill angel, thought it fit", "To make her dote upon a man of wit,", "Who found 'twas dull to love above a day;", "Made his ill-natured jest, and went away.", "Now scorned by all, forsaken, and oppressed,", "She's a momento mori to the rest;", "Diseased, decayed, to take up half a crown", "Must mortgage her long scarf and manteau gown.", "Poor creature! who, unheard of as a fly,", "In some dark hole must all the winter lie,", "And want and dirt endure a while half year", "That for one month she tawdry may appear.", "--\"In Easter Term she gets her a new gown,", "When my young master's worship comes to town,", "From pedagogue and mother just set free,", "The heir and hopes of a great family;", "Which, with strong ale and beef, the country rules,", "And ever since the Conquest have been fools.", "And now, with careful prospect to maintain", "The character, lest crossing of the strain", "Should mend the booby breed, his friends provide", "A cousin of his own to be his bride.", "And thus set out", "With an estate, no wit, and a young wife", "(The solid comforts of a coxcomb's life),", "Dunghill and pease forsook, he comes to town,", "Turns spark, learns to be lewd, and is undone.", "Nothing suits worse with vice than want of sense:", "Fools are still wicked at their own expense.", "--\"This o'ergrown schoolboy lost Corinna wins,", "And at first dash to make an ass begins:", "Pretends to like a man who has not known", "The vanities nor vices of the town;", "Fresh in his youth, and faithful in his love;", "Eager of joys which he does seldom prove;", "Healthful and strong, he does no pains endure", "But what the fair one he adores can cure;", "Grateful for favors, does the sex esteem,", "And libels none for being kind to him;", "Then of the lewdness of the times complains:", "Rails at the wits and atheists, and maintains", "'Tis better than good sense, than power or wealth,", "To have a love untainted, youth, and health.", "--\"The unbred puppy, who had never seen", "A creature look so gay, or talk so fine,", "Believes, then falls in love, and then in debt;", "Mortgages all, ev'n to the ancient seat,", "To buy this mistress a new house for life;", "To give her plate and jewels, robs his wife.", "And when t' th' height of fondness he is grown,", "'Tis time to poison him, and all's her own.", "Thus meeting in her common arms his fate,", "He leaves her bastard heir to his estate,", "And, as the race of such an owl deserves,", "His own dull lawful progeny he starves.", "--\"Nature, who never made a thing in vain,", "But does each insect to some end ordain,", "Wisely contrived kind keeping fools, no doubt,", "To patch up vices men of wit wear out.\"", "Thus she ran on two hours, some grains of sense", "Still mixed with volleys of impertinence.", "--But now 'tis time I should some pity show", "To Chloe, since I cannot choose but know", "Readers must reap the dullness writers sow.", "But the next post such stories I will tell", "As, joined with these, shall to a volumn swell,", "As true as heaven, more infamous than hell.", "But you are tired, and so am I.", "Farewell." ], "linecount": "266" }, { "title": "Verses on the Death of Doctor Swift", "author": "Jonathan Swift", "lines": [ "As Rochefoucauld his maxims drew", "From nature, I believe 'em true:", "They argue no corrupted mind", "In him; the fault is in mankind.", "", "This maxim more than all the rest", "Is thought too base for human breast:", "\"In all distresses of our friends,", "We first consult our private ends;", "While nature, kindly bent to ease us,", "Points out some circumstance to please us.\"", "", "If this perhaps your patience move,", "Let reason and experience prove.", "We all behold with envious eyes", "Our equal raised above our size.", "Who would not at a crowded show", "Stand high himself, keep others low?", "I love my friend as well as you:", "But why should he obstruct my view?", "Then let me have the higher post:", "Suppose it but an inch at most.", "If in battle you should find", "One whom you love of all mankind,", "Had some heroic action done,", "A champion killed, or trophy won;", "Rather than thus be overtopped,", "Would you not wish his laurels cropped?", "Dear honest Ned is in the gout,", "Lies racked with pain, and you without:", "How patiently you hear him groan!", "How glad the case is not your own!", "", "What poet would not grieve to see", "His breth'ren write as well as he?", "But rather than they should excel,", "He wished his rivals all in hell.", "", "Her end when Emulation misses,", "She turns to Envy, stings, and hisses:", "The strongest friendship yields to pride,", "Unless the odds be on our side.", "Vain human kind! fantastic race!", "Thy various follies who can trace?", "Self-love, ambition, envy, pride,", "Their empire in our hearts divide.", "Give others riches, power, and station,", "'Tis all on me an usurpation.", "I have no title to aspire;", "Yet, when you sink, I seem the higher.", "In Pope I cannot read a line,", "But with a sigh I wish it mine;", "When he can in one couplet fix", "More sense than I can do in six;", "It gives me such a jealous fit,", "I cry \"Pox take him and his wit!\"", "I grieve to be outdone by Gay", "In my own hum'rous biting way.", "Arbuthnot is no more my friend,", "Who dares to irony pretend,", "Which I was born to introduce,", "Refined it first, and shewed its use.", "St. John, as well as Pultney, knows", "That I had some repute for prose;", "And till they drove me out of date", "Could maul a minister of state.", "If they have mortified my pride,", "And made me throw my pen aside;", "If with such talents Heav'n has blest 'em,", "Have I not reason to detest 'em?", "", "To all my foes, dear Fortune, send", "Thy gifts; but never to my friend:", "I tamely can endure the first;", "But this with envy makes me burst.", "Thus much may serve by way of proem:", "Proceed we therefore to our poem.", "", "The time is not remote when I", "Must by the course of nature die;", "When, I foresee, my special friends", "Will try to find their private ends:", "Tho' it is hardly understood", "Which way my death can do them good,", "Yet thus, methinks, I hear 'em speak:", "\"See, how the Dean begins to break!", "Poor gentleman, he droops apace!", "You plainly find it in his face.", "That old vertigo in his head", "Will never leave him till he's dead.", "Besides, his memory decays:", "He recollects not what he says;", "He cannot call his friends to mind;", "Forgets the place where last he dined;", "Plyes you with stories o'er and o'er,", "He told them fifty times before.", "How does he fancy we can sit", "To hear his out-of-fashioned wit?", "But he takes up with younger folks,", "Who for his wine will bear his jokes.", "Faith! he must make his stories shorter,", "Or change his comrades once a quarter:", "In half the time he talks them round,", "There must another set be found.", "", "\"For poetry he's past his prime:", "He takes an hour to find a rhyme;", "His fire is out, his wit decayed,", "His fancy sunk, his Muse a jade.", "I'd have him throw away his pen; -", "But there's no talking to some men!\"", "", "And then their tenderness appears,", "By adding largely to my years:", "\"He's older than he would be reckoned,", "And well remembers Charles the Second.", "He hardly drinks a pint of wine;", "And that, I doubt, is no good sign.", "His stomach too begins to fail;", "Last year we thought him strong and hale,", "But now he's quite another thing:", "I wish he may hold out till spring.\"", "Then hug themselves, and reason thus:", "\"It is not yet so bad with us!\"", "", "In such a case they talk in tropes,", "And by their fears express their hopes:", "Some great misfortune to portend,", "No enemy can match a friend.", "With all the kindness they profess,", "The merit of a lucky guess", "(When daily how-d'ye's come of course,", "And servants answer, Worse and worse!)", "Would please 'em better than to tell", "That \"God be praised, the Dean is well.\"", "Then he who prophecied the best", "Approves his foresight to the rest:", "\"You know I always feared the worst,", "And often told you so at first.\" -", "He'd rather choose that I should die", "Than his prediction prove a lie.", "Not one foretells I shall recover,", "But all agree to give me over.", "", "Yet, should some neighbour feel a pain", "Just in the parts where I complain,", "How many a message would he send?", "What hearty prayers that I should mend?", "Inquire what regimen I kept,", "What gave me ease, and how I slept?", "And more lament when I was dead,", "Than all the sniv'llers round my bed.", "", "My good companions, never fear,", "For though you may mistake a year,", "Though your prognostics run too fast,", "They must be verified at last.", "", "Behold the fatal day arrive!", "\"How is the Dean?\" -\"He's just alive.\"", "Now the departing prayer is read:", "\"He hardly breathes.\" -\"The Dean is dead.\"", "", "Before the Passing-bell begun,", "The news thro' half the town has run.", "\"O, may we all for death prepare!", "What has he left? and who's his heir?\" -", "\"I know no more that what the news is:", "'Tis all bequeathed to public uses.\" -", "\"To public use! A perfect whim!", "What had the public done for him?", "Mere envy, avarice, and pride:", "He gave it all -but first he died.", "And had the Dean, in all the nation,", "No worthy friend, no poor relation?", "So ready to do strangers good,", "Forgetting his own flesh and blood!\"", "", "Now Grub Street wits are all employed;", "With elegies the town is cloyed:", "Some paragraph in ev'ry paper,", "To curse the Dean, or bless the Drapier.", "", "The doctors, tender of their fame,", "Wisely on me lay all the blame:", "\"We must confess his case was nice;", "But he would never take advice.", "Had he been ruled, for aught appears,", "He might have lived these twenty years;", "For when we opened him we found", "That all his vital parts were sound.\"", "", "From Dublin soon to London spread,", "'Tis told at court \"the Dean is dead.\"", "Kind Lady Suffolk, in the spleen,", "Runs laughing up to tell the queen.", "The queen, so gracious, mild, and good,", "Cries \"Is he gone? 'tis time he should.", "He's dead, you say; why, let him rot:", "I'm glad the medals were forgot.", "I promised him, I own; but when?", "I only was a princess then;", "But now, as consort of a king,", "You know, 'tis quite a diff'rent thing.\"", "", "Now Chartres, at Sir Robert's levee,", "Tells with a sneer the tidings heavy:", "\"Why, is he dead without his shoes?\"", "Cries Bob \"I'm sorry for the news:", "O, were the wretch but living still,", "And in his place my good friend Will!", "Or had a mitre on his head,", "Provided Bolinbroke were dead!\"", "", "Now Curll his shop from rubbish drains:", "Three genuine tomes of Swift's remains!", "And then, to make them pass the glibber,", "Revised by Tibbalds, Moore, and Cibber.", "He'll treat me as he does my betters,", "Publish my will, my life, my letters;", "Revive the libels born to die;", "Which Pope must bear, as well as I.", "", "Here shift the scene, to represent", "How those I love my death lament.", "Poor Pope will grieve a month; and Gay", "A week; and Arbuthnot a day.", "St. John himself will scarce forbear", "To bite his pen, and drop a tear.", "The rest will give a shrug, and cry", "\"I'm sorry -but we all must die.\"", "", "Indifference, clad in Wisdom's guise,", "All fortitude of mind supplies:", "For how can stony bowels melt", "In those who never pity felt?", "When we are lashed, they kiss the rod,", "Resigning to the will of God.", "", "The fools, my juniors by a year,", "Are tortured with suspense and fear:", "Who wisely thought my age a screen", "When death approached, to stand between: -", "The screen removed, their hearts are trembling;", "They mourn for me without dissembling.", "", "My female friends, whose tender hearts", "Have better learned to act their parts,", "Receive the news in doleful dumps:", "\"The Dean is dead -and what is trumps? -", "Then Lord have mercy on his soul!", "- Ladies, I'll venture for the vole. -", "Six deans, they say, must bear the pall.", "- I wish I knew what king to call. -", "Madam, your husband will attend", "The funeral of so good a friend?", "No, madam, 'tis a shocking sight,", "And he's engaged tomorrow night;", "My Lady Club would take it ill", "If he should fail her at quadrille.", "He loved the Dean -I lead a heart -", "But dearest friends, they say, must part.", "His time was come; he ran his race;", "We hope he's in a better place.\"", "Why do we grieve that friends should die?", "No loss more easy to supply.", "One year is past: a different scene:", "No further mention of the Dean;", "Who now, alas, no more is missed", "Than if he never did exist.", "Where's now this fav'rite of Apollo?", "Departed: -and his works must follow;", "Must undergo the common fate;", "His kind of wit is out of date.", "", "Some country squire to Lintot goes,", "Inquires for \"Swift in Verse and Prose\".", "Says Lintot \"I have heard the name;", "He died a year ago.\" -\"The same.\"", "He searches all the shop in vain.", "\"Sir, you may find them in Duck Lane:", "I sent them with a load of books", "Last Monday to the pastry-cook's.", "To fancy they could live a year!", "I find you're but a stranger here.", "The Dean was famous in his time,", "And had a kind of knack at rhyme.", "His way of writing now is past;", "The town has got a better taste.", "I keep no antiquated stuff;", "But spick and span I have enough.", "Pray do but give me leave to show 'em:", "Here's Colley Cibber's birthday poem.", "This ode you never yet have seen,", "By Stephen Duck, upon the queen.", "Then here's a letter finely penned", "Against the Craftsman and his friend;", "It clearly shows that all reflection", "On ministers is disaffection.", "Next, here's Sir Robert's vindication;", "And Mr Henley's last oration.", "The hawkers have not got 'em yet -", "Your honour please to buy a set?", "Here's Woolston's tracts, the twelfth edition,", "'Tis read by ev'ry politician:", "The country members, when in town,", "To all their boroughs send them down;", "You never met a thing so smart!", "The courtiers have them all by heart;", "Those maids of honour (who can read),", "Are taught to use them for their creed.", "The rev'rend author's good intention", "Has been rewarded with a pension.", "He does an honour to his gown,", "By bravely running priestcraft down:", "He shows, as sure as God's in Gloucester,", "That Moses was a grand imposter;", "That all his miracles were cheats,", "Performed as jugglers do their feats.", "The church had never such a writer;", "A shame he has not got a mitre!\"", "", "Suppose me dead; and then suppose", "A club assembled at the Rose;", "Where, from discourse of this and that,", "I grow the subject of their chat.", "And while they toss my name about,", "With favour some, and some without,", "One, quite indiff'rent in the cause,", "My character impartial draws:", "", "\"The Dean, if we believe report,", "Was never ill-received at court.", "As for his works in verse and prose,", "I own myself no judge of those;", "Nor can I tell what critics thought 'em,", "But this I know, all people bought 'em;", "As with a moral view designed", "To cure the vices of mankind:", "And, if he often missed his aim,", "The world must own it, to their shame:", "The praise is his, and theirs the blame.\"", "", "\"Sir, I have heard another story:", "He was a most confounded Tory,", "And grew, or he is much belied,", "Extremely dull before he died.\"", "", "\"Can we the Drapier then forget?", "Is not our nation in his debt?", "'Twas he that writ the Drapier's letters!\"", "", "\"He should have left them for his betters;", "We had a hundred abler men,", "Nor need depend upon his pen.", "Say what you will about his reading,", "You never can defend his breeding;", "Who in his satires running riot,", "Could never leave the world in quiet;", "Attacking, when he took the whim,", "Court, city, camp -all one to him!", "But why should he, except he slobber't,", "Offend our patriot, great Sir Robert,", "Whose counsels aid the sov'reign power", "To save the nation every hour?", "What scenes of evil he unravels", "In satires, libels, lying travels!", "Not sparing his own clergy-cloth,", "But eats into it, like a moth!\"", "", "\"His vein, ironically grave,", "Exposed the fool and lashed the knave.", "To steal a hint was never known,", "But what he writ was all his own.", "He never thought an honour done him", "Because a duke was proud to own him;", "Would rather slip aside and choose", "To talk with wits in dirty shoes;", "Despised the fools with stars and garters,", "So often seen caressing Chartres.", "He never courted men in station,", "Nor persons held in admiration.", "Of no man's greatness was afraid,", "Because he sought for no man's aid.", "Though trusted long in great affairs,", "He gave himself no haughty airs.", "Without regarding private ends,", "Spent all his credit for his friends;", "And only chose the wise and good;", "No flatterers; no allies in blood;", "But succoured virtue in distress,", "And seldom failed of good success;", "As numbers in their hearts must own,", "Who, but for him, had been unknown.", "With princes kept a due decorum,", "But never stood in awe before 'em.", "He followed David's lesson just:", "In princes never put thy trust.", "And would you make him truly sour,", "Provoke him with a slave in power.", "The Irish senate, if you named,", "With what impatience he declaimed!", "Fair LIBERTY was all his cry;", "For her he stood prepared to die;", "For her he boldly stood alone;", "For her he oft exposed his own.", "Two kingdoms, just as faction led,", "Had set a price upon his head;", "But not a traitor could be found", "To sell him for six hundred pound.", "Had he but spared his tongue and pen,", "He might have rose like other men;", "But power was never in his thought,", "And wealth he valued not a groat.", "Ingratitude he often found,", "And pitied those who meant the wound;", "But kept the tenor of his mind", "To merit well of human kind;", "Nor made a sacrifice of those", "Who still were true, to please his foes.", "He laboured many a fruitless hour", "To reconcile his friends in power;", "Saw mischief by a faction brewing,", "While they pursued each other's ruin.", "But finding vain was all his care,", "He left the court in mere despair.", "And oh! how short are human schemes!", "Here ended all our golden dreams.", "What St John's skill in state affairs,", "What Ormond's valour, Oxford's cares,", "To save their sinking country lent,", "Was all destroyed by one event.", "Too soon that precious life was ended,", "On which alone our weal depended.", "When up a dangerous faction starts,", "With wrath and vengeance in their hearts,", "By solemn League and Cov'nant bound,", "To ruin, slaughter, and confound;", "To turn religion to a fable,", "And make the government a Babel;", "Pervert the laws, disgrace the gown,", "Corrupt the senate, rob the crown;", "To sacrifice old England's glory,", "And make her infamous in story: -", "When such a tempest shook the land,", "How could unguarded Virtue stand!", "With horror, grief, despair, the Dean", "Beheld the dire destructive scene:", "His friends in exile, or the tower,", "Himself within the frown of power,", "Pursued by base envenomed pens,", "Far to the land of slaves and fens;", "A servile race in folly nursed,", "Who truckle most when treated worst.", "By innocence and resolution,", "He bore continual persecution;", "While numbers to preferment rose,", "Whose merits were, to be his foes;", "When ev'n his own familiar friends,", "Intent upon their private ends,", "Like renegadoes now he feels,", "Against him lifting up their heels.", "The Dean did by his pen defeat", "An infamous destructive cheat;", "Taught fools their int'rest how to know,", "And gave them arms to ward the blow.", "Envy has owned it was his doing,", "To save that hapless land from ruin;", "While they who at the steerage stood,", "And reaped the profit, sought his blood.", "To save them from their evil fate,", "In him was held a crime of state.", "A wicked monster on the bench,", "Whose fury blood could never quench", "- As vile and profligate a villain", "As modern Scroggs, or old Tresilian;", "Who long all justice had discarded,", "Nor feared he God, nor man regarded -", "Vowed on the Dean his rage to vent,", "And make him of his zeal repent.", "But Heaven his innocence defends,", "The grateful people stand his friends:", "Not strains of law, nor judge's frown,", "Nor topics brought to please the crown,", "Nor witness hired, nor jury picked,", "Prevail to bring him in convict.", "In exile, with a steady heart,", "He spent his life's declining part;", "Where folly, pride, and faction sway,", "Remote from St John, Pope, and Gay.", "Alas, poor Dean! his only scope", "Was to be held a misanthrope.", "This into gen'ral odium drew him,", "Which, if he liked, much good may't do him.", "His zeal was not to lash our crimes,", "But discontent against the times;", "For had we made him timely offers", "To raise his post, or fill his coffers,", "Perhaps he might have truckled down,", "Like other brethren of his gown.", "For party he would scarce have bled -", "I say no more, because he's dead.", "What writings has he left behind?", "I hear they're of a different kind:", "A few in verse, but most in prose,", "- Some high-flown pamphlets, I suppose -", "All scribbled in the worst of times,", "To palliate his friend Oxford's crimes,", "To praise Queen Anne, nay more, defend her,", "As never fav'ring the Pretender;", "Or libels yet concealed from sight,", "Against the court to show his spite;", "Perhaps his Travels, part the third,", "A lie at every second word,", "Offensive to a loyal ear;", "But not one sermon, you may swear.\"", "", "\"His friendships there, to few confined,", "Were always of the middling kind:", "No fools of rank, a mongrel breed,", "Who fain would pass for lords indeed.", "Where titles give no right or power,", "And peerage is a withered flower,", "He would have held it a disgrace", "If such a wretch had known his face.", "On rural squires, that kingdom's bane,", "He vented oft his wrath in vain;", "[Biennial] squires to market brought,", "Who sell their souls and [votes] for nought;", "The [nation stripped,] go joyful back,", "To [rob the] church, their tenants rack,", "Go snacks with [rogues and rapparees,]", "And keep the peace to pick up fees;", "In every job to have a share,", "A goal or barrack to repair;", "And turn the tax for public roads", "Commodious to their own abodes.\"", "\"Perhaps I may allow the Dean", "Had too much satire in his vein,", "And seemed determined not to starve it,", "Because no age could more deserve it.", "Yet malice never was his aim;", "He lashed the vice, but spared the name;", "No individual could resent", "Where thousands equally were meant.", "His satire points at no defect", "But what all mortals may correct;", "For he abhorred that senseless tribe", "Who call it humour when they gibe.", "He spared a hump, or crooked nose,", "Whose owners set not up for beaux.", "True genuine dulness moved his pity,", "Unless it offered to be witty.", "Those who their ignornace confessed", "He ne'er offended with a jest;", "But laughed to hear an idiot quote", "A verse from Horace learned by rote.", "Vice, if it e'er can be abashed,", "Must be or ridiculed or lashed.", "If you resent it, who's to blame?", "He neither knew you nor your name.", "Should vice expect to 'scape rebuke,", "Because its owner is a duke?\"", "\"He knew an hundred pleasant stories,", "With all the turns of Whigs and Tories;", "Was cheerful to his dying day,", "And friends would let him have his way.\"", "\"He gave what little wealth he had", "To build a house for fools and mad;", "And showed by one satiric touch,", "No nation wanted it so much.", "That kingdom he hath left his debtor,", "I wish it soon may have a better.\"", "And since you dread no further lashes,", "Methinks you may forgive his ashes." ], "linecount": "545" }, { "title": "Advice to the Grub Street Verse-writers", "author": "Jonathan Swift", "lines": [ "Ye poets ragged and forlorn,", "Down from your garrets haste;", "Ye rhymers, dead as soon as born,", "Not yet consign'd to paste;", "I know a trick to make you thrive;", "O, 'tis a quaint device:", "Your still-born poems shall revive,", "And scorn to wrap up spice.", "Get all your verses printed fair,", "Then let them well be dried;", "And Curll must have a special care", "To leave the margin wide.", "", "Lend these to paper-sparing Pope;", "And when he sets to write,", "No letter with an envelope", "Could give him more delight.", "", "When Pope has fill'd the margins round,", "Why then recall your loan;", "Sell them to Curll for fifty pound,", "And swear they are your own." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "To a Blackbird and His Mate Who Died in the Spring", "author": "Joyce Kilmer", "lines": [ "(For Kenton)", "", "An iron hand has stilled the throats", "That throbbed with loud and rhythmic glee", "And dammed the flood of silver notes", "That drenched the world in melody.", "The blosmy apple boughs are yearning", "For their wild choristers' returning,", "But no swift wings flash through the tree.", "Ye that were glad and fleet and strong,", "Shall Silence take you in her net?", "And shall Death quell that radiant song", "Whose echo thrills the meadow yet?", "Burst the frail web about you clinging", "And charm Death's cruel heart with singing", "Till with strange tears his eyes are wet.", "The scented morning of the year", "Is old and stale now ye are gone.", "No friendly songs the children hear", "Among the bushes on the lawn.", "When babies wander out a-Maying", "Will ye, their bards, afar be straying?", "Unhymned by you, what is the dawn?", "Nay, since ye loved ye cannot die.", "Above the stars is set your nest.", "Through Heaven's fields ye sing and fly", "And in the trees of Heaven rest.", "And little children in their dreaming", "Shall see your soft black plumage gleaming", "And smile, by your clear music blest." ], "linecount": "29" }, { "title": "Friendships Mystery, To My Dearest Lucasia", "author": "Katherine Philips", "lines": [ "Come, my Lucasia, since we see", "That miracles Men's Faith do move,", "By wonder and by prodigy", "To the dull angry World let's prove", "There's a Religion in our Love.", "", "For Though we were design'd t'agree,", "That Fate no liberty destroys,", "But our Election is as free", "As Angels, who with greedy choice", "Are yet determin'd to their joys.", "", "Our hearts are doubled by the loss,", "Here Mixture is Addition grown;", "We both diffuse, and both ingross:", "And we whose minds are so much one,", "Never, yet ever are alone.", "", "We court our own Captivity", "Than Thrones more great and innocent:", "`Twere banishment to be set free,", "Since we wear fetters whose intent", "Not Bondage is but Ornament", "", "Divided joys are tedious found,", "And griefs united easier grow:", "We are our selves but by rebound,", "And all our Titles shuffled so,", "Both Princes, and both Subjects too.", "", "Our Hearts are mutual Victims laid,", "While they (such power in Friendship lies)", "Are Altars, Priests, and Off'rings made:", "And each Heart which thus kindly dies,", "Grows deathless by the Sacrifice." ], "linecount": "30" }, { "title": "Content, To My Dearest Lucasia", "author": "Katherine Philips", "lines": [ "Content, the false World's best disguise,", "The search and faction of the Wise,", "Is so abstruse and hid in night,", "That, like that Fairy Red-cross Knight,", "Who trech'rous Falshood for clear Truth had got,", "Men think they have it when they have it not.", "", "For Courts Content would gladly own,", "But she ne're dwelt about a Throne:", "And to be flatter'd, rich, and great,", "Are things which do Mens senses cheat.", "But grave Experience long since this did see,", "Ambition and Content would ne're agree.", "", "Some vainer would Content expect", "From what their bright Out-sides reflect:", "But sure Content is more Divine", "Then to be digg'd from Rock or Mine:", "And they that know her beauties will confess,", "She needs no lustre from a glittering dress.", "", "In Mirth some place her, but she scorns", "Th'assistance of such crackling thorns,", "Nor owes her self to such thin sport,", "That is so sharp and yet so short:", "And Painters tell us, they the same strokes place", "To make a laughing and a weeping face.", "", "Others there are that place Content", "In Liberty from Government:", "But who his Passions do deprave,", "Though free from shackles is a slave.", "Content and Bondage differ onely then,", "When we are chain'd by Vices, not by Men.", "", "Some think the Camp Content does know,", "And that she fits o'th' Victor's brow:", "But in his Laurel there is seen", "Often a Cypress-bow between.", "Nor will Content herself in that place give,", "Where Noise and Tumult and Destruction live.", "", "But yet the most Discreet believe,", "The Schools this Jewel do receive,", "And thus far's true without dispute,", "Knowledge is still the sweetest fruit.", "But whil'st men seek for Truth they lose their Peace;", "And who heaps Knowledge, Sorrow doth increase.", "", "But now some sullen Hermite smiles,", "And thinks he all the World beguiles,", "And that his Cell and Dish contain", "What all mankind wish for in vain.", "But yet his Pleasure's follow'd with a Groan,", "For man was never born to be alone.", "", "Content her self best comprehends", "Betwixt two souls, and they two friends,", "Whose either joyes in both are fixed,", "And multiply'd by being mixed:", "Whose minds and interests are still the same;", "Their Griefs, when once imparted, lose their name.", "", "These far remov'd from all bold noise,", "And (what is worse) all hollow joyes,", "Who never had a mean design,", "Whose flame is serious and divine,", "And calm, and even, must contented be,", "For they've both Union and Society.", "", "Then, my Lucasia, we have", "Whatever Love can give or crave;", "With scorn or pity can survey", "The Trifles which the most betray;", "With innocence and perfect friendship fired,", "By Vertue joyn'd, and by our Choice retired.", "", "Whose Mirrours are the crystal Brooks,", "Or else each others Hearts and Looks;", "Who cannot wish for other things", "Then Privacy and Friendship brings:", "Whose thoughts and persons chang'd and mixt are one,", "Enjoy Content, or else the World hath none." ], "linecount": "72" }, { "title": "To my dear Sister, Mrs. C. P. on her Nuptial", "author": "Katherine Philips", "lines": [ "We will not like those men our offerings pay", "Who crown the cup, then think they crown the day.", "We make no garlands, nor an altar build,", "Which help not Joy, but Ostentation yield.", "Where mirth is justly grounded these wild toyes", "Are but a troublesome, and empty noise.", "", "2.", "But these shall be my great Solemnities,", "Orinda's wishes for Cassandra's bliss.", "May her Content be as unmix'd and pure", "As my Affection, and like that endure;", "And that strong Happiness may she still find", "Not owing to her Fortune, but her Mind.", "", "3.", "May her Content and Duty be the same,", "And may she know no Grief but in the name.", "May his and her Pleasure and Love be so", "Involv'd and growing, that we may not know", "Who most Affection or most Peace engrost;", "Whose Love is strongest, or whose Bliss is most.", "", "4.", "May nothing accidental e're appear", "But what shall with new bonds their Souls endear;", "And may they count the hours as they pass,", "By their own Joys, and not by Sun or Glass:", "While every day like this may Sacred prove", "To Friendship, Gratitude, and Strictest Love." ], "linecount": "27" }, { "title": "6th April 1651 L'Amitie: To Mrs. M. Awbrey", "author": "Katherine Philips", "lines": [ "Soule of my soule! my Joy, my crown, my friend!", "A name which all the rest doth comprehend;", "How happy are we now, whose sols are grown,", "By an incomparable mixture, One:", "Whose well acquainted minds are not as neare", "As Love, or vows, or secrets can endeare.", "I have no thought but what's to thee reveal'd,", "Nor thou desire that is from me conceal'd.", "Thy heart locks up my secrets richly set,", "And my breast is thy private cabinet.", "Thou shedst no teare but what but what my moisture lent,", "And if I sigh, it is thy breath is spent.", "United thus, what horrour can appeare", "Worthy our sorrow, anger, or our feare?", "Let the dull world alone to talk and fight", "And with their vast ambitions nature fright;", "Let them despise so innocent a flame,", "While Envy, pride, and faction play their game:", "But we by Love sublim'd so high shall rise,", "To pitty Kings, and Conquerours despise,", "Since we that sacred union have engrost,", "Which they and all the sullen world have lost." ], "linecount": "22" }, { "title": "To One Persuading A Lady To Marriage", "author": "Katherine Philips", "lines": [ "Forbear, bold youth; all 's heaven here,", " And what you do aver", "To others courtship may appear,", " 'Tis sacrilege to her.", "She is a public deity;", " And were 't not very odd", "She should dispose herself to be", " A petty household god?", "", "First make the sun in private shine", " And bid the world adieu,", "That so he may his beams confine", " In compliment to you:", "But if of that you do despair,", " Think how you did amiss", "To strive to fix her beams which are", " More bright and large than his." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Phantasmagoria CANTO VII ( Sad Souvenaunce )", "author": "Lewis Carroll", "lines": [ "\"WHAT'S this?\" I pondered. \"Have I slept?", "Or can I have been drinking?\"", "But soon a gentler feeling crept", "Upon me, and I sat and wept", "An hour or so, like winking.", "", "\"No need for Bones to hurry so!\"", "I sobbed. \"In fact, I doubt", "If it was worth his while to go -", "And who is Tibbs, I'd like to know,", "To make such work about?", "", "\"If Tibbs is anything like me,", "It's POSSIBLE,\" I said,", "\"He won't be over-pleased to be", "Dropped in upon at half-past three,", "After he's snug in bed.", "", "\"And if Bones plagues him anyhow -", "Squeaking and all the rest of it,", "As he was doing here just now -", "I prophesy there'll be a row,", "And Tibbs will have the best of it!\"", "", "Then, as my tears could never bring", "The friendly Phantom back,", "It seemed to me the proper thing", "To mix another glass, and sing", "The following Coronach.", "", "'AND ART THOU GONE, BELOVED GHOST?", "BEST OF FAMILIARS!", "NAY THEN, FAREWELL, MY DUCKLING ROAST,", "FAREWELL, FAREWELL, MY TEA AND TOAST,", "MY MEERSCHAUM AND CIGARS!", "", "THE HUES OF LIFE ARE DULL AND GRAY,", "THE SWEETS OF LIFE INSIPID,", "WHEN thou, MY CHARMER, ART AWAY -", "OLD BRICK, OR RATHER, LET ME SAY,", "OLD PARALLELEPIPED!'", "", "Instead of singing Verse the Third,", "I ceased - abruptly, rather:", "But, after such a splendid word", "I felt that it would be absurd", "To try it any farther.", "", "So with a yawn I went my way", "To seek the welcome downy,", "And slept, and dreamed till break of day", "Of Poltergeist and Fetch and Fay", "And Leprechaun and Brownie!", "", "For year I've not been visited", "By any kind of Sprite;", "Yet still they echo in my head,", "Those parting words, so kindly said,", "\"Old Turnip-top, good-night!\"" ], "linecount": "50" }, { "title": "To E. Fitzgerald: Tiresias", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "OLD FITZ, who from your suburb grange,", "Where once I tarried for a while,", "Glance at the wheeling orb of change,", "And greet it with a kindly smile;", "Whom yet I see as there you sit", "Beneath your sheltering garden-tree,", "And watch your doves about you flit,", "And plant on shoulder, hand, and knee,", "Or on your head their rosy feet,", "As if they knew your diet spares", "Whatever moved in that full sheet", "Let down to Peter at his prayers;", "Who live on milk and meal and grass;", "And once for ten long weeks I tried", "Your table of Pythagoras,", "- And seem'd at first \"a thing enskied,\"", "As Shakespeare has it, airy-light", "To float above the ways of men,", "Then fell from that half-spiritual height", "Chill'd, till I tasted flesh again", "One night when earth was winter-b]ack,", "And all the heavens flash'd in frost;", "And on me, half-asleep, came back", "That wholesome heat the blood had lost,", "And set me climbing icy capes", "And glaciers, over which there roll'd", "To meet me long-arm'd vines with grapes", "Of Eshcol hugeness- for the cold", "Without, and warmth within me, wrought", "To mould the dream; but none can say", "That Lenten fare makes Lenten thought", "Who reads your golden Eastern lay,", "Than which I know no version done", "In English more divinely well;", "A planet equal to the sun", "Which cast it, that large infidel", "Your Omar, and your Omar drew", "Full-handed plaudits from our best", "In modern letters, and from two,", "Old friends outvaluing all the rest,", "Two voices heard on earth no more;", "But we old friends are still alive,", "And I am nearing seventy-four,", "While you have touch'd at seventy-five,", "And so I send a birthday line", "Of greeting; and my son, who dipt", "In some forgotten book of mine", "With sallow scraps of manuscript,", "And dating many a year ago,", "Has hit on this, which you will take,", "My Fitz, and welcome, as I know,", "Less for its own than for the sake", "Of one recalling gracious times,", "When, in our younger London days,", "You found some merit in my rhymes,", "And I more pleasure in your praise.", "", "TIRESIAS", "", "I WISH I were as in the years of old", "While yet the blessed daylight made itself", "Ruddy thro' both the roofs of sight, and woke", "These eyes, now dull, but then so keen to seek", "The meanings ambush'd under all they saw,", "The flight of birds, the flame of sacrifice,", "What omens may foreshadow fate to man", "And woman, and the secret of the Gods.", "My son, the Gods, despite of human prayer,", "Are slower to forgive than human kings.", "The great God Ares burns in anger still", "", "Against the guiltless heirs of him from Tyre", "Our Cadmus, out of whom thou art, who found", "Beside the springs of Dirce, smote, and still'd", "Thro' all its folds the multitudinous beast", "The dragon, which our trembling fathers call'd", "The God's own son.", "A tale, that told to me,", "When but thine age, by age as winter-white", "As mine is now, amazed, but made me yearn", "For larger glimpses of that more than man", "Which rolls the heavens, and lifts and lays the deep,", "Yet loves and hates with mortal hates and loves,", "And moves unseen among the ways of men.", "Then, in my wanderings all the lands that lie", "Subjected to the Heliconian ridge", "Have heard this footstep fall, altho' my wont", "Was more to scale the highest of the heights", "With some strange hope to see the nearer God.", "One naked peak‹the sister of the Sun", "Would climb from out the dark, and linger there", "", "", "To silver all the valleys with her shafts‹", "There once, but long ago, five-fold thy term", "Of years, I lay; the winds were dead for heat-", "The noonday crag made the hand burn; and sick", "For shadow‹not one bush was near‹I rose", "Following a torrent till its myriad falls", "Found silence in the hollows underneath.", "There in a secret olive-glade I saw", "Pallas Athene climbing from the bath", "In anger; yet one glittering foot disturb'd", "The lucid well; one snowy knee was prest", "Against the margin flowers; a dreadful light", "Came from her golden hair, her golden helm", "And all her golden armor on the grass,", "And from her virgin breast, and virgin eyes", "Remaining fixt on mine, till mine grew dark", "For ever, and I heard a voice that said", "\"Henceforth be blind, for thou hast seen too much,", "And speak the truth that no man may believe.\"", "Son, in the hidden world of sight that lives", "Behind this darkness, I behold her still", "Beyond all work of those who carve the stone", "Beyond all dreams of Godlike womanhood,", "Ineffable beauty, out of whom, at a glance", "And as it were, perforce, upon me flash'd", "The power of prophesying‹but to me", "No power so chain'd and coupled with the curse", "Of blindness and their unbelief who heard", "And heard not, when I spake of famine, plague", "Shrine-shattering earthquake, fire, flood, thunderbolt,", "And angers of the Gods for evil done", "And expiation lack'd‹no power on Fate", "Theirs, or mine own! for when the crowd would roar", "For blood, for war, whose issue was their doom,", "To cast wise words among the multitude", "Was fiinging fruit to lions; nor, in hours", "Of civil outbreak, when I knew the twain", "Would each waste each, and bring on both the yoke", "Of stronger states, was mine the voice to curb", "The madness of our cities and their kings.", "Who ever turn'd upon his heel to hear", "My warning that the tyranny of one", "Was prelude to the tyranny of all?", "My counsel that the tyranny of all", "Led backward to the tyranny of one?", "This power hath work'd no good to aught that lives", "And these blind hands were useless in their wars.", "O. therefore, that the unfulfill'd desire,", "The grief for ever born from griefs to be", "The boundless yearning of the prophet's heart‹", "Could that stand forth, and like a statue, rear'd", "To some great citizen, wim all praise from all", "Who past it, saying, \"That was he!\"", "In vain!", "Virtue must shape itself im deed, and those", "Whom weakness or necessity have cramp'd", "Withm themselves, immerging, each, his urn", "In his own well, draws solace as he may.", "Menceceus, thou hast eyes, and I can hear", "Too plainly what full tides of onset sap", "Our seven high gates, and what a weight of war", "Rides on those ringing axlesl jingle of bits,", "Shouts, arrows, tramp of the horn-footed horse", "That grind the glebe to powder! Stony showers", "Of that ear-stunning hail of Ares crash", "Along the sounding walls. Above, below", "Shock after shock, the song-built towers and gates", "Reel, bruised and butted with the shuddering", "War-thunder of iron rams; and from within", "The city comes a murmur void of joy,", "Lest she be taken captive‹maidens, wives,", "And mothers with their babblers of the dawn,", "And oldest age in shadow from the night,", "Falling about their shrines before their Gods,", "And wailing, \"Save us.\"", "", "And they wail to thee!", "These eyeless eyes, that cannot see thine own,", "See this, that only in thy virtue lies", "The saving of our Thebes; for, yesternight,", "To me, the great God Ares, whose one bliss", "Is war and human sacrifice‹himself", "Blood-red from battle, spear and helmet tipt", "With stormy light as on a mast at sea,", "Stood out before a darkness, crying, \"Thebes,", "Thy Thebes shall fall and perish, for I loathe", "The seed of Cadmus‹yet if one of these", "By his own hand‹if one of these‹\"", "My son, No sound is breathed so potent to coerce,", "And to conciliate, as their names who dare", "For that sweet mother land which gave them birth", "Nobly to do, nobly to die. Their names,", "Graven on memorial columns, are a song", "Heard in the future; few, but more than wall", "And rampart, their examples reach a hand", "Far thro' all years, and everywhere they meet", "And kindle generous purpose, and the strength", "To mould it into action pure as theirs.", "Fairer thy fate than mine, if life's best end", "Be to end well! and thou refusing this,", "Unvenerable will thy memory be", "While men shall move the lips; but if thou dare‹", "Thou, one of these, the race of Cadmus‹then", "No stone is fitted in yon marble girth", "Whose echo shall not tongue thy glorious doom,", "Nor in this pavement but shall ring thy name", "To every hoof that clangs it, and the springs", "Of Dirce laving yonder battle-plain,", "Heard from the roofs by night, will murmur thee", "To thine own Thebes, while Thebes thro' thee shall stand", "Firm-based with all her Gods.", "The Dragon's cave", "Half hid, they tell me, now in flowing vines‹", "Where once he dwelt and whence he roll'd himself", "At dead of night‹thou knowest, and that smooth rock", "Before it, altar-fashion'd, where of late", "The woman-breasted Sphinx, with wings drawn back", "Folded her lion paws, and look'd to Thebes.", "There blanch the bones of whom she slew, and these", "Mixt with her own, because the fierce beast found", "A wiser than herself, and dash'd herself", "Dead in her rage; but thou art wise enough", "Tho' young, to love thy wiser, blunt the curse", "Of Pallas, bear, and tho' I speak the truth", "Believe I speak it, let thine own hand strike", "Thy youthful pulses into rest and quench", "The red God's anger, fearing not to plunge", "Thy torch of life in darkness, rather thou", "Rejoicing that the sun, the moon, the stars", "Send no such light upon the ways of men", "As one great deed.", "Thither, my son, and there", "Thou, that hast never known the embrace of love", "Offer thy maiden life.", "This useless hand!", "I felt one warm tear fall upon it. Gone!", "He will achieve his greatness.", "But for me I would that I were gather'd to my rest,", "And mingled with the famous kings of old", "On whom about their ocean-islets flash", "The faces of the Gods‹the wise man's word", "Here trampled by the populace underfoot", "There crown'd with worship and these eyes will find", "The men I knew, and watch the chariot whirl", "About the goal again, and hunters race", "The shadowy lion, and the warrior-kings", "In height and prowess more than human, strive", "Again for glory, while the golden lyre", "Is ever sounding in heroic ears", "Heroic hymns, and every way the vales", "Wind, clouded with the grateful incense-fume", "Of those who mix all odor to the Gods", "On one far height in one far-shining fire.", "", "-------------------------", "", "\"One height and one far-shining fire!\"", "And while I fancied that my friend", "For this brief idyll would require", "A less diffuse and opulent end,", "And would defend his judgment well,", "If I should deem it over nice‹", "The tolling of his funeral bell", "Broke on my Pagan Paradise,", "And mixt the dream of classic times,", "And all the phantoms of the dream,", "With present grief, and made the rhymes,", "That miss'd his living welcome, seem", "Like would-be guests an hour too late,", "Who down the highway moving on", "With easy laughter find the gate", "Is bolted, and the master gone.", "Gone onto darkness, that full light", "Of friendship! past, in sleep, away", "By night, into the deeper night!", "The deeper night? A clearer day", "Than our poor twilight dawn on earth‹", "If night, what barren toil to be!", "What life, so maim'd by night, were worth", "Our living out? Not mine to me", "Remembering all the golden hours", "Now silent, and so many dead,", "And him the last; and laying flowers,", "This wreath, above his honor'd head,", "And praying that, when I from hence", "Shall fade with him into the unknown,", "My close of earth's experience", "May prove as peaceful as his own." ], "linecount": "273" }, { "title": "The Last Tournament", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Dagonet, the fool, whom Gawain in his mood", "Had made mock-knight of Arthur's Table Round,", "At Camelot, high above the yellowing woods,", "Danced like a withered leaf before the hall.", "And toward him from the hall, with harp in hand,", "And from the crown thereof a carcanet", "Of ruby swaying to and fro, the prize", "Of Tristram in the jousts of yesterday,", "Came Tristram, saying, `Why skip ye so, Sir Fool?'", "", "For Arthur and Sir Lancelot riding once", "Far down beneath a winding wall of rock", "Heard a child wail. A stump of oak half-dead,", "From roots like some black coil of carven snakes,", "Clutched at the crag, and started through mid air", "Bearing an eagle's nest: and through the tree", "Rushed ever a rainy wind, and through the wind", "Pierced ever a child's cry: and crag and tree", "Scaling, Sir Lancelot from the perilous nest,", "This ruby necklace thrice around her neck,", "And all unscarred from beak or talon, brought", "A maiden babe; which Arthur pitying took,", "Then gave it to his Queen to rear: the Queen", "But coldly acquiescing, in her white arms", "Received, and after loved it tenderly,", "And named it Nestling; so forgot herself", "A moment, and her cares; till that young life", "Being smitten in mid heaven with mortal cold", "Past from her; and in time the carcanet", "Vext her with plaintive memories of the child:", "So she, delivering it to Arthur, said,", "`Take thou the jewels of this dead innocence,", "And make them, an thou wilt, a tourney-prize.'", "", "To whom the King, `Peace to thine eagle-borne", "Dead nestling, and this honour after death,", "Following thy will! but, O my Queen, I muse", "Why ye not wear on arm, or neck, or zone", "Those diamonds that I rescued from the tarn,", "And Lancelot won, methought, for thee to wear.'", "", "`Would rather you had let them fall,' she cried,", "`Plunge and be lost--ill-fated as they were,", "A bitterness to me!--ye look amazed,", "Not knowing they were lost as soon as given--", "Slid from my hands, when I was leaning out", "Above the river--that unhappy child", "Past in her barge: but rosier luck will go", "With these rich jewels, seeing that they came", "Not from the skeleton of a brother-slayer,", "But the sweet body of a maiden babe.", "Perchance--who knows?--the purest of thy knights", "May win them for the purest of my maids.'", "", "She ended, and the cry of a great jousts", "With trumpet-blowings ran on all the ways", "From Camelot in among the faded fields", "To furthest towers; and everywhere the knights", "Armed for a day of glory before the King.", "", "But on the hither side of that loud morn", "Into the hall staggered, his visage ribbed", "From ear to ear with dogwhip-weals, his nose", "Bridge-broken, one eye out, and one hand off,", "And one with shattered fingers dangling lame,", "A churl, to whom indignantly the King,", "", "`My churl, for whom Christ died, what evil beast", "Hath drawn his claws athwart thy face? or fiend?", "Man was it who marred heaven's image in thee thus?'", "", "Then, sputtering through the hedge of splintered teeth,", "Yet strangers to the tongue, and with blunt stump", "Pitch-blackened sawing the air, said the maimed churl,", "", "`He took them and he drave them to his tower--", "Some hold he was a table-knight of thine--", "A hundred goodly ones--the Red Knight, he--", "Lord, I was tending swine, and the Red Knight", "Brake in upon me and drave them to his tower;", "And when I called upon thy name as one", "That doest right by gentle and by churl,", "Maimed me and mauled, and would outright have slain,", "Save that he sware me to a message, saying,", "\"Tell thou the King and all his liars, that I", "Have founded my Round Table in the North,", "And whatsoever his own knights have sworn", "My knights have sworn the counter to it--and say", "My tower is full of harlots, like his court,", "But mine are worthier, seeing they profess", "To be none other than themselves--and say", "My knights are all adulterers like his own,", "But mine are truer, seeing they profess", "To be none other; and say his hour is come,", "The heathen are upon him, his long lance", "Broken, and his Excalibur a straw.\"'", "", "Then Arthur turned to Kay the seneschal,", "`Take thou my churl, and tend him curiously", "Like a king's heir, till all his hurts be whole.", "The heathen--but that ever-climbing wave,", "Hurled back again so often in empty foam,", "Hath lain for years at rest--and renegades,", "Thieves, bandits, leavings of confusion, whom", "The wholesome realm is purged of otherwhere,", "Friends, through your manhood and your fealty,--now", "Make their last head like Satan in the North.", "My younger knights, new-made, in whom your flower", "Waits to be solid fruit of golden deeds,", "Move with me toward their quelling, which achieved,", "The loneliest ways are safe from shore to shore.", "But thou, Sir Lancelot, sitting in my place", "Enchaired tomorrow, arbitrate the field;", "For wherefore shouldst thou care to mingle with it,", "Only to yield my Queen her own again?", "Speak, Lancelot, thou art silent: is it well?'", "", "Thereto Sir Lancelot answered, `It is well:", "Yet better if the King abide, and leave", "The leading of his younger knights to me.", "Else, for the King has willed it, it is well.'", "", "Then Arthur rose and Lancelot followed him,", "And while they stood without the doors, the King", "Turned to him saying, `Is it then so well?", "Or mine the blame that oft I seem as he", "Of whom was written, \"A sound is in his ears\"?", "The foot that loiters, bidden go,--the glance", "That only seems half-loyal to command,--", "A manner somewhat fallen from reverence--", "Or have I dreamed the bearing of our knights", "Tells of a manhood ever less and lower?", "Or whence the fear lest this my realm, upreared,", "By noble deeds at one with noble vows,", "From flat confusion and brute violences,", "Reel back into the beast, and be no more?'", "", "He spoke, and taking all his younger knights,", "Down the slope city rode, and sharply turned", "North by the gate. In her high bower the Queen,", "Working a tapestry, lifted up her head,", "Watched her lord pass, and knew not that she sighed.", "Then ran across her memory the strange rhyme", "Of bygone Merlin, `Where is he who knows?", "From the great deep to the great deep he goes.'", "", "But when the morning of a tournament,", "By these in earnest those in mockery called", "The Tournament of the Dead Innocence,", "Brake with a wet wind blowing, Lancelot,", "Round whose sick head all night, like birds of prey,", "The words of Arthur flying shrieked, arose,", "And down a streetway hung with folds of pure", "White samite, and by fountains running wine,", "Where children sat in white with cups of gold,", "Moved to the lists, and there, with slow sad steps", "Ascending, filled his double-dragoned chair.", "", "He glanced and saw the stately galleries,", "Dame, damsel, each through worship of their Queen", "White-robed in honour of the stainless child,", "And some with scattered jewels, like a bank", "Of maiden snow mingled with sparks of fire.", "He looked but once, and vailed his eyes again.", "", "The sudden trumpet sounded as in a dream", "To ears but half-awaked, then one low roll", "Of Autumn thunder, and the jousts began:", "And ever the wind blew, and yellowing leaf", "And gloom and gleam, and shower and shorn plume", "Went down it. Sighing weariedly, as one", "Who sits and gazes on a faded fire,", "When all the goodlier guests are past away,", "Sat their great umpire, looking o'er the lists.", "He saw the laws that ruled the tournament", "Broken, but spake not; once, a knight cast down", "Before his throne of arbitration cursed", "The dead babe and the follies of the King;", "And once the laces of a helmet cracked,", "And showed him, like a vermin in its hole,", "Modred, a narrow face: anon he heard", "The voice that billowed round the barriers roar", "An ocean-sounding welcome to one knight,", "But newly-entered, taller than the rest,", "And armoured all in forest green, whereon", "There tript a hundred tiny silver deer,", "And wearing but a holly-spray for crest,", "With ever-scattering berries, and on shield", "A spear, a harp, a bugle--Tristram--late", "From overseas in Brittany returned,", "And marriage with a princess of that realm,", "Isolt the White--Sir Tristram of the Woods--", "Whom Lancelot knew, had held sometime with pain", "His own against him, and now yearned to shake", "The burthen off his heart in one full shock", "With Tristram even to death: his strong hands gript", "And dinted the gilt dragons right and left,", "Until he groaned for wrath--so many of those,", "That ware their ladies' colours on the casque,", "Drew from before Sir Tristram to the bounds,", "And there with gibes and flickering mockeries", "Stood, while he muttered, `Craven crests! O shame!", "What faith have these in whom they sware to love?", "The glory of our Round Table is no more.'", "", "So Tristram won, and Lancelot gave, the gems,", "Not speaking other word than `Hast thou won?", "Art thou the purest, brother? See, the hand", "Wherewith thou takest this, is red!' to whom", "Tristram, half plagued by Lancelot's languorous mood,", "Made answer, `Ay, but wherefore toss me this", "Like a dry bone cast to some hungry hound?", "Lest be thy fair Queen's fantasy. Strength of heart", "And might of limb, but mainly use and skill,", "Are winners in this pastime of our King.", "My hand--belike the lance hath dript upon it--", "No blood of mine, I trow; but O chief knight,", "Right arm of Arthur in the battlefield,", "Great brother, thou nor I have made the world;", "Be happy in thy fair Queen as I in mine.'", "", "And Tristram round the gallery made his horse", "Caracole; then bowed his homage, bluntly saying,", "`Fair damsels, each to him who worships each", "Sole Queen of Beauty and of love, behold", "This day my Queen of Beauty is not here.'", "And most of these were mute, some angered, one", "Murmuring, `All courtesy is dead,' and one,", "`The glory of our Round Table is no more.'", "", "Then fell thick rain, plume droopt and mantle clung,", "And pettish cries awoke, and the wan day", "Went glooming down in wet and weariness:", "But under her black brows a swarthy one", "Laughed shrilly, crying, `Praise the patient saints,", "Our one white day of Innocence hath past,", "Though somewhat draggled at the skirt. So be it.", "The snowdrop only, flowering through the year,", "Would make the world as blank as Winter-tide.", "Come--let us gladden their sad eyes, our Queen's", "And Lancelot's, at this night's solemnity", "With all the kindlier colours of the field.'", "", "So dame and damsel glittered at the feast", "Variously gay: for he that tells the tale", "Likened them, saying, as when an hour of cold", "Falls on the mountain in midsummer snows,", "And all the purple slopes of mountain flowers", "Pass under white, till the warm hour returns", "With veer of wind, and all are flowers again;", "So dame and damsel cast the simple white,", "And glowing in all colours, the live grass,", "Rose-campion, bluebell, kingcup, poppy, glanced", "About the revels, and with mirth so loud", "Beyond all use, that, half-amazed, the Queen,", "And wroth at Tristram and the lawless jousts,", "Brake up their sports, then slowly to her bower", "Parted, and in her bosom pain was lord.", "", "And little Dagonet on the morrow morn,", "High over all the yellowing Autumn-tide,", "Danced like a withered leaf before the hall.", "Then Tristram saying, `Why skip ye so, Sir Fool?'", "Wheeled round on either heel, Dagonet replied,", "`Belike for lack of wiser company;", "Or being fool, and seeing too much wit", "Makes the world rotten, why, belike I skip", "To know myself the wisest knight of all.'", "`Ay, fool,' said Tristram, `but 'tis eating dry", "To dance without a catch, a roundelay", "To dance to.' Then he twangled on his harp,", "And while he twangled little Dagonet stood", "Quiet as any water-sodden log", "Stayed in the wandering warble of a brook;", "But when the twangling ended, skipt again;", "And being asked, `Why skipt ye not, Sir Fool?'", "Made answer, `I had liefer twenty years", "Skip to the broken music of my brains", "Than any broken music thou canst make.'", "Then Tristram, waiting for the quip to come,", "`Good now, what music have I broken, fool?'", "And little Dagonet, skipping, `Arthur, the King's;", "For when thou playest that air with Queen Isolt,", "Thou makest broken music with thy bride,", "Her daintier namesake down in Brittany--", "And so thou breakest Arthur's music too.'", "`Save for that broken music in thy brains,", "Sir Fool,' said Tristram, `I would break thy head.", "Fool, I came too late, the heathen wars were o'er,", "The life had flown, we sware but by the shell--", "I am but a fool to reason with a fool--", "Come, thou art crabbed and sour: but lean me down,", "Sir Dagonet, one of thy long asses' ears,", "And harken if my music be not true.", "", "`\"Free love--free field--we love but while we may:", "The woods are hushed, their music is no more:", "The leaf is dead, the yearning past away:", "New leaf, new life--the days of frost are o'er:", "New life, new love, to suit the newer day:", "New loves are sweet as those that went before:", "Free love--free field--we love but while we may.\"", "", "`Ye might have moved slow-measure to my tune,", "Not stood stockstill. I made it in the woods,", "And heard it ring as true as tested gold.'", "", "But Dagonet with one foot poised in his hand,", "`Friend, did ye mark that fountain yesterday", "Made to run wine?--but this had run itself", "All out like a long life to a sour end--", "And them that round it sat with golden cups", "To hand the wine to whosoever came--", "The twelve small damosels white as Innocence,", "In honour of poor Innocence the babe,", "Who left the gems which Innocence the Queen", "Lent to the King, and Innocence the King", "Gave for a prize--and one of those white slips", "Handed her cup and piped, the pretty one,", "\"Drink, drink, Sir Fool,\" and thereupon I drank,", "Spat--pish--the cup was gold, the draught was mud.'", "", "And Tristram, `Was it muddier than thy gibes?", "Is all the laughter gone dead out of thee?--", "Not marking how the knighthood mock thee, fool--", "\"Fear God: honour the King--his one true knight--", "Sole follower of the vows\"--for here be they", "Who knew thee swine enow before I came,", "Smuttier than blasted grain: but when the King", "Had made thee fool, thy vanity so shot up", "It frighted all free fool from out thy heart;", "Which left thee less than fool, and less than swine,", "A naked aught--yet swine I hold thee still,", "For I have flung thee pearls and find thee swine.'", "", "And little Dagonet mincing with his feet,", "`Knight, an ye fling those rubies round my neck", "In lieu of hers, I'll hold thou hast some touch", "Of music, since I care not for thy pearls.", "Swine? I have wallowed, I have washed--the world", "Is flesh and shadow--I have had my day.", "The dirty nurse, Experience, in her kind", "Hath fouled me--an I wallowed, then I washed--", "I have had my day and my philosophies--", "And thank the Lord I am King Arthur's fool.", "Swine, say ye? swine, goats, asses, rams and geese", "Trooped round a Paynim harper once, who thrummed", "On such a wire as musically as thou", "Some such fine song--but never a king's fool.'", "", "And Tristram, `Then were swine, goats, asses, geese", "The wiser fools, seeing thy Paynim bard", "Had such a mastery of his mystery", "That he could harp his wife up out of hell.'", "", "Then Dagonet, turning on the ball of his foot,", "`And whither harp'st thou thine? down! and thyself", "Down! and two more: a helpful harper thou,", "That harpest downward! Dost thou know the star", "We call the harp of Arthur up in heaven?'", "", "And Tristram, `Ay, Sir Fool, for when our King", "Was victor wellnigh day by day, the knights,", "Glorying in each new glory, set his name", "High on all hills, and in the signs of heaven.'", "", "And Dagonet answered, `Ay, and when the land", "Was freed, and the Queen false, ye set yourself", "To babble about him, all to show your wit--", "And whether he were King by courtesy,", "Or King by right--and so went harping down", "The black king's highway, got so far, and grew", "So witty that ye played at ducks and drakes", "With Arthur's vows on the great lake of fire.", "Tuwhoo! do ye see it? do ye see the star?'", "", "`Nay, fool,' said Tristram, `not in open day.'", "And Dagonet, `Nay, nor will: I see it and hear.", "It makes a silent music up in heaven,", "And I, and Arthur and the angels hear,", "And then we skip.' `Lo, fool,' he said, `ye talk", "Fool's treason: is the King thy brother fool?'", "Then little Dagonet clapt his hands and shrilled,", "`Ay, ay, my brother fool, the king of fools!", "Conceits himself as God that he can make", "Figs out of thistles, silk from bristles, milk", "From burning spurge, honey from hornet-combs,", "And men from beasts--Long live the king of fools!'", "", "And down the city Dagonet danced away;", "But through the slowly-mellowing avenues", "And solitary passes of the wood", "Rode Tristram toward Lyonnesse and the west.", "Before him fled the face of Queen Isolt", "With ruby-circled neck, but evermore", "Past, as a rustle or twitter in the wood", "Made dull his inner, keen his outer eye", "For all that walked, or crept, or perched, or flew.", "Anon the face, as, when a gust hath blown,", "Unruffling waters re-collect the shape", "Of one that in them sees himself, returned;", "But at the slot or fewmets of a deer,", "Or even a fallen feather, vanished again.", "", "So on for all that day from lawn to lawn", "Through many a league-long bower he rode. At length", "A lodge of intertwisted beechen-boughs", "Furze-crammed, and bracken-rooft, the which himself", "Built for a summer day with Queen Isolt", "Against a shower, dark in the golden grove", "Appearing, sent his fancy back to where", "She lived a moon in that low lodge with him:", "Till Mark her lord had past, the Cornish King,", "With six or seven, when Tristram was away,", "And snatched her thence; yet dreading worse than shame", "Her warrior Tristram, spake not any word,", "But bode his hour, devising wretchedness.", "", "And now that desert lodge to Tristram lookt", "So sweet, that halting, in he past, and sank", "Down on a drift of foliage random-blown;", "But could not rest for musing how to smoothe", "And sleek his marriage over to the Queen.", "Perchance in lone Tintagil far from all", "The tonguesters of the court she had not heard.", "But then what folly had sent him overseas", "After she left him lonely here? a name?", "Was it the name of one in Brittany,", "Isolt, the daughter of the King? `Isolt", "Of the white hands' they called her: the sweet name", "Allured him first, and then the maid herself,", "Who served him well with those white hands of hers,", "And loved him well, until himself had thought", "He loved her also, wedded easily,", "But left her all as easily, and returned.", "The black-blue Irish hair and Irish eyes", "Had drawn him home--what marvel? then he laid", "His brows upon the drifted leaf and dreamed.", "", "He seemed to pace the strand of Brittany", "Between Isolt of Britain and his bride,", "And showed them both the ruby-chain, and both", "Began to struggle for it, till his Queen", "Graspt it so hard, that all her hand was red.", "Then cried the Breton, `Look, her hand is red!", "These be no rubies, this is frozen blood,", "And melts within her hand--her hand is hot", "With ill desires, but this I gave thee, look,", "Is all as cool and white as any flower.'", "Followed a rush of eagle's wings, and then", "A whimpering of the spirit of the child,", "Because the twain had spoiled her carcanet.", "", "He dreamed; but Arthur with a hundred spears", "Rode far, till o'er the illimitable reed,", "And many a glancing plash and sallowy isle,", "The wide-winged sunset of the misty marsh", "Glared on a huge machicolated tower", "That stood with open doors, whereout was rolled", "A roar of riot, as from men secure", "Amid their marshes, ruffians at their ease", "Among their harlot-brides, an evil song.", "`Lo there,' said one of Arthur's youth, for there,", "High on a grim dead tree before the tower,", "A goodly brother of the Table Round", "Swung by the neck: and on the boughs a shield", "Showing a shower of blood in a field noir,", "And therebeside a horn, inflamed the knights", "At that dishonour done the gilded spur,", "Till each would clash the shield, and blow the horn.", "But Arthur waved them back. Alone he rode.", "Then at the dry harsh roar of the great horn,", "That sent the face of all the marsh aloft", "An ever upward-rushing storm and cloud", "Of shriek and plume, the Red Knight heard, and all,", "Even to tipmost lance and topmost helm,", "In blood-red armour sallying, howled to the King,", "", "`The teeth of Hell flay bare and gnash thee flat!--", "Lo! art thou not that eunuch-hearted King", "Who fain had clipt free manhood from the world--", "The woman-worshipper? Yea, God's curse, and I!", "Slain was the brother of my paramour", "By a knight of thine, and I that heard her whine", "And snivel, being eunuch-hearted too,", "Sware by the scorpion-worm that twists in hell,", "And stings itself to everlasting death,", "To hang whatever knight of thine I fought", "And tumbled. Art thou King? --Look to thy life!'", "", "He ended: Arthur knew the voice; the face", "Wellnigh was helmet-hidden, and the name", "Went wandering somewhere darkling in his mind.", "And Arthur deigned not use of word or sword,", "But let the drunkard, as he stretched from horse", "To strike him, overbalancing his bulk,", "Down from the causeway heavily to the swamp", "Fall, as the crest of some slow-arching wave,", "Heard in dead night along that table-shore,", "Drops flat, and after the great waters break", "Whitening for half a league, and thin themselves,", "Far over sands marbled with moon and cloud,", "From less and less to nothing; thus he fell", "Head-heavy; then the knights, who watched him, roared", "And shouted and leapt down upon the fallen;", "There trampled out his face from being known,", "And sank his head in mire, and slimed themselves:", "Nor heard the King for their own cries, but sprang", "Through open doors, and swording right and left", "Men, women, on their sodden faces, hurled", "The tables over and the wines, and slew", "Till all the rafters rang with woman-yells,", "And all the pavement streamed with massacre:", "Then, echoing yell with yell, they fired the tower,", "Which half that autumn night, like the live North,", "Red-pulsing up through Alioth and Alcor,", "Made all above it, and a hundred meres", "About it, as the water Moab saw", "Came round by the East, and out beyond them flushed", "The long low dune, and lazy-plunging sea.", "", "So all the ways were safe from shore to shore,", "But in the heart of Arthur pain was lord.", "", "Then, out of Tristram waking, the red dream", "Fled with a shout, and that low lodge returned,", "Mid-forest, and the wind among the boughs.", "He whistled his good warhorse left to graze", "Among the forest greens, vaulted upon him,", "And rode beneath an ever-showering leaf,", "Till one lone woman, weeping near a cross,", "Stayed him. `Why weep ye?' `Lord,' she said, `my man", "Hath left me or is dead;' whereon he thought--", "`What, if she hate me now? I would not this.", "What, if she love me still? I would not that.", "I know not what I would'--but said to her,", "`Yet weep not thou, lest, if thy mate return,", "He find thy favour changed and love thee not'--", "Then pressing day by day through Lyonnesse", "Last in a roky hollow, belling, heard", "The hounds of Mark, and felt the goodly hounds", "Yelp at his heart, but turning, past and gained", "Tintagil, half in sea, and high on land,", "A crown of towers.", "", "Down in a casement sat,", "A low sea-sunset glorying round her hair", "And glossy-throated grace, Isolt the Queen.", "And when she heard the feet of Tristram grind", "The spiring stone that scaled about her tower,", "Flushed, started, met him at the doors, and there", "Belted his body with her white embrace,", "Crying aloud, `Not Mark--not Mark, my soul!", "The footstep fluttered me at first: not he:", "Catlike through his own castle steals my Mark,", "But warrior-wise thou stridest through his halls", "Who hates thee, as I him--even to the death.", "My soul, I felt my hatred for my Mark", "Quicken within me, and knew that thou wert nigh.'", "To whom Sir Tristram smiling, `I am here.", "Let be thy Mark, seeing he is not thine.'", "", "And drawing somewhat backward she replied,", "`Can he be wronged who is not even his own,", "But save for dread of thee had beaten me,", "Scratched, bitten, blinded, marred me somehow--Mark?", "What rights are his that dare not strike for them?", "Not lift a hand--not, though he found me thus!", "But harken! have ye met him? hence he went", "Today for three days' hunting--as he said--", "And so returns belike within an hour.", "Mark's way, my soul!--but eat not thou with Mark,", "Because he hates thee even more than fears;", "Nor drink: and when thou passest any wood", "Close vizor, lest an arrow from the bush", "Should leave me all alone with Mark and hell.", "My God, the measure of my hate for Mark", "Is as the measure of my love for thee.'", "", "So, plucked one way by hate and one by love,", "Drained of her force, again she sat, and spake", "To Tristram, as he knelt before her, saying,", "`O hunter, and O blower of the horn,", "Harper, and thou hast been a rover too,", "For, ere I mated with my shambling king,", "Ye twain had fallen out about the bride", "Of one--his name is out of me--the prize,", "If prize she were--(what marvel--she could see)--", "Thine, friend; and ever since my craven seeks", "To wreck thee villainously: but, O Sir Knight,", "What dame or damsel have ye kneeled to last?'", "", "And Tristram, `Last to my Queen Paramount,", "Here now to my Queen Paramount of love", "And loveliness--ay, lovelier than when first", "Her light feet fell on our rough Lyonnesse,", "Sailing from Ireland.'", "", "Softly laughed Isolt;", "`Flatter me not, for hath not our great Queen", "My dole of beauty trebled?' and he said,", "`Her beauty is her beauty, and thine thine,", "And thine is more to me--soft, gracious, kind--", "Save when thy Mark is kindled on thy lips", "Most gracious; but she, haughty, even to him,", "Lancelot; for I have seen him wan enow", "To make one doubt if ever the great Queen", "Have yielded him her love.'", "", "To whom Isolt,", "`Ah then, false hunter and false harper, thou", "Who brakest through the scruple of my bond,", "Calling me thy white hind, and saying to me", "That Guinevere had sinned against the highest,", "And I--misyoked with such a want of man--", "That I could hardly sin against the lowest.'", "", "He answered, `O my soul, be comforted!", "If this be sweet, to sin in leading-strings,", "If here be comfort, and if ours be sin,", "Crowned warrant had we for the crowning sin", "That made us happy: but how ye greet me--fear", "And fault and doubt--no word of that fond tale--", "Thy deep heart-yearnings, thy sweet memories", "Of Tristram in that year he was away.'", "", "And, saddening on the sudden, spake Isolt,", "`I had forgotten all in my strong joy", "To see thee--yearnings?--ay! for, hour by hour,", "Here in the never-ended afternoon,", "O sweeter than all memories of thee,", "Deeper than any yearnings after thee", "Seemed those far-rolling, westward-smiling seas,", "Watched from this tower. Isolt of Britain dashed", "Before Isolt of Brittany on the strand,", "Would that have chilled her bride-kiss? Wedded her?", "Fought in her father's battles? wounded there?", "The King was all fulfilled with gratefulness,", "And she, my namesake of the hands, that healed", "Thy hurt and heart with unguent and caress--", "Well--can I wish her any huger wrong", "Than having known thee? her too hast thou left", "To pine and waste in those sweet memories.", "O were I not my Mark's, by whom all men", "Are noble, I should hate thee more than love.'", "", "And Tristram, fondling her light hands, replied,", "`Grace, Queen, for being loved: she loved me well.", "Did I love her? the name at least I loved.", "Isolt?--I fought his battles, for Isolt!", "The night was dark; the true star set. Isolt!", "The name was ruler of the dark--Isolt?", "Care not for her! patient, and prayerful, meek,", "Pale-blooded, she will yield herself to God.'", "", "And Isolt answered, `Yea, and why not I?", "Mine is the larger need, who am not meek,", "Pale-blooded, prayerful. Let me tell thee now.", "Here one black, mute midsummer night I sat,", "Lonely, but musing on thee, wondering where,", "Murmuring a light song I had heard thee sing,", "And once or twice I spake thy name aloud.", "Then flashed a levin-brand; and near me stood,", "In fuming sulphur blue and green, a fiend--", "Mark's way to steal behind one in the dark--", "For there was Mark: \"He has wedded her,\" he said,", "Not said, but hissed it: then this crown of towers", "So shook to such a roar of all the sky,", "That here in utter dark I swooned away,", "And woke again in utter dark, and cried,", "\"I will flee hence and give myself to God\"--", "And thou wert lying in thy new leman's arms.'", "", "Then Tristram, ever dallying with her hand,", "`May God be with thee, sweet, when old and gray,", "And past desire!' a saying that angered her.", "`\"May God be with thee, sweet, when thou art old,", "And sweet no more to me!\" I need Him now.", "For when had Lancelot uttered aught so gross", "Even to the swineherd's malkin in the mast?", "The greater man, the greater courtesy.", "Far other was the Tristram, Arthur's knight!", "But thou, through ever harrying thy wild beasts--", "Save that to touch a harp, tilt with a lance", "Becomes thee well--art grown wild beast thyself.", "How darest thou, if lover, push me even", "In fancy from thy side, and set me far", "In the gray distance, half a life away,", "Her to be loved no more? Unsay it, unswear!", "Flatter me rather, seeing me so weak,", "Broken with Mark and hate and solitude,", "Thy marriage and mine own, that I should suck", "Lies like sweet wines: lie to me: I believe.", "Will ye not lie? not swear, as there ye kneel,", "And solemnly as when ye sware to him,", "The man of men, our King--My God, the power", "Was once in vows when men believed the King!", "They lied not then, who sware, and through their vows", "The King prevailing made his realm:--I say,", "Swear to me thou wilt love me even when old,", "Gray-haired, and past desire, and in despair.'", "", "Then Tristram, pacing moodily up and down,", "`Vows! did you keep the vow you made to Mark", "More than I mine? Lied, say ye? Nay, but learnt,", "The vow that binds too strictly snaps itself--", "My knighthood taught me this--ay, being snapt--", "We run more counter to the soul thereof", "Than had we never sworn. I swear no more.", "I swore to the great King, and am forsworn.", "For once--even to the height--I honoured him.", "\"Man, is he man at all?\" methought, when first", "I rode from our rough Lyonnesse, and beheld", "That victor of the Pagan throned in hall--", "His hair, a sun that rayed from off a brow", "Like hillsnow high in heaven, the steel-blue eyes,", "The golden beard that clothed his lips with light--", "Moreover, that weird legend of his birth,", "With Merlin's mystic babble about his end", "Amazed me; then, his foot was on a stool", "Shaped as a dragon; he seemed to me no man,", "But Micha l trampling Satan; so I sware,", "Being amazed: but this went by-- The vows!", "O ay--the wholesome madness of an hour--", "They served their use, their time; for every knight", "Believed himself a greater than himself,", "And every follower eyed him as a God;", "Till he, being lifted up beyond himself,", "Did mightier deeds than elsewise he had done,", "And so the realm was made; but then their vows--", "First mainly through that sullying of our Queen--", "Began to gall the knighthood, asking whence", "Had Arthur right to bind them to himself?", "Dropt down from heaven? washed up from out the deep?", "They failed to trace him through the flesh and blood", "Of our old kings: whence then? a doubtful lord", "To bind them by inviolable vows,", "Which flesh and blood perforce would violate:", "For feel this arm of mine--the tide within", "Red with free chase and heather-scented air,", "Pulsing full man; can Arthur make me pure", "As any maiden child? lock up my tongue", "From uttering freely what I freely hear?", "Bind me to one? The wide world laughs at it.", "And worldling of the world am I, and know", "The ptarmigan that whitens ere his hour", "Woos his own end; we are not angels here", "Nor shall be: vows--I am woodman of the woods,", "And hear the garnet-headed yaffingale", "Mock them: my soul, we love but while we may;", "And therefore is my love so large for thee,", "Seeing it is not bounded save by love.'", "", "Here ending, he moved toward her, and she said,", "`Good: an I turned away my love for thee", "To some one thrice as courteous as thyself--", "For courtesy wins woman all as well", "As valour may, but he that closes both", "Is perfect, he is Lancelot--taller indeed,", "Rosier and comelier, thou--but say I loved", "This knightliest of all knights, and cast thee back", "Thine own small saw, \"We love but while we may,\"", "Well then, what answer?'", "", "He that while she spake,", "Mindful of what he brought to adorn her with,", "The jewels, had let one finger lightly touch", "The warm white apple of her throat, replied,", "`Press this a little closer, sweet, until--", "Come, I am hungered and half-angered--meat,", "Wine, wine--and I will love thee to the death,", "And out beyond into the dream to come.'", "", "So then, when both were brought to full accord,", "She rose, and set before him all he willed;", "And after these had comforted the blood", "With meats and wines, and satiated their hearts--", "Now talking of their woodland paradise,", "The deer, the dews, the fern, the founts, the lawns;", "Now mocking at the much ungainliness,", "And craven shifts, and long crane legs of Mark--", "Then Tristram laughing caught the harp, and sang:", "", "`Ay, ay, O ay--the winds that bend the brier!", "A star in heaven, a star within the mere!", "Ay, ay, O ay--a star was my desire,", "And one was far apart, and one was near:", "Ay, ay, O ay--the winds that bow the grass!", "And one was water and one star was fire,", "And one will ever shine and one will pass.", "Ay, ay, O ay--the winds that move the mere.'", "", "Then in the light's last glimmer Tristram showed", "And swung the ruby carcanet. She cried,", "`The collar of some Order, which our King", "Hath newly founded, all for thee, my soul,", "For thee, to yield thee grace beyond thy peers.'", "", "`Not so, my Queen,' he said, `but the red fruit", "Grown on a magic oak-tree in mid-heaven,", "And won by Tristram as a tourney-prize,", "And hither brought by Tristram for his last", "Love-offering and peace-offering unto thee.'", "", "He spoke, he turned, then, flinging round her neck,", "Claspt it, and cried, `Thine Order, O my Queen!'", "But, while he bowed to kiss the jewelled throat,", "Out of the dark, just as the lips had touched,", "Behind him rose a shadow and a shriek--", "`Mark's way,' said Mark, and clove him through the brain.", "", "That night came Arthur home, and while he climbed,", "All in a death-dumb autumn-dripping gloom,", "The stairway to the hall, and looked and saw", "The great Queen's bower was dark,--about his feet", "A voice clung sobbing till he questioned it,", "`What art thou?' and the voice about his feet", "Sent up an answer, sobbing, `I am thy fool,", "And I shall never make thee smile again.'" ], "linecount": "760" }, { "title": "Idylls of the King: The Last Tournament (excerpt)", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Dagonet, the fool, whom Gawain in his mood", "Had made mock-knight of Arthur's Table Round,", "At Camelot, high above the yellowing woods,", "Danced like a wither'd leaf before the hall.", "And toward him from the hall, with harp in hand,", "And from the crown thereof a carcanet", "Of ruby swaying to and fro, the prize", "Of Tristram in the jousts of yesterday,", "Came Tristram, saying, \"Why skip ye so, Sir Fool?\"", "", "For Arthur and Sir Lancelot riding once", "Far down beneath a winding wall of rock", "Heard a child wail. A stump of oak half-dead.", "From roots like some black coil of carven snakes,", "Clutch'd at the crag, and started thro' mid air", "Bearing an eagle's nest: and thro' the tree", "Rush'd ever a rainy wind, and thro' the wind", "Pierced ever a child's cry: and crag and tree", "Scaling, Sir Lancelot from the perilous nest,", "This ruby necklace thrice around her neck,", "And all unscarr'd from beak or talon, brought", "A maiden babe; which Arthur pitying took,", "Then gave it to his Queen to rear: the Queen", "But coldly acquiescing, in her white arms", "Received, and after loved it tenderly,", "And named it Nestling; so forgot herself", "A moment, and her cares; till that young life", "Being smitten in mid heaven with mortal cold", "Past from her; and in time the carcanet", "Vext her with plaintive memories of the child:", "So she, delivering it to Arthur, said,", "\"Take thou the jewels of this dead innocence,", "And make them, an thou wilt, a tourney-prize.\"", "", "To whom the King, \"Peace to thine eagle-borne", "Dead nestling, and this honour after death,", "Following thy will! but, O my Queen, I muse", "Why ye not wear on arm, or neck, or zone", "Those diamonds that I rescued from the tarn,", "And Lancelot won, methought, for thee to wear.\"", "", "\"Would rather you had let them fall,\" she cried,", "\"Plunge and be lost--ill-fated as they were,", "A bitterness to me!--ye look amazed,", "Not knowing they were lost as soon as given--", "Slid from my hands, when I was leaning out", "Above the river--that unhappy child", "Past in her barge: but rosier luck will go", "With these rich jewels, seeing that they came", "Not from the skeleton of a brother-slayer,", "But the sweet body of a maiden babe.", "Perchance--who knows?--the purest of thy knights", "May win them for the purest of my maids.\"", "", "She ended, and the cry of a great jousts", "With trumpet-blowings ran on all the ways", "From Camelot in among the faded fields", "To furthest towers; and everywhere the knights", "Arm'd for a day of glory before the King.", "", "But on the hither side of that loud morn", "Into the hall stagger'd, his visage ribb'd", "From ear to ear with dogwhip-weals, his nose", "Bridge-broken, one eye out, and one hand off,", "And one with shatter'd fingers dangling lame,", "A churl, to whom indignantly the King,", "", "\"My churl, for whom Christ died, what evil beast", "Hath drawn his claws athwart thy face? or fiend?", "Man was it who marr'd heaven's image in thee thus?\"", "", "Then, sputtering thro' the hedge of splinter'd teeth,", "Yet strangers to the tongue, and with blunt stump", "Pitch-blacken'd sawing the air, said the maim'd churl,", "", "\"He took them and he drave them to his tower--", "Some hold he was a table-knight of thine--", "A hundred goodly ones--the Red Knight, he--", "Lord, I was tending swine, and the Red Knight", "Brake in upon me and drave them to his tower;", "And when I cal'd upon thy name as one", "That doest right by gentle and by churl,", "Maim'd me and maul'd, and would outright have slain,", "Save that he aware me to a message, saying,", "'Tell thou the King and all his liars, that I", "Have founded my Round Table in the North,", "And whatsoever his own knights have sworn", "My knights have sworn the counter to it--and say", "My tower is full of harlots, like his court,", "But mine are worthier, seeing they profess", "To be none other than themselves--and say", "My knights are all adulterers like his own,", "But mine are truer, seeing they profess", "To be none other; and say his hour is come,", "The heathen are upon him, his long lance", "Broken, and his Excalibur a straw.' \"", "", "Then Arthur turn'd to Kay the seneschal,", "\"Take thou my churl, and tend him curiously", "Like a king's heir, till all his hurts be whole.", "The heathen--but that ever-climbing wave,", "Hurl'd back again so often in empty foam,", "Hath lain for years at rest--and renegades,", "Thieves, bandits, leavings of confusion, whom", "The wholesome realm is purged of otherwhere,", "Friends, thro' your manhood and your fealty,--now", "Make their last head like Satan in the North.", "My younger knights, new-made, in whom your flower", "Waits to be solid fruit of golden deeds,", "Move with me toward their quelling, which achieved,", "The loneliest ways are safe from shore to shore.", "But thou, Sir Lancelot, sitting in my place", "Enchair'd to-morrow, arbitrate the field;", "For wherefore shouldst thou care to mingle with it", "Only to yield my Queen her own again?", "Speak, Lancelot, thou art silent: is it well?\"", "", "", "Thereto Sir Lancelot answer'd, \"It is well:", "Yet better if the King abide, and leave", "The leading of his younger knights to me.", "Else, for the King has will'd it, it is well.\"", "", "", "Then Arthur rose and Lancelot follow'd him,", "And while they stood without the doors, the King", "Turn'd to him saying, \"Is it then so well?", "Or mine the blame that oft I seem as he", "Of whom was written, 'A sound is in his ears'?", "The foot that loiters, bidden go,--the glance", "That only seems half-loyal to command,--", "A manner somewhat fall'n from reverence--", "Or have I dream'd the bearing of our knights", "Tells of a manhood ever less and lower?", "Or whence the fear lest this my realm, uprear'd,", "By noble deeds at one with noble vows,", "From flat confusion and brute violence,s", "Reel back into the beast, and be no more?\"", "", "", "He spoke, and taking all his younger knights,", "Down the slope city rode, and sharply turn'd", "North by the gate. In her high bower the Queen,", "Working a tapestry, lifted up her head,", "Watch'd her lord pass, and knew not that she sigh'd.", "Then ran across her memory the strange rhyme", "Of bygone Merlin, \"Where is he who knows?", "From the great deep to the great deep he goes.\"", "", "", "But when the morning of a tournament,", "By these in earnest those in mockery call'd", "The Tournament of the Dead Innocence,", "Brake with a wet wind blowing, Lancelot,", "Round whose sick head all night, like birds of prey,", "The words of Arthur flying shriek'd, arose,", "And down a streetway hung with folds of pure", "White samite, and by fountains running wine,", "Where children sat in white with cups of gold,", "Moved to the lists, and there, with slow sad steps", "Ascending, fill'd his double-dragon'd chair.", "", "", "He glanced and saw the stately galleries,", "Dame, damsel, each thro' worship of their Queen", "White-robed in honour of the stainless child,", "And some with scatter'd jewels, like a bank", "Of maiden snow mingled with sparks of fire.", "He look'd but once, and vail'd his eyes again.", "", "", "The sudden trumpet sounded as in a dream", "To ears but half-awaked, then one low roll", "Of Autumn thunder, and the jousts began:", "And ever the wind blew, and yellowing leaf", "And gloom and gleam, and shower and shorn plume", "Went down it. Sighing weariedly, as one", "Who sits and gazes on a faded fire,", "When all the goodlier guests are past away,", "Sat their great umpire, looking o'er the lists.", "He saw the laws that ruled the tournament", "Broken, but spake not; once, a knight cast down", "Before his throne of arbitration cursed", "The dead babe and the follies of the King;", "And once the laces of a helmet crack'd,", "And show'd him, like a vermin in its hole,", "Modred, a narrow face: anon he heard", "The voice that billow'd round the barriers roar", "An ocean-sounding welcome to one knight,", "But newly-enter'd, taller than the rest,", "And armour'd all in forest green, whereon", "There tript a hundred tiny silver deer,", "And wearing but a holly-spray for crest,", "With ever-scattering berries, and on shield", "A spear, a harp, a bugle--Tristram--late", "From overseas in Brittany return'd,", "And marriage with a princess of that realm,", "Isolt the White--Sir Tristram of the Woods--", "Whom Lancelot knew, had held sometime with pain", "His own against him, and now yearn'd to shake", "The burthen off his heart in one full shock", "With Tristram ev'n to death: his strong hands gript", "And dinted the gilt dragons right and left,", "Until he groan'd for wrath--so many of those,", "That ware their ladies' colours on the casque,", "Drew from before Sir Tristram to the bounds,", "And there with gibes and flickering mockeries", "Stood, while he mutter'd, \"Craven crests! O shame!", "What faith have these in whom they sware to love?", "The glory of our Round Table is no more.\"", "", "", "So Tristram won, and Lancelot gave, the gems,", "Not speaking other word than \"Hast thou won?", "Art thou the purest, brother? See, the hand", "Wherewith thou takest this, is red!\" to whom", "Tristram, half plagued by Lancelot's languorous mood,", "Made answer, \"Ay, but wherefore toss me this", "Like a dry bone cast to some hungry hound?", "Let be thy fair Queen's fantasy. Strength of heart", "And might of limb, but mainly use and skill,", "Are winners in this pastime of our King.", "My hand--belike the lance hath dript upon it--", "No blood of mine, I trow; but O chief knight,", "Right arm of Arthur in the battlefield,", "Great brother, thou nor I have made the world;", "Be happy in thy fair Queen as I in mine.\"", "", "", "And Tristram round the gallery made his horse", "Caracole; then bow'd his homage, bluntly saying,", "\"Fair damsels, each to him who worships each", "Sole Queen of Beauty and of love, behold", "This day my Queen of Beauty is not here.\"", "And most of these were mute, some anger'd, one", "Murmuring, \"All courtesy is dead,\" and one", "\"The glory of our Round Table is no more.\"", "", "", "Then fell thick rain, plume droopt and mantle clung,", "And pettish cries awoke, and the wan day", "Went glooming down in wet and weariness:", "But under her black brows a swarthy one", "Laugh'd shrilly, crying, \"Praise the patient saints,", "Our one white day of Innocence hath past,", "Tho' somewhat draggled at the skirt. So be it.", "The snowdrop only, flowering thro' the year,", "Would make the world as blank as Winter-tide.", "Come--let us gladden their sad eyes, our Queen's", "And Lancelot's, at this night's solemnity", "With all the kindlier colours of the field.\"", "", "", "So dame and damsel glitter'd at the feast", "Variously gay: for he that tells the tale", "Liken'd them, saying, as when an hour of cold", "Falls on the mountain in midsummer snows,", "And all the purple slopes of mountain flowers", "Pass under white, till the warm hour returns", "With veer of wind, and all are flowers again;", "So dame and damsel cast the simple white,", "And glowing in all colours, the live grass,", "Rose-campion, bluebell, kingcup, poppy, glanced", "About the revels, and with mirth so loud", "Beyond all use, that, half-amazed, the Queen,", "And wroth at Tristram and the lawless jousts,", "Brake up their sports, then slowly to her bower", "Parted, and in her bosom pain was lord.", "", "", "And little Dagonet on the morrow morn,", "High over all the yellowing Autumn-tide,", "Danced like a wither'd leaf before the hall.", "Then Tristram saying, \"Why skip ye so, Sir Fool?\"", "Wheel'd round on either heel, Dagonet replied,", "\"Belike for lack of wiser company;", "Or being fool, and seeing too much wit", "Makes the world rotten, why, belike I skip", "To know myself the wisest knight of all.\"", "\"Ay, fool,\" said Tristram, \"but 'tis eating dry", "To dance without a catch, a roundelay", "To dance to.\" Then he twangled on his harp,", "And while he twangled little Dagonet stood", "Quiet as any water-sodden log", "Stay'd in the wandering warble of a brook;", "But when the twangling ended, skipt again;", "And being ask'd, \"Why skipt ye not, Sir Fool?\"", "Made answer, \"I had liefer twenty years", "Skip to the broken music of my brains", "Than any broken music thou canst make.\"", "Then Tristram, waiting for the quip to come,", "\"Good now, what music have I broken, fool?\"", "And little Dagonet, skipping, \"Arthur, the King's;", "For when thou playest that air with Queen Isolt,", "Thou makest broken music with thy bride,", "Her daintier namesake down in Brittany--", "And so thou breakest Arthur's music, too.\"", "\"Save for that broken music in thy brains,", "Sir Fool,\" said Tristram, \"I would break thy head.", "Fool, I came late, the heathen wars were o'er,", "The life had flown, we sware but by the shell--", "I am but a fool to reason with a fool--", "Come, thou art crabb'd and sour: but lean me down,", "Sir Dagonet, one of thy long asses' ears,", "And harken if my music be not true.", "", "", "\"`Free love--free field--we love but while we may:", "The woods are hush'd, their music is no more:", "The leaf is dead, the yearning past away:", "New leaf, new life--the days of frost are o'er:", "New life, new love, to suit the newer day:", "New loves are sweet as those that went before:", "Free love--free field--we love but while we may.'", "", "", "\"Ye might have moved slow-measure to my tune,", "Not stood stockstill. I made it in the woods,", "And heard it ring as true as tested gold.\"", "", "", "But Dagonet with one foot poised in his hand,", "\"Friend, did ye mark that fountain yesterday", "Made to run wine?--but this had run itself", "All out like a long life to a sour end--", "And them that round it sat with golden cups", "To hand the wine to whosoever came--", "The twelve small damosels white as Innocence,", "In honour of poor Innocence the babe,", "Who left the gems which Innocence the Queen", "Lent to the King, and Innocence the King", "Gave for a prize--and one of those white slips", "Handed her cup and piped, the pretty one,", "'Drink, drink, Sir Fool,' and thereupon I drank,", "Spat--pish--the cup was gold, the draught was mud.\"", "", "", "And Tristram, \"Was it muddier than thy gibes?", "Is all the laughter gone dead out of thee?--", "Not marking how the knighthood mock thee, fool--", "'Fear God: honour the King--his one true knight--", "Sole follower of the vows'--for here be they", "Who knew thee swine enow before I came,", "Smuttier than blasted grain: but when the King", "Had made thee fool, thy vanity so shot up", "It frighted all free fool from out thy heart;", "Which left thee less than fool, and less than swine,", "A naked aught--yet swine I hold thee still,", "For I have flung thee pearls and find thee swine.\"", "", "", "And little Dagonet mincing with his feet,", "\"Knight, an ye fling those rubies round my neck", "In lieu of hers, I'll hold thou hast some touch", "Of music, since I care not for thy pearls.", "Swine? I have wallow'd, I have wash'd--the world", "Is flesh and shadow--I have had my day.", "The dirty nurse, Experience, in her kind", "Hath foul'd me--an I wallow'd, then I wash'd--", "I have had my day and my philosophies--", "And thank the Lord I am King Arthur's fool.", "Swine, say ye? swine, goats, asses, rams and geese", "Troop'd round a Paynim harper once, who thrumm'd", "On such a wire as musically as thou", "Some such fine song--but never a king's fool.\"", "", "", "And Tristram, \"Then were swine, goats, asses, geese", "The wiser fools, seeing thy Paynim bard", "Had such a mastery of his mystery", "That he could harp his wife up out of hell.\"", "", "", "Then Dagonet, turning on the ball of his foot,", "\"And whither harp'st thou thine? down! and thyself", "Down! and two more: a helpful harper thou,", "That harpest downward! dost thou know the star", "We call the harp of Arthur up in heaven?\"", "", "", "And Tristram, \"Ay, Sir Fool, for when our King", "Was victor wellnigh day by day, the knights,", "Glorying in each new glory, set his name", "High on all hills, and in the signs of heaven.\"", "", "", "And Dagonet answer'd, \"Ay, and when the land", "Was freed, and the Queen false, ye set yourself", "To babble about him, all to show your wit--", "And whether he were King by courtesy,", "Or King by right--and so went harping down", "The black king's highway, got so far, and grew", "So witty that we play'd at ducks and drakes", "With Arthur's vows on the great lake of fire.", "Tuwhoo! do ye see it? do ye see the star?\"", "", "", "\"Nay, fool,\" said Tristram, \"not in open day.\"", "And Dagonet, \"Nay, nor will: I see it and hear.", "It makes a silent music up in heaven,", "And I, and Arthur and the angels hear,", "And then we skip.\" \"Lo, fool,\" he said, \"ye talk", "Fool's treason: is the King thy brother fool?\"", "Then little Dagonet clapt his hands and shrill'd,", "\"Ay, ay, my brother fool, the king of fools!", "Conceits himself as God that he can make", "Figs out of thistles, silk from bristles, milk", "From burning spurge, honey from hornet-combs", "And men from beasts--Long live the king of fools!\"", "", "", "And down the city Dagonet danced away;", "But thro' the slowly-mellowing avenues", "And solitary passes of the wood", "Rode Tristram toward Lyonnesse and the west.", "Before him fled the face of Queen Isolt", "With ruby-circled neck, but evermore", "Past, as a rustle or twitter in the wood", "Made dull his inner, keen his outer eye", "For all that walk'd, or crept, or perch'd, or flew.", "Anon the face, as, when a gust hath blown,", "Unruffling waters re-collect the shape", "Of one that in them sees himself, return'd;", "But at the slot or fewmets of a deer,", "Or ev'n a fall'n feather, vanish'd again.", "", "", "So on for all that day from lawn to lawn", "Thro' many a league-long bower he rode. At length", "A lodge of intertwisted beechen-boughs", "Furze-cramm'd, and bracken-rooft, the which himself", "Built for a summer day with Queen Isolt", "Against a shower, dark in the golden grove", "Appearing, sent his fancy back to where", "She lived a moon in that low lodge with him:", "Till Mark her lord had past, the Cornish King,", "With six or seven, when Tristram was away,", "And snatch'd her thence; yet dreading worse than shame", "Her warrior Tristram, spake not any word,", "But bode his hour, devising wretchedness.", "", "", "And now that desert lodge to Tristram lookt", "So sweet, that halting, in he past, and sank", "Down on a drift of foliage random-blown;", "But could not rest for musing how to smoothe", "And sleek his marriage over to the Queen.", "Perchance in lone Tintagil far from all", "The tonguesters of the court she had not heard.", "But then what folly had sent him overseas", "After she left him lonely here? a name?", "Was it the name of one in Brittany,", "Isolt, the daughter of the King? \"Isolt", "Of the white hands\" they call'd her: the sweet name", "Allured him first, and then the maid herself,", "Who served him well with those white hands of hers,", "And loved him well, until himself had thought", "He loved her also, wedded easily,", "But left her all as easily, and return'd.", "The black-blue Irish hair and Irish eyes", "Had drawn him home--what marvel? then he laid", "His brows upon the drifted leaf and dream'd.", "", "", "He seem'd to pace the strand of Brittany", "Between Isolt of Britain and his bride,", "And show'd them both the ruby-chain, and both", "Began to struggle for it, till his Queen", "Graspt it so hard, that all her hand was red.", "Then cried the Breton, \"Look, her hand is red!", "These be no rubies, this is frozen blood,", "And melts within her hand--her hand is hot", "With ill desires, but this I gave thee, look,", "Is all as cool and white as any flower.\"", "Follow'd a rush of eagle's wings, and then", "A whimpering of the spirit of the child,", "Because the twain had spoil'd her carcanet.", "", "", "He dream'd; but Arthur with a hundred spears", "Rode far, till o'er the illimitable reed,", "And many a glancing plash and sallowy isle,", "The wide-wing'd sunset of the misty marsh", "Glared on a huge machicolated tower", "That stood with open doors, where out was roll'd", "A roar of riot, as from men secure", "Amid their marshes, ruffians at their ease", "Among their harlot-brides, an evil song.", "\"Lo there,\" said one of Arthur's youth, for there,", "High on a grim dead tree before the tower,", "A goodly brother of the Table Round", "Swung by the neck: and on the boughs a shield", "Showing a shower of blood in a field noir,", "And therebeside a horn, inflamed the knights", "At that dishonour done the gilded spur,", "Till each would clash the shield, and blow the horn.", "But Arthur waved them back. Alone he rode.", "Then at the dry harsh roar of the great horn,", "That sent the face of all the marsh aloft", "An ever upward-rushing storm and cloud", "Of shriek and plume, the Red Knight heard, and all,", "Even to tipmost lance and topmost helm", "In blood-red armour sallying, howl'd to the King,", "", "", "\"The teeth of Hell flay bare and gnash thee flat!", "Lo! art thou not that eunuch-hearted King", "Who fain had clipt free manhood from the world--", "The woman-worshipper? Yea, God's curse, and I!", "Slain was the brother of my paramour", "By a knight of thine, and I that heard her whine", "And snivel, being eunuch-hearted too,", "Sware by the scorpion-worm that twists in hell,", "And stings itself to everlasting death,", "To hang whatever knight of thine I fought", "And tumbled. Art thou King?--Look to thy life!\"", "", "", "He ended: Arthur knew the voice; the face", "Wellnigh was helmet-hidden, and the name", "Went wandering somewhere darkling in his mind.", "And Arthur deign'd not use of word or sword,", "But let the drunkard, as he stretch'd from horse", "To strike him, overbalancing his bulk,", "Down from the causeway heavily to the swamp", "Fall, as the crest of some slow-arching wave,", "Heard in dead night along that table-shore,", "Drops flat, and after the great waters break", "Whitening for half a league, and thin themselves,", "Far over sands marbled with moon and cloud,", "From less and less to nothing; thus he fell", "Head-heavy; then the knights, who watch'd him, roar'd", "And shouted and leapt down upon the fall'n;", "There trampled out his face from being known,", "And sank his head in mire, and slimed themselves:", "Nor heard the King for their own cries, but sprang", "Thro' open doors, and swording right and left", "Men, women, on their sodden faces, hurl'd", "The tables over and the wines, and slew", "Till all the rafters rang with woman-yells,", "And all the pavement stream'd with massacre:", "Then, echoing yell with yell, they fired the tower,", "Which half that autumn night, like the live North,", "Red-pulsing up thro' Alioth and Alcor,", "Made all above it, and a hundred meres", "About it, as the water Moab saw", "Come round by the East, and out beyond them flush'd", "The long low dune, and lazy-plunging sea.", "", "", "So all the ways were safe from shore to shore,", "But in the heart of Arthur pain was lord.", "", "", "Then, out of Tristram waking, the red dream", "Fled with a shout, and that low lodge return'd,", "Mid-forest, and the wind among the boughs.", "He whistled his good warhorse left to graze", "Among the forest greens, vaulted upon him,", "And rode beneath an ever-showering leaf,", "Till one lone woman, weeping near a cross,", "Stay'd him. \"Why weep ye?\" \"Lord,\" she said, \"my man", "Hath left me or is dead\"; whereon he thought--", "\"What, if she hate me now? I would not this.", "What, if she love me still? I would not that.", "I know not what I would\"--but said to her,", "\"Yet weep not thou, lest, if thy mate return,", "He find thy favour changed and love thee not\"--", "Then pressing day by day thro' Lyonnesse", "Last in a roky hollow, belling, heard", "The hounds of Mark, and felt the goodly hounds", "Yelp at his heart, but turning, past and gain'd", "Tintagil, half in sea, and high on land,", "A crown of towers. Down in a casement sat,", "A low sea-sunset glorying round her hair", "And glossy-throated grace, Isolt the Queen.", "And when she heard the feet of Tristram grind", "The spiring stone that scaled about her tower,", "Flush'd, started, met him at the doors, and there", "Belted his body with her white embrace,", "Crying aloud, \"Not Mark--not Mark, my soul!", "The footstep flutter'd me at first: not he:", "Catlike thro' his own castle steals my Mark,", "But warrior-wise thou stridest thro' his halls", "Who hates thee, as I him--ev'n to the death.", "My soul, I felt my hatred for my Mark", "Quicken within me, and knew that thou wert nigh.\"", "To whom Sir Tristram smiling, \"I am here.", "Let be thy Mark, seeing he is not thine.\"", "", "", "And drawing somewhat backward she replied,", "\"Can he be wrong'd who is not ev'n his own,", "But save for dread of thee had beaten me,", "Scratch'd, bitten, blinded, marr'd me somehow--Mark?", "What rights are his that dare not strike for them?", "Not lift a hand--not, tho' he found me thus!", "But harken! have ye met him? hence he went", "To-day for three days' hunting--as he said--", "And so returns belike within an hour.", "Mark's way, my soul!--but eat not thou with Mark,", "Because he hates thee even more than fears;", "Nor drink: and when thou passest any wood", "Close vizor, lest an arrow from the bush", "Should leave me all alone with Mark and hell.", "My God, the measure of my hate for Mark", "Is as the measure of my love for thee.''", "", "", "So, pluck'd one way by hate and one by love,", "Drain'd of her force, again she sat, and spake", "To Tristram, as he knelt before her, saying,", "\"O hunter, and O blower of the horn,", "Harper, and thou hast been a rover too,", "For, ere I mated with my shambling king,", "Ye twain had fallen out about the bride", "Of one--his name is out of me--the prize,", "If prize she were--(what marvel--she could see)", "Thine, friend; and ever since my craven seeks", "To wreck thee villainously: but, O Sir Knight,", "What dame or damsel have ye kneel'd to last?\"", "", "", "And Tristram, \"Last to my Queen Paramount,", "Here now to my Queen Paramount of love", "And loveliness--ay, lovelier than when first", "Her light feet fell on our rough Lyonnesse,", "Sailing from Ireland.\" Softly laugh'd Isolt;", "\"Flatter me not, for hath not our great Queen", "My dole of beauty trebled?\" and he said,", "\"Her beauty is her beauty, and thine thine,", "And thine is more to me--soft, gracious, kind--", "Save when thy Mark is kindled on thy lips", "Most gracious; but she, haughty ev'n to him,", "Lancelot; for I have seen him wan enow", "To make one doubt if ever the great Queen", "Have yielded him her love.\"", "", "", "To whom Isolt,", "\"Ah then, false hunter and false harper, thou", "Who brakest thro' the scruple of my bond,", "Calling me thy white hind, and saying to me", "That Guinevere had sinn'd against the highest,", "And I--misyoked with such a want of man--", "That I could hardly sin against the lowest.\"", "", "", "He answer'd, \"O my soul, be comforted!", "If this be sweet, to sin in leading-strings,", "If here be comfort, and if ours be sin,", "Crown'd warrant had we for the crowning sin", "That made us happy: but how ye greet me--fear", "And fault and doubt--no word of that fond tale--", "Thy deep heart-yearnings, thy sweet memories", "Of Tristram in that year he was away.\"", "", "", "And, saddening on the sudden, spake Isolt,", "\"I had forgotten all in my strong joy", "To see thee--yearnings?--ay! for, hour by hour,", "Here in the never-ended afternoon,", "O sweeter than all memories of thee,", "Deeper than any yearnings after thee", "Seem'd those far-rolling, westward-smiling seas,", "Watch'd from this tower. Isolt of Britain dash'd", "Before Isolt of Brittany on the strand,", "Would that have chill'd her bride-kiss? Wedded her?", "Fought in her father's battles? wounded there?", "The King was all fulfill'd with gratefulness,", "And she, my namesake of the hands, that heal'd", "Thy hurt and heart with unguent and caress--", "Well--can I wish her any huger wrong", "Than having known thee? her too hast thou left", "To pine and waste in those sweet memories.", "O were I not my Mark's, by whom all men", "Are noble, I should hate thee more than love.\"", "", "", "And Tristram, fondling her light hands, replied,", "\"Grace, Queen, for being loved: she loved me well.", "Did I love her? the name at least I loved.", "Isolt?--I fought his battles, for Isolt!", "The night was dark; the true star set. Isolt!", "The name was ruler of the dark--Isolt?", "Care not for her! patient, and prayerful, meek,", "Pale-blooded, she will yield herself to God.\"", "", "", "And Isolt answer'd, \"Yea, and why not I?", "Mine is the larger need, who am not meek,", "Pale-blooded, prayerful. Let me tell thee now.", "Here one black, mute midsummer night I sat,", "Lonely, but musing on thee, wondering where,", "Murmuring a light song I had heard thee sing,", "And once or twice I spake thy name aloud.", "Then flash'd a levin-brand; and near me stood,", "In fuming sulphur blue and green, a fiend--", "Mark's way to steal behind one in the dark--", "For there was Mark: 'He has wedded her,' he said,", "Not said, but hiss'd it: then this crown of towers", "So shook to such a roar of all the sky,", "That here in utter dark I swoon'd away,", "And woke again in utter dark, and cried,", "'I will flee hence and give myself to God'--", "And thou wert lying in thy new leman's arms.\"", "", "", "Then Tristram, ever dallying with her hand,", "\"May God be with thee, sweet, when old and gray,", "And past desire!\" a saying that anger'd her.'", "\"`May God be with thee, sweet, when thou art old,", "And sweet no more to me!' I need Him now.", "For when had Lancelot utter'd aught so gross", "Ev'n to the swineherd's malkin in the mast?", "The greater man, the greater courtesy.", "Far other was the Tristram, Arthur's knight!", "But thou, thro' ever harrying thy wild beasts--", "Save that to touch a harp, tilt with a lance", "Becomes thee well--art grown wild beast thyself.", "How darest thou, if lover, push me even", "In fancy from thy side, and set me far", "In the gray distance, half a life away,", "Her to be loved no more? Unsay it, unswear!", "Flatter me rather, seeing me so weak,", "Broken with Mark and hate and solitude,", "Thy marriage and mine own, that I should suck", "Lies like sweet wines: lie to me: I believe.", "Will ye not lie? not swear, as there ye kneel,", "And solemnly as when ye sware to him", "The man of men, our King--My God, the power", "Was once in vows when men believed the King!", "They lied not then, who sware, and thro' their vows", "The King prevailing made his realm:--I say,", "Swear to me thou wilt love me ev'n when old,", "Gray-hair'd, and past desire, and in despair.\"", "", "", "Then Tristram, pacing moodily up and down,", "\"Vows! did you keep the vow you made to Mark", "More than I mine? Lied, say ye? Nay, but learnt,", "The vow that binds too strictly snaps itself--", "My knighthood taught me this--ay, being snapt--", "We run more counter to the soul thereof", "Than had we never sworn. I swear no more.", "I swore to the great King, and am forsworn.", "For once--ev'n to the height--I honour'd him.", "'Man, is he man at all?' methought, when first", "I rode from our rough Lyonnesse, and beheld", "That victor of the Pagan throned in hall--", "His hair, a sun that ray'd from off a brow", "Like hillsnow high in heaven, the steel-blue eyes,", "The golden beard that clothed his lips with light--", "Moreover, that weird legend of his birth,", "With Merlin's mystic babble about his end", "Amazed me; then his foot was on a stool", "Shaped as a dragon; he seem'd to me no man,", "But Michaël trampling Satan; so I sware,", "Being amazed: but this went by--The vows!", "O ay--the wholesome madness of an hour--", "They served their use, their time; for every knight", "Believed himself a greater than himself,", "And every follower eyed him as a God;", "Till he, being lifted up beyond himself,", "Did mightier deeds than elsewise he had done,", "And so the realm was made; but then their vows--", "First mainly thro' that sullying of our Queen--", "Began to gall the knighthood, asking whence", "Had Arthur right to bind them to himself?", "Dropt down from heaven? wash'd up from out the deep?", "They fail'd to trace him thro' the flesh and blood", "Of our old kings: whence then? a doubtful lord", "To bind them by inviolable vows,", "Which flesh and blood perforce would violate:", "For feel this arm of mine--the tide within", "Red with free chase and heather-scented air,", "Pulsing full man; can Arthur make me pure", "As any maiden child? lock up my tongue", "From uttering freely what I freely hear?", "Bind me to one? The wide world laughs at it.", "And worldling of the world am I, and know", "The ptarmigan that whitens ere his hour", "Woos his own end; we are not angels here", "Nor shall be: vows--I am woodman of the woods,", "And hear the garnet-headed yaffingale", "Mock them: my soul, we love but while we may;", "And therefore is my love so large for thee,", "Seeing it is not bounded save by love.\"", "", "", "Here ending, he moved toward her, and she said,", "\"Good: an I turn'd away my love for thee", "To some one thrice as courteous as thyself--", "For courtesy wins woman all as well", "As valour may, but he that closes both", "Is perfect, he is Lancelot--taller indeed,", "Rosier and comelier, thou--but say I loved", "This knightliest of all knights, and cast thee back", "Thine own small saw, 'We love but while we may,'", "Well then, what answer?\" He that while she spake,", "Mindful of what he brought to adorn her with,", "The jewels, had let one finger lightly touch", "The warm white apple of her throat, replied,", "\"Press this a little closer, sweet, until--", "Come, I am hunger'd and half-anger'd--meat,", "Wine, wine--and I will love thee to the death,", "And out beyond into the dream to come.\"", "", "", "So then, when both were brought to full accord,", "She rose, and set before him all he will'd;", "And after these had comforted the blood", "With meats and wines, and satiated their hearts--", "Now talking of their woodland paradise,", "The deer, the dews, the fern, the founts, the lawns;", "Now mocking at the much ungainliness,", "And craven shifts, and long crane legs of Mark--", "Then Tristram laughing caught the harp, and sang:", "", "", "\"Ay, ay, O ay--the winds that bend the brier!", "A star in heaven, a star within the mere!", "Ay, ay, O ay--a star was my desire,", "And one was far apart, and one was near:", "Ay, ay, O ay--the winds that bow the grass!", "And one was water and one star was fire,", "And one will ever shine and one will pass.", "Ay, ay, O ay--the winds that move the mere.\"", "", "", "Then in the light's last glimmer Tristram show'd", "And swung the ruby carcanet. She cried,", "\"The collar of some Order, which our King", "Hath newly founded, all for thee, my soul,", "For thee, to yield thee grace beyond thy peers.\"", "", "", "\"Not so, my Queen,\" he said, \"but the red fruit", "Grown on a magic oak-tree in mid-heaven,", "And won by Tristram as a tourney-prize,", "And hither brought by Tristram for his last", "Love-offering and peace-offering unto thee.\"", "", "", "He spoke, he turn'd, then, flinging round her neck,", "Claspt it, and cried \"Thine Order, O my Queen!\"", "But, while he bow'd to kiss the jewell'd throat,", "Out of the dark, just as the lips had touch'd,", "Behind him rose a shadow and a shriek--", "\"Mark's way,\" said Mark, and clove him thro' the brain.", "", "", "That night came Arthur home, and while he climb'd,", "All in a death-dumb autumn-dripping gloom,", "The stairway to the hall, and look'd and saw", "The great Queen's bower was dark,--about his feet", "A voice clung sobbing till he question'd it,", "\"What art thou?\" and the voice about his feet", "Sent up an answer, sobbing, \"I am thy fool,", "And I shall never make thee smile again.\"" ], "linecount": "757" }, { "title": "From The Short Story A Christmas Dream, And How It Came True", "author": "Louisa May Alcott", "lines": [ "From our happy home", "Through the world we roam", "One week in all the year,", "Making winter spring", "With the joy we bring", "For Christmas-tide is here.", "", "Now the eastern star", "Shines from afar", "To light the poorest home;", "Hearts warmer grow,", "Gifts freely flow,", "For Christmas-tide has come.", "", "Now gay trees rise", "Before young eyes,", "Abloom with tempting cheer;", "Blithe voices sing,", "And blithe bells ring,", "For Christmas-tide is here.", "", "Oh, happy chime,", "Oh, blessed time,", "That draws us all so near!", "\"Welcome, dear day,\"", "All creatures say,", "For Christmas-tide is here." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "From The Short Story Shadow-Children", "author": "Louisa May Alcott", "lines": [ "Little shadows, little shadows", "Dancing on the chamber wall,", "While I sit beside the hearthstone", "Where the red flames rise and fall.", "Caps and nightgowns, caps and nightgowns,", "My three antic shadows wear;", "And no sound they make in playing,", "For the six small feet are bare.", "", "Dancing gayly, dancing gayly,", "To and fro all together,", "Like a family of daisies", "Blown about in windy weather;", "Nimble fairies, nimble fairies,", "Playing pranks in the warm glow,", "While I sing the nursery ditties", "Childish phantoms love and know.", "", "Now what happens, now what happens?", "One small shadow's tumbled down:", "I can see it on the carpet", "Softly rubbing its hurt crown.", "No one whimpers, no one whimpers;", "A brave-hearted sprite is this:", "See! the others offer comfort", "In a silent, shadowy kiss.", "", "Hush! they're creeping; hush! they're creeping,", "Up about my rocking-chair:", "I can feel their loving fingers", "Clasp my neck and touch my hair.", "Little shadows, little shadows,", "Take me captive, hold me tight,", "As they climb and cling and whisper,", "\"Mother dear, good night! good night!\"" ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "On my Sister Joanna's Entrance into Her 33rd Year", "author": "Major Henry Livingston, Jr.", "lines": [ "On this thy natal day permit a friend -", "A brother - with thy joys his own to blend:", "In all gladness he would wish to share", "As willing in thy griefs a part to bear.", "", "Meekly attend the ways of higher heav'n!", "Is much deny'd? Yet much my dear is giv'n.", "Thy health, thy reason unimpaired remain", "And while as new fal'n snows thy spotless fame", "The partner of thy life, attentive - kind -", "And blending e'en the interests of the mind.", "", "What bliss is thine when fore thy glistring eye", "Thy lovely infant train pass jocund by!", "The ruddy cheek, the smiling morning face", "Denote a healthy undegenerate race:", "In them renew'd, you'll live and live again,", "And children's children's children lisp thy name.", "Bright be the skies where'er my sister goes", "Nor scowling tempests injure her repose -", "The field of life with roses thick be strow'd", "Nor one sharp thorn lie lurking in the road.", "Thy ev'ry path be still a path of peace", "And each revolving year thy joys increase;", "Till hours and years of time itself be o'er", "And one eternal day around thee pour." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "To the Memory of Sarah Livingston", "author": "Major Henry Livingston, Jr.", "lines": [ "BEYOND where billows roll or tempests vex", "Is gone the gentlest of the gentle sex!", "---Her brittle bark on life's wild ocean tost", "Unequal to the conflict soon was lost.", "Severe her sufferings! much, alas, she bore,", "Then sunk beneath the storm & rose no more.", "But when th' Archangel's awful trump shall sound", "And vibrate life thro all the deep profound", "Her renovated vessel will be seen,", "Transcendant floating on the silver stream!", "All beauteous to behold! serene she glides", "Borne on by mildest & propitious tides;", "While fanning zephyrs fill her snow white sails", "And aid her passage with the friendliest gales", "Till safe within the destin'd port of bliss", "She furls her sails and moors in endless peace." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "To the Memory of Henry Welles Livingston", "author": "Major Henry Livingston, Jr.", "lines": [ "A gentle spirit now above", "Once animated what lies here", "Till heav'n announc'd in tenderest love", "\"Ascend Immortal to yon sphere.\"", "", "The lambkin at the great behest", "Gave up its life without one groan;", "When lo! In robes supernal drest", "He found the bright abodes his own!", "", "Most glorious and delightful scenes", "Rush'd full upon his raptur'd sense;", "Beyond what fancy ever dreams,", "Or Eden knew in innocence.", "", "Adieu! Adieu! My sweest boy,", "Adieu till life's vain dream be o'er;", "Then with a parent's keenest joy", "I'll cling to Thee to part no more." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Monody to the Memory of Chatterton", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "Chill penury repress'd his noble rage,", "And froze the genial current of his soul.", "GRAY.", "", "", "IF GRIEF can deprecate the wrath of Heaven,", "Or human frailty hope to be forgiven !", "Ere now thy sainted spirit bends its way", "To the bland regions of celestial day;", "Ere now, thy soul, immers'd in purest air", "Smiles at the triumphs of supreme Despair;", "Or bath'd in seas of endless bliss, disdains", "The vengeful memory of mortal pains;", "Yet shall the MUSE a fond memorial give", "To shield thy name, and bid thy GENIUS live.", "", "Too proud for pity, and too poor for praise,", "No voice to cherish, and no hand to raise;", "Torn, stung, and sated, with this \"mortal coil,\"", "This weary, anxious scene of fruitless toil;", "Not all the graces that to youth belong,", "Nor all the energies of sacred song;", "Nor all that FANCY, all that GENIUS gave,", "Could snatch thy wounded spirit from the grave.", "", "Hard was thy lot, from every comfort torn;", "In POVERTY'S cold arms condemn'd to mourn;", "To live by mental toil, e'en when the brain", "Could scarce its trembling faculties sustain;", "To mark the dreary minutes slowly creep:", "Each day to labour, and each night to weep;", "'Till the last murmur of thy frantic soul,", "In proud concealment from its mansion stole,", "While ENVY springing from her lurid cave,", "Snatch'd the young LAURELS from thy rugged grave.", "So the pale primrose, sweetest bud of May,", "Scarce wakes to beauty, ere it feels decay;", "While baleful weeds their hidden n poisons pour,", "Choke the green sod, and wither every flow'r.", "", "Immur'd in shades, from busy scenes remov'd;", "No sound to solace,­but the verse he lov'd:", "No soothing numbers harmoniz'd his ear;", "No feeling bosom gave his griefs a tear;", "Obscurely born­no gen'rous friend he found", "To lead his trembling steps o'er classic ground.", "No patron fill'd his heart with flatt'ring hope,", "No tutor'd lesson gave his genius scope;", "Yet, while poetic ardour nerv'd each thought,", "And REASON sanction'd what AMBITION taught;", "He soar'd beyond the narrow spells that bind", "The slow perceptions of the vulgar mind;", "The fire once kindled by the breath of FAME,", "Her restless pinions fann'd the glitt'ring flame;", "Warm'd by its rays, he thought each vision just;", "For conscious VIRTUE seldom feels DISTRUST.", "", "Frail are the charms delusive FANCY shows,", "And short the bliss her fickle smile bestows;", "Yet the bright prospect pleas'd his dazzled view,", "Each HOPE seem'd ripened, and each PHANTOM true;", "Fill'd with delight, his unsuspecting mind", "Weigh'd not the grov'ling treach'ries of mankind;", "For while a niggard boon his Savants supply'd,", "And NATURE'S claims subdued the voice of PRIDE:", "His timid talents own'd a borrow'd name,", "And gain'd by FICTION what was due to FAME.", "", "With secret labour, and with taste refin'd,", "This son of mis'ry form'd his infant mind !", "When op'ning Reason's earliest scenes began,", "The dawn of childhood mark'd the future man !", "He scorn'd the puerile sports of vulgar boys,", "His little heart aspir'd to nobler joys;", "Creative Fancy wing'd his few short hours,", "While soothing Hope adorn'd his path with flow'rs,", "Yet FAME'S recording hand no trophy gave,", "Save the sad TEAR­to decorate his grave.", "", "Yet in this dark, mysterious scene of woe,", "Conviction's flame shall shed a radiant glow;", "His infant MUSE shall bind with nerves of fire", "The sacrilegious hand that stabs its sire.", "Methinks, I hear his wand'ring shade complain,", "While mournful ECHO lingers on the strain;", "Thro' the lone aisle his restless spirit calls,", "His phantom glides along the minster's § walls;", "Where many an hour his devious footsteps trod,", "Ere Fate resign'd him TO HIS PITYING GOD.", "", "Yet, shall the MUSE to gentlest sorrow prone", "Adopt his cause, and make his griefs her own;", "Ne'er shall her CHATTERTON's neglected name,", "Fade in inglorious dreams of doubtful fame;", "Shall he, whose pen immortal GENIUS gave,", "Sleep unlamented in an unknown grave?", "No, ­the fond MUSE shall spurn the base neglect,", "The verse she cherish'd she shall still protect.", "", "And if unpitied pangs the mind can move,", "Or graceful numbers warm the heart to love;", "If the fine raptures of poetic fire", "Delight to vibrate on the trembling lyre;", "If sorrow claims the kind embalming tear,", "Or worth oppress'd, excites a pang sincere?", "Some kindred soul shall pour the song divine,", "And with the cypress bough the laurel twine,", "Whose weeping leaves the wint'ry blast shall wave", "In mournful murmurs o'er thy unbless'd grave.", "", "And tho' no lofty VASE or sculptur'd BUST", "Bends o'er the sod that hides thy sacred dust;", "Tho' no long line of ancestry betrays", "The PRIDE of RELATIVES, or POMP of PRAISE.", "Tho' o'er thy name a blushing nation rears", "OBLIVION'S wing­ to hide REFLECTION'S tears!", "Still shall thy verse in dazzling lustre live,", "And claim a brighter wreath THAN WEALTH CAN GIVE." ], "linecount": "107" }, { "title": "Stanzas to the Rose", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "SWEET PICTURE of Life's chequer'd hour!", "Ah, wherefore droop thy blushing head?", "Tell me, oh tell me, hap'less flow'r,", "Is it because thy charms are fled?", "Come, gentle ROSE, and learn from me", "A lesson of Philosophy.", "", "Thy scented buds, LIFE'S joys disclose;", "They strew our paths with magic sweets;", "Where many a thorn like thine, fair ROSE,", "Full oft the weary wand'rer meets;", "And when he sees thy charms depart,", "He feels thy thorn within his heart.", "", "When Morn's bright torch illum'd the sky,", "Vainly thy flaunting buds display'd", "Enamell'd leaves of crimson die,", "Ill-fated blossoms doom'd to fade;", "So 'tis with BEAUTY, hapless flow'r,", "Its lustre blooms but for an hour.", "", "Come blushing ROSE, and on my breast", "Recline thy gentle head, and die;", "Thy scatter'd leaves shall there be press'd,", "Bath'd with a tear from PITY'S eye;", "There shall thy balmy sweets impart", "An essence grateful to my heart.", "", "Thus SYMPATHY, with lenient pow'r,", "Shall bid thy fading charms bestow", "Soft odours for life's happy hour,", "Kind, healing balsam for its woe!", "If such thy virtues, ROSE DIVINE!", "OH ! MAY THY ENVIED FATE BE MINE." ], "linecount": "30" }, { "title": "Sonnet X: Dang'rous to Hear", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "Dang'rous to hear, is that melodious tongue,", "And fatal to the sense those murd'rous eyes,", "Where in a sapphire sheath, Love's arrow lies,", "Himself conceal'd the crystal haunts among!", "Oft o'er that form, enamour'd have I hung,", "On that smooth cheek to mark the deep'ning dyes,", "While from that lip the fragrant breath would rise,", "That lip, like Cupid's bow with rubies strung!", "Still let me gaze upon that polish'd brow,", "O'er which the golden hair luxuriant plays;", "So, on the modest lily's leaves of snow", "The proud Sun revels in resplendent rays!", "Warm as his beams this sensate heart shall glow,", "Till life's last hour, with Phaon's self decays!" ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet. Inscribed to Her Grace the Duchess of Devonshire", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "'TIS NOT thy flowing hair of orient gold,", "Nor those bright eyes, like sapphire gems that glow;", "Nor cheek of blushing rose, nor breast of snow,", "The varying passions of the heart could hold:", "", "Those locks, too soon, shall own a silv'ry ray,", "Those radiant orbs their magic fires forego;", "Insatiate TIME shall steal those tints away,", "Warp thy fine form, and bend thy beauties low:", "", "But the rare wonders of thy polish'd MIND", "Shall mock the empty menace of decay;", "The GEM, that in thy SPOTLESS BREAST enshrin'd,", "Glows with the light of intellectual ray;", "Shall, like the Brilliant, scorn each borrow'd aid,", "And deck'd with native lustre NEVER FADE!" ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Ode to Beauty", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "EXULTING BEAUTY,­phantom of an hour,", "Whose magic spells enchain the heart,", "Ah ! what avails thy fascinating pow'r,", "Thy thrilling smile, thy witching art ?", "Thy lip, where balmy nectar glows;", "Thy cheek, where round the damask rose", "A thousand nameless Graces move,", "Thy mildly speaking azure eyes,", "Thy golden hair, where cunning Love", "In many a mazy ringlet lies?", "Soon as thy radiant form is seen,", "Thy native blush, thy timid mien,", "Thy hour is past ! thy charms are vain!", "ILL-NATURE haunts thee with her sallow train,", "Mean JEALOUSY deceives thy list'ning ear,", "And SLANDER stains thy cheek with many a bitter tear.", "", "In calm retirement form'd to dwell,", "NATURE, thy handmaid fair and kind,", "For thee, a beauteous garland twin'd;", "The vale-nurs'd Lily's downcast bell", "Thy modest mien display'd,", "The snow-drop, April's meekest child,", "With myrtle blossoms undefil'd,", "Thy mild and spotless mind pourtray'd;", "Dear blushing maid, of cottage birth,", "'Twas thine, o'er dewy meads to stray,", "While sparkling health, and frolic mirth", "Led on thy laughing Day.", "", "Lur'd by the babbling tongue of FAME,", "Too soon, insidious FLATT'RY came;", "Flush'd VANITY her footsteps led,", "To charm thee from thy blest repose,", "While Fashion twin'd about thy head", "A wreath of wounding woes;", "See Dissipation smoothly glide,", "Cold Apathy, and puny Pride,", "Capricious Fortune, dull, and blind,", "O'er splendid Folly throws her veil,", "While Envy's meagre tribe assail", "Thy gentle form, and spotless mind.", "", "Their spells prevail! no more those eyes", "Shoot undulating fires;", "On thy wan cheek, the young rose dies,", "Thy lip's deep tint expires;", "Dark Melancholy chills thy mind;", "Thy silent tear reveals thy woe;", "TIME strews with thorns thy mazy way,", "Where'er thy giddy footsteps stray,", "Thy thoughtless heart is doom'd to find", "An unrelenting foe.", "", "'Tis thus, the infant Forest flow'r", "Bespangled o'er with glitt'ring dew,", "At breezy morn's refreshing hour,", "Glows with pure tints of varying hue,", "Beneath an aged oak's wide spreading shade,", "Where no rude winds, or beating storms invade.", "Transplanted from its lonely bed,", "No more it scatters perfumes round,", "No more it rears its gentle head,", "Or brightly paints the mossy ground;", "For ah! the beauteous bud, too soon,", "Scorch'd by the burning eye of day;", "Shrinks from the sultry glare of noon,", "Droops its enamell'd brow, and blushing, dies away." ], "linecount": "64" }, { "title": "Ode to the Moon", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "PALE GODDESS of the witching hour;", "Blest Contemplation's placid friend;", "Oft in my solitary bow'r,", "I mark thy lucid beam", "From thy crystal car descend,", "Whitening the spangled heath, and limpid sapphire stream.", "", "And oft, amidst the shades of night", "I court thy undulating light;", "When Fairies dance around the verdant ring,", "Or frisk beside the bubbling spring,", "When the thoughtless SHEPHERD'S song", "Echoes thro' the silent air,", "As he pens his fleecy care,", "Or plods with saunt'ring gait, the dewy meads along.", "", "CHASTE ORB! as thro' the vaulted sky", "Feath'ry clouds transparent sail;", "When thy languid, weeping eye,", "Sheds its soft tears upon the painted vale;", "As I ponder o'er the floods,", "Or tread with listless step, th'embow'ring woods,", "O, let thy transitory beam,", "Soothe my sad mind, with FANCY'S aëry dream.", "", "Wrapt in REFLECTION, let me trace", "O'er the vast ethereal space,", "Stars, whose twinkling fires illume", "Dark-brow'd NIGHT'S obtrusive gloom;", "Where across the concave wide;", "Flaming METEORS swiftly glide;", "Or along the milky way,", "Vapours shoot a silvery ray;", "And as I mark, thy faint reclining head,", "Sinking on Ocean's pearly bed;", "Let REASON tell my soul, thus all things fade.", "", "The Seasons change, the \"garish SUN\"", "When Day's burning car hath run", "Its fiery course, no more we view,", "While o'er the mountain's golden head,", "Streak'd with tints of crimson hue,", "Twilight's filmy curtains spread,", "Stealing o'er Nature's face, a desolating shade.", "", "Yon musky FLOW'R, that scents the earth;", "The SOD, that gave its odours birth;", "The ROCK, that breaks the torrent's force;", "The VALE, that owns its wand'ring course;", "The woodlands where the vocal throng", "Trill the wild melodious song;", "Thirsty desarts, sands that glow,", "Mountains, cap'd with flaky snow;", "Luxuriant groves, enamell'd fields,", "All, all, prolific Nature yields,", "Alike shall end; the sensate HEART,", "With all its passions, all its fire,", "Touch'd by FATE'S unerring dart,", "Shall feel its vital strength expire;", "Those eyes, that beam with FRIENDSHIP'S ray,", "And glance ineffable delight,", "Shall shrink from LIFE'S translucid day,", "And close their fainting orbs, in DEATH'S impervious night.", "", "Then what remains for mortal pow'r;", "But TIME'S dull journey to beguile;", "To deck with joy, the winged hour,", "To meet its sorrows with a patient smile;", "And when the toilsome pilgrimage shall end,", "To greet the tyrant, as a welcome friend." ], "linecount": "64" }, { "title": "Sonnet XXIX: Farewell, Ye Tow'ring Cedars", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "Farewell, ye tow'ring Cedars, in whose shade,", "Lull'd by the Nightingale, I sunk to rest,", "While spicy breezes hover'd o'er my breast", "To fan my cheek, in deep'ning tints array'd;", "While am'rous insects, humming round me, play'd,", "Each flow'r forsook, of prouder sweets in quest;", "Of glowing lips, in humid fragrance drest,", "That mock'd the Sunny Hybla's vaunted aid!", "Farewell, ye limpid rivers! Oh! farewell!", "No more shall Sappho to your grots repair;", "No more your white waves to her bosom swell,", "Or your dank weeds, entwine her floating hair;", "As erst, when Venus in her sparry cell", "Wept, to behold a brighter goddess there!" ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet XXXIV: Venus! To Thee", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "Venus! to thee, the Lesbian Muse shall sing,", "The song, which Myttellenian youths admir'd,", "when Echo, am'rous of the strain inspir'd,", "Bade the wild rocks with madd'ning plaudits ring!", "Attend my pray'r! O! Queen of rapture! bring", "To these fond arms, he, whom my soul has fir'd;", "From these fond arms remov'd; yet, still desir'd,", "Though love, exulting, spreads his varying wing!", "Oh! source of ev'ry joy! of ev'ry care", "Blest Venus! Goddess of the zone divine!", "To Phaon's bosom, Phaon's victim bear;", "So shall her warmest, tend'rest vows be thine!", "For Venus, Sappho shall a wreath prepare,", "And Love be crown'd, immortal as the Nine!" ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Elegy to the Memory of Werter", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "\"With female Fairies will thy tomb be haunted", "\"And worms will not come to thee.\" SHAKSPERE.", "", "", "WHEN from Day's closing eye the lucid tears", "Fall lightly on the bending lily's head;", "When o'er the blushing sky night's curtains spread,", "And the tall mountain's summit scarce appears;", "When languid Evening, sinking to repose,", "Her filmy mantle o'er the landscape throws;", "Of THEE I'll sing; and as the mournful song", "Glides in slow numbers the dark woods among;", "My wand'ring steps shall seek the lonely shade,", "Where all thy virtues, all thy griefs are laid!", "", "Yes, hopeless suff'rer, friendless and forlorn,", "Sweet victim of love's power; the silent tear", "Shall oft at twilight's close, and glimm'ring morn", "Gem the pale primrose that adorns thy bier,", "And as the balmy dew ascends to heaven,", "Thy crime shall steal away, thy frailty be forgiv'n.", "", "Oft by the moon's wan beam the love-lorn maid,", "Led by soft SYMPATHY, shall stroll along;", "Oft shall she listen in the Lime-tree's * shade,", "Her cold blood freezing at the night-owl's song:", "Or, when she hears the death-bell's solemn sound,", "Her light steps echoing o'er the hollow ground;", "Oft shall the trickling tear adorn her cheek,", "Thy pow'r, O SENSIBILITY ! in magic charms to speak!", "", "For the poor PILGRIM, doom'd afar to roam", "From the dear comforts of his native home,", "A glitt'ring star puts forth a silv'ry ray,", "Soothes his sad heart, and marks his tedious way;", "The short-liv'd radiance cheers the gloom of night,", "And decks Heaven's murky dome with transitory light.", "", "So from the mournful CHARLOTTE's dark-orb'd lids,", "The sainted tear of pitying VIRTUE flows;", "And the last boon, the \"churlish priest\" forbids,", "On thy lone grave the sacred drop bestows;", "There shall the sparkling dews of Evening shine,", "AND HEAVEN'S OWN INCENSE CONSECRATE THE SHRINE." ], "linecount": "38" }, { "title": "Ode to Despair", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "TERRIFIC FIEND! thou Monster fell,", "Condemn'd in haunts profane to dwell,", "Why quit thy solitary Home,", "O'er wide Creation's paths to roam?", "Pale Tyrant of the timid Heart,", "Whose visionary spells can bind", "The strongest passions of the mind,", "Freezing Life's current with thy baneful Art.", "", "Nature recoils when thou art near,", "For round thy form all plagues are seen;", "Thine is the frantic tone, the sullen mien,", "The glance of petrifying fear,", "The haggard Brow, the low'ring Eye,", "The hollow Cheek, the smother'd Sigh,", "When thy usurping fangs assail,", "The sacred Bonds of Friendship fail.", "Meek-bosom'd Pity sues in vain;", "Imperious Sorrow spurns relief,", "Feeds on the luxury of Grief,", "Drinks the hot Tear, and hugs the galling Chain.", "", "AH! plunge no more thy ruthless dart,", "In the dark centre of the guilty Heart;", "The POW'R SUPREME, with pitying eye,", "Looks on the erring Child of Misery;", "MERCY arrests the wing of Time;", "To expiate the wretch's crime;", "Insulted HEAV'N consign'd thy brand", "To the first Murd'rer's crimson hand.", "Swift o'er the earth the Monster flew,", "And round th' ensanguin'd Poisons threw,", "By CONSCIENCE goaded­driven by FEAR,", "Till the meek Cherub HOPE subdued his fell career.", "", "Thy Reign is past, when erst the brave", "Imbib'd contagion o'er the midnight lamp,", "Close pent in loathsome cells, where poisons damp", "Hung round the confines of a Living Grave; *", "Where no glimm'ring ray illum'd", "The flinty walls, where pond'rous chains", "Bound the wan Victim to the humid earth,", "Where VALOUR, GENIUS, TASTE, and WORTH,", "In pestilential caves entomb'd,", "Sought thy cold arms, and smiling mock'd their pains.", "", "THERE,­each procrastinated hour", "The woe-worn suff'rer gasping lay,", "While by his side in proud array", "Stalk'd the HUGE FIEND, DESPOTIC POW'R.", "There REASON clos'd her radiant eye,", "And fainting HOPE retir'd to die,", "Truth shrunk appall'd,", "In spells of icy Apathy enthrall'd;", "Till FREEDOM spurn'd the ignominious chain,", "And roused from Superstition's night,", "Exulting Nature claim'd her right,", "And call'd dire Vengeance from her dark domain.", "", "Now take thy solitary flight", "Amid the turbid gales of night,", "Where Spectres starting from the tomb,", "Glide along th' impervious gloom;", "Or, stretch'd upon the sea-beat shore,", "Let the wild winds, as they roar,", "Rock Thee on thy Bed of Stone;", "Or, in gelid caverns pent,", "Listen to the sullen moan", "Of subterranean winds;­or glut thy sight", "Where stupendous mountains rent", "Hurl their vast fragments from their dizzy height.", "", "At Thy approach the rifted Pine", "Shall o'er the shatter'd Rock incline,", "Whose trembling brow, with wild weeds drest,", "Frowns on the tawny EAGLE's nest;", "THERE enjoy the 'witching hour,", "And freeze in Frenzy's dire conceit,", "Or seek the Screech-owl's lone retreat,", "On the bleak rampart of some nodding Tow'r.", "In some forest long and drear,", "Tempt the fierce BANDITTI's rage,", "War with famish'd Tygers wage,", "And mock the taunts of Fear.", "", "When across the yawning deep,", "The Demons of the Tempest sweep,", "Or deaf'ning Thunders bursting cast", "Their red bolts on the shivering mast,", "While fix'd below the sea-boy stands,", "As threat'ning Death his soul dismays,", "He lifts his supplicating hands,", "And shrieks, and groans, and weeps, and prays,", "Till lost amid the floating fire", "The agonizing crew expire;", "THEN let thy transports rend the air,", "For mad'ning Anguish feeds DESPAIR.", "", "When o'er the couch of pale Disease", "The MOTHER bends, with tearful eye,", "And trembles, lest her quiv'ring sigh,", "Should wake the darling of her breast,", "Now, by the taper's feeble rays,", "She steals a last, fond, eager gaze.", "Ah, hapless Parent! gaze no more,", "Thy CHERUB soars among the Blest,", "Life's crimson Fount begins to freeze,", "His transitory scene is o'er.", "", "She starts­she raves­her burning brain,", "Consumes, unconscious of its fires,", "Dead to the Heart's convulsive Pain,", "Bewilder'd Memory retires.", "See! See! she grasps her flowing hair,", "From her fix'd eye the big drops roll,", "Her proud Affliction mocks controul,", "And riots in DESPAIR,", "Such are thy haunts, malignant Pow'r,", "There all thy murd'rous Poisons pour;", "But come not near my calm retreat,", "Where Peace and holy FRIENDSHIP meet;", "Where SCIENCE sheds a gentle ray,", "And guiltless Mirth beguiles the day,", "Where Bliss congenial to the MUSE", "Shall round my Heart her sweets diffuse,", "Where, from each restless Passion free,", "I give my noiseless hours, BLESS'D POETRY, TO THEE." ], "linecount": "118" }, { "title": "The Adieu to Love", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "LOVE, I renounce thy tyrant sway,", "I mock thy fascinating art,", "MINE, be the calm unruffled day,", "That brings no torment to the heart;", "The tranquil mind, the noiseless scene,", "Where FANCY, with enchanting mien,", "Shall in her right-hand lead along", "The graceful patroness of Song;", "Where HARMONY shall softly fling", "Her light tones o'er the dulcet string;", "And with her magic LYRE compose", "Each pang that throbs, each pulse that glows;", "Till her resistless strains dispense,", "The balm of blest INDIFFERENCE.", "", "LOVE, I defy thy vaunted pow'r!", "In still Retirement's sober bow'r", "I'll rest secure;­no fev'rish pain", "Shall dart its hot-shafts thro' my brain,", "No start'ling dreams invade my mind", "No spells my stagnate pulses bind;", "No jealous agonies impart", "Their madd'ning poisons to my heart", "But sweetly lull'd to placid rest,", "The sensate tenant of my breast", "Shall one unshaken course pursue,", "Such as thy vot'ries never knew.­", "", "SWEET SOLITUDE ! pure Nature's child,", "Fair pensive daughter of the wild;", "Nymph of the Forest; thee I press", "My weary sick'ning soul to bless;", "To give my heart the dear repose,", "That smiles unmov'd at transient woes;", "That shelter'd from Life's trivial cares,", "Each calm delicious comfort shares;", "While conscious rectitude of mind,", "Blends with each thought a bliss refin'd,", "And scorning fear's soul-chilling pow'r,", "Dares court REFLECTION'S dang'rous hour,", "To scrutinize with cautious art,", "Each hidden channel of the heart.­", "", "Ah, gentle maiden, let me stray,", "Where Innocence for ever gay,", "Shall lead me to her loveliest bow'rs", "And crown my brow with thornless flow'rs;", "And strew the weedy paths of time", "With Resignation's balm sublime;", "While Rosy SPRING, shall smiling haste,", "On light steps o'er the dewy waste,", "Eager her brightest gems to shed", "Around my verdant perfum'd bed;", "And in her train the glowing hours", "Shall bathe their wings in scented show'rs;", "And shake the fost'ring drops to earth,", "To nurse meek blossoms into birth;", "And when autumnal zephyrs fly", "Sportive, beneath the sapphire sky,", "Or in the stream their pinions lave,", "Or teach the golden sheaves to wave;", "I'll watch the ruby eye of day", "In awful lustre glide away,", "And closing sink to transient rest,", "On panting Ocean's pearly breast.", "", "O SOLITUDE ! how blest the lot", "Of her who shares thy silent cot!", "Who with celestial peace, pursues", "The pensive wand'rings of the MUSE;", "To stray unseen where'er she leads,", "O'er grassy hills and sunny meads,", "Or at the still of Night's cold noon", "To gaze upon the chilly Moon,", "While PHILOMELA'S mournful Song", "Meanders fairy haunts among,", "To tell the hopeless LOVER'S ear,", "That SYMPATHY'S FOND BIRD is near;", "Whose note shall soothe his aching heart,", "Whose grief shall emulate his smart;", "And by its sadly proud excess,", "Make every pang he suffers less;", "For oft in passion's direst woes,", "The veriest wretch can yield repose;", "While from the voice of kindred grief,", "We gain a sad, but kind relief.", "", "AH LOVE! thou barb'rous fickle boy,", "Thou semblance of delusive joy,", "Too long my heart has been thy slave:", "For thou hast seen me wildly rave,", "And with impetuous frenzy haste,", "Heedless across the thorny waste,", "And drink the cold dews, ere they fell", "On my bare bosom's burning swell;", "When bleak the wintry whirlwinds blew;", "And swift the sultry meteors flew;", "Yes, thou hast seen me, tyrant pow'r,", "At freezing midnight's witching hour,", "Start from my couch, subdu'd, oppres'd,", "While jealous anguish wrung my breast,", "While round my eager senses flew,", "Dark brow'd Suspicion's wily crew,", "Taunting my soul with restless ire,", "That set my pulsate brain on fire.", "What didst thou then ? Inhuman Boy!", "Didst thou not paint each well-feign'd joy,", "Each artful smile, each study'd grace", "That deck'd some sordid rival's face;", "Didst thou not feed my madd'ning sense", "With Love's delicious eloquence,", "While on my ear thy accents pour'd", "The voice of him my soul ador'd,", "His rapt'rous tones­his strains divine,", "And all those vows that once were mine.", "But mild Reflection's piercing ray,", "Soon chas'd the fatal dream away,", "And with it all my rending woes,", "While in its place majestic rose", "The Angel TRUTH !­her stedfast mien", "Bespoke the conscious breast serene;", "Her eye more radiant than the day", "Beam'd with persuasion's temper'd ray;", "Sweet was her voice, and while she sung", "Myriads of Seraphs hover'd round,", "Eager to iterate the sound,", "That on her heav'n-taught accents hung.", "Wond'ring I gaz'd! my throbbing breast,", "Celestial energies confest;", "Transports, before unfelt, unknown,", "Throng'd round my bosom's tremb'ling throne,", "While ev'ry nerve with rapture strange,", "Seem'd to partake the blissful change.", "", "Now with unmov'd and dauntless Eye,", "I mark thy winged arrows fly;", "No more thy baneful spells shall bind", "The purer passions of my mind;", "No more, false Love, shall jealous fears", "Inflame my check with scalding tears;", "Or shake my vanquish'd sense, or rend", "My aching heart with poignant throes,", "Or with tumultuous fevers blend,", "Self-wounding, visionary woes.­", "", "No more I'll waste the midnight hour", "In expectation's silent bow'r;", "And musing o'er thy transcripts dear,", "Efface their sorrows with a tear.", "No more with timid fondness wait", "Till morn unfolds her glitt'ring gate,", "When thy lov'd song's seraphic sound,", "Wou'd on my quiv'ring nerves rebound", "With proud delight;­no more thy blush", "Shall o'er my cheek unbidden rush,", "And scorning ev'ry strong controul,", "Unveil the tumults of my soul.", "No more when in retirement blest,", "Shalt thou obtrude upon my rest;", "And tho' encircled with delight,", "Absorb my sense, obscure my sight,", "Give to my eye the vacant glance,", "The mien that marks the mental trance;", "The fault'ring tone­the sudden start,", "The trembling hand, the bursting heart;", "The devious step, that strolls along", "Unmindful of the gazing throng;", "The feign'd indiff'rence prone to chide;", "That blazons­what it seeks to hide.", "", "Nor do I dread thy vengeful wiles,", "Thy soothing voice, thy winning smiles,", "Thy trick'ling tear, thy mien forlorn,", "Thy pray'r, thy sighs, thy oaths I scorn;", "No more on ME thy arrows show'r,", "Capricious Love­! I BRAVE THY POW'R." ], "linecount": "168" }, { "title": "Elegy to the Memory of David Garrick, Esq.", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "DEAR SHADE OF HIM, who grac'd the mimick scene,", "And charm'd attention with resistless pow'r;", "Whose wond'rous art, whose fascinating mien,", "Gave glowing rapture to the short-liv'd hour!", "", "Accept the mournful verse, the ling'ring sigh,", "The tear that faithful Mem'ry stays to shed;", "The SACRED TEAR, that from Reflection's eye,", "Drops on the ashes of the sainted dead.", "", "Lov'd by the grave, and courted by the young,", "In social comforts eminently blest;", "All hearts rever'd the precepts of thy tongue,", "And Envy's self thy eloquence confess'd.", "", "Who could like thee the soul's wild tumults paint,", "Or wake the torpid ear with lenient art?", "Touch the nice sense with pity's dulcet plaint,", "Or soothe the sorrows of the breaking heart?", "", "Who can forget thy penetrating eye,", "The sweet bewitching smile, th' empassion'd look?", "The clear deep whisper, the persuasive sigh,", "The feeling tear that Nature's language spoke?", "", "Rich in each treasure bounteous Heaven could lend,", "For private worth distinguish'd and approv'd,", "The pride of WISDOM,­VIRTUE's darling friend,", "By MANSFIELD honor'd­and by CAMDEN lov'd!", "", "The courtier's cringe, the flatt'rer's abject smile,", "The subtle arts of well-dissembled praise,", "Thy soul abhorr'd;­above the gloss of guile,", "Truth lead thy steps, and Friendship crown'd thy days.", "", "Oft in thy HAMPTON's dark embow'ring shade", "The POET's hand shall sweep the trembling string;", "While the proud tribute §to thy mem'ry paid,", "The voice of GENIUS on the gale shall fling.", "", "Yes, SHERIDAN! thy soft melodious verse", "Still vibrates on a nation's polish'd ear;", "Fondly it hover'd o'er the sable hearse,", "Hush'd the loud plaint, and triumph'd in a tear.", "", "In life united by congenial minds,", "Dear to the MUSE, to sacred friendship true;", "Around her darling's urn a wreath SHE binds,", "A deathless wreath­immortaliz'd by YOU!", "", "But say, dear shade, is kindred mem'ry flown?", "Has widow'd love at length forgot to weep?", "That no kind verse, or monumental stone,", "Marks the lone spot where thy cold relics sleep!", "", "Dear to a nation, grateful to thy muse,", "That nation's tears upon thy grave shall flow,", "For who the gentle tribute can refuse,", "Which thy fine feeling gave to fancied woe?", "", "Thou who, by many an anxious toilsome hour,", "Reap'd the bright harvest of luxuriant Fame,", "Who snatch'd from dark oblivion's barb'rous pow'r", "The radiant glories of a SHAKSPERE's name!", "", "Rembrance oft shall paint the mournful scene", "Where the slow fun'ral spread its length'ning gloom,", "Where the deep murmur, and dejected mien,", "In artless sorrow linger'd round thy tomb.", "", "And tho' no laurel'd bust, or labour'd line,", "Shall bid the passing stranger stay to weep;", "Thy SHAKSPERE's hand shall point the hallow'd shrine,", "And Britain's genius with thy ashes sleep.", "", "Then rest in peace, O ever sacred shade!", "Your kindred souls exulting FAME shall join;", "And the same wreath thy hand for SHAKSPERE made,", "Gemm'd with her tears about THY GRAVE SHALL TWINE." ], "linecount": "64" }, { "title": "Ode to the Nightingale", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "SWEET BIRD OF SORROW! ­why complain", "In such soft melody of Song,", "That ECHO, am'rous of thy Strain,", "The ling'ring cadence doth prolong?", "Ah! tell me, tell me, why,", "Thy dulcet Notes ascend the sky.", "Or on the filmy vapours glide", "Along the misty moutain's side?", "And wherefore dost Thou love to dwell,", "In the dark wood and moss-grown cell,", "Beside the willow-margin'd stream­", "Why dost Thou court wan Cynthia's beam?", "Sweet Songstress­if thy wayward fate", "Hath robb'd Thee of thy bosom's mate,", "Oh, think not thy heart-piercing moan", "Evap'rates on the breezy air,", "Or that the plaintive Song of Care", "Steals from THY Widow'd Breast alone.", "Oft have I heard thy mournful Tale,", "On the high Cliff, that o'er the Vale", "Hangs its dark brow, whose awful shade", "Spreads a deep gloom along the glade:", "Led by its sound, I've wander'd far,", "Till crimson evening's flaming Star", "On Heav'n's vast dome refulgent hung,", "And round ethereal vapours flung;", "And oft I've sought th'HYGEIAN MAID,", "In rosy dimply smiles array'd,", "Till forc'd with every HOPE to part,", "Resistless Pain subdued my Heart.", "", "Oh then, far o'er the restless deep", "Forlorn my poignant pangs I bore,", "Alone in foreign realms to weep,", "Where ENVY's voice could taunt no more.", "I hop'd, by mingling with the gay,", "To snatch the veil of Grief away;", "To break Affliction's pond'rous chain;", "VAIN was the Hope­in vain I sought", "The placid hour of careless thought,", "Where Fashion wing'd her light career,", "And sportive Pleasure danc'd along,", "Oft have I shunn'd the blithsome throng,", "To hide th'involuntary tear,", "For e'en where rapt'rous transports glow,", "From the full Heart the conscious tear will flow,", "When to my downy couch remov'd,", "FANCY recall'd my wearied mind", "To scenes of FRIENDSHIP left behind,", "Scenes still regretted, still belov'd!", "Ah, then I felt the pangs of Grief,", "Grasp my warm Heart, and mock relief;", "My burning lids Sleep's balm defied,", "And on my fev'rish lip imperfect murmurs died.", "", "Restless and sad­I sought once more", "A calm retreat on BRITAIN's shore;", "Deceitful HOPE, e'en there I found", "That soothing FRIENDSHIP's specious name", "Was but a short-liv'd empty sound,", "And LOVE a false delusive flame.", "", "Then come, Sweet BIRD, and with thy strain,", "Steal from my breast the thorn of pain;", "Blest solace of my lonely hours,", "In craggy caves and silent bow'rs,", "When HAPPY Mortals seek repose,", "By Night's pale lamp we'll chaunt our woes,", "And, as her chilling tears diffuse", "O'er the white thorn their silv'ry dews,", "I'll with the lucid boughts entwine", "A weeping Wreath, which round my Head", "Shall by the waning Cresent shine,", "And light us to our leafy bed,­", "But ah! nor leafy beds nor bow'rs", "Fring'd with soft MAY's enamell'd flow'rs,", "Nor pearly leaves, nor Cynthia's beams,", "Nor smiling Pleasure's shad'wy dreams,", "Sweet BIRD, not e'en THY melting Strains", "Can calm the Heart, where TYRANT SORROW REIGNS." ], "linecount": "77" }, { "title": "Lines to the memory of Richard Boyle, Esq.", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "\"Fate snatch'd him early to the pitying sky.\"", "", "- POPE.", "", "", "IF WORTH, too early to the grave consign'd,", "Can claim the pitying tear, or touch the mind ?", "If manly sentiments unstain'd by art,", "Could waken FRIENDSHIP, or delight the heart ?", "Ill-fated youth ! to THEE the MUSE shall pay", "The last sad tribute of a mournful lay;", "On thy lone grave shall MAY'S soft dews be shed,", "And fairest flowrets blossom o'er thy head;", "The drooping lily, and the snow-drop pale,", "Mingling their fragrant leaves, shall there recline,", "While CHERUBS hov'ring on th' ethereal gale,", "Shall chaunt a requiem o'er the hallow'd shrine.", "And if Reflection's piercing eye should scan", "The trivial frailties of imperfect MAN;", "If in thy generous heart those passions dwelt,", "Which all should own, and all that live have felt;", "Yet was thy polish'd mind so pure, so brave,", "The young admir'd thee, and the old forgave.", "", "And when stern FATE, with ruthless rancour, press'd", "Thy withering graces to her flinty breast;", "Bright JUSTICE darted from her bless'd abode,", "And bore thy VIRTUES to the throne of GOD;", "While cold OBLIVION stealing o'er thy mind,", "Each youthful folly to the grave consign'd.", "", "O, if thy purer spirit deigns to know", "Each thought that passes in this vale of woe,", "Accept the incense of a tender tear,", "By PITY wafted on a sigh sincere.", "And if the weeping MUSE a wreath could give", "To grace thy tomb, and bid thy VIRTUES live;", "THEN Wealth should blush the gilded mask to wear,", "And Avarice shrink the victim of Despair.", "While GENIUS bending o'er thy sable bier,", "Should mourn her darling SON with many a tear,", "While in her pensive form the world should view", "The ONLY PARENT that thy SORROWS knew." ], "linecount": "38" }, { "title": "Elegy on the Death of Lady Middleton", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "THE knell of death, that on the twilight gale,", "Swells its deep murmur to the pensive ear;", "In awful sounds repeats a mournful tale,", "And claims the tribute of a tender tear.", "", "The dreadful hour is past ! the mandate giv'n!", "The gentle MIDDLETON shall breathe no more,", "Yet who shall blame the wise decrees of Heaven,", "Or the dark mysteries of Fate explore?", "", "No more her converse shall delight the heart;", "No more her smile benign spread pleasure round;", "No more her liberal bosom shall impart", "The balm of pity to Affliction's wound.", "", "Her soul above the pride of noble birth,", "Above the praises of an empty name,", "By graceful MEEKNESS mark'd superior worth,", "By peerless VIRTUES claim'd the fairest fame,", "", "Nor did those Virtues flaunt their innate rays,", "To court applause, or charm the vulgar throng,", "No ostentatious glare illum'd her days,", "No idle boast escap'd her tuneful tongue.", "", "When FAME, ambitious to record her praise,", "On glitt'ring pinions spread her name afar,", "Her gentle nature shunn'd the dazzling blaze,", "Mild as the lustre of the morning star!", "", "DIVINE BENEVOLENCE around her shone!", "The chastest manners spoke her spotless mind;", "That Pow'r who gave now claims her for his own,", "Pure as the cherub she has left behind.", "", "As round her couch the winged darts of death", "Reluctant flew from Fate's unerring bow,", "Immortal angels claim'd her quivering breath,", "And snatch'd her spirit from a world of woe.", "", "Calm resignation smil'd upon her cheek,", "And HOPE'S refulgent beam illum'd her eye;", "While FAITH, celestial VIRTUE'S handmaid meek,", "On wings of seraphs bore her to the sky.", "", "Ye poor, who from her gen'rous bounty fed;", "Oh! to HER mem'ry give the fame that's due;", "For oft, from pleasure's blithe meanders led,", "Her pensive bosom felt a pang for YOU.", "", "Yet, cease to mourn a sainted Spirit gone", "To seek its resting place, beyond the skies;", "Where 'midst the glories of TH' ETERNAL's throne,", "She tastes celestial bliss THAT NEVER DIES!" ], "linecount": "44" }, { "title": "The Mistletoe (A Christmas Tale)", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "A farmer's wife, both young and gay,", "And fresh as op'ning buds of May;", "Had taken to herself, a Spouse,", "And plighted many solemn vows,", "That she a faithful mate would prove,", "In meekness, duty, and in love!", "That she, despising joy and wealth,", "Would be, in sickness and in health,", "His only comfort and his Friend--", "But, mark the sequel,--and attend!", "", "This Farmer, as the tale is told--", "Was somewhat cross, and somewhat old!", "His, was the wintry hour of life,", "While summer smiled before his wife;", "A contrast, rather form'd to cloy", "The zest of matrimonial joy!", "", "'Twas Christmas time, the peasant throng", "Assembled gay, with dance and Song:", "The Farmer's Kitchen long had been", "Of annual sports the busy scene;", "The wood-fire blaz'd, the chimney wide", "Presented seats, on either side;", "Long rows of wooden Trenchers, clean,", "Bedeck'd with holly-boughs, were seen;", "The shining Tankard's foamy ale", "Gave spirits to the Goblin tale,", "And many a rosy cheek--grew pale.", "", "It happen'd, that some sport to shew", "The ceiling held a MISTLETOE.", "A magic bough, and well design'd", "To prove the coyest Maiden, kind.", "A magic bough, which DRUIDS old", "Its sacred mysteries enroll'd;", "And which, or gossip Fame's a liar,", "Still warms the soul with vivid fire;", "Still promises a store of bliss", "While bigots snatch their Idol's kiss.", "", "This MISTLETOE was doom'd to be", "The talisman of Destiny;", "Beneath its ample boughs we're told", "Full many a timid Swain grew bold;", "Full many a roguish eye askance", "Beheld it with impatient glance,", "And many a ruddy cheek confest,", "The triumphs of the beating breast;", "And many a rustic rover sigh'd", "Who ask'd the kiss, and was denied.", "", "First MARG'RY smil'd and gave her Lover", "A Kiss; then thank'd her stars, 'twas over!", "Next, KATE, with a reluctant pace,", "Was tempted to the mystic place;", "Then SUE, a merry laughing jade", "A dimpled yielding blush betray'd;", "While JOAN her chastity to shew", "Wish'd \"the bold knaves would serve her so,\"", "She'd \"teach the rogues such wanton play!\"", "And well she could, she knew the way.", "", "The FARMER, mute with jealous care,", "Sat sullen, in his wicker chair;", "Hating the noisy gamesome host", "Yet, fearful to resign his post;", "He envied all their sportive strife", "But most he watch'd his blooming wife,", "And trembled, lest her steps should go,", "Incautious, near the MISTLETOE.", "", "Now HODGE, a youth of rustic grace", "With form athletic; manly face;", "On MISTRESS HOMESPUN turn'd his eye", "And breath'd a soul-declaring sigh!", "Old HOMESPUN, mark'd his list'ning Fair", "And nestled in his wicker chair;", "HODGE swore, she might his heart command--", "The pipe was dropp'd from HOMESPUN'S hand!", "", "HODGE prest her slender waist around;", "The FARMER check'd his draught, and frown'd!", "And now beneath the MISTLETOE", "'Twas MISTRESS HOMESPUN'S turn to go;", "Old Surly shook his wicker chair,", "And sternly utter'd--\"Let her dare!\"", "", "HODGE, to the FARMER'S wife declar'd", "Such husbands never should be spar'd;", "Swore, they deserv'd the worst disgrace,", "That lights upon the wedded race;", "And vow'd--that night he would not go", "Unblest, beneath the MISTLETOE.", "", "The merry group all recommend", "An harmless Kiss, the strife to end:", "\"Why not ?\" says MARG'RY, \"who would fear,", "\"A dang'rous moment, once a year?\"", "SUSAN observ'd, that \"ancient folks", "\"Were seldom pleas'd with youthful jokes;\"", "But KATE, who, till that fatal hour,", "Had held, o'er HODGE, unrivall'd pow'r,", "With curving lip and head aside", "Look'd down and smil'd in conscious pride,", "Then, anxious to conceal her care,", "She humm'd--\"what fools some women are!\"", "", "Now, MISTRESS HOMESPUN, sorely vex'd,", "By pride and jealous rage perplex'd,", "And angry, that her peevish spouse", "Should doubt her matrimonial vows,", "But, most of all, resolved to make", "An envious rival's bosom ache;", "Commanded Hodge to let her go,", "Nor lead her to the Mistletoe;", "", "\"Why should you ask it o'er and o'er?\"", "Cried she, \"we've been there twice before!\"", "'Tis thus, to check a rival's sway,", "That Women oft themselves betray;", "While VANITY, alone, pursuing,", "They rashly prove, their own undoing." ], "linecount": "111" }, { "title": "Sonnet to the Memory of Miss Maria Linley", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "So bends beneath the storm yon balmy flow'r,", "Whose spicy blossoms once perfum'd the gale;", "So press'd with tears reclines yon lily pale,", "Obedient to the rude and beating show'r.", "", "Still is the LARK, that hov'ring o'er yon spray,", "With jocund carol usher'd in the morn;", "And mute the NIGHTINGALE, whose tender lay", "Melted the feeling mind with sounds forlorn:", "", "More sweet, MARIA, was thy plaintive strain!", "That strain is o'er; but mem'ry ne'er shall fade,", "When erst it cheer'd grey twilight's dreary shade,", "And charm'd the sorrow-stricken soul from pain;", "STILL, STILL, melodious maid, thy dulcet song", "Shall breathe, immortal, on an ANGEL'S TONGUE!" ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Stanzas to a Friend", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "AH! think no more that Life's delusive joys,", "Can charm my thoughts from FRIENDSHIP'S dearer claim;", "Or wound a heart, that scarce a wish employs,", "For age to censure, or discretion blame.", "", "Tir'd of the world, my weary mind recoils", "From splendid scenes, and transitory joys;", "From fell Ambition's false and fruitless toils,", "From hope that flatters, and from bliss that cloys.", "", "With THEE, above the taunts of empty pride,", "The rigid frowns to youthful error given;", "Content in solitude my griefs I'll hide,", "Thy voice my counsellor­thy smiles my Heaven.", "", "With thee I'll hail the morn's returning ray,", "Or climb the dewy mountain bleak and cold;", "On the smooth lake observe the sun-beams play,", "Or mark the infant flow'rs their buds unfold.", "", "Pleas'd will I watch the glitt'ring queen of Night", "Spread her white mantle o'er the face of Heaven;", "And from thy converse snatch the pure delight,", "By truth sublime to MENTAL feeling given.", "", "And as the varying seasons glide away,", "This moral lesson shall my bosom learn,", "How TIME steals on, while blissful hours decay", "Like fleeting shadows;­NEVER to return.", "", "And when I see thy warm unspotted mind,", "Torn with the wound of broken FRIENDSHIP'S dart;", "When sickness chills thy breast with pangs unkind,", "Or ruthless sorrow preys upon thy heart;", "", "The task be MINE to soothe thee to repose,", "To check the sigh, and wipe the trickling tear,", "Or with soft SYMPATHY to share thy woes;", "O, proudest rapture of the soul sincere !", "", "And ye who flutter thro' the vacant hour,", "Where tasteless Apathy's empoison'd wand", "Arrests the vagrant sense with numbing pow'r,", "While vanquish'd REASON bows at her command.", "", "O say, what bliss can transient Life bestow,", "What balm so grateful to the social mind,", "As FRIENDSHIP'S voice­where gentle precepts flow", "From the blest source of sentiment refin'd?", "", "When FATE'S stern hand shall close my weeping eye,", "And seal, at length, my wand'ring spirit's doom;", "Oh! may kind FRIENDSHIP catch my parting sigh,", "And cheer with HOPE the terrors of the TOMB." ], "linecount": "44" }, { "title": "The Reply to Time", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "O TIME, forgive the mournful song", "That on thy pinions stole along,", "When the rude hand of pain severe", "Chas'd down my cheek the burning tear;", "When sorrow chill'd each warm desire", "That kindles FANCY'S lambent fire;", "When HOPE, by fost'ring FRIENDSHIP rear'd,", "A phantom of the brain appear'd;", "Forgive the song, devoid of art,", "That stole spontaneous from my heart;", "For when that heart shall throb no more,", "And all its keen regrets be o'er;", "Should kind remembrance shed one tear", "To sacred FRIENDSHIP o'er my bier;", "When the dark precincts of the tomb,", "Shall hide me in its deepest gloom;", "O! should'st thou on thy wafting wing", "The sigh of gentle sorrow bring;", "Or fondly deign to bear the name", "Of one, alas! unknown to fame;", "Then, shall my weak untutor'd rhyme,", "Exulting boast the gifts of TIME.", "", "But while I feel youth's vivid fire", "Fann'd by the breath of care expire;", "While no blest ray of HOPE divine,", "O'er my chill'd bosom deigns to shine:", "While doom'd to mark the vapid day", "In tasteless languor waste away:", "Still, still, my sad and plaintive rhyme", "Must blame the ruthless pow'r of TIME.", "", "Each infant flow'r of rainbow hue,", "That bathes its head in morning dew,", "At twilight droops; the mountain PINE,", "Whose high and waving brows incline", "O'er the white cataract's foamy way,", "Shall at THY withering touch decay!", "The craggy cliffs that proudly rise", "In awful splendour 'midst the skies,", "Shall to the vale in fragments roll,", "Obedient to thy fell controul!", "The loftiest fabric rear'd to fame;", "The sculptur'd BUST, the POET'S name;", "The softest tint of TITIAN die;", "The boast of magic MINSTRELSY;", "The vows to holy FRIENDSHIP dear;", "The sainted smile of LOVE sincere,", "The flame that warms th' empassion'd heart;", "All that fine feeling can impart;", "The wonders of exterior grace;", "The spells that bind the fairest face;", "Fade in oblivion's torpid hour", "The victims of thy TYRANT POW'R!" ], "linecount": "52" }, { "title": "Elegy to the Memory of Richard Boyle, Esq.", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "NEAR yon bleak mountain's dizzy height,", "That hangs o'er AVON's silent wave;", "By the pale Crescent's glimm'ring light,", "I sought LORENZO's lonely grave.", "", "O'er the long grass the silv'ry dew,", "Soft Twilight's tears spontaneous shone;", "And the dank bough of baneful yew", "Supply'd the place of sculptured stone.", "", "Oft, as my trembling steps drew near,", "The aëry voice of FANCY gave", "The plaint of GENIUS to mine ear,", "That, lingering, murmur'd on his grave.", "", "\"Cold is that heart, where honour glow'd,", "And Friendship's flame sublimely shone,", "And clos'd that eye where Pity flow'd,", "For ev'ry suff'ring but HIS OWN.", "", "\"That form where youth and grace conspir'd,", "To captivate admiring eyes,", "No more belov'd, no more admir'd,", "A torpid mass neglected lies.", "", "\"Mute is the music of that tongue,", "Once tuneful as the voice of love,", "When ORPHEUS, by his magic song,", "Taught trees, and flinty rocks to move.", "", "\"Oft shall the pensive MUSE be found,", "Sprinkling with flow'rs his mould'ring clay;", "While soft-eyed SORROW wand'ring round,", "Shall pluck intruding weeds away.\"", "", "Sad victim of the sordid mind,", "That doom'd THEE to an early grave;", "Ne'er shall HER breast that pity find,", "Which thy forgiveness nobly gave!", "", "Thou, who, when SORROW'S icy hand", "Forbad the healthsome pulse to flow,", "Obedient to HER stern command,", "With meek submission bow'd thee low!", "", "And when thy faded cheek proclaim'd", "The thorn that rankled in thy breast,", "Thy steady soul that pride maintain'd,", "Which marks the godlike mind distress'd!", "", "Nor was thy mental strength subdu'd,", "When HOPE's last ling'ring shadows fled,", "Unchang'd, thy dauntless spirit view'd", "The dreary confines of the dead!", "", "And when thy penetrating mind,", "Life's thorny maze presum'd to scan,", "In ev'ry path condemn'd to find", "\"The low ingratitude of man.\"", "", "Indignant would'st thou turn away,", "And smiling raise thy languid eye,", "And oft thy feeble voice would say,", "\"TO ME 'TIS HAPPINESS TO DIE.\"", "", "And tho' thy FRIEND, I with skilful art,", "To heal thy woes, each balm apply'd;", "Tho' the fine feelings of his heart,", "Nor cost nor studious care deny'd!", "", "He saw the fatal hour draw near,", "He saw THEE fading to the grave;", "He gave his last kind gift, A TEAR,", "And mourn'd the worth he could not save.", "", "Nor could the ruthless breath of FATE", "Snatch from thy grave the tender sigh;", "Nor a relentless monster's hate", "Impede thy passage to the sky.", "", "And tho' no kindred tears were shed,", "No tribute to thy memory giv'n;", "Sublime in death, thy spirit fled,", "To seek its best reward IN HEAVEN!" ], "linecount": "68" }, { "title": "Ode to the Muse", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "O, let me seize thy pen sublime", "That paints, in melting dulcet rhyme,", "The glowing pow'r, the magic art,", "Th' extatic raptures of the Heart;", "Soft Beauty's timid smile serene,", "The dimples of Love's sportive mien;", "The sweet descriptive tale to trace;", "To picture Nature's winning grace;", "To steal the tear from Pity's eye;", "To catch the sympathetic sigh;", "O teach me, with swift light'nings force", "To watch wild passion's varying course;", "To mark th' enthusiast's vivid fire,", "Or calmly touch thy golden lyre,", "While gentle Reason mildly sings", "Responsive to the trembling strings.", "", "SWEET Nymph, enchanting Poetry!", "I dedicate my mind to Thee.", "Oh! from thy bright Parnassian bow'rs", "Descend, to bless my sombre hours;", "Bend to the earth thy eagle wing,", "And on its glowing plumage bring", "Blithe FANCY, from whose burning eye", "The young ideas sparkling fly;", "O, come, and let us fondly stray,", "Where rosy Health shall lead the way,", "And soft FAVONIUS lightly spread", "A perfum'd carpet as we tread;", "Ah! let us from the world remove,", "The calm forgetfulness to prove,", "Which at the still of evening's close,", "Lulls the tir'd peasant to repose;", "Repose, whose balmy joys o'er-pay", "The sultry labours of the day.", "", "And when the blue-ey'd dawn appears,", "Just peeping thro' her veil of tears;", "Or blushing opes her silver gate,", "And on its threshold, stands elate,", "And flings her rosy mantle far", "O'er every loit'ring dewy star;", "And calls the wanton breezes forth,", "And sprinkles diamonds o'er the earth;", "While in the green-wood's shade profound,", "The insect race, with buzzing sound", "Flit o'er the rill,­a glitt'ring train,", "Or swarm along the sultry plain.", "Then in sweet converse let us rove,", "Where in the thyme-embroider'd grove,", "The musky air its fragrance pours", "Upon the silv'ry scatter'd show'rs;", "To hail soft Zephyr, as she goes", "To fan the dew-drop from the rose;", "To shelter from the scorching beam,", "And muse beside the rippling stream.", "", "Or when, at twilight's placid hour,", "We stroll to some sequester'd bow'r;", "And watch the haughty Sun retire", "Beneath his canopy of fire;", "While slow the dusky clouds enfold", "Day's crimson curtains fring'd with gold;", "And o'er the meadows faintly fly", "Pale shadows of the purpling sky:", "While softly o'er the pearl-deck'd plain,", "Cold Dian leads the sylvan train;", "In mazy dance and sportive glee,", "SWEET MUSE, I'll fondly turn to thee;", "And thou shalt deck my couch with flow'rs,", "And wing with joy my silent hours.", "", "When Sleep, with downy hand, shall spread", "A wreath of poppies round my head;", "Then, FANCY, on her wing sublime,", "Shall waft me to the sacred clime", "Where my enlighten'd sense shall view,", "Thro' ether realms of azure hue,", "That flame, where SHAKESPEARE us'd to fill,", "With matchless fire, his \"golden quill.\"", "While, from its point bright Genius caught", "The wit supreme, the glowing thought,", "The magic tone, that sweetly hung", "About the music of his tongue.", "Then will I skim the floating air,", "On a light couch of gossamer,", "While with my wonder-aching eye,", "I contemplate the spangled sky,", "And hear the vaulted roof repeat", "The song of Inspiration sweet;", "While round the winged cherub train,", "Shall iterate the aëry strain:", "Swift, thro' my quiv'ring nerves shall float", "The tremours of each thrilling note;", "And every eager sense confess", "Extatic transport's wild excess:", "'Till, waking from the glorious dream,", "I hail the morn's refulgent beam.", "", "DEAR Maid! of ever-varying mien,", "Exulting, pensive, gay, serene,", "Now, in transcendent pathos drest,", "Now, gentle as the turtle's breast;", "Where'er thy feath'ry steps shall lead,", "To side-long hill, or flow'ry mead;", "To sorrow's coldest, darkest cell,", "Or where, by Cynthia's glimm'ring ray,", "The dapper fairies frisk and play", "About some cowslip's golden bell;", "And, in their wanton frolic mirth,", "Pluck the young daisies from the earth,", "To canopy their tiny heads,", "And decorate their verdant beds;", "While to the grass-hopper's shrill tune,", "They quaff libations to the moon,", "From acorn goblets, amply fill'd", "With dew, from op'ning flow'rs distill'd.", "Or when the lurid tempest pours,", "From its dark urn, impetuous show'rs,", "Or from its brow's terrific frown,", "Hurls the pale murd'rous lightnings down;", "To thy enchanting breast I'll spring,", "And shield me with thy golden wing.", "", "Or when amidst ethereal fire,", "Thou strik'st thy DELLA CRUSCAN lyre,", "While round, to catch the heavenly song,", "Myriads of wond'ring seraphs throng:", "Whether thy harp's empassioned strain", "Pours forth an OVID's tender pain;", "Or in PINDARIC flights sublime,", "Re-echoes thro' the starry clime;", "Thee I'll adore; transcendent guest,", "And woe thee to my burning breast.", "", "But, if thy magic pow'rs impart", "One soft sensation to the heart,", "If thy warm precepts can dispense", "One thrilling transport o'er my sense;", "Oh! keep thy gifts, and let me fly,", "In APATHY's cold arms to die." ], "linecount": "134" }, { "title": "Sonnet XXIII: To Aetna's Scorching Sands", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "To AEtna's scorching sands my Phaon flies!", "False Youth! can other charms attractive prove?", "Say, can Sicilian loves thy passions move,", "Play round thy heart, and fix thy fickle eyes,", "While in despair the Lesbian Sappho dies?", "Has Spring for thee a crown of poppies wove,", "Or dost thou languish in th' Idalian grove,", "Whose altar kindles, fann'd by Lover's sighs?", "Ah! think, that while on AEtna's shores you stray,", "A fire, more fierce than AEtna's, fills my breast;", "Nor deck Sicilian nymphs with garlands gay,", "While Sappho's brows with cypress wreaths are drest;", "Let one kind word my weary woes repay,", "Or, in eternal slumbers bid them rest." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "To Memory", "author": "Mary Elizabeth Coleridge", "lines": [ "Strange Power, I know not what thou art,", "Murderer or mistress of my heart.", "I know I'd rather meet the blow", "Of my most unrelenting foe", "Than live---as now I live---to be", "Slain twenty times a day by thee.", "", "Yet, when I would command thee hence,", "Thou mockest at the vain pretence,", "Murmuring in mine ear a song", "Once loved, alas! forgotten long;", "And on my brow I feel a kiss", "That I would rather die than miss." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "To a Child of Quality, Five Years Old, 1704. The Author then Forty", "author": "Matthew Prior", "lines": [ "LORDS, knights, and squires, the numerous band", " That wear the fair Miss Mary's fetters,", "Were summoned by her high command", " To show their passions by their letters.", "", "My pen amongst the rest I took,", " Lest those bright eyes, that cannot read,", "Should dart their kindling fire, and look", " The power they have to be obey'd.", "", "Nor quality, nor reputation,", " Forbid me yet my flame to tell;", "Dear Five-years-old befriends my passion,", " And I may write till she can spell.", "", "For, while she makes her silkworms beds", " With all the tender things I swear;", "Whilst all the house my passion reads,", " In papers round her baby's hair;", "", "She may receive and own my flame;", " For, though the strictest prudes should know it,", "She'll pass for a most virtuous dame,", " And I for an unhappy poet.", "", "Then too, alas! when she shall tear", " The rhymes some younger rival sends,", "She'll give me leave to write, I fear,", " And we shall still continue friends.", "", "For, as our different ages move,", " 'Tis so ordain'd (would Fate but mend it!),", "That I shall be past making love", " When she begins to comprehend it." ], "linecount": "28" }, { "title": "A Letter to Lady Margaret Cavendish Holles-Harley, when a Child", "author": "Matthew Prior", "lines": [ "MY noble, lovely, little Peggy,", "Let this my First Epistle beg ye,", "At dawn of morn, and close of even,", "To lift your heart and hands to Heaven.", "In double duty say your prayer:", "Our Father first, then Notre Pere.", "", "And, dearest child, along the day,", "In every thing you do and say,", "Obey and please my lord and lady,", "So God shall love and angels aid ye.", "", "If to these precepts you attend,", "No second letter need I send,", "And so I rest your constant friend." ], "linecount": "13" }, { "title": "Ode to the Cambro-Britons and their Harp, His Ballad of Agi", "author": "Michael Drayton", "lines": [ "Fair stood the wind for France,", "When we our sails advance;", "Nor now to prove our chance", "Longer will tarry;", "But putting to the main,", "At Caux, the mouth of Seine,", "With all his martial train", "Landed King Harry.", "", "And taking many a fort,", "Furnish'd in warlike sort,", "Marcheth towards Agincourt", "In happy hour;", "Skirmishing day by day", "With those that stopp'd his way,", "Where the French gen'ral lay", "With all his power.", "", "Which, in his height of pride,", "King Henry to deride,", "His ransom to provide", "To the King sending;", "Which he neglects the while,", "As from a nation vile", "Yet with an angry smile", "Their fall portending.", "", "And turning to his men", "Quoth our brave Henry then:", "\"Though they to one be ten", "Be not amazed.", "Yet have we well begun:", "Battles so bravely won", "Have ever to the sun", "By Fame been raised!", "", "\"And for myself,\" quoth he,", "\"This my full rest shall be:", "England ne'er mourn for me,", "Nor more esteem me;", "Victor I will remain,", "Or on this earth lie slain;", "Never shall she sustain", "Loss to redeem me!", "", "\"Poitiers and Cressy tell", "When most their pride did swell", "Under our swords they fell;", "No less our skill is", "Than when our grandsire great,", "Claiming the regal seat,", "By many a warlike feat", "Lopp'd the French lilies.\"", "", "The Duke of York so dread", "The eager vaward led;", "With the main Henry sped", "Amongst his henchmen:", "Excester had the rear,", "A braver man not there", "O Lord, how hot they were", "On the false Frenchmen!", "", "They now to fight are gone;", "Armour on armour shone;", "Drum now to drum did groan:", "To hear, was wonder;", "That, with cries they make,", "The very earth did shake;", "Trumpet to trumpet spake,", "Thunder to thunder.", "", "Well it thine age became,", "O noble Erpingham,", "Which didst the signal aim", "To our hid forces;", "When, from a meadow by,", "Like a storm suddenly,", "The English archery", "Stuck the French horses", "", "With Spanish yew so strong,", "Arrows a cloth-yard long,", "That like to serpents stung,", "Piercing the weather.", "None from his fellow starts,", "But playing manly parts,", "And like true English hearts", "Stuck close together.", "", "When down their bows they threw,", "And forth their bilboes drew,", "And on the French they flew,", "Not one was tardy;", "Arms were from shoulders sent,", "Scalps to the teeth were rent,", "Down the French peasants went:", "Our men were hardy.", "", "This while our noble King,", "His broad sword brandishing,", "Down the French host did ding,", "As to o'erwhelm it.", "And many a deep wound lent,", "His arms with blood besprent,", "And many a cruel dent", "Bruised his helmet.", "", "Gloster, that duke so good,", "Next of the royal blood,", "For famous England stood", "With his brave brother.", "Clarence, in steel so bright,", "Though but a maiden knight,", "Yet in that furious fight", "Scarce such another!", "", "Warwick in blood did wade,", "Oxford the foe invade,", "And cruel slaughter made,", "Still as they ran up.", "Suffolk his axe did ply;", "Beaumont and Willoughby", "Bare them right doughtily;", "Ferrers and Fanhope.", "", "Upon Saint Crispin's Day", "Fought was this noble fray,", "Which fame did not delay", "To England to carry.", "O when shall English men", "With such acts fill a pen,", "Or England breed again", "Such a King Harry?" ], "linecount": "120" }, { "title": "Sonnet XV: Since to Obtain Thee", "author": "Michael Drayton", "lines": [ "His Remedy for Love", "", "Since to obtain thee nothing will be stead,", "I have a med'cine that shall cure my love,", "The powder of her heart dried, when she is dead,", "That gold nor honor ne'er had power to move,", "Mixt with her tears, that ne'er her true-love crost", "Nor at fifteen ne'er long'd to be a bride,", "Boil'd with her sighs in giving up the ghost,", "That for her late deceased husband died;", "Into the same then let a woman breathe,", "That, being chid, did never word reply,", "With one thrice-married's prayers, that did bequeath", "A legacy to stale virginity.", "If this receipt have not the power to win me,", "Little I'll say, but think the Devil's in me." ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "Sonnet X: To Nothing Fitter", "author": "Michael Drayton", "lines": [ "To nothing fitter can I thee compare", "Than to the son of some rich penny-father,", "Who, having now brought on his end with care,", "Leaves to his son all he had heap'd together;", "This new rich novice, lavish of his chest,", "To one man gives, doth on another spend,", "Then here he riots, yet among the rest", "Haps to lend some to one true honest friend.", "Thy gifts thou in obscurity dost waste,", "False friends thy kindness, born but to deceive thee,", "Thy love that is on the unworthy plac'd,", "Time hath thy beauty, which with age will leave thee;", "Only that little which to me was lent", "I give thee back, when all the rest is spent." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "To the Reader of These Sonnets", "author": "Michael Drayton", "lines": [ "Into these Loves who but for Passion looks,", "At this first sight here let him lay them by", "And seek elsewhere, in turning other books,", "Which better may his labor satisfy.", "No far-fetch'd sigh shall ever wound my breast,", "Love from mine eye a tear shall never wring,", "Nor in Ah me's my whining sonnets drest;", "A libertine, fantasticly I sing.", "My verse is the true image of my mind,", "Ever in motion, still desiring change,", "And as thus to variety inclin'd,", "So in all humours sportively I range.", "My Muse is rightly of the English strain,", "That cannot long one fashion entertain." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet XXVIII: To Such As Say", "author": "Michael Drayton", "lines": [ "To such as say thy love I overprize,", "And do not stick to term my praises folly,", "Against these folks, that think themselves so wise,", "I thus oppose my Reason's forces wholly,", "Though I give more than well affords my state,", "In which expense the most suppose me vain,", "Which yields them nothing at the easiest rate,", "Yet at this price returns me treble gain.", "They value not, unskillful how to use,", "And I give much, because I gain thereby;", "I that thus take, or they that thus refuse,", "Whether are these deceived then, or I?", "In everything I hold this maxim still:", "The circumstance doth make it good or ill." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "When Lovely Woman Stoops To Folly", "author": "Oliver Goldsmith", "lines": [ "When lovely woman stoops to folly,", "And finds too late that men betray,", "What charm can soothe her melancholy,", "What art can wash her guilt away?", "", "The only art her guilt to cover,", "To hide her shame from every eye,", "To give repentance to her lover,", "And wring his bosom, is—to die." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "A Farewell to Agassiz", "author": "Oliver Wendell Holmes", "lines": [ "How the mountains talked together,", "Looking down upon the weather,", "When they heard our friend had planned his", "Little trip among the Andes", "How they'll bare their snowy scalps", "To the climber of the Alps", "When the cry goes through their passes,", "\"Here comes the great Agassiz!\"", "\"Yes, I'm tall,\" says Chimborazo,", "\"But I wait for him to say so,--", "That's the only thing that lacks,-- he", "Must see me, Cotopaxi!\"", "\"Ay! ay!\" the fire-peak thunders,", "\"And he must view my wonders", "I'm but a lonely crater", "Till I have him for spectator!\"", "The mountain hearts are yearning,", "The lava-torches burning,", "The rivers bend to meet him,", "The forests bow to greet him,", "It thrills the spinal column", "Of fossil fishes solemn,", "And glaciers crawl the faster", "To the feet of their old master!", "Heaven keep him well and hearty,", "Both him and all his party!", "From the sun that broils and smites,", "From the centipede that bites,", "From the hail-storm and the thunder,", "From the vampire and the condor,", "From the gust upon the river,", "From the sudden earthquake shiver,", "From the trip of mule or donkey,", "From the midnight howling monkey,", "From the stroke of knife or dagger,", "From the puma and the jaguar,", "From the horrid boa-constrictor", "That has scared us in the picture,", "From the Indians of the Pampas", "Who would dine upon their grampas,", "From every beast and vermin", "That to think of sets us squirmin',", "From every snake that tries on", "The traveller his p'ison,", "From every pest of Natur',", "Likewise the alligator,", "And from two things left behind him,", "(Be sure they'll try to find him,)", "The tax-bill and assessor,--", "Heaven keep the great Professor!", "May he find, with his apostles,", "That the land is full of fossils,", "That the waters swarm with fishes", "Shaped according to his wishes,", "That every pool is fertile", "In fancy kinds of turtle,", "New birds around him singing,", "New insects, never stinging,", "With a million novel data", "About the articulata,", "And facts that strip off all husks", "From the history of mollusks.", "", "And when, with loud Te Deum,", "He returns to his Museum", "May he find the monstrous reptile", "That so long the land has kept ill", "By Grant and Sherman throttled,", "And by Father Abraham bottled,", "(All specked and streaked and mottled", "With the scars of murderous battles,", "Where he clashed the iron rattles", "That gods and men he shook at,)", "For all the world to look at!", "God bless the great Professor!", "And Madam, too, God bless her!", "Bless him and all his band,", "On the sea and on the land,", "Bless them head and heart and hand,", "Till their glorious raid is o'er,", "And they touch our ransomed shore!", "Then the welcome of a nation,", "With its shout of exultation,", "Shall awake the dumb creation,", "And the shapes of buried aeons", "Join the living creature's paeans,", "Till the fossil echoes roar;", "While the mighty megalosaurus", "Leads the palaeozoic chorus,", "God bless the great Professor,", "And the land his proud possessor,--", "Bless them now and evermore!" ], "linecount": "91" }, { "title": "To My Wife - With A Copy Of My Poems", "author": "Oscar Wilde", "lines": [ "I can write no stately proem", "As a prelude to my lay;", "From a poet to a poem", "I would dare to say.", "", "For if of these fallen petals", "One to you seem fair,", "Love will waft it till it settles", "On your hair.", "", "And when wind and winter harden", "All the loveless land,", "It will whisper of the garden,", "You will understand." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "From Spring Days To Winter (For Music)", "author": "Oscar Wilde", "lines": [ "In the glad springtime when leaves were green,", "O merrily the throstle sings!", "I sought, amid the tangled sheen,", "Love whom mine eyes had never seen,", "O the glad dove has golden wings!", "", "Between the blossoms red and white,", "O merrily the throstle sings!", "My love first came into my sight,", "O perfect vision of delight,", "O the glad dove has golden wings!", "", "The yellow apples glowed like fire,", "O merrily the throstle sings!", "O Love too great for lip or lyre,", "Blown rose of love and of desire,", "O the glad dove has golden wings!", "", "But now with snow the tree is grey,", "Ah, sadly now the throstle sings!", "My love is dead: ah! well-a-day,", "See at her silent feet I lay", "A dove with broken wings!", "Ah, Love! ah, Love! that thou wert slain -", "Fond Dove, fond Dove return again!" ], "linecount": "22" }, { "title": "To the Memory of the Brave Americans", "author": "Philip Freneau", "lines": [ "Under General Greene, in South Carolina,", " who fell in the action of September 8, 1781", "", "AT Eutaw Springs the valiant died;", " Their limbs with dust are covered o'er--", "Weep on, ye springs, your tearful tide;", " How many heroes are no more!", "", "If in this wreck or ruin, they", " Can yet be thought to claim a tear,", "O smite your gentle breast, and say", " The friends of freedom slumber here!", "", "Thou, who shalt trace this bloody plain,", " If goodness rules thy generous breast,", "Sigh for the wasted rural reign;", " Sign for the shepherds, sunk to rest!", "", "Stranger, their humble graves adorn;", " You too may fall, and ask a tear;", "'Tis not the beauty of the morn", " That proves the evening shall be clear.--", "", "They saw their injured country's woe;", " The flaming town, the wasted field;", "Then rushed to meet the insulting foe;", " They took the spear--but left the shield.", "", "Led by thy conquering genius, Greene,", " The Britons they compelled to fly;", "None distant viewed the fatal plain,", " None grieved, in such a cause to die--", "", "But, like the Parthian, famed of old,", " Who, flying, still their arrows threw,", "These routed Britons, full as bold,", " Retreated, and retreating slew.", "", "Now rest in peace, our patriot band,", " Though far from nature's limits thrown,", "We trust they find a happier land,", " A brighter sunshine of their own." ], "linecount": "34" }, { "title": "An Hymn To Humanity (To S.P.G. Esp)", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "O! for this dark terrestrial ball", "Forsakes his azure-paved hall", " A prince of heav'nly birth!", "Divine Humanity behold,", "What wonders rise, what charms unfold", " At his descent to earth!", "", "II.", "", "The bosoms of the great and good", "With wonder and delight he view'd,", " And fix'd his empire there:", "Him, close compressing to his breast,", "The sire of gods and men address'd,", " \"My son, my heav'nly fair!", "", "III.", "", "\"Descend to earth, there place thy throne;", "\"To succour man's afflicted son", " \"Each human heart inspire:", "\"To act in bounties unconfin'd", "\"Enlarge the close contracted mind,", " \"And fill it with thy fire.\"", "", "IV.", "", "Quick as the word, with swift career", "He wings his course from star to star,", " And leaves the bright abode.", "The Virtue did his charms impart;", "Their G——! then thy raptur'd heart", " Perceiv'd the rushing God:", "", "V.", "", "For when thy pitying eye did see", "The languid muse in low degree,", " Then, then at thy desire", "Descended the celestial nine;", "O'er me methought they deign'd to shine,", "And deign'd to string my lyre.", "", "VI.", "", "Can Afric's muse forgetful prove?", "Or can such friendship fail to move", " A tender human heart?", "Immortal Friendship laurel-crown'd", "The smiling Graces all surround", " With ev'ry heav'nly Art." ], "linecount": "41" }, { "title": "To The Honourable T. H. Esq; On the Death Of His Daughter", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "WHILE deep you mourn beneath the cypress-shade", "The hand of Death, and your dear daughter", "laid", "In dust, whose absence gives your tears to flow,", "And racks your bosom with incessant woe,", "Let Recollection take a tender part,", "Assuage the raging tortures of your heart,", "Still the wild tempest of tumultuous grief,", "And pour the heav'nly nectar of relief:", "Suspend the sigh, dear Sir, and check the groan,", "Divinely bright your daughter's Virtues shone:", "How free from scornful pride her gentle mind,", "Which ne'er its aid to indigence declin'd!", "Expanding free, it sought the means to prove", "Unfailing charity, unbounded love!", "She unreluctant flies to see no more", "Her dear-lov'd parents on earth's dusky shore:", "Impatient heav'n's resplendent goal to gain,", "She with swift progress cuts the azure plain,", "Where grief subsides, where changes are no more,", "And life's tumultuous billows cease to roar;", "She leaves her earthly mansion for the skies,", "Where new creations feast her wond'ring eyes.", "To heav'n's high mandate cheerfully resign'd", "She mounts, and leaves the rolling globe behind;", "She, who late wish'd that Leonard might return,", "Has ceas'd to languish, and forgot to mourn;", "To the same high empyreal mansions come,", "She joins her spouse, and smiles upon the tomb:", "And thus I hear her from the realms above:", "\"Lo! this the kingdom of celestial love!", "\"Could ye, fond parents, see our present bliss,", "\"How soon would you each sigh, each fear dismiss?", "\"Amidst unutter'd pleasures whilst I play", "\"In the fair sunshine of celestial day,", "\"As far as grief affects an happy soul", "\"So far doth grief my better mind controul,", "\"To see on earth my aged parents mourn,", "\"And secret wish for T-----! to return:", "\"Let brighter scenes your ev'ning-hours employ:", "\"Converse with heav'n, and taste the promis'd joy\"" ], "linecount": "41" }, { "title": "To a Gentleman and Lady on the Death of the Lady's Brother and Sister", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "On Death's domain intent I fix my eyes,", "Where human nature in vast ruin lies,", "With pensive mind I search the drear abode,", "Where the great conqu'ror has his spoils bestow'd;", "There there the offspring of six thousand years", "In endless numbers to my view appears:", "Whole kingdoms in his gloomy den are thrust,", "And nations mix with their primeval dust:", "Insatiate still he gluts the ample tomb;", "His is the present, his the age to come", "See here a brother, here a sister spread,", "And a sweet daughter mingled with the dead.", "", "But, Madam, let your grief be laid aside,", "And let the fountain of your tears be dry'd,", "In vain they flow to wet the dusty plain,", "Your sighs are wafted to the skies in vain,", "Your pains they witness, but they can no more,", "While Death reigns tyrant o'er this mortal shore.", "", "The glowing stars and silver queen of light", "At last must perish in the gloom of night:", "Resign thy friends to that Almighty hand,", "Which gave them life, and bow to his command;", "Thine Avis give without a murm'ring heart,", "Though half thy soul be fated to depart.", "To shining guards consign thine infant care", "To waft triumphant through the seas of air:", "Her soul enlarg'd to heav'nly pleasure springs,", "She feeds on truth and uncreated things.", "Methinks I hear her in the realms above,", "And leaning forward with a filial love,", "Invite you there to share immortal bliss", "Unknown, untasted in a state like this.", "With tow'ring hopes, and growing grace arise,", "And seek beatitude beyond the skies." ], "linecount": "34" }, { "title": "To A Lady On The Death Of The Three Relations", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "WE trace the pow'r of Death from tomb to tomb,", "And his are all the ages yet to come.", "'Tis his to call the planets from on high,", "To blacken Phoebus, and dissolve the sky;", "His too, when all in his dark realms are hurl'd,", "From its firm base to shake the solid world;", "His fatal sceptre rules the spacious whole,", "And trembling nature rocks from pole to pole.", "Awful he moves, and wide his wings are spread:", "Behold thy brother number'd with the dead!", "From bondage freed, the exulting spirit flies", "Beyond Olympus, and these starry skies.", "Lost in our woe for thee, blest shade, we mourn", "In vain; to earth thou never must return.", "Thy sisters too, fair mourner, feel the dart", "Of Death, and with fresh torture rend thine heart.", "Weep not for them, and leave the world behind.", "As a young plant by hurricanes up torn,", "So near its parent lies the newly born--", "But 'midst the bright ehtereal train behold", "It shines superior on a throne of gold:", "Then, mourner, cease; let hope thy tears restrain,", "Smile on the tomb, and sooth the raging pain.", "On yon blest regions fix thy longing view,", "Mindless of sublunary scenes below;", "Ascend the sacred mount, in thought arise,", "And seek substantial and immortal joys;", "Where hope receives, where faith to vision springs,", "And raptur'd seraphs tune th' immortal strings", "To strains extatic. Thou the chorus join,", "And to thy father tune the praise divine." ], "linecount": "31" }, { "title": "To A Lady On The Death Of Her Husband", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "GRIM monarch! see, depriv'd of vital breath,", "A young physician in the dust of death:", "Dost thou go on incessant to destroy,", "Our griefs to double, and lay waste our joy?", "Enough thou never yet wast known to say,", "Though millions die, the vassals of thy sway:", "Nor youth, nor science, not the ties of love,", "Nor ought on earth thy flinty heart can move.", "The friend, the spouse from his dire dart to save,", "In vain we ask the sovereign of the grave.", "Fair mourner, there see thy lov'd Leonard laid,", "And o'er him spread the deep impervious shade.", "Clos'd are his eyes, and heavy fetters keep", "His senses bound in never-waking sleep,", "Till time shall cease, till many a starry world", "Shall fall from heav'n, in dire confusion hurl'd", "Till nature in her final wreck shall lie,", "And her last groan shall rend the azure sky:", "Not, not till then his active soul shall claim", "His body, a divine immortal frame.", "But see the softly-stealing tears apace", "Pursue each other down the mourner's face;", "But cease thy tears, bid ev'ry sigh depart,", "And cast the load of anguish from thine heart:", "From the cold shell of his great soul arise,", "And look beyond, thou native of the skies;", "There fix thy view, where fleeter than the wind", "Thy Leonard mounts, and leaves the earth behind.", "Thyself prepare to pass the vale of night", "To join for ever on the hills of light:", "To thine embrace this joyful spirit moves", "To thee, the partner of his earthly loves;", "He welcomes thee to pleasures more refin'd,", "And better suited to th' immortal mind." ], "linecount": "34" }, { "title": "To a Lady and Her Children", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "O'erwhelming sorrow now demands my song:", "From death the overwhelming sorrow sprung.", "What flowing tears? What hearts with grief opprest?", "What sighs on sighs heave the fond parent's breast?", "The brother weeps, the hapless sisters join", "Th' increasing woe, and swell the crystal brine;", "The poor, who once his gen'rous bounty fed,", "Droop, and bewail their benefactor dead.", "In death the friend, the kind companion lies,", "And in one death what various comfort dies!", "Th' unhappy mother sees the sanguine rill", "Forget to flow, and nature's wheels stand still,", "But see from earth his spirit far remov'd,", "And know no grief recalls your best-belov'd:", "He, upon pinions swifter than the wind,", "Has left mortality's sad scenes behind", "For joys to this terrestrial state unknown,", "And glories richer than the monarch's crown.", "Of virtue's steady course the prize behold!", "", "What blissful wonders to his mind unfold!", "But of celestial joys I sing in vain:", "Attempt not, muse, the too advent'rous strain.", "", "No more in briny show'rs, ye friends around,", "Or bathe his clay, or waste them on the ground:", "Still do you weep, still wish for his return?", "How cruel thus to wish, and thus to mourn?", "No more for him the streams of sorrow pour,", "But haste to join him on the heav'nly shore,", "On harps of gold to tune immortal lays,", "And to your God immortal anthems raise." ], "linecount": "30" }, { "title": "Ode To Beauty", "author": "Ralph Waldo Emerson", "lines": [ "Who gave thee, O Beauty!", "The keys of this breast,", "Too credulous lover", "Of blest and unblest?", "Say when in lapsed ages", "Thee knew I of old;", "Or what was the service", "For which I was sold?", "When first my eyes saw thee,", "I found me thy thrall,", "By magical drawings,", "Sweet tyrant of all!", "I drank at thy fountain", "False waters of thirst;", "Thou intimate stranger,", "Thou latest and first!", "Thy dangerous glances", "Make women of men;", "New-born we are melting", "Into nature again.", "Lavish, lavish promiser,", "Nigh persuading gods to err,", "Guest of million painted forms", "Which in turn thy glory warms,", "The frailest leaf, the mossy bark,", "The acorn's cup, the raindrop's arc,", "The swinging spider's silver line,", "The ruby of the drop of wine,", "The shining pebble of the pond,", "Thou inscribest with a bond", "In thy momentary play", "Would bankrupt Nature to repay.", "", "Ah! what avails it", "To hide or to shun", "Whom the Infinite One", "Hath granted his throne?", "The heaven high over", "Is the deep's lover,", "The sun and sea", "Informed by thee,", "Before me run,", "And draw me on,", "Yet fly me still,", "As Fate refuses", "To me the heart Fate for me chooses,", "Is it that my opulent soul", "Was mingled from the generous whole,", "Sea valleys and the deep of skies", "Furnished several supplies,", "And the sands whereof I'm made", "Draw me to them self-betrayed?", "I turn the proud portfolios", "Which hold the grand designs", "Of Salvator, of Guercino,", "And Piranesi's lines.", "I hear the lofty Pæans", "Of the masters of the shell,", "Who heard the starry music,", "And recount the numbers well:", "Olympian bards who sung", "Divine Ideas below,", "Which always find us young,", "And always keep us so.", "Oft in streets or humblest places", "I detect far wandered graces,", "Which from Eden wide astray", "In lowly homes have lost their way.", "", "Thee gliding through the sea of form,", "Like the lightning through the storm,", "Somewhat not to be possessed,", "Somewhat not to be caressed,", "No feet so fleet could ever find,", "No perfect form could ever bind.", "Thou eternal fugitive", "Hovering over all that live,", "Quick and skilful to inspire", "Sweet extravagant desire,", "Starry space and lily bell", "Filling with thy roseate smell,", "Wilt not give the lips to taste", "Of the nectar which thou hast.", "", "All that's good and great with thee", "Stands in deep conspiracy.", "Thou hast bribed the dark and lonely", "To report thy features only,", "And the cold and purple morning", "Itself with thoughts of thee adorning,", "The leafy dell, the city mart,", "Equal trophies of thine art,", "E'en the flowing azure air", "Thou hast touched for my despair,", "And if I languish into dreams,", "Again I meet the ardent beams.", "Queen of things! I dare not die", "In Being's deeps past ear and eye,", "Lest there I find the same deceiver,", "And be the sport of Fate forever.", "Dread power, but dear! if God thou be,", "Unmake me quite, or give thyself to me." ], "linecount": "99" }, { "title": "To Eva", "author": "Ralph Waldo Emerson", "lines": [ "O Fair and stately maid, whose eye", "Was kindled in the upper sky", "At the same torch that lighted mine;", "For so I must interpret still", "Thy sweet dominion o'er my will,", "A sympathy divine.", "", "Ah! let me blameless gaze upon", "Features that seem in heart my own,", "Nor fear those watchful sentinels", "Which charm the more their glance forbids,", "Chaste glowing underneath their lids", "With fire that draws while it repels.", "", "Thine eyes still shined for me, though far", "I lonely roved the land or sea,", "As I behold yon evening star,", "Which yet beholds not me.", "", "This morn I climbed the misty hill,", "And roamed the pastures through;", "How danced thy form before my path,", "Amidst the deep-eyed dew!", "", "When the red bird spread his sable wing,", "And showed his side of flame,", "When the rose-bud ripened to the rose,", "In both I read thy name." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "A Hymn to the Name and Honour of the Admirable Saint Teresa", "author": "Richard Crashaw", "lines": [ "LOVE, thou are absolute, sole Lord", "Of life and death. To prove the word,", "We'll now appeal to none of all", "Those thy old soldiers, great and tall,", "Ripe men of martyrdom, that could reach down", "With strong arms their triumphant crown:", "Such as could with lusty breath", "Speak loud, unto the face of death,", "Their great Lord's glorious name; to none", "Of those whose spacious bosoms spread a throne", "For love at large to fill. Spare blood and sweat:", "We'll see Him take a private seat,", "And make His mansion in the mild", "And milky soul of a soft child.", "Scarce has she learnt to lisp a name", "Of martyr, yet she thinks it shame", "Life should so long play with that breath", "Which spent can buy so brave a death.", "She never undertook to know", "What death with love should have to do.", "Nor has she e'er yet understood", "Why, to show love, she should shed blood;", "Yet, though she cannot tell you why,", "She can love, and she can die.", "Scarce has she blood enough to make", "A guilty sword blush for her sake;", "Yet has a heart dares hope to prove", "How much less strong is death than love....", "", "Since 'tis not to be had at home,", "She'll travel for a martyrdom.", "No home for her, confesses she,", "But where she may a martyr be.", "She'll to the Moors, and trade with them", "For this unvalued diadem;", "She offers them her dearest breath,", "With Christ's name in 't, in charge for death:", "She'll bargain with them, and will give", "Them God, and teach them how to live", "In Him; or, if they this deny,", "For Him she'll teach them how to die.", "So shall she leave amongst them sown", "Her Lord's blood, or at least her own.", "", "Farewell then, all the world, adieu!", "Teresa is no more for you.", "Farewell all pleasures, sports, and joys,", "Never till now esteemed toys!", "", "Farewell whatever dear may be--", "Mother's arms, or father's knee!", "Farewell house, and farewell home!", "She 's for the Moors and Martyrdom.", "", "Sweet, not so fast; lo! thy fair spouse,", "Whom thou seek'st with so swift vows,", "Calls thee back, and bids thee come", "T' embrace a milder martyrdom....", "", "O how oft shalt thou complain", "Of a sweet and subtle pain!", "Of intolerable joys!", "Of a death, in which who dies", "Loves his death, and dies again,", "And would for ever so be slain;", "And lives and dies, and knows not why", "To live, but that he still may die!", "How kindly will thy gentle heart", "Kiss the sweetly-killing dart!", "And close in his embraces keep", "Those delicious wounds, that weep", "Balsam, to heal themselves with thus,", "When these thy deaths, so numerous,", "Shall all at once die into one,", "And melt thy soul's sweet mansion;", "Like a soft lump of incense, hasted", "By too hot a fire, and wasted", "Into perfuming clouds, so fast", "Shalt thou exhale to heaven at last", "In a resolving sigh, and then,--", "O what? Ask not the tongues of men.", "", "Angels cannot tell; suffice,", "Thyself shalt feel thine own full joys,", "And hold them fast for ever there.", "So soon as thou shalt first appear,", "The moon of maiden stars, thy white", "Mistress, attended by such bright", "Souls as thy shining self, shall come,", "And in her first ranks make thee room;", "Where, 'mongst her snowy family,", "Immortal welcomes wait for thee.", "O what delight, when she shall stand", "And teach thy lips heaven, with her hand,", "On which thou now may'st to thy wishes", "Heap up thy consecrated kisses!", "What joy shall seize thy soul, when she,", "Bending her blessed eyes on thee,", "Those second smiles of heaven, shall dart", "Her mild rays through thy melting heart!", "", "Angels, thy old friends, there shall greet thee,", "Glad at their own home now to meet thee.", "All thy good works which went before,", "And waited for thee at the door,", "Shall own thee there; and all in one", "Weave a constellation", "Of crowns, with which the King, thy spouse,", "Shall build up thy triumphant brows.", "All thy old woes shall now smile on thee,", "And thy pains sit bright upon thee:", "All thy sorrows here shall shine,", "And thy sufferings be divine.", "Tears shall take comfort, and turn gems,", "And wrongs repent to diadems.", "Even thy deaths shall live, and new", "Dress the soul which late they slew.", "Thy wounds shall blush to such bright scars", "As keep account of the Lamb's wars.", "", "Those rare works, where thou shalt leave writ", "Love's noble history, with wit", "Taught thee by none but Him, while here", "They feed our souls, shall clothe thine there.", "Each heavenly word by whose hid flame", "Our hard hearts shall strike fire, the same", "Shall flourish on thy brows, and be", "Both fire to us and flame to thee;", "Whose light shall live bright in thy face", "By glory, in our hearts by grace.", "Thou shalt look round about, and see", "Thousands of crown'd souls throng to be", "Themselves thy crown, sons of thy vows,", "The virgin-births with which thy spouse", "Made fruitful thy fair soul; go now,", "And with them all about thee bow", "To Him; put on, He'll say, put on,", "My rosy Love, that thy rich zone,", "Sparkling with the sacred flames", "Of thousand souls, whose happy names", "Heaven keeps upon thy score: thy bright", "Life brought them first to kiss the light", "That kindled them to stars; and so", "Thou with the Lamb, thy Lord, shalt go.", "And, wheresoe'er He sets His white", "Steps, walk with Him those ways of light,", "Which who in death would live to see,", "Must learn in life to die like thee." ], "linecount": "140" }, { "title": "Divine Epigrams: To our Lord, upon the Water Made Wine", "author": "Richard Crashaw", "lines": [ "Thou water turn'st to wine, fair friend of life,", "Thy foe, to cross the sweet arts of thy reign,", "Distills from thence the tears of wrath and strife,", "And so turns wine to water back again." ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "To the Name above every Name, the Name of Jesus", "author": "Richard Crashaw", "lines": [ "I sing the Name which None can say", "But touch’t with An interiour Ray:", "The Name of our New Peace; our Good:", "Our Blisse: and Supernaturall Blood:", "The Name of All our Lives and Loves.", "Hearken, And Help, ye holy Doves!", "The high-born Brood of Day; you bright", "Candidates of blissefull Light,", "The Heirs Elect of Love; whose Names belong", "Unto The everlasting life of Song;", "All ye wise Soules, who in the wealthy Brest", "Of This unbounded Name build your warm Nest.", "Awake, My glory. Soul, (if such thou be,", "And That fair Word at all referr to Thee)", "Awake and sing", "And be All Wing;", "Bring hither thy whole Self; and let me see", "What of thy Parent Heaven yet speakes in thee,", "O thou art Poore", "Of noble Powres, I see,", "And full of nothing else but empty Me,", "Narrow, and low, and infinitely lesse", "Then this Great mornings mighty Busynes.", "One little World or two", "(Alas) will never doe.", "We must have store.", "Goe, Soul, out of thy Self, and seek for More.", "Goe and request", "Great Nature for the Key of her huge Chest", "Of Heavns, the self involving Sett of Sphears", "(Which dull mortality more Feeles then heares)", "Then rouse the nest", "Of nimble, Art, and traverse round", "The Aiery Shop of soul-appeasing Sound:", "And beat a summons in the Same", "All-soveraign Name", "To warn each severall kind", "And shape of sweetnes, Be they such", "As sigh with supple wind", "Or answer Artfull Touch,", "That they convene and come away", "To wait at the love-crowned Doores of", "This Illustrious Day.", "Shall we dare This, my Soul? we’l doe’t and bring", "No Other note for’t, but the Name we sing.", "Wake Lute and Harp", "And every sweet-lipp’t Thing", "That talkes with tunefull string;", "Start into life, And leap with me", "Into a hasty Fitt-tun’d Harmony.", "Nor must you think it much", "T’obey my bolder touch;", "I have Authority in Love’s name to take you", "And to the worke of Love this morning wake you;", "Wake; In the Name", "Of Him who never sleeps, All Things that Are,", "Or, what’s the same,", "Are Musicall;", "Answer my Call", "And come along;", "Help me to meditate mine Immortall Song.", "Come, ye soft ministers of sweet sad mirth,", "Bring All your houshold stuffe of Heavn on earth;", "O you, my Soul’s most certain Wings,", "Complaining Pipes, and prattling Strings,", "Bring All the store", "Of Sweets you have; And murmur that you have no more.", "Come, nй to part,", "Nature and Art!", "Come; and come strong,", "To the conspiracy of our Spatious song.", "Bring All the Powres of Praise", "Your Provinces of well-united Worlds can raise;", "Bring All your Lutes and Harps of Heaven and Earth;", "What йre cooperates to The common mirthe", "Vessells of vocall Ioyes,", "Or You, more noble Architects of Intellectuall Noise,", "Cymballs of Heav’n, or Humane sphears,", "Solliciters of Soules or Eares;", "And when you’are come, with All", "That you can bring or we can call;", "O may you fix", "For ever here, and mix", "Your selves into the long", "And everlasting series of a deathlesse Song;", "Mix All your many Worlds, Above,", "And loose them into One of Love.", "Chear thee my Heart!", "For Thou too hast thy Part", "And Place in the Great Throng", "Of This unbounded All-imbracing Song.", "Powres of my Soul, be Proud!", "And speake lowd", "To All the dear-bought Nations This Redeeming Name,", "And in the wealth of one Rich Word proclaim", "New Similes to Nature.", "May it be no wrong", "Blest Heavns, to you, and your Superiour song,", "That we, dark Sons of Dust and Sorrow,", "A while Dare borrow", "The Name of Your Dilights and our Desires,", "And fitt it to so farr inferior Lyres.", "Our Murmurs have their Musick too,", "Ye mighty Orbes, as well as you,", "Nor yeilds the noblest Nest", "Of warbling Seraphim to the eares of Love,", "A choicer Lesson then the joyfull Brest", "Of a poor panting Turtle-Dove.", "And we, low Wormes have leave to doe", "The Same bright Busynes (ye Third Heavens) with you.", "Gentle Spirits, doe not complain.", "We will have care", "To keep it fair,", "And send it back to you again.", "Come, lovely Name! Appeare from forth the Bright", "Regions of peacefull Light,", "Look from thine own Illustrious Home,", "Fair King of Names, and come.", "Leave All thy native Glories in their Georgeous Nest,", "And give thy Self a while The gracious Guest", "Of humble Soules, that seek to find", "The hidden Sweets", "Which man’s heart meets", "When Thou art Master of the Mind.", "Come, lovely Name; life of our hope!", "Lo we hold our Hearts wide ope!", "Unlock thy Cabinet of Day", "Dearest Sweet, and come away.", "Lo how the thirsty Lands", "Gasp for thy Golden Showres! with longstretch’t Hands.", "Lo how the laboring Earth", "That hopes to be", "All Heaven by Thee,", "Leapes at thy Birth.", "The’ attending World, to wait thy Rise,", "First turn’d to eyes;", "And then, not knowing what to doe;", "Turn’d Them to Teares, and spent Them too.", "Come Royall Name, and pay the expence", "Of all this Pretious Patience.", "O come away", "And kill the Death of This Delay.", "O see, so many Worlds of barren yeares", "Melted and measur’d out is Seas of Teares.", "O see, The Weary liddes of wakefull Hope", "(Love’s Eastern windowes) All wide ope", "With Curtains drawn,", "To catch The Day-break of Thy Dawn.", "O dawn, at last, long look’t for Day!", "Take thine own wings, and come away.", "Lo, where Aloft it comes! It comes, Among", "The Conduct of Adoring Spirits, that throng", "Like diligent Bees, And swarm about it.", "O they are wise;", "And know what Sweetes are suck’t from out it.", "It is the Hive,", "By which they thrive,", "Where All their Hoard of Hony lyes.", "Lo where it comes, upon The snowy Dove’s", "Soft Back; And brings a Bosom big with Loves.", "Welcome to our dark world, Thou", "Womb of Day!", "Unfold thy fair Conceptions; And display", "The Birth of our Bright Ioyes.", "O thou compacted", "Body of Blessings: spirit of Soules extracted!", "O dissipate thy spicy Powres", "(Clowd of condensed sweets) and break upon us", "In balmy showrs;", "O fill our senses, And take from us", "All force of so Prophane a Fallacy", "To think ought sweet but that which smells of Thee.", "Fair, flowry Name; In none but Thee", "And Thy Nectareall Fragrancy,", "Hourly there meetes", "An universall Synod of All sweets;", "By whom it is defined Thus", "That no Perfume", "For ever shall presume", "To passe for Odoriferous,", "But such alone whose sacred Pedigree", "Can prove it Self some kin (sweet name) to Thee.", "Sweet Name, in Thy each Syllable", "A Thousand Blest Arabias dwell;", "A Thousand Hills of Frankincense;", "Mountains of myrrh, and Beds of species,", "And ten Thousand Paradises,", "The soul that tasts thee takes from thence.", "How many unknown Worlds there are", "Of Comforts, which Thou hast in keeping!", "How many Thousand Mercyes there", "In Pitty’s soft lap ly a sleeping!", "Happy he who has the art", "To awake them,", "And to take them", "Home, and lodge them in his Heart.", "O that it were as it was wont to be!", "When thy old Freinds of Fire, All full of Thee,", "Fought against Frowns with smiles; gave Glorious chase", "To Persecutions; And against the Face", "Of Death and feircest Dangers, durst with Brave", "And sober pace march on to meet A Grave.", "On their Bold Brests about the world they bore thee", "And to the Teeth of Hell stood up to teach thee,", "In Center of their inmost Soules they wore thee,", "Where Rackes and Torments striv’d, in vain, to reach thee.", "Little, alas, thought They", "Who tore the Fair Brests of thy Freinds,", "Their Fury but made way", "For Thee; And serv’d them in Thy glorious ends.", "What did Their weapons but with wider pores", "Inlarge thy flaming-brested Lovers", "More freely to transpire", "That impatient Fire", "The Heart that hides Thee hardly covers.", "What did their Weapons but sett wide the Doores", "For Thee: Fair, purple Doores, of love’s devising;", "The Ruby windowes which inrich’t the East", "Of Thy so oft repeated Rising.", "Each wound of Theirs was Thy new Morning;", "And reinthron’d thee in thy Rosy Nest,", "With blush of thine own Blood thy day adorning,", "It was the witt of love уreflowd the Bounds", "Of Wrath, and made thee way through All Those wounds.", "Wellcome dear, All-Adored Name!", "For sure there is no Knee", "That knowes not Thee.", "Or if there be such sonns of shame,", "Alas what will they doe", "When stubborn Rocks shall bow", "And Hills hang down their Heavn-saluting Heads", "To seek for humble Beds", "Of Dust, where in the Bashfull shades of night", "Next to their own low Nothing they may ly,", "And couch before the dazeling light of thy dread majesty.", "They that by Love’s mild Dictate now", "Will not adore thee,", "Shall Then with Just Confusion, bow", "And break before thee." ], "linecount": "239" }, { "title": "292. Song—Farewell to the Highlands", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "FAREWELL to the Highlands, farewell to the North,", "The birth-place of Valour, the country of Worth;", "Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,", "The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.", "", "", "Chorus.—My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here,", "My heart’s in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;", "Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,", "My heart’s in the Highlands, wherever I go.", "", "", "Farewell to the mountains, high-cover’d with snow,", "Farewell to the straths and green vallies below;", "Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods,", "Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods.", " My heart’s in the Highlands, &c." ], "linecount": "13" }, { "title": "To Anna Three Years Old", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "My Anna, summer laughs in mirth,", " And we will of the party be,", "And leave the crickets in the hearth", " For green fields' merry minstrelsy.", "", "I see thee now with little hand", " Catch at each object passing bye,", "The happiest thing in all the land", " Except the bee and butterfly.", "", "And limpid brook that leaps along,", " Gilt with the summer's burnished gleam,", "Will stop thy little tale or song", " To gaze upon its crimping stream.", "", "Thou'lt leave my hand with eager speed", " The new discovered things to see--", "The old pond with its water weed", " And danger-daring willow tree,", "Who leans an ancient invalid", " Oer spots where deepest waters be.", "", "In sudden shout and wild surprise", " I hear thy simple wonderment,", "As new things meet thy childish eyes", " And wake some innocent intent;", "", "As bird or bee or butterfly", " Bounds through the crowd of merry leaves", "And starts the rapture of thine eye", " To run for what it neer achieves.", "", "But thou art on the bed of pain,", " So tells each poor forsaken toy.", "Ah, could I see that happy hour", " When these shall be thy heart's employ,", "And see thee toddle oer the plain,", " And stoop for flowers, and shout for joy." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "Nobody Cometh to Woo", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "On Martinmas eve the dogs did bark,", " And I opened the window to see,", "When every maiden went by with her spark", " But neer a one came to me.", "And O dear what will become of me?", " And O dear what shall I do,", "When nobody whispers to marry me--", " Nobody cometh to woo?", "", "None's born for such troubles as I be:", " If the sun wakens first in the morn", "\"Lazy hussy\" my parents both call me,", " And I must abide by their scorn,", "For nobody cometh to marry me,", " Nobody cometh to woo,", "So here in distress must I tarry me--", " What can a poor maiden do?", "", "If I sigh through the window when Jerry", " The ploughman goes by, I grow bold;", "And if I'm disposed to be merry,", " My parents do nothing but scold;", "And Jerry the clown, and no other,", " Eer cometh to marry or woo;", "They think me the moral of mother", " And judge me a terrible shrew.", "", "For mother she hateth all fellows,", " And spinning's my father's desire,", "While the old cat growls bass with the bellows", " If eer I hitch up to the fire.", "I make the whole house out of humour,", " I wish nothing else but to please,", "Would fortune but bring a new comer", " To marry, and make me at ease!", "", "When I've nothing my leisure to hinder", " I scarce get as far as the eaves;", "Her head's instant out of the window", " Calling out like a press after thieves.", "The young men all fall to remarking,", " And laugh till they're weary to see't,", "While the dogs at the noise begin barking,", " And I slink in with shame from the street.", "", "My mother's aye jealous of loving,", " My father's aye jealous of play,", "So what with them both there's no moving,", " I'm in durance for life and a day.", "O who shall I get for to marry me?", " Who will have pity to woo?", "Tis death any longer to tarry me,", " And what shall a poor maiden do?" ], "linecount": "48" }, { "title": "The Pied Piper of Hamelin: A Child's Story", "author": "Robert Browning", "lines": [ "Hamelin town's in Brunswick,", "By famous Hanover city;", "The river Weser, deep and wide,", "Washes its walls on either side;", "A pleasanter spot you never spied;", "But, when begins my ditty,", "Almost five hundred years ago,", "To see the townsfolk suffer so", "From vermin, was a pity.", "", " Rats!", "They fought the dogs and killed the cats,", "And bit the babies in the cradles,", "And ate the cheeses out of the vats,", "And licked the soup from the cooks' own ladles,", "Split open the kegs of salted sprats.", "Made nests inside men's Sunday hats.", "And even spoiled the women's chats", "By drowning their speaking", "With shrieking and squeaking", "In fifty different sharps and flats.", "", "At last the people in a body", "To the Town Hall came flocking:", "\"'Tis clear,\" cried they, \"our Mayor's a noddy;", "And as for our Corporation, shocking", "To think we buy gowns lined with ermine", "For dolts that can't or won't determine", "What's best to rid us of our vermin!", "You hope, because you're old and obese,", "To find in the furry civic robe ease!", "Rouse up, sirs! give your brains a racking", "To find the remedy we're lacking,", "Or, sure as fate, we'll send you packing!\"", "At this the Mayor and Corporation", "Quaked with a mighty consternation.", "", "An hour they sat in council;", "At length the Mayor broke silence:", "\"For a guilder I'd my ermine gown sell,", "I wish I were a mile hence!", "It's easy to bid one rack one's brain--", "I'm sure my poor head aches again,", "I've scratched it so, and all in vain.", "Oh for a trap, a trap, a trap!\"", "Just as he said this, what should hap", "At the chamber door but a gentle tap?", "\"Bless us,\" cried the Mayor, \"what's that?\"", "(With the Corporation as he sat,", "Looking little, though wondrous fat;", "Nor brighter was his eye, nor moister", "Than a too-long-opened oyster,", "Save when at noon his paunch grew mutinous", "For a plate of turtle, green and glutinous)", "\"Only a scraping of shoes on the mat?", "Anything like the sound of a rat", "Makes my heart go pit-a-pat!\"", "", "\"Come in!\"--the Mayor cried, looking bigger:", "And in did come the strangest figure!", "His queer long coat from heel to head", "Was half of yellow and half of red,", "And he himself was tall and thin,", "With sharp blue eyes, each like a pin,", "With light loose hair, yet swarthy skin,", "No tuft on cheek, nor beard on chin,", "But lips where smiles went out and in;", "There was no guessing his kith and kin:", "And nobody could enough admire", "The tall man and his quaint attire.", "Quoth one: \"It's as my great grandsire,", "Starting up at the Trump of Doom's tone,", "Had walked his way from his painted tombstone!\"", "", "He advanced to the council-table:", "And, \"Please your honors,\" said he, \"I'm able,", "By means of a secret charm, to draw", "All creatures living beneath the sun,", "That creep or swim or fly or run,", "After me so as you never saw!", "And I chiefly use my charm", "On creatures that do people harm,", "The mole and toad and newt and viper;", "And people call me the Pied Piper.\"", "(And here they noticed round his neck", "A scarf of red and yellow stripe,", "To match with his coat of self-same cheque:", "And at the scarf's end hung a pipe;", "And his fingers, they noticed, were ever straying,", "As if impatient to be playing", "Upon this pipe, as low it dangled", "Over his vesture so old-fangled.)", "\"Yet,\" said he, \"poor piper as I am,", "In Tartary I freed the Cham,", "Last June, from his huge swarms of gnats;", "I eased in Asia the Nizam", "Of a monstrous brood of vampire-bats:", "And as for what your brain bewilders,", "If I can rid your town of rats", "Will you give me a thousand guilders?\"", "\"One? fifty thousand!\"--was the exclamation", "Of the astonished Mayor and Corporation.", "", "Into the street the Piper stept,", "Smiling first a little smile,", "As if he knew what magic slept", "In his quiet pipe the while:", "Then, like a musical adept,", "To blow the pipe his lips he wrinkled,", "And green and blue his sharp eyes twinkled,", "Like a candle-flame where salt is sprinkled;", "And ere three shrill notes the pipe uttered,", "You heard as if an army muttered:", "And the muttering grew to a grumbling;", "And the grumbling grew to a mighty rumbling;", "And out of the houses the rats came tumbling.", "Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats,", "Brown rats, black rats, gray rats, tawny rats,", "Grave old plodders, gay young friskers,", "Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins,", "Cocking tails and pricking whiskers,", " Families by tens and dozens,", "Brothers, sisters, husbands, wives--", "Followed the Piper for their lives.", "From street to street he piped advancing,", "And step for step they followed dancing,", "Until they came to the river Weser,", "Wherein all plunged and perished!", "--Save one, who, stout as Julius Cæsar,", "Swam across and lived to carry", "(As he, the manuscript he cherished)", "To Rat-land home his commentary:", "Which was: \"At the first shrill notes of the pipe,", "I heard a sound as of scraping tripe,", "And putting apples, wondrous ripe,", "Into a cider press's gripe;", "And a moving away of pickle-tub-boards,", "And a leaving ajar of conserve-cupboards,", "And a drawing the corks of train-oil-flasks,", "And a breaking the hoops of butter-casks:", "And it seemed as if a voice", "(Sweeter far than by harp or by psaltery", "Is breathed) called out, 'Oh, rats, rejoice!", "The world is grown to one vast drysaltery!", "So munch on, crunch on, take your nuncheon,", "Breakfast, supper, dinner, luncheon!'", "And just as a bulky sugar-puncheon,", "Already staved, like a great sun shone", "Glorious scarce an inch before me,", "Just as methought it said, 'Come, bore me!'", "--I found the Weser rolling o'er me.\"", "", "You should have heard the Hamelin people", "Ringing the bells till they rocked the steeple.", "\"Go,\" cried the Mayor, \"and get long poles,", "Poke out the nests and block up the holes!", "Consult with carpenters and builders,", "And leave in our town, not even a trace", "Of the rats!\"--when suddenly, up the face", "Of the Piper perked in the market-place,", "With a, \"First, if you please, my thousand guilders!\"", "", "A thousand guilders! The Mayor looked blue;", "So did the Corporation, too.", "For council dinners made rare havoc", "With Claret, Moselle, Vin-de-Grave, Hock;", "And half the money would replenish", "Their cellar's biggest butt with Rhenish.", "To pay this sum to a wandering fellow", "With a gypsy coat of red and yellow!", "\"Beside,\" quoth the Mayor, with a knowing wink,", "\"Our business was done at the river's brink;", "We saw with our eyes the vermin sink,", "And what's dead can't come to life, I think.", "So, friend, we're not the folks to shrink", "From the duty of giving you something for drink,", "And a matter of money to put in your poke;", "But as for the guilders, what we spoke", "Of them, as you very well know, was in joke.", "Beside, our losses have made us thrifty.", "A thousand guilders! Come, take fifty!\"", "", "The Piper's face fell, and he cried,", "\"No trifling! I can't wait! Beside,", "I've promised to visit by dinner-time", "Bagdat, and accept the prime", "Of the Head-Cook's pottage, all he's rich in,", "For having left, in the Caliph's kitchen,", "Of a nest of scorpions no survivor:", "With him I proved no bargain-driver,", "With you, don't think I'll bate a stiver!", "And folks who put me in a passion", "May find me pipe after another fashion.\"", "", "\"How?\" cried the Mayor, \"d'ye think I brook", "Being worse treated than a cook?", "Insulted by a lazy ribald", "With idle pipe and vesture piebald?", "You threaten us, fellow? Do your worst!", "Blow your pipe there till you burst!\"", "", "Once more he stept into the street,", " And to his lips again", "Laid his long pipe of smooth straight cane;", " And ere he blew three notes (such sweet,", "Soft notes as yet musician's cunning", " Never gave the enraptured air)", "There was a rustling that seemed like a bustling", "Of merry crowds justling at pitching and hustling;", "Small feet were pattering, wooden shoes clattering,", "Little hands clapping, and little tongues chattering,", "And, like fowls in a farm-yard, when barley is scattering,", "Out came the children running.", "All the little boys and girls.", "With rosy cheeks and flaxen curls,", "And sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls,", "Tripping and skipping, ran merrily after", "The wonderful music with shouting and laughter.", "", "The Mayor was dumb, and the Council stood", "As if they were changed into blocks of wood.", "Unable to move a step, or cry", "To the children merrily skipping by,", "--Could only follow with the eye", "That joyous crowd at the piper's back.", "But how the Mayor was on the rack,", "And the wretched Council's bosom beat,", "As the Piper turned from the High Street", "To where the Weser rolled its waters,", "Right in the way of their sons and daughters!", "However, he turned from South to West,", "And to Koppelberg Hill his steps addressed,", "And after him the children pressed:", "Great was the joy in every breast.", "\"He never can cross that mighty top!", "He's forced to let the piping drop,", "And we shall see our children stop.\"", "When lo, as they reached the mountain-side,", "A wondrous portal opened wide,", "As if a cavern were suddenly hollowed;", "And the Piper advanced, and the children followed,", "And when all were in, to the very last,", "The door in the mountain-side shut fast.", "Did I say all? No! One was lame,", "And could not dance the whole of the way;", "And in after years, if you would blame", "His sadness, he was used to say,--", "\"It's dull in our town since my playmates left!", "I can't forget that I'm bereft", "Of all the pleasant sights they see,", "Which the Piper also promised me.", "For he led us, he said, to a joyous land.", "Joining the town, and just at hand,", "Where waters gushed and fruit-trees grew,", "And flowers put forth a fairer hue,", "And everything was strange and new:", "The sparrows were brighter than peacocks here,", "And their dogs outran our fallow deer.", "And honey-bees had lost their stings,", "And horses were born with eagles' wings;", "And just as I became assured,", "My lame foot would be speedily cured,", "The music stopped and I stood still,", "And found myself outside the hill,", "Left alone against my will,", "To go now limping as before.", "And never hear of that country more!\"", "", "Alas, alas for Hamelin!", " There came into many a burgher's pate", " A text which says that Heaven's gate", " Opes to the rich at as easy a rate", "As the needle's eye takes a camel in!", "The Mayor sent East, West, North, and South,", "To offer the Piper, by word of mouth,", " Wherever it was men's lot to find him,", "Silver and gold to his heart's content,", "If he'd only return the way he went,", " And bring the children behind him.", "But when they saw 'twas a lost endeavor,", "And Piper and dancers were gone forever,", "They made a decree that lawyers never", " Should think their records dated duly", "If, after the day of the month and year,", "These words did not as well appear,", " \"And so long after what happened here", " On the twenty-second of July,", "Thirteen hundred and seventy-six;\"", "And the better in memory to fix", "The place of the children's last retreat,", "They called it the Pied Piper's Street--", "Where any one playing on pipe or tabor", "Was sure for the future to lose his labour.", "Nor suffered they hostelry or tavern", " To shock with mirth a street so solemn;", "But opposite the place of the cavern", " They wrote the story on a column,", "And on the great church window painted", "The same, to make the world acquainted", "How their children were stolen away.", "And there it stands to this very day.", "And I must not omit to say", "That in Transylvania there's a tribe", "Of alien people who ascribe", "The outlandish ways and dress", "On which their neighbours lay such stress,", "To their fathers and mothers having risen", "Out of some subterraneous prison", "Into which they were trepanned", "Long time ago in a mighty band", "Out of Hamelin town in Brunswick land,", "But how or why, they don't understand.", "", "So, Willy, let me and you be wipers", "Of scores out with all men--especially pipers!", "And, whether they pipe us free from rats or from mice,", "If we've promised them aught, let us keep our promise!" ], "linecount": "303" }, { "title": "How They Brought the Good News From Ghent to Aix", "author": "Robert Browning", "lines": [ "I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he;", "I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three;", "\"Good speed!\" cried the watch, as the gate-bolts undrew;", "\"Speed!\" echoed the wall to us galloping through;", "Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest,", "And into the midnight we galloped abreast.", "", "Not a word to each other; we kept the great pace", "Neck by neck, stride by stride, never changing our place;", "I turned in my saddle and made its girths tight,", "Then shortened each stirrup, and set the pique right,", "Rebuckled the cheek-strap, chained slacker the bit,", "Nor galloped less steadily Roland a whit.", "", "'Twas moonset at starting; but while we drew near", "Lokeren, the cocks crew and twilight dawned clear:", "At Boom, a great yellow star came out to see;", "At Düffeld, 'twas morning as plain as could be;", "And from Mecheln church-steeple we heard the half-chime,", "So, Joris broke silence with, \"Yet there is time!\"", "", "At Aershot up leaped of a sudden the sun,", "And against him the cattle stood black every one,", "To stare through the mist at us galloping past,", "And I saw my stout galloper Roland, at last,", "With resolute shoulders, each butting away", "The haze, as some bluff river headland its spray:", "", "And his low head and crest, just one sharp ear bent back", "For my voice, and the other pricked out on his track;", "And one eye's black intelligence,--ever that glance", "O'er its white edge at me, his own master, askance!", "And the thick heavy spume-flakes which aye and anon", "His fierce lips shook upwards in galloping on.", "", "By Hasselt, Dirck groaned; and cried Joris, \"Stay spur!", "Your Roos galloped bravely, the fault's not in her,", "We'll remember at Aix\"--for one heard the quick wheeze", "Of her chest, saw the stretched neck and staggering knees,", "And sunk tail, and horrible heave of the flank,", "As down on her haunches she shuddered and sank.", "", "So, we were left galloping, Joris and I,", "Past Looz and past Tongres, no cloud in the sky;", "The broad sun above laughed a pitiless laugh,", "'Neath our feet broke the brittle bright stubble like chaff;", "Till over by Dalhem a dome-spire sprang white,", "And \"Gallop,\" gasped Joris, \"for Aix is in sight!\"", "", "\"How they'll greet us!\"--and all in a moment his roan", "Rolled neck and croup over, lay dead as a stone;", "And there was my Roland to bear the whole weight", "Of the news which alone could save Aix from her fate,", "With his nostrils like pits full of blood to the brim,", "And with circles of red for his eye-sockets' rim.", "", "Then I cast loose my buff-coat, each holster let fall,", "Shook off both my jack-boots, let go belt and all,", "Stood up in the stirrup, leaned, patted his ear,", "Called my Roland his pet-name, my horse without peer;", "Clapped my hands, laughed and sang, any noise, bad or good,", "Till at length, into Aix Roland galloped and stood.", "", "And all I remember is,--friends flocking round", "As I sat with his head 'twixt my knees on the ground;", "And no voice but was praising this Roland of mine,", "As I poured down his throat our last measure of wine,", "Which (the burgesses voted by common consent)", "Was no more than his due who brought good news from Ghent." ], "linecount": "60" }, { "title": "The Patriot: An Old Story", "author": "Robert Browning", "lines": [ "It was roses, roses, all the way,", " With myrtle mixed in my path like mad;", "The house-roofs seemed to heave and sway,", " The church-spires flamed, such flags they had,", "A year ago on this very day.", "", "The air broke into a mist with bells,", " The old walls rocked with the crowd and cries.", "Had I said, \"Good folk, mere noise repels--", " But give me your sun from yonder skies!\"", "They had answered \"And afterward, what else?\"", "", "Alack, it was I who leaped at the sun", " To give it my loving friends to keep!", "Naught man could do, have I left undone:", " And you see my harvest, what I reap", "This very day, now a year is run.", "", "There's nobody on the house-tops now--", " Just a palsied few at the windows set;", "For the best of the sight is, all allow,", " At the Shambles' Gate--or, better yet,", "By the very scaffold's foot, I trow.", "", "I go in the rain, and, more than needs,", " A rope cuts both my wrists behind;", "And I think, by the feel, my forehead bleeds,", " For they fling, whoever has a mind,", "Stones at me for my year's misdeeds.", "", "Thus I entered, and thus I go!", " In triumphs, people have dropped down dead,", "\"Paid by the world, what dost thou owe", " Me? \"--God might question; now instead,", "'Tis God shall repay: I am safer so." ], "linecount": "30" }, { "title": "Epilogue to \"Asolando\"", "author": "Robert Browning", "lines": [ "At the midnight in the silence of the sleep-time,", " When you set your fancies free,", "Will they pass to where--by death, fools think, imprisoned--", "Low he lies who once so loved you whom you loved so,", " --Pity me?", "", "Oh to love so, be so loved, yet so mistaken!", " What had I on earth to do", "With the slothful, with the mawkish, the unmanly?", "Like the aimless, helpless, hopeless, did I drivel", " --Being--who?", "", "One who never turned his back but marched breast forward,", " Never doubted clouds would break,", "Never dreamed, tho' right were worsted, wrong would triumph,", " Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better,", " Sleep to wake.", "", "No, at noonday in the bustle of man's work-time", " Greet the unseen with a cheer!", "Bid him forward, breast and back as either should be,", " \"Strive and thrive!\" cry \"Speed,--fight on, fare ever", " There as here!\"" ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "A Toccata of Galuppi's", "author": "Robert Browning", "lines": [ "Oh Galuppi, Baldassaro, this is very sad to find!", "I can hardly misconceive you; it would prove me deaf and blind;", "But altho' I take your meaning, 'tis with such a heavy mind!", "", "Here you come with your old music, and here's all the good it brings.", "What, they lived once thus at Venice where the merchants were the kings,", "Where St. Mark's is, where the Doges used to wed the sea with rings?", "", "Ay, because the sea's the street there; and 'tis arched by ... what you call", "... Shylock's bridge with houses on it, where they kept the carnival:", "I was never out of England--it's as if I saw it all.", "", "Did young people take their pleasure when the sea was warm in May?", "Balls and masks begun at midnight, burning ever to mid-day,", "When they make up fresh adventures for the morrow, do you say?", "", "Was a lady such a lady, cheeks so round and lips so red,--", "On her neck the small face buoyant, like a bell-flower on its bed,", "O'er the breast's superb abundance where a man might base his head?", "", "Well, and it was graceful of them: they'd break talk off and afford", "--She, to bite her mask's black velvet--he, to finger on his sword,", "While you sat and played Toccatas, stately at the clavichord?", "", "What? Those lesser thirds so plaintive, sixths diminished sigh on sigh,", "Told them something? Those suspensions, those solutions--\"Must we die?\"", "Those commiserating sevenths--\"Life might last! we can but try!\"", "", "\"Were you happy?\"--\"Yes.\"--\"And are you still as happy?\"--\"Yes. And you?\"", "--\"Then, more kisses !\"--\"DidI_ stop them, when, a million seemed so few?\"", "Hark, the dominant's persistence till it must be answered to!", "", "So, an octave struck the answer. Oh, they praised you, I dare say!", "\"Brave Galuppi! that was music! good alike at grave and gay!", "I can always leave off talking when I hear a master play!\"", "", "Then they left you for their pleasure: till in due time, one by one,", "Some with lives that came to nothing, some with deeds as well undone,", "Death, stepped tacitly and took them where they never see the sun.", "", "But when I sit down to reason, think to take my stand nor swerve,", "While I triumph o'er a secret wrung from nature's close reserve,", "In you come with your cold music till I creep thro' every nerve.", "", "Yes, you, like a ghostly cricket, creaking where a house was burned:", "\"Dust and ashes, dead and done with, Venice spent what Venice earned.", "The soul, doubtless, is immortal--where a soul can be discerned.", "", "\"Yours, for instance: you know physics, something of geology,", "Mathematics are your pastime; souls shall rise in their degree;", "Butterflies may dread extinction,--you'll not die, it cannot be!", "", "\"As for Venice and her people, merely born to bloom and drop,", "Here on earth they bore their fruitage, mirth and folly were the crop:", "What of soul was left, I wonder, when the kissing had to stop?", "", "\"Dust and ashes!\" So you creak it, and I want the heart to scold.", "Dear dead women, with such hair, too--what's become of all the gold", "Used to hang and brush their bosoms? I feel chilly and grown old." ], "linecount": "45" }, { "title": "The Last Ride Together", "author": "Robert Browning", "lines": [ "I said--Then, dearest, since 'tis so,", "Since now at length my fate I know,", "Since nothing all my love avails,", "Since all, my life seemed meant for, fails,", " Since this was written and needs must be--", "My whole heart rises up to bless", "Your name in pride and thankfulness!", "Take back the hope you gave--I claim", "Only a memory of the same,", "--And this beside, if you will not blame,", " Your leave for one more last ride with me.", "", "My mistress bent that brow of hers;", "Those deep dark eyes where pride demurs", "When pity would be softening through,", "Fixed me a breathing-while or two", " With life or death in the balance: right!", "The blood replenished me again;", "My last thought was at least not vain:", "I and my mistress, side by side", "Shall be together, breathe and ride,", "So, one day more am I deified.", " Who knows but the world may end tonight?", "", "Hush! if you saw some western cloud", "All billowy-bosomed, over-bowed", "By many benedictions--sun's", "And moon's and evening-star's at once--", " And so, you, looking and loving best,", "Conscious grew, your passion drew", "Cloud, sunset, moonrise, star-shine too,", "Down on you, near and yet more near,", "Till flesh must fade for heaven was here!--", "Thus leant she and lingered--joy and fear!", " Thus lay she a moment on my breast.", "", "Then we began to ride. My soul", "Smoothed itself out, a long-cramped scroll", "Freshening and fluttering in the wind.", "Past hopes already lay behind.", " What need to strive with a life awry?", "Had I said that, had I done this,", "So might I gain, so might I miss.", "Might she have loved me? just as well", "She might have hated, who can tell!", "Where had I been now if the worst befell?", " And here we are riding, she and I.", "", "Fail I alone, in words and deeds?", "Why, all men strive and who succeeds?", "We rode; it seemed my spirit flew,", "Saw other regions, cities new", " As the world rushed by on either side.", "I thought,--All labour, yet no less", "Bear up beneath their unsuccess", "Look at the end of work, contrast", "The petty done, the undone vast,", "This present of theirs with the hopeful past!", " I hoped she would love me; here we ride.", "", "What hand and brain went ever paired?", "What heart alike conceived and dared?", "What act proved all its thought had been?", "What will but felt the fleshly screen?", " We ride and I see her bosom heave.", "There's many a crown for who can reach.", "Ten lines, a statesman's life in each!", "The flag stuck on a heap of bones,", "A soldier's doing! what atones?", "They scratch his name on the Abbey-stones.", " My riding is better, by their leave.", "", "What does it all mean, poet? Well,", "Your brains beat into rhythm, you tell", "What we felt only; you expressed", "You hold things beautiful the best,", " And pace them in rhyme so, side by side.", "'Tis something, nay 'tis much: but then,", "Have you yourself what's best for men?", "Are you--poor, sick, old ere your time--", "Nearer one whit your own sublime", "Than we who never have turned a rhyme?", " Sing, riding's a joy! For me, I ride.", "", "And you, great sculptor--so, you gave", "A score of years to Art, her slave,", "And that's your Venus, whence we turn", "To yonder girl that fords the burn!", " You acquiesce, and shall I repine?", "What, man of music, you grown grey", "With notes and nothing else to say,", "Is this your sole praise from a friend,", "\"Greatly his opera's strains intend,", "Put in music we know how fashions end!\"", " I gave my youth; but we ride, in fine.", "", "Who knows what's fit for us? Had fate", "Proposed bliss here should sublimate", "My being--had I signed the bond--", "Still one must lead some life beyond,", " Have a bliss to die with, dim-descried.", "This foot once planted on the goal,", "This glory-garland round my soul,", "Could I descry such? Try and test!", "I sink back shuddering from the quest.", "Earth being so good, would heaven seem best?", " Now, heaven and she are beyond this ride.", "", "And yet--she has not spoke so long!", "What if heaven be that, fair and strong", "At life's best, with our eyes upturned", "Whither life's flower is first discerned,", " We, fixed so, ever should so abide?", "What if we still ride on, we two", "With life for ever old yet new,", "Changed not in kind but in degree,", "The instant made eternity--", "And heaven just prove that I and she", " Ride, ride together, forever ride?" ], "linecount": "110" }, { "title": "To the Earl of Clare", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ " Tu semper amoris", " Sis memor, et cari comitis ne abscedat imago.", "", " VAL. FLAC. 'Argonaut', iv. 36.", "", "Friend of my youth! when young we rov'd,", "Like striplings, mutually belov'd,", " With Friendship's purest glow;", "The bliss, which wing'd those rosy hours,", "Was such as Pleasure seldom showers", " On mortals here below.", "", "The recollection seems, alone,", "Dearer than all the joys I've known,", " When distant far from you:", "Though pain, 'tis still a pleasing pain,", "To trace those days and hours again,", " And sigh again, adieu!", "", "My pensive mem'ry lingers o'er,", "Those scenes to be enjoy'd no more,", " Those scenes regretted ever;", "The measure of our youth is full,", "Life's evening dream is dark and dull,", " And we may meet--ah! never!", "", "As when one parent spring supplies", "Two streams, which from one fountain rise,", " Together join'd in vain;", "How soon, diverging from their source,", "Each, murmuring, seeks another course,", " Till mingled in the Main!", "", "Our vital streams of weal or woe,", "Though near, alas! distinctly flow,", " Nor mingle as before:", "Now swift or slow, now black or clear,", "Till Death's unfathom'd gulph appear,", " And both shall quit the shore.", "", "Our souls, my Friend! which once supplied", "One wish, nor breathed a thought beside,", " Now flow in different channels:", "Disdaining humbler rural sports,", "'Tis yours to mix in polish'd courts,", " And shine in Fashion's annals;", "", "'Tis mine to waste on love my time,", "Or vent my reveries in rhyme,", " Without the aid of Reason;", "For Sense and Reason (critics know it)", "Have quitted every amorous Poet,", " Nor left a thought to seize on.", "", "Poor LITTLE! sweet, melodious bard!", "Of late esteem'd it monstrous hard", " That he, who sang before all;", "He who the lore of love expanded,", "By dire Reviewers should be branded,", " As void of wit and moral.", "", "And yet, while Beauty's praise is thine,", "Harmonious favourite of the Nine!", " Repine not at thy lot.", "Thy soothing lays may still be read,", "When Persecution's arm is dead,", " And critics are forgot.", "", "Still I must yield those worthies merit", "Who chasten, with unsparing spirit,", " Bad rhymes, and those who write them:", "And though myself may be the next", "By critic sarcasm to be vext,", " I really will not fight them.", "", "Perhaps they would do quite as well", "To break the rudely sounding shell", " Of such a young beginner:", "He who offends at pert nineteen,", "Ere thirty may become, I ween,", " A very harden'd sinner.", "", "Now, Clare, I must return to you;", "And, sure, apologies are due:", " Accept, then, my concession.", "In truth, dear Clare, in Fancy's flight", "I soar along from left to right;", " My Muse admires digression.", "", "I think I said 'twould be your fate", "To add one star to royal state;--", " May regal smiles attend you!", "And should a noble Monarch reign,", "You will not seek his smiles in vain,", " If worth can recommend you.", "", "Yet since in danger courts abound,", "Where specious rivals glitter round,", " From snares may Saints preserve you;", "And grant your love or friendship ne'er", "From any claim a kindred care,", " But those who best deserve you!", "", "Not for a moment may you stray", "From Truth's secure, unerring way!", " May no delights decoy!", "O'er roses may your footsteps move,", "Your smiles be ever smiles of love,", " Your tears be tears of joy!", "", "Oh! if you wish that happiness", "Your coming days and years may bless,", " And virtues crown your brow;", "Be still as you were wont to be,", "Spotless as you've been known to me,--", " Be still as you are now.", "", "And though some trifling share of praise,", "To cheer my last declining days,", " To me were doubly dear;", "Whilst blessing your beloved name,", "I'd _waive_ at once a _Poet's_ fame,", " To _prove_ a _Prophet_ here." ], "linecount": "105" }, { "title": "Farewell to the Muse", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Thou Power! who hast ruled me through Infancy's days,", " Young offspring of Fancy, 'tis time we should part;", "Then rise on the gale this the last of my lays,", " The coldest effusion which springs from my heart.", "", "This bosom, responsive to rapture no more,", " Shall hush thy wild notes, nor implore thee to sing;", "The feelings of childhood, which taught thee to soar,", " Are wafted far distant on Apathy's wing.", "", "Though simple the themes of my rude flowing Lyre,", " Yet even these themes are departed for ever;", "No more beam the eyes which my dream could inspire,", " My visions are flown, to return,--alas, never!", "", "When drain'd is the nectar which gladdens the bowl,", " How vain is the effort delight to prolong!", "When cold is the beauty which dwelt in my soul,", " What magic of Fancy can lengthen my song?", "", "Can the lips sing of Love in the desert alone,", " Of kisses and smiles which they now must resign?", "Or dwell with delight on the hours that are flown?", " Ah, no! for those hours can no longer be mine.", "", "Can they speak of the friends that I lived but to love?", " Ah, surely Affection ennobles the strain!", "But how can my numbers in sympathy move,", " When I scarcely can hope to behold them again?", "", "Can I sing of the deeds which my Fathers have done,", " And raise my loud harp to the fame of my Sires?", "For glories like theirs, oh, how faint is my tone!", " For Heroes' exploits how unequal my fires!", "", "Untouch'd, then, my Lyre shall reply to the blast--", " 'Tis hush'd; and my feeble endeavours are o'er;", "And those who have heard it will pardon the past,", " When they know that its murmurs shall vibrate no more.", "", "And soon shall its wild erring notes be forgot,", " Since early affection and love is o'ercast:", "Oh! blest had my Fate been, and happy my lot,", " Had the first strain of love been the dearest, the last.", "", "Farewell, my young Muse! since we now can ne'er meet;", " If our songs have been languid, they surely are few:", "Let us hope that the present at least will be sweet--", " The present--which seals our eternal Adieu." ], "linecount": "40" }, { "title": "To an Oak at Newstead", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Young Oak! when I planted thee deep in the ground,", " I hoped that thy days would be longer than mine;", "That thy dark-waving branches would flourish around,", " And ivy thy trunk with its mantle entwine.", "", "Such, such was my hope, when in Infancy's years,", " On the land of my Fathers I rear'd thee with pride;", "They are past, and I water thy stem with my tears,--", " Thy decay, not the _weeds_ that surround thee can hide.", "", "I left thee, my Oak, and, since that fatal hour,", " A stranger has dwelt in the hall of my Sire;", "Till Manhood shall crown me, not mine is the power,", " But his, whose neglect may have bade thee expire.", "", "Oh! hardy thou wert--even now little care", " Might revive thy young head, and thy wounds gently", " heal:", "But thou wert not fated affection to share--", " For who could suppose that a Stranger would feel?", "", "Ah, droop not, my Oak! lift thy head for a while;", " Ere twice round yon Glory this planet shall run,", "The hand of thy Master will teach thee to smile,", " When Infancy's years of probation are done.", "", "Oh, live then, my Oak! tow'r aloft from the weeds,", " That clog thy young growth, and assist thy decay,", "For still in thy bosom are Life's early seeds,", " And still may thy branches their beauty display.", "", "Oh! yet, if Maturity's years may be thine,", " Though _I_ shall lie low in the cavern of Death,", "On thy leaves yet the day-beam of ages may shine,", " Uninjured by Time, or the rude Winter's breath.", "", "For centuries still may thy boughs lightly wave", " O'er the corse of thy Lord in thy canopy laid;", "While the branches thus gratefully shelter his grave,", " The Chief who survives may recline in thy shade.", "", "And as he, with his boys, shall revisit this spot,", " He will tell them in whispers more softly to tread.", "Oh! surely, by these I shall ne'er be forgot;", " Remembrance still hallows the dust of the dead.", "", "And here, will they say, when in Life's glowing prime,", " Perhaps he has pour'd forth his young simple lay,", "And here must he sleep, till the moments of Time", " Are lost in the hours of Eternity's day." ], "linecount": "41" }, { "title": "To a Youthful Friend", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Few years have pass'd since thou and I", " Were firmest friends, at least in name,", "And Childhood's gay sincerity", " Preserved our feelings long the same.", "", "But now, like me, too well thou know'st", " What trifles oft the heart recall;", "And those who once have loved the most", " Too soon forget they lov'd at all.", "", "And such the change the heart displays,", " So frail is early friendship's reign,", "A month's brief lapse, perhaps a day's,", " Will view thy mind estrang'd again.", "", "If so, it never shall be mine", " To mourn the loss of such a heart;", "The fault was Nature's fault, not thine,", " Which made thee fickle as thou art.", "", "As rolls the Ocean's changing tide,", " So human feelings ebb and flow;", "And who would in a breast confide", " Where stormy passions ever glow?", "", "It boots not that, together bred,", " Our childish days were days of joy:", "My spring of life has quickly fled;", " Thou, too, hast ceas'd to be a boy.", "", "And when we bid adieu to youth,", " Slaves to the specious World's controul,", "We sigh a long farewell to truth;", " That World corrupts the noblest soul.", "", "Ah, joyous season! when the mind", " Dares all things boldly but to lie;", "When Thought ere spoke is unconfin'd,", " And sparkles in the placid eye.", "", "Not so in Man's maturer years,", " When Man himself is but a tool;", "When Interest sways our hopes and fears,", " And all must love and hate by rule.", "", "With fools in kindred vice the same,", " We learn at length our faults to blend;", "And those, and those alone, may claim", " The prostituted name of friend.", "", "Such is the common lot of man:", " Can we then 'scape from folly free?", "Can we reverse the general plan,", " Nor be what all in turn must be?", "", "No; for myself, so dark my fate", " Through every turn of life hath been;", "Man and the World so much I hate,", " I care not when I quit the scene.", "", "But thou, with spirit frail and light,", " Wilt shine awhile, and pass away;", "As glow-worms sparkle through the night,", " But dare not stand the test of day.", "", "Alas! whenever Folly calls", " Where parasites and princes meet,", "(For cherish'd first in royal halls,", " The welcome vices kindly greet,)", "", "Ev'n now thou'rt nightly seen to add", " One insect to the fluttering crowd;", "And still thy trifling heart is glad", " To join the vain and court the proud.", "", "There dost thou glide from fair to fair,", " Still simpering on with eager haste,", "As flies along the gay parterre,", " That taint the flowers they scarcely taste.", "", "But say, what nymph will prize the flame", " Which seems, as marshy vapours move,", "To flit along from dame to dame,", " An ignis-fatuus gleam of love?", "", "What friend for thee, howe'er inclin'd,", " Will deign to own a kindred care?", "Who will debase his manly mind,", " For friendship every fool may share?", "", "In time forbear; amidst the throng", " No more so base a thing be seen;", "No more so idly pass along;", " Be something, any thing, but--mean." ], "linecount": "76" }, { "title": "Stanzas to a Lady, on Leaving England", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Tis done--and shivering in the gale", "The bark unfurls her snowy sail;", "And whistling o'er the bending mast,", "Loud sings on high the fresh'ning blast;", "And I must from this land be gone,", "Because I cannot love but one.", "", "But could I be what I have been,", "And could I see what I have seen--", "Could I repose upon the breast", "Which once my warmest wishes blest--", "I should not seek another zone,", "Because I cannot love but one.", "", "'Tis long since I beheld that eye", "Which gave me bliss or misery;", "And I have striven, but in vain,", "Never to think of it again:", "For though I fly from Albion,", "I still can only love but one.", "", "As some lone bird, without a mate,", "My weary heart is desolate;", "I look around, and cannot trace", "One friendly smile or welcome face,", "And ev'n in crowds am still alone,", "Because I cannot love but one.", "", "And I will cross the whitening foam,", "And I will seek a foreign home;", "Till I forget a false fair face,", "I ne'er shall find a resting-place;", "My own dark thoughts I cannot shun,", "But ever love, and love but one.", "", "The poorest, veriest wretch on earth", "Still finds some hospitable hearth,", "Where Friendship's or Love's softer glow", "May smile in joy or soothe in woe;", "But friend or leman I have none,", "Because I cannot love but one.", "", "I go--but wheresoe'er I flee", "There's not an eye will weep for me;", "There's not a kind congenial heart,", "Where I can claim the meanest part;", "Nor thou, who hast my hopes undone,", "Wilt sigh, although I love but one.", "", "To think of every early scene,", "Of what we are, and what we've been,", "Would whelm some softer hearts with woe--", "But mine, alas! has stood the blow;", "Yet still beats on as it begun,", "And never truly loves but one.", "", "And who that dear lov'd one may be,", "Is not for vulgar eyes to see;", "And why that early love was cross'd,", "Thou know'st the best, I feel the most;", "But few that dwell beneath the sun", "Have loved so long, and loved but one.", "", "I've tried another's fetters too,", "With charms perchance as fair to view;", "And I would fain have loved as well,", "But some unconquerable spell", "Forbade my bleeding breast to own", "A kindred care for aught but one.", "", "'Twould soothe to take one lingering view,", "And bless thee in my last adieu;", "Yet wish I not those eyes to weep", "For him that wanders o'er the deep;", "His home, his hope, his youth are gone,", "Yet still he loves, and loves but one.", "", "'To----on Leaving England.'", "", "'The land recedes his Bark is gone,", "Yet still he loves and laves but one.'" ], "linecount": "69" }, { "title": "To Florence", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Oh Lady! when I left the shore,", " The distant shore which gave me birth,", "I hardly thought to grieve once more,", " To quit another spot on earth:", "", "Yet here, amidst this barren isle,", " Where panting Nature droops the head,", "Where only thou art seen to smile,", " I view my parting hour with dread.", "", "Though far from Albin's craggy shore,", " Divided by the dark-blue main;", "A few, brief, rolling seasons o'er,", " Perchance I view her cliffs again:", "", "But wheresoe'er I now may roam,", " Through scorching clime, and varied sea,", "Though Time restore me to my home,", " I ne'er shall bend mine eyes on thee:", "", "On thee, in whom at once conspire", " All charms which heedless hearts can move,", "Whom but to see is to admire,", " And, oh! forgive the word--to love.", "", "Forgive the word, in one who ne'er", " With such a word can more offend;", "And since thy heart I cannot share,", " Believe me, what I am, thy friend.", "", "And who so cold as look on thee,", " Thou lovely wand'rer, and be less?", "Nor be, what man should ever be,", " The friend of Beauty in distress?", "", "Ah! who would think that form had past", " Through Danger's most destructive path,", "Had braved the death-winged tempest's blast,", " And 'scaped a Tyrant's fiercer wrath?", "", "Lady! when I shall view the walls", " Where free Byzantium once arose,", "And Stamboul's Oriental halls", " The Turkish tyrants now enclose;", "", "Though mightiest in the lists of fame,", " That glorious city still shall be;", "On me 'twill hold a dearer claim,", " As spot of thy nativity:", "", "And though I bid thee now farewell,", " When I behold that wondrous scene--", "Since where thou art I may not dwell--", " 'Twill soothe to be where thou hast been." ], "linecount": "44" }, { "title": "Stanzas Composed During a Thunderstorm", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Chill and mirk is the nightly blast,", " Where Pindus' mountains rise,", "And angry clouds are pouring fast", " The vengeance of the skies.", "", "Our guides are gone, our hope is lost,", " And lightnings, as they play,", "But show where rocks our path have crost,", " Or gild the torrent's spray.", "", "Is yon a cot I saw, though low?", " When lightning broke the gloom--", "How welcome were its shade!--ah, no!", " 'Tis but a Turkish tomb.", "", "Through sounds of foaming waterfalls,", " I hear a voice exclaim--", "My way-worn countryman, who calls", " On distant England's name.", "", "A shot is fired--by foe or friend?", " Another--'tis to tell", "The mountain-peasants to descend,", " And lead us where they dwell.", "", "Oh! who in such a night will dare", " To tempt the wilderness?", "And who 'mid thunder-peals can hear", " Our signal of distress?", "", "And who that heard our shouts would rise", " To try the dubious road?", "Nor rather deem from nightly cries", " That outlaws were abroad.", "", "Clouds burst, skies flash, oh, dreadful hour!", " More fiercely pours the storm!", "Yet here one thought has still the power", " To keep my bosom warm.", "", "While wandering through each broken path,", " O'er brake and craggy brow;", "While elements exhaust their wrath,", " Sweet Florence, where art thou?", "", "Not on the sea, not on the sea--", " Thy bark hath long been gone:", "Oh, may the storm that pours on me,", " Bow down my head alone!", "", "Full swiftly blew the swift Siroc,", " When last I pressed thy lip;", "And long ere now, with foaming shock,", " Impelled thy gallant ship.", "", "Now thou art safe; nay, long ere now", " Hast trod the shore of Spain;", "'Twere hard if aught so fair as thou", " Should linger on the main.", "", "And since I now remember thee", " In darkness and in dread,", "As in those hours of revelry", " Which Mirth and Music sped;", "", "Do thou, amid the fair white walls,", " If Cadiz yet be free,", "At times from out her latticed halls", " Look o'er the dark blue sea;", "", "Then think upon Calypso's isles,", " Endeared by days gone by;", "To others give a thousand smiles,", " To me a single sigh.", "", "And when the admiring circle mark", " The paleness of thy face,", "A half-formed tear, a transient spark", " Of melancholy grace,", "", "Again thou'lt smile, and blushing shun", " Some coxcomb's raillery;", "Nor own for once thou thought'st on one,", " Who ever thinks on thee.", "", "Though smile and sigh alike are vain,", " When severed hearts repine,", "My spirit flies o'er Mount and Main,", " And mourns in search of _thine_." ], "linecount": "72" }, { "title": "Farewell to Malta", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Adieu, ye joys of La Valette!", "Adieu, Sirocco, sun, and sweat!", "Adieu, thou palace rarely entered!", "Adieu, ye mansions where--I've ventured!", "Adieu, ye curséd streets of stairs!", "(How surely he who mounts them swears!)", "Adieu, ye merchants often failing!", "Adieu, thou mob for ever railing!", "Adieu, ye packets--without letters!", "Adieu, ye fools--who ape your betters!", "Adieu, thou damned'st quarantine,", "That gave me fever, and the spleen!", "Adieu that stage which makes us yawn, Sirs,", "Adieu his Excellency's dancers!", "Adieu to Peter--whom no fault's in,", "But could not teach a colonel waltzing;", "Adieu, ye females fraught with graces!", "Adieu red coats, and redder faces!", "Adieu the supercilious air", "Of all that strut _en militaire_!", "I go--but God knows when, or why,", "To smoky towns and cloudy sky,", "To things (the honest truth to say)", "As bad--but in a different way.", "", "Farewell to these, but not adieu,", "Triumphant sons of truest blue!", "While either Adriatic shore,", "And fallen chiefs, and fleets no more,", "And nightly smiles, and daily dinners,", "Proclaim you war and women's winners.", "Pardon my Muse, who apt to prate is,", "And take my rhyme--because 'tis \"gratis.\"", "", "And now I've got to Mrs. Fraser,", "Perhaps you think I mean to praise her--", "And were I vain enough to think", "My praise was worth this drop of ink,", "A line--or two--were no hard matter,", "As here, indeed, I need not flatter:", "But she must be content to shine", "In better praises than in mine,", "With lively air, and open heart,", "And fashion's ease, without its art;", "Her hours can gaily glide along.", "Nor ask the aid of idle song.", "", "And now, O Malta! since thou'st got us,", "Thou little military hot-house!", "I'll not offend with words uncivil,", "And wish thee rudely at the Devil,", "But only stare from out my casement,", "And ask, \"for what is such a place meant?\"", "Then, in my solitary nook,", "Return to scribbling, or a book,", "Or take my physic while I'm able", "(Two spoonfuls hourly, by this label),", "Prefer my nightcap to my beaver,", "And bless my stars I've got a fever." ], "linecount": "56" }, { "title": "Epistle to a Friend,", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "\"Oh! banish care\"--such ever be", "The motto of _thy_ revelry!", "Perchance of _mine,_ when wassail nights", "Renew those riotous delights,", "Wherewith the children of Despair", "Lull the lone heart, and \"banish care.\"", "But not in Morn's reflecting hour,", "When present, past, and future lower,", "When all I loved is changed or gone,", "Mock with such taunts the woes of one,", "Whose every thought--but let them pass--", "Thou know'st I am not what I was.", "But, above all, if thou wouldst hold", "Place in a heart that ne'er was cold,", "By all the powers that men revere,", "By all unto thy bosom dear,", "Thy joys below, thy hopes above,", "Speak--speak of anything but Love.", "", " 'Twere long to tell, and vain to hear,", "The tale of one who scorns a tear;", "And there is little in that tale", "Which better bosoms would bewail.", "But mine has suffered more than well", "'Twould suit philosophy to tell.", "I've seen my bride another's bride,--", "Have seen her seated by his side,--", "Have seen the infant, which she bore,", "Wear the sweet smile the mother wore,", "When she and I in youth have smiled,", "As fond and faultless as her child;--", "Have seen her eyes, in cold disdain,", "Ask if I felt no secret pain;", "And _I_ have acted well my part,", "And made my cheek belie my heart,", "Returned the freezing glance she gave,", "Yet felt the while that _woman's_ slave;--", "Have kissed, as if without design,", "The babe which ought to have been mine,", "And showed, alas! in each caress", "Time had not made me love the less.", "", " But let this pass--I'll whine no more,", "Nor seek again an eastern shore;", "The world befits a busy brain,--", "I'll hie me to its haunts again.", "But if, in some succeeding year,", "When Britain's \"May is in the sere,\"", "Thou hear'st of one, whose deepening crimes", "Suit with the sablest of the times,", "Of one, whom love nor pity sways,", "Nor hope of fame, nor good men's praise;", "One, who in stern Ambition's pride,", "Perchance not blood shall turn aside;", "One ranked in some recording page", "With the worst anarchs of the age,", "Him wilt thou _know_--and _knowing_ pause,", "Nor with the _effect_ forget the cause." ], "linecount": "56" }, { "title": "To Thyrza", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Without a stone to mark the spot,", " And say, what Truth might well have said,", "By all, save one, perchance forgot,", " Ah! wherefore art thou lowly laid?", "By many a shore and many a sea", " Divided, yet beloved in vain;", "The Past, the Future fled to thee,", " To bid us meet--no--ne'er again!", "Could this have been--a word, a look,", " That softly said, \"We part in peace,\"", "Had taught my bosom how to brook,", " With fainter sighs, thy soul's release.", "And didst thou not, since Death for thee", " Prepared a light and pangless dart,", "Once long for him thou ne'er shalt see,", " Who held, and holds thee in his heart?", "Oh! who like him had watched thee here?", " Or sadly marked thy glazing eye,", "In that dread hour ere Death appear,", " When silent Sorrow fears to sigh,", "Till all was past? But when no more", " 'Twas thine to reck of human woe,", "Affection's heart-drops, gushing o'er,", " Had flowed as fast--as now they flow.", "Shall they not flow, when many a day", " In these, to me, deserted towers,", "Ere called but for a time away,", " Affection's mingling tears were ours?", "Ours too the glance none saw beside;", " The smile none else might understand;", "The whispered thought of hearts allied,", " The pressure of the thrilling hand;", "The kiss, so guiltless and refined,", " That Love each warmer wish forbore;", "Those eyes proclaimed so pure a mind,", " Ev'n Passion blushed to plead for more.", "The tone, that taught me to rejoice,", " When prone, unlike thee, to repine;", "The song, celestial from thy voice,", " But sweet to me from none but thine;", "The pledge we wore--_I_ wear it still,", " But where is thine?--Ah! where art thou?", "Oft have I borne the weight of ill,", " But never bent beneath till now!", "Well hast thou left in Life's best bloom", " The cup of Woe for me to drain.", "If rest alone be in the tomb,", " I would not wish thee here again:", "But if in worlds more blest than this", " Thy virtues seek a fitter sphere,", "Impart some portion of thy bliss,", " To wean me from mine anguish here.", "Teach me--too early taught by thee!", " To bear, forgiving and forgiven:", "On earth thy love was such to me;", " It fain would form my hope in Heaven!" ], "linecount": "56" }, { "title": "Address, Spoken at the Opening of Drury-Lane Theatre, Saturday, October 10, 1812", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "In one dread night our city saw, and sighed,", "Bowed to the dust, the Drama's tower of pride;", "In one short hour beheld the blazing fane,", "Apollo sink, and Shakespeare cease to reign.", "", " Ye who beheld, (oh! sight admired and mourned,", "Whose radiance mocked the ruin it adorned!)", "Through clouds of fire the massy fragments riven,", "Like Israel's pillar, chase the night from heaven;", "Saw the long column of revolving flames", "Shake its red shadow o'er the startled Thames,", "While thousands, thronged around the burning dome,", "Shrank back appalled, and trembled for their home,", "As glared the volumed blaze, and ghastly shone", "The skies, with lightnings awful as their own,", "Till blackening ashes and the lonely wall", "Usurped the Muse's realm, and marked her fall;", "Say--shall this new, nor less aspiring pile,", "Reared where once rose the mightiest in our isle,", "Know the same favour which the former knew,", "A shrine for Shakespeare--worthy him and _you_?", "", " Yes--it shall be--the magic of that name", "Defies the scythe of time, the torch of flame;", "On the same spot still consecrates the scene,", "And bids the Drama _be_ where she hath _been_:", "This fabric's birth attests the potent spell----", "Indulge our honest pride, and say, _How well_!", "", " As soars this fane to emulate the last,", "Oh! might we draw our omens from the past,", "Some hour propitious to our prayers may boast", "Names such as hallow still the dome we lost.", "On Drury first your Siddons' thrilling art", "O'erwhelmed the gentlest, stormed the sternest heart.", "On Drury, Garrick's latest laurels grew;", "Here your last tears retiring Roscius drew,", "Sighed his last thanks, and wept his last adieu:", "But still for living wit the wreaths may bloom,", "That only waste their odours o'er the tomb.", "Such Drury claimed and claims--nor you refuse", "One tribute to revive his slumbering muse;", "With garlands deck your own Menander's head,", "Nor hoard your honours idly for the dead!", "Dear are the days which made our annals bright,", "Ere Garrick fled, or Brinsley ceased to write", "Heirs to their labours, like all high-born heirs,", "Vain of _our_ ancestry as they of _theirs_;", "While thus Remembrance borrows Banquo's glass", "To claim the sceptred shadows as they pass,", "And we the mirror hold, where imaged shine", "Immortal names, emblazoned on our line,", "Pause--ere their feebler offspring you condemn,", "Reflect how hard the task to rival them!", "", " Friends of the stage! to whom both Players and Plays", "Must sue alike for pardon or for praise,", "Whose judging voice and eye alone direct", "The boundless power to cherish or reject;", "If e'er frivolity has led to fame,", "And made us blush that you forbore to blame--", "If e'er the sinking stage could condescend", "To soothe the sickly taste it dare not mend--", "All past reproach may present scenes refute,", "And censure, wisely loud, be justly mute!", "Oh! since your fiat stamps the Drama's laws,", "Forbear to mock us with misplaced applause;", "So Pride shall doubly nerve the actor's powers,", "And Reason's voice be echoed back by ours!", "", " This greeting o'er--the ancient rule obeyed,", "The Drama's homage by her herald paid--", "Receive _our welcome_ too--whose every tone", "Springs from our hearts, and fain would win your own.", "The curtain rises--may our stage unfold", "Scenes not unworthy Drury's days of old!", "Britons our judges, Nature for our guide,", "Still may _we_ please--long, long may _you_ preside." ], "linecount": "73" }, { "title": "To Time", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Time! on whose arbitrary wing", " The varying hours must flag or fly,", "Whose tardy winter, fleeting spring,", " But drag or drive us on to die--", "Hail thou! who on my birth bestowed", " Those boons to all that know thee known;", "Yet better I sustain thy load,", " For now I bear the weight alone.", "I would not one fond heart should share", " The bitter moments thou hast given;", "And pardon thee--since thou couldst spare", " All that I loved, to peace or Heaven.", "To them be joy or rest--on me", " Thy future ills shall press in vain;", "I nothing owe but years to thee,", " A debt already paid in pain.", "Yet even that pain was some relief;", " It felt, but still forgot thy power:", "The active agony of grief", " Retards, but never counts the hour.", "In joy I've sighed to think thy flight", " Would soon subside from swift to slow;", "Thy cloud could overcast the light,", " But could not add a night to Woe;", "For then, however drear and dark,", " My soul was suited to thy sky;", "One star alone shot forth a spark", " To prove thee--not Eternity.", "That beam hath sunk--and now thou art", " A blank--a thing to count and curse", "Through each dull tedious trifling part,", " Which all regret, yet all rehearse.", "One scene even thou canst not deform--", " The limit of thy sloth or speed", "When future wanderers bear the storm", " Which we shall sleep too sound to heed.", "And I can smile to think how weak", " Thine efforts shortly shall be shown,", "When all the vengeance thou canst wreak", " Must fall upon--a nameless stone." ], "linecount": "40" }, { "title": "Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "'Tis done--but yesterday a King!", " And armed with Kings to strive--", "And now thou art a nameless thing:", " So abject--yet alive!", "Is this the man of thousand thrones,", "Who strewed our earth with hostile bones,", " And can he thus survive?", "Since he, miscalled the Morning Star,", "Nor man nor fiend hath fallen so far.", "", "Ill-minded man! why scourge thy kind", " Who bowed so low the knee?", "By gazing on thyself grown blind,", " Thou taught'st the rest to see.", "With might unquestioned,--power to save,--", "Thine only gift hath been the grave", " To those that worshipped thee;", "Nor till thy fall could mortals guess", "Ambition's less than littleness!", "", "Thanks for that lesson--it will teach", " To after-warriors more", "Than high Philosophy can preach,", " And vainly preached before.", "That spell upon the minds of men", "Breaks never to unite again,", " That led them to adore", "Those Pagod things of sabre-sway,", "With fronts of brass, and feet of clay.", "", "The triumph, and the vanity,", " The rapture of the strife--", "The earthquake-voice of Victory,", " To thee the breath of life;", "The sword, the sceptre, and that sway", "Which man seemed made but to obey,", " Wherewith renown was rife--", "All quelled!--Dark Spirit! what must be", "The madness of thy memory!", "", "The Desolator desolate!", " The Victor overthrown!", "The Arbiter of others' fate", " A Suppliant for his own!", "Is it some yet imperial hope", "That with such change can calmly cope?", " Or dread of death alone?", "To die a Prince--or live a slave--", "Thy choice is most ignobly brave!", "", "He who of old would rend the oak,", " Dreamed not of the rebound;", "Chained by the trunk he vainly broke--", " Alone--how looked he round?", "Thou, in the sternness of thy strength,", "An equal deed hast done at length.", " And darker fate hast found:", "He fell, the forest prowlers' prey;", "But thou must eat thy heart away!", "", "The Roman, when his burning heart", " Was slaked with blood of Rome,", "Threw down the dagger--dared depart,", " In savage grandeur, home.--", "He dared depart in utter scorn", "Of men that such a yoke had borne,", " Yet left him such a doom!", "His only glory was that hour", "Of self-upheld abandoned power.", "", "The Spaniard, when the lust of sway", " Had lost its quickening spell,", "Cast crowns for rosaries away,", " An empire for a cell;", "A strict accountant of his beads,", "A subtle disputant on creeds,", " His dotage trifled well:", "Yet better had he neither known", "A bigot's shrine, nor despot's throne.", "", "But thou--from thy reluctant hand", " The thunderbolt is wrung--", "Too late thou leav'st the high command", " To which thy weakness clung;", "All Evil Spirit as thou art,", "It is enough to grieve the heart", " To see thine own unstrung;", "To think that God's fair world hath been", "The footstool of a thing so mean;", "", "And Earth hath spilt her blood for him,", " Who thus can hoard his own!", "And Monarchs bowed the trembling limb,", " And thanked him for a throne!", "Fair Freedom! we may hold thee dear,", "When thus thy mightiest foes their fear", " In humblest guise have shown.", "Oh! ne'er may tyrant leave behind", "A brighter name to lure mankind!", "", "Thine evil deeds are writ in gore,", " Nor written thus in vain--", "Thy triumphs tell of fame no more,", " Or deepen every stain:", "If thou hadst died as Honour dies,", "Some new Napoleon might arise,", " To shame the world again--", "But who would soar the solar height,", "To set in such a starless night?", "", "Weigh'd in the balance, hero dust", " Is vile as vulgar clay;", "Thy scales, Mortality! are just", " To all that pass away:", "But yet methought the living great", "Some higher sparks should animate,", " To dazzle and dismay:", "Nor deem'd Contempt could thus make mirth", "Of these, the Conquerors of the earth.", "", "And she, proud Austria's mournful flower,", " Thy still imperial bride;", "How bears her breast the torturing hour?", " Still clings she to thy side?", "Must she too bend, must she too share", "Thy late repentance, long despair,", " Thou throneless Homicide?", "If still she loves thee, hoard that gem,--", "'Tis worth thy vanished diadem!", "", "Then haste thee to thy sullen Isle,", " And gaze upon the sea;", "That element may meet thy smile--", " It ne'er was ruled by thee!", "Or trace with thine all idle hand", "In loitering mood upon the sand", " That Earth is now as free!", "That Corinth's pedagogue hath now", "Transferred his by-word to thy brow.", "", "Thou Timour! in his captive's cage", " What thoughts will there be thine,", "While brooding in thy prisoned rage?", " But one--\"The world _was_ mine!\"", "Unless, like he of Babylon,", "All sense is with thy sceptre gone,", " Life will not long confine", "That spirit poured so widely forth--", "So long obeyed--so little worth!", "", "Or, like the thief of fire from heaven,", " Wilt thou withstand the shock?", "And share with him, the unforgiven,", " His vulture and his rock!", "Foredoomed by God--by man accurst,", "And that last act, though not thy worst,", " The very Fiend's arch mock;", "He in his fall preserved his pride,", "And, if a mortal, had as proudly died!", "", "There was a day--there was an hour,", " While earth was Gaul's--Gaul thine--", "When that immeasurable power", " Unsated to resign", "Had been an act of purer fame", "Than gathers round Marengo's name", " And gilded thy decline,", "Through the long twilight of all time,", "Despite some passing clouds of crime.", "", "But thou forsooth must be a King", " And don the purple vest,", "As if that foolish robe could wring", " Remembrance from thy breast.", "Where is that faded garment? where", "The gewgaws thou wert fond to wear,", " The star, the string, the crest?", "Vain froward child of Empire! say,", "Are all thy playthings snatched away?", "", "Where may the wearied eye repose", " When gazing on the Great;", "Where neither guilty glory glows,", " Nor despicable state?", "Yes--One--the first--the last--the best--", "The Cincinnatus of the West,", " Whom Envy dared not hate,", "Bequeathed the name of Washington,", "To make man blush there was but one!" ], "linecount": "171" }, { "title": "Address Intended to Be Recited at the Caledonian Meeting", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Who hath not glowed above the page where Fame", "Hath fixed high Caledon's unconquered name;", "The mountain-land which spurned the Roman chain,", "And baffled back the fiery-crested Dane,", "Whose bright claymore and hardihood of hand", "No foe could tame--no tyrant could command?", "That race is gone--but still their children breathe,", "And Glory crowns them with redoubled wreath:", "O'er Gael and Saxon mingling banners shine,", "And, England! add their stubborn strength to thine.", "The blood which flowed with Wallace flows as free,", "But now 'tis only shed for Fame and thee!", "Oh! pass not by the northern veteran's claim,", "But give support--the world hath given him fame!", "", "The humbler ranks, the lowly brave, who bled", "While cheerly following where the Mighty led--", "Who sleep beneath the undistinguished sod", "Where happier comrades in their triumph trod,", "To us bequeath--'tis all their fate allows--", "The sireless offspring and the lonely spouse:", "She on high Albyn's dusky hills may raise", "The tearful eye in melancholy gaze,", "Or view, while shadowy auguries disclose", "The Highland Seer's anticipated woes,", "The bleeding phantom of each martial form", "Dim in the cloud, or darkling in the storm;", "While sad, she chaunts the solitary song,", "The soft lament for him who tarries long--", "For him, whose distant relics vainly crave", "The Coronach's wild requiem to the brave!", "", "'Tis Heaven--not man--must charm away the woe,", "Which bursts when Nature's feelings newly flow;", "Yet Tenderness and Time may rob the tear", "Of half its bitterness for one so dear;", "A Nation's gratitude perchance may spread", "A thornless pillow for the widowed head;", "May lighten well her heart's maternal care,", "And wean from Penury the soldier's heir;", "Or deem to living war-worn Valour just", "Each wounded remnant--Albion's cherished trust--", "Warm his decline with those endearing rays,", "Whose bounteous sunshine yet may gild his days--", "So shall that Country--while he sinks to rest--", "His hand hath fought for--by his heart be blest!" ], "linecount": "44" }, { "title": "To Belshazzar", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Belshazzar! from the banquet turn,", " Nor in thy sensual fulness fall;", "Behold! while yet before thee burn", " The graven words, the glowing wall,", "Many a despot men miscall", " Crowned and anointed from on high;", "But thou, the weakest, worst of all--", " Is it not written, thou must die?", "", "Go! dash the roses from thy brow--", " Grey hairs but poorly wreathe with them;", "Youth's garlands misbecome thee now,", " More than thy very diadem,", "Where thou hast tarnished every gem:--", " Then throw the worthless bauble by,", "Which, worn by thee, ev'n slaves contemn;", " And learn like better men to die!", "", "Oh! early in the balance weighed,", " And ever light of word and worth,", "Whose soul expired ere youth decayed,", " And left thee but a mass of earth.", "To see thee moves the scorner's mirth:", " But tears in Hope's averted eye", "Lament that even thou hadst birth--", " Unfit to govern, live, or die." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Stanzas to Augusta", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "When all around grew drear and dark,", " And reason half withheld her ray--", "And Hope but shed a dying spark", " Which more misled my lonely way;", "In that deep midnight of the mind,", " And that internal strife of heart,", "When dreading to be deemed too kind,", " The weak despair--the cold depart;", "When Fortune changed--and Love fled far,", " And Hatred's shafts flew thick and fast,", "Thou wert the solitary star", " Which rose and set not to the last.", "Oh! blest be thine unbroken light!", " That watched me as a Seraph's eye,", "And stood between me and the night,", " For ever shining sweetly nigh.", "And when the cloud upon us came,", " Which strove to blacken o'er thy ray--", "Then purer spread its gentle flame,", " And dashed the darkness all away.", "Still may thy Spirit dwell on mine,", " And teach it what to brave or brook--", "There's more in one soft word of thine", " Than in the world's defied rebuke.", "Thou stood'st, as stands a lovely tree,", " That still unbroke, though gently bent,", "Still waves with fond fidelity", " Its boughs above a monument.", "The winds might rend--the skies might pour,", " But there thou wert--and still wouldst be", "Devoted in the stormiest hour", " To shed thy weeping leaves o'er me.", "But thou and thine shall know no blight,", " Whatever fate on me may fall;", "For Heaven in sunshine will requite", " The kind--and thee the most of all.", "Then let the ties of baffled love", " Be broken--thine will never break;", "Thy heart can feel--but will not move;", " Thy soul, though soft, will never shake.", "And these, when all was lost beside,", " Were found and still are fixed in thee:--", "And bearing still a breast so tried,", " Earth is no desert--ev'n to me." ], "linecount": "44" }, { "title": "Stanzas to Augusta", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Though the day of my Destiny's over,", " And the star of my Fate hath declined,", "Thy soft heart refused to discover", " The faults which so many could find;", "Though thy Soul with my grief was acquainted,", " It shrunk not to share it with me,", "And the Love which my Spirit hath painted", " It never hath found but in _Thee_.", "", "Then when Nature around me is smiling,", " The last smile which answers to mine,", "I do not believe it beguiling,", " Because it reminds me of thine;", "And when winds are at war with the ocean,", " As the breasts I believed in with me,", "If their billows excite an emotion,", " It is that they bear me from _Thee._", "", "Though the rock of my last Hope is shivered,", " And its fragments are sunk in the wave,", "Though I feel that my soul is delivered", " To Pain--it shall not be its slave.", "There is many a pang to pursue me:", " They may crush, but they shall not contemn;", "They may torture, but shall not subdue me;", " 'Tis of _Thee_ that I think--not of them.", "", "Though human, thou didst not deceive me,", " Though woman, thou didst not forsake,", "Though loved, thou forborest to grieve me,", " Though slandered, thou never couldst shake;", "Though trusted, thou didst not disclaim me,", " Though parted, it was not to fly,", "Though watchful, 'twas not to defame me,", " Nor, mute, that the world might belie.", "", "Yet I blame not the World, nor despise it,", " Nor the war of the many with one;", "If my Soul was not fitted to prize it,", " 'Twas folly not sooner to shun:", "And if dearly that error hath cost me,", " And more than I once could foresee,", "I have found that, whatever it lost me,", " It could not deprive me of _Thee_.", "", "From the wreck of the past, which hath perished,", " Thus much I at least may recall,", "It hath taught me that what I most cherished", " Deserved to be dearest of all:", "In the Desert a fountain is springing,", " In the wide waste there still is a tree,", "And a bird in the solitude singing,", " Which speaks to my spirit of _Thee_." ], "linecount": "48" }, { "title": "Translation From Vittorelli. on a Nun", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ " Sonnet composed in the name of a father, whose daughter had", " recently died shortly after her marriage; and addressed to the", " father of her who had lately taken the veil.", "", "Of two fair virgins, modest, though admired,", " Heaven made us happy; and now, wretched sires,", " Heaven for a nobler doom their worth desires,", " And gazing upon _either, both_ required.", "", "Mine, while the torch of Hymen newly fired", " Becomes extinguished,--soon--too soon expires;", " But thine, within the closing grate retired,", " Eternal captive, to her God aspires.", "", "But _thou_ at least from out the jealous door,", " Which shuts between your never-meeting eyes,", " May'st hear her sweet and pious voice once more:", "", "I to the marble, where _my_ daughter lies,", " Rush,--the swoln flood of bitterness I pour,", " And knock, and knock, and knock--but none replies." ], "linecount": "17" }, { "title": "Stanzas to the Po", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "River, that rollest by the ancient walls,", " Where dwells the Lady of my love, when she", "Walks by thy brink, and there perchance recalls", " A faint and fleeting memory of me:", "", "What if thy deep and ample stream should be", " A mirror of my heart, where she may read", "The thousand thoughts I now betray to thee,", " Wild as thy wave, and headlong as thy speed!", "", "What do I say--a mirror of my heart?", " Are not thy waters sweeping, dark, and strong?", "Such as my feelings were and are, thou art;", " And such as thou art were my passions long.", "", "Time may have somewhat tamed them,--not for ever;", " Thou overflow'st thy banks, and not for aye", "Thy bosom overboils, congenial river!", " Thy floods subside, and mine have sunk away:", "", "But left long wrecks behind, and now again,", " Borne in our old unchanged career, we move:", "Thou tendest wildly onwards to the main,", " And I--to loving _one_ I should not love.", "", "The current I behold will sweep beneath", " Her native walls, and murmur at her feet;", "Her eyes will look on thee, when she shall breathe", " The twilight air, unharmed by summer's heat.", "", "She will look on thee,--I have looked on thee,", " Full of that thought: and, from that moment, ne'er", "Thy waters could I dream of, name, or see,", " Without the inseparable sigh for her!", "", "Her bright eyes will be imaged in thy stream,--", " Yes! they will meet the wave I gaze on now:", "Mine cannot witness, even in a dream,", " That happy wave repass me in its flow!", "", "The wave that bears my tears returns no more:", " Will she return by whom that wave shall sweep?--", "Both tread thy banks, both wander on thy shore,", " I by thy source, she by the dark-blue deep.", "", "But that which keepeth us apart is not", " Distance, nor depth of wave, nor space of earth,", "But the distraction of a various lot,", " As various as the climates of our birth.", "", "A stranger loves the Lady of the land,", " Born far beyond the mountains, but his blood", "Is all meridian, as if never fanned", " By the black wind that chills the polar flood.", "", "My blood is all meridian; were it not,", " I had not left my clime, nor should I be,", "In spite of tortures, ne'er to be forgot,", " A slave again of love,--at least of thee.", "", "'Tis vain to struggle--let me perish young--", " Live as I lived, and love as I have loved;", "To dust if I return, from dust I sprung,", " And then, at least, my heart can ne'er be moved." ], "linecount": "52" }, { "title": "Sonnet on the Nuptials of the Marquis Antonio Cavalli With the Countess Clelia Rasponi of Ravenna", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "A noble Lady of the Italian shore", " Lovely and young, herself a happy bride,", " Commands a verse, and will not be denied,", "From me a wandering Englishman; I tore", "One sonnet, but invoke the muse once more", " To hail these gentle hearts which Love has tied,", " In Youth, Birth, Beauty, genially allied", "And blest with Virtue's soul, and Fortune's store.", "A sweeter language, and a luckier bard", " Were worthier of your hopes, Auspicious Pair!", "And of the sanctity of Hymen's shrine,", " But,--since I cannot but obey the Fair,", "To render your new state your true reward,", " May your Fate be like _Hers_, and unlike _mine._" ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet to the Prince Regent. on the Repeal of Lord Edward Fitzgerald's Forfeiture", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "To be the father of the fatherless,", " To stretch the hand from the throne's height, and raise", " _His_ offspring, who expired in other days", "To make thy Sire's sway by a kingdom less,--", "_This_ is to be a monarch, and repress", " Envy into unutterable praise.", " Dismiss thy guard, and trust thee to such traits,", "For who would lift a hand, except to bless?", " Were it not easy, Sir, and is't not sweet", " To make thyself belovéd? and to be", "Omnipotent by Mercy's means? for thus", " Thy Sovereignty would grow but more complete,", "A despot thou, and yet thy people free,", " And by the heart--not hand--enslaving us." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Stanzas to a Hindoo Air", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ " Oh! my lonely--lonely--lonely--Pillow!", "Where is my lover? where is my lover?", "Is it his bark which my dreary dreams discover?", " Far--far away! and alone along the billow?", "", " Oh! my lonely--lonely--lonely--Pillow!", "Why must my head ache where his gentle brow lay?", "How the long night flags lovelessly and slowly,", " And my head droops over thee like the willow!", "", " Oh! thou, my sad and solitary Pillow!", "Send me kind dreams to keep my heart from breaking,", "In return for the tears I shed upon thee waking;", " Let me not die till he comes back o'er the billow.", "", " Then if thou wilt--no more my _lonely_ Pillow,", "In one embrace let these arms again enfold him,", "And then expire of the joy--but to behold him!", " Oh! my lone bosom!--oh! my lonely Pillow!" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "To the Countess of Blessington", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "You have asked for a verse:--the request", " In a rhymer 'twere strange to deny;", "But my Hippocrene was but my breast,", " And my feelings (its fountain) are dry.", "", "Were I now as I was, I had sung", " What Lawrence has painted so well;", "But the strain would expire on my tongue,", " And the theme is too soft for my shell.", "", "I am ashes where once I was fire,", " And the bard in my bosom is dead;", "What I loved I now merely admire,", " And my heart is as grey as my head.", "", "My Life is not dated by years--", " There are _moments_ which act as a plough,", "And there is not a furrow appears", " But is deep in my soul as my brow.", "", "Let the young and the brilliant aspire", " To sing what I gaze on in vain;", "For Sorrow has torn from my lyre", " The string which was worthy the strain.", "", " B." ], "linecount": "21" }, { "title": "An Ode to the Framers of the Frame Bill", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "OH well done Lord E---- n! and better done R----r!", " Britannia must prosper with councils like yours;", "Hawkesbury, Harrowby, help you to guide her,", " Whose remedy only must _kill_ ere it cures:", "Those villains; the Weavers, are all grown refractory,", " Asking some succour for Charity's sake--", "So hang them in clusters round each Manufactory,", " That will at once put an end to _mistake_.", "", "The rascals, perhaps, may betake them to robbing,", " The dogs to be sure have got nothing to eat--", "So if we can hang them for breaking a bobbin,", " 'T will save all the Government's money and meat:", "Men are more easily made than machinery--", " Stockings fetch better prices than lives--", "Gibbets on Sherwood will heighten the scenery,", " Shewing how Commerce, how Liberty thrives!", "", "Justice is now in pursuit of the wretches,", " Grenadiers, Volunteers, Bow-street Police,", "Twenty-two Regiments, a score of Jack Ketches,", " Three of the Quorum and two of the Peace;", "Some Lords, to be sure, would have summoned the Judges,", " To take their opinion, but that they ne'er shall,", "For LIVERPOOL such a concession begrudges,", " So now they're condemned by _no Judges_ at all.", "", "Some folks for certain have thought it was shocking,", " When Famine appeals and when Poverty groans,", "That Life should be valued at less than a stocking,", " And breaking of frames lead to breaking of bones.", "If it should prove so, I trust, by this token,", " (And who will refuse to partake in the hope?)", "That the frames of the fools may be first to be _broken_,", " Who, when asked for a _remedy_, sent down a _rope_." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "To Thomas Moore", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "OH you, who in all names can tickle the town,", "Anacreon, Tom Little, Tom Moore, or Tom Brown,--", "For hang me if I know of which you may most brag,", "Your Quarto two-pounds, or your Two-penny Post Bag;", "", "But now to my letter--to _yours_ 'tis an answer--", "To-morrow be with me, as soon as you can, sir,", "All ready and dressed for proceeding to spunge on", "(According to compact) the wit in the dungeon--", "Pray Phoebus at length our political malice", "May not get us lodgings within the same palace!", "I suppose that to-night you're engaged with some codgers,", "And for Sotheby's Blues have deserted Sam Rogers;", "And I, though with cold I have nearly my death got,", "Must put on my breeches, and wait on the Heathcote;", "But to-morrow, at four, we will both play the _Scurra_,", "And you'll be Catullus, the Regent Mamurra." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "To Lord Thurlow", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ " \"_I lay my branch of laurel down_.\"", "", "\"_THOU_ lay thy branch of _laurel_ down!\"", " Why, what thou'st stole is not enow;", "And, were it lawfully thine own,", " Does Rogers want it most, or thou?", "Keep to thyself thy withered bough,", " Or send it back to Doctor Donne:", "Were justice done to both, I trow,", " He'd have but little, and thou--none.", "", " \"_Then, thus, to form Apollo's crown_.\"", "", "A crown! why, twist it how you will,", "Thy chaplet must be foolscap still.", "When next you visit Delphi's town,", " Enquire amongst your fellow-lodgers,", "They'll tell you Phoebus gave his crown,", " Some years before your birth, to Rogers.", "", " \"_Let every other bring his own_.\"", "", "When coals to Newcastle are carried,", " And owls sent to Athens, as wonders,", "From his spouse when the Regent's unmarried,", " Or Liverpool weeps o'er his blunders;", "When Tories and Whigs cease to quarrel,", " When Castlereagh's wife has an heir,", "Then Rogers shall ask us for laurel,", " And thou shalt have plenty to spare.", "", "\"Then, thus, to form Apollo's crown,", "(Let ev'ry other bring his own,)", "I lay my branch of laurel down.\"]" ], "linecount": "28" }, { "title": "Fragment of an Epistle to Thomas Moore", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "\"WHAT say _I_?\"--not a syllable further in prose;", "I'm your man \"of all measures,\" dear Tom,--so here goes!", "Here goes, for a swim on the stream of old Time,", "On those buoyant supporters, the bladders of rhyme.", "If our weight breaks them down, and we sink in the flood,", "We are smothered, at least, in respectable mud,", "Where the divers of Bathos lie drowned in a heap,", "And Southey's last Pæan has pillowed his sleep;", "That _Felo de se_ who, half drunk with his Malmsey,", "Walked out of his depth and was lost in a calm sea,", "Singing \"Glory to God\" in a spick and span stanza,", "The like (since Tom Sternhold was choked) never man saw.", "", "The papers have told you, no doubt, of the fusses,", "The fêtes, and the gapings to get at these Russes,--", "Of his Majesty's suite, up from coachman to Hetman,--", "And what dignity decks the flat face of the great man.", "I saw him, last week, at two balls and a party,--", "For a Prince, his demeanour was rather too hearty.", "You know, _we_ are used to quite different graces,", "", "The Czar's look, I own, was much brighter and brisker,", "But then he is sadly deficient in whisker;", "And wore but a starless blue coat, and in kersey-", "mere breeches whisked round, in a waltz with the Jersey,", "Who, lovely as ever, seemed just as delighted", "With Majesty's presence as those she invited." ], "linecount": "25" }, { "title": "To George Anson Byron(?)", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "AND, dost thou ask the reason of my sadness?", " Well, I will tell it thee, unfeeling boy!", "'Twas ill report that urged my brain to madness,", " 'Twas thy tongue's venom poisoned all my joy.", "", "The sadness which thou seest is not sorrow;", " My wounds are far too deep for simple grief;", "The heart thus withered, seeks in vain to borrow", " From calm reflection, comfort or relief.", "", "The arrow's flown, and dearly shalt thou rue it;", " No mortal hand can rid me of my pain:", "My heart is pierced, but thou canst not subdue it--", " Revenge is left, and is not left in vain." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "To Mr. Murray", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "TO hook the Reader, you, John Murray,", " Have published \"Anjou's Margaret,\"", "Which won't be sold off in a hurry", " (At least, it has not been as yet);", "And then, still further to bewilder him,", " Without remorse, you set up \"Ilderim;\"", " So mind you don't get into debt,--", "Because--as how--if you should fail,", "These books would be but baddish bail.", "And mind you do _not_ let escape", " These rhymes to _Morning Post_ or Perry,", "Which would be _very_ treacherous--_very_,", "And get me into such a scrape!", " For, firstly, I should have to sally,", " All in my little boat, against a _Galley_;", "And, should I chance to slay the Assyrian wight,", "Have next to combat with the female Knight:", "And pricked to death expire upon her needle,", "A sort of end which I should take indeed ill!" ], "linecount": "19" }, { "title": "To Thomas Moore", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "My boat is on the shore,", " And my bark is on the sea;", "But, before I go, Tom Moore,", " Here's a double health to thee!", "", "Here's a sigh to those who love me,", " And a smile to those who hate;", "And, whatever sky's above me,", " Here's a heart for every fate.", "", "Though the Ocean roar around me,", " Yet it still shall bear me on;", "Though a desert shall surround me,", " It hath springs that may be won.", "", "Were't the last drop in the well,", " As I gasped upon the brink,", "Ere my fainting spirit fell,", " 'T is to thee that I would drink.", "", "With that water, as this wine,", " The libation I would pour", "Should be--peace with thine and mine,", " And a health to thee, Tom Moore." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "Epistle to Mr. Murray", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "MY dear Mr. Murray,", "You're in a damned hurry", " To set up this ultimate Canto;", "But (if they don't rob us)", "You'll see Mr. Hobhouse", " Will bring it safe in his portmanteau.", "", "For the Journal you hint of,", "As ready to print off,", " No doubt you do right to commend it;", "But as yet I have writ off", "The devil a bit of", " Our \"Beppo:\"--when copied, I'll send it.", "", "In the mean time you've \"Galley\"", "Whose verses all tally,", " Perhaps you may say he's a Ninny,", "But if you abashed are", "Because of _Alashtar_,", " He'll piddle another _Phrosine_.", "", "Then you've Sotheby's Tour,--", "No great things, to be sure,--", " You could hardly begin with a less work;", "For the pompous rascallion,", "Who don't speak Italian", " Nor French, must have scribbled by guess-work.", "", "No doubt he's a rare man", "Without knowing German", " Translating his way up Parnassus,", "And now still absurder", "He meditates Murder", " As you'll see in the trash he calls _Tasso's_.", "", "But you've others his betters", "The real men of letters", " Your Orators--Critics--and Wits--", "And I'll bet that your Journal", "(Pray is it diurnal?)", " Will pay with your luckiest hits.", "", "You can make any loss up", "With \"Spence\" and his gossip,", " A work which must surely succeed;", "Then Queen Mary's Epistle-craft,", "With the new \"Fytte\" of \"Whistlecraft,\"", " Must make people purchase and read.", "", "Then you've General Gordon,", "Who girded his sword on,", " To serve with a Muscovite Master,", "And help him to polish", "A nation so owlish,", " They thought shaving their beards a disaster.", "", "For the man, \"_poor and shrewd_,\"", "With whom you'd conclude", " A compact without more delay,", "Perhaps some such pen is", "Still extant in Venice;", " But please, Sir, to mention _your pay_.", "", "Now tell me some news", "Of your friends and the Muse,", " Of the Bar, or the Gown, or the House,", "From Canning, the tall wit,", "To Wilmot, the small wit,", " Ward's creeping Companion and _Louse_,", "", "Who's so damnably bit", "With fashion and Wit,", " That he crawls on the surface like Vermin,", "But an Insect in both,--", "By his Intellect's growth,", " Of what size you may quickly determine." ], "linecount": "66" }, { "title": "To Mr. Murray", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Strahan, Tonson, Lintot of the times,", "Patron and publisher of rhymes,", "For thee the bard up Pindus climbs,", " My Murray.", "", "To thee, with hope and terror dumb,", "The unfledged MS. authors come;", "Thou printest all--and sellest some--", " My Murray.", "", "Upon thy table's baize so green", "The last new Quarterly is seen,--", "But where is thy new Magazine,", " My Murray?", "", "Along thy sprucest bookshelves shine", "The works thou deemest most divine--", "The Art of Cookery, and mine,", " My Murray.", "", "Tours, Travels, Essays, too, I wist,", "And Sermons, to thy mill bring grist;", "And then thou hast the _Navy List_,", " My Murray.", "", "And Heaven forbid I should conclude,", "Without \"the Board of Longitude,\"", "Although this narrow paper would,", " My Murray." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Ballad. to the Tune of \"Salley in Our Alley.\"", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "OF all the twice ten thousand bards", " That ever penned a canto,", "Whom Pudding or whom Praise rewards", " For lining a portmanteau;", "Of all the poets ever known,", " From Grub-street to Fop's Alley,", "The Muse may boast--the World must own", " There's none like pretty Gally!", "", "He writes as well as any Miss,", " Has published many a poem;", "The shame is yours, the gain is his,", " In case you should not know 'em:", "He has ten thousand pounds a year--", " I do not mean to vally--", "His songs at sixpence would be dear,", " So give them gratis, Gaily!", "", "And if this statement should seem queer,", " Or set down in a hurry,", "Go, ask (if he will be sincere)", " His bookseller--John Murray.", "Come, say, how many have been sold,", " And don't stand shilly-shally,", "Of bound and lettered, red and gold,", " Well printed works of Gally.", "", "For Astley's circus Upton writes,", " And also for the Surry; (_sic_)", "Fitzgerald weekly still recites,", " Though grinning Critics worry:", "Miss Holford's Peg, and Sotheby's Saul,", " In fame exactly tally;", "From Stationer's Hall to Grocer's Stall", " They go--and so does Gally.", "", "He rode upon a Camel's hump", " Through Araby the sandy,", "Which surely must have hurt the rump", " Of this poetic dandy.", "His rhymes are of the costive kind,", " And barren as each valley", "In deserts which he left behind", " Has been the Muse of Gally.", "", "He has a Seat in Parliament,", " Is fat and passing wealthy;", "And surely he should be content", " With these and being healthy:", "But Great Ambition will misrule", " Men at all risks to sally,--", "Now makes a poet--now a fool,", " And _we_ know _which_--of Gally.", "", "Some in the playhouse like to row,", " Some with the Watch to battle,", "Exchanging many a midnight blow", " To Music of the Rattle.", "Some folks like rowing on the Thames,", " Some rowing in an Alley,", "But all the Row my fancy claims", " Is _rowing_--of my _Gally_.", "", " \"Th' unloaded camel, pacing slow.", "Crops the rough herbage or the tamarisk spray.\"" ], "linecount": "58" }, { "title": "Lines Addressed by Lord Byron to Mr. Hobhouse on His Election for Westminster", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "WOULD you go to the house by the true gate,", " Much faster than ever Whig Charley went;", "Let Parliament send you to Newgate,", " And Newgate will send you to Parliament." ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "To Penelope", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "THIS day, of all our days, has done", " The worst for me and you:--", "'T is just _six_ years since we were _one_,", " And _five_ since we were _two_." ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "Epigram on the Braziers' Address to Be Presented in _Armour_ by the Company to Queen Caroline", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "IT seems that the Braziers propose soon to pass", "An Address and to bear it themselves all in brass;", "A superfluous pageant, for by the Lord Harry!", "They'll _find_, where they're going, much more than they carry.", "", "THE Braziers, it seems, are determined to pass", "An Address, and present it themselves all in brass:--", "A superfluous {pageant/trouble} for, by the Lord Harry!", "They'll find, where they're going, much more than they carry." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "To Mr. Murray", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "FOR Orford and for Waldegrave", "You give much more than me you _gave_;", "Which is not fairly to behave,", " My Murray!", "", "Because if a live dog, 't is said,", "Be worth a lion fairly sped,", "A live lord must be worth _two_ dead,", " My Murray!", "", "And if, as the opinion goes,", "Verse hath a better sale than prose,--", "Certes, I should have more than those,", " My Murray!", "", "But now this sheet is nearly crammed,", "So, if _you will_, _I_ shan't be shammed,", "And if you _won't_,--_you_ may be damned,", " My Murray!" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Song to the Suliotes", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "UP to battle! Sons of Suli", "Up, and do your duty duly!", "There the wall--and there the Moat is:", "Bouwah! Bouwah! Suliotes!", "There is booty--there is Beauty,", "Up my boys and do your duty.", "", "By the sally and the rally", "Which defied the arms of Ali;", "By your own dear native Highlands,", "By your children in the islands,", "Up and charge, my Stratiotes,", "Bouwah!--Bouwah!--Suliotes!", "", "As our ploughshare is the Sabre:", "Here's the harvest of our labour;", "For behind those battered breaches", "Are our foes with all their riches:", "There is Glory--there is plunder--", "Then away despite of thunder!" ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "Letter to Maria Gisborne", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "The spider spreads her webs, whether she be", "In poet's tower, cellar, or barn, or tree;", "The silk-worm in the dark green mulberry leaves", "His winding sheet and cradle ever weaves;", "So I, a thing whom moralists call worm,", "Sit spinning still round this decaying form,", "From the fine threads of rare and subtle thought--", "No net of words in garish colours wrought", "To catch the idle buzzers of the day--", "But a soft cell, where when that fades away,", "Memory may clothe in wings my living name", "And feed it with the asphodels of fame,", "Which in those hearts which must remember me", "Grow, making love an immortality.", "", "Whoever should behold me now, I wist,", "Would think I were a mighty mechanist,", "Bent with sublime Archimedean art", "To breathe a soul into the iron heart", "Of some machine portentous, or strange gin,", "Which by the force of figured spells might win", "Its way over the sea, and sport therein;", "For round the walls are hung dread engines, such", "As Vulcan never wrought for Jove to clutch", "Ixion or the Titan:--or the quick", "Wit of that man of God, St. Dominic,", "To convince Atheist, Turk, or Heretic,", "Or those in philanthropic council met,", "Who thought to pay some interest for the debt", "They owed to Jesus Christ for their salvation,", "By giving a faint foretaste of damnation", "To Shakespeare, Sidney, Spenser, and the rest", "Who made our land an island of the blest,", "When lamp-like Spain, who now relumes her fire", "On Freedom's hearth, grew dim with Empire:--", "With thumbscrews, wheels, with tooth and spike and jag,", "Which fishers found under the utmost crag", "Of Cornwall and the storm-encompassed isles,", "Where to the sky the rude sea rarely smiles", "Unless in treacherous wrath, as on the morn", "When the exulting elements in scorn,", "Satiated with destroyed destruction, lay", "Sleeping in beauty on their mangled prey,", "As panthers sleep;--and other strange and dread", "Magical forms the brick floor overspread,--", "Proteus transformed to metal did not make", "More figures, or more strange; nor did he take", "Such shapes of unintelligible brass,", "Or heap himself in such a horrid mass", "Of tin and iron not to be understood;", "And forms of unimaginable wood,", "To puzzle Tubal Cain and all his brood:", "Great screws, and cones, and wheels, and grooved blocks,", "The elements of what will stand the shocks", "Of wave and wind and time.--Upon the table", "More knacks and quips there be than I am able", "To catalogize in this verse of mine:--", "A pretty bowl of wood--not full of wine,", "But quicksilver; that dew which the gnomes drink", "When at their subterranean toil they swink,", "Pledging the demons of the earthquake, who", "Reply to them in lava--cry halloo!", "And call out to the cities o'er their head,--", "Roofs, towers, and shrines, the dying and the dead,", "Crash through the chinks of earth--and then all quaff", "Another rouse, and hold their sides and laugh.", "This quicksilver no gnome has drunk--within", "The walnut bowl it lies, veined and thin,", "In colour like the wake of light that stains", "The Tuscan deep, when from the moist moon rains", "The inmost shower of its white fire--the breeze", "Is still--blue Heaven smiles over the pale seas.", "And in this bowl of quicksilver--for I", "Yield to the impulse of an infancy", "Outlasting manhood--I have made to float", "A rude idealism of a paper boat:--", "A hollow screw with cogs--Henry will know", "The thing I mean and laugh at me,--if so", "He fears not I should do more mischief.--Next", "Lie bills and calculations much perplexed,", "With steam-boats, frigates, and machinery quaint", "Traced over them in blue and yellow paint.", "Then comes a range of mathematical", "Instruments, for plans nautical and statical,", "A heap of rosin, a queer broken glass", "With ink in it;--a china cup that was", "What it will never be again, I think,--", "A thing from which sweet lips were wont to drink", "The liquor doctors rail at--and which I", "Will quaff in spite of them--and when we die", "We'll toss up who died first of drinking tea,", "And cry out,--'Heads or tails?' where'er we be.", "Near that a dusty paint-box, some odd hooks,", "A half-burnt match, an ivory block, three books,", "Where conic sections, spherics, logarithms,", "To great Laplace, from Saunderson and Sims,", "Lie heaped in their harmonious disarray", "Of figures,--disentangle them who may.", "Baron de Tott's Memoirs beside them lie,", "And some odd volumes of old chemistry.", "Near those a most inexplicable thing,", "With lead in the middle--I'm conjecturing", "How to make Henry understand; but no--", "I'll leave, as Spenser says, with many mo,", "This secret in the pregnant womb of time,", "Too vast a matter for so weak a rhyme.", "", "And here like some weird Archimage sit I,", "Plotting dark spells, and devilish enginery,", "The self-impelling steam-wheels of the mind", "Which pump up oaths from clergymen, and grind", "The gentle spirit of our meek reviews", "Into a powdery foam of salt abuse,", "Ruffling the ocean of their self-content;--", "I sit--and smile or sigh as is my bent,", "But not for them--Libeccio rushes round", "With an inconstant and an idle sound,", "I heed him more than them--the thunder-smoke", "Is gathering on the mountains, like a cloak", "Folded athwart their shoulders broad and bare;", "The ripe corn under the undulating air", "Undulates like an ocean;--and the vines", "Are trembling wide in all their trellised lines--", "The murmur of the awakening sea doth fill", "The empty pauses of the blast;--the hill", "Looks hoary through the white electric rain,", "And from the glens beyond, in sullen strain,", "The interrupted thunder howls; above", "One chasm of Heaven smiles, like the eye of Love", "On the unquiet world;--while such things are,", "How could one worth your friendship heed the war", "Of worms? the shriek of the world's carrion jays,", "Their censure, or their wonder, or their praise?", "", "You are not here! the quaint witch Memory sees,", "In vacant chairs, your absent images,", "And points where once you sat, and now should be", "But are not.--I demand if ever we", "Shall meet as then we met;--and she replies.", "Veiling in awe her second-sighted eyes;", "'I know the past alone--but summon home", "My sister Hope,--she speaks of all to come.'", "But I, an old diviner, who knew well", "Every false verse of that sweet oracle,", "Turned to the sad enchantress once again,", "And sought a respite from my gentle pain,", "In citing every passage o'er and o'er", "Of our communion--how on the sea-shore", "We watched the ocean and the sky together,", "Under the roof of blue Italian weather;", "How I ran home through last year's thunder-storm,", "And felt the transverse lightning linger warm", "Upon my cheek--and how we often made", "Feasts for each other, where good will outweighed", "The frugal luxury of our country cheer,", "As well it might, were it less firm and clear", "Than ours must ever be;--and how we spun", "A shroud of talk to hide us from the sun", "Of this familiar life, which seems to be", "But is not:--or is but quaint mockery", "Of all we would believe, and sadly blame", "The jarring and inexplicable frame", "Of this wrong world:--and then anatomize", "The purposes and thoughts of men whose eyes", "Were closed in distant years;--or widely guess", "The issue of the earth's great business,", "When we shall be as we no longer are--", "Like babbling gossips safe, who hear the war", "Of winds, and sigh, but tremble not;--or how", "You listened to some interrupted flow", "Of visionary rhyme,--in joy and pain", "Struck from the inmost fountains of my brain,", "With little skill perhaps;--or how we sought", "Those deepest wells of passion or of thought", "Wrought by wise poets in the waste of years,", "Staining their sacred waters with our tears;", "Quenching a thirst ever to be renewed!", "Or how I, wisest lady! then endued", "The language of a land which now is free,", "And, winged with thoughts of truth and majesty,", "Flits round the tyrant's sceptre like a cloud,", "And bursts the peopled prisons, and cries aloud,", "'My name is Legion!'--that majestic tongue", "Which Calderon over the desert flung", "Of ages and of nations; and which found", "An echo in our hearts, and with the sound", "Startled oblivion;--thou wert then to me", "As is a nurse--when inarticulately", "A child would talk as its grown parents do.", "If living winds the rapid clouds pursue,", "If hawks chase doves through the aethereal way,", "Huntsmen the innocent deer, and beasts their prey,", "Why should not we rouse with the spirit's blast", "Out of the forest of the pathless past", "These recollected pleasures?", "You are now", "In London, that great sea, whose ebb and flow", "At once is deaf and loud, and on the shore", "Vomits its wrecks, and still howls on for more.", "Yet in its depth what treasures! You will see", "That which was Godwin,--greater none than he", "Though fallen--and fallen on evil times--to stand", "Among the spirits of our age and land,", "Before the dread tribunal of \"to come\"", "The foremost,--while Rebuke cowers pale and dumb.", "You will see Coleridge--he who sits obscure", "In the exceeding lustre and the pure", "Intense irradiation of a mind,", "Which, with its own internal lightning blind,", "Flags wearily through darkness and despair--", "A cloud-encircled meteor of the air,", "A hooded eagle among blinking owls.--", "You will see Hunt--one of those happy souls", "Which are the salt of the earth, and without whom", "This world would smell like what it is--a tomb;", "Who is, what others seem; his room no doubt", "Is still adorned with many a cast from Shout,", "With graceful flowers tastefully placed about;", "And coronals of bay from ribbons hung,", "And brighter wreaths in neat disorder flung;", "The gifts of the most learned among some dozens", "Of female friends, sisters-in-law, and cousins.", "And there is he with his eternal puns,", "Which beat the dullest brain for smiles, like duns", "Thundering for money at a poet's door;", "Alas! it is no use to say, 'I'm poor!'", "Or oft in graver mood, when he will look", "Things wiser than were ever read in book,", "Except in Shakespeare's wisest tenderness.--", "You will see Hogg,--and I cannot express", "His virtues,--though I know that they are great,", "Because he locks, then barricades the gate", "Within which they inhabit;--of his wit", "And wisdom, you'll cry out when you are bit.", "He is a pearl within an oyster shell.", "One of the richest of the deep;--and there", "Is English Peacock, with his mountain Fair,", "Turned into a Flamingo;--that shy bird", "That gleams i' the Indian air--have you not heard", "When a man marries, dies, or turns Hindoo,", "His best friends hear no more of him?--but you", "Will see him, and will like him too, I hope,", "With the milk-white Snowdonian Antelope", "Matched with this cameleopard--his fine wit", "Makes such a wound, the knife is lost in it;", "A strain too learned for a shallow age,", "Too wise for selfish bigots; let his page,", "Which charms the chosen spirits of the time,", "Fold itself up for the serener clime", "Of years to come, and find its recompense", "In that just expectation.--Wit and sense,", "Virtue and human knowledge; all that might", "Make this dull world a business of delight,", "Are all combined in Horace Smith.--And these.", "With some exceptions, which I need not tease", "Your patience by descanting on,--are all", "You and I know in London.", "I recall", "My thoughts, and bid you look upon the night.", "As water does a sponge, so the moonlight", "Fills the void, hollow, universal air--", "What see you?--unpavilioned Heaven is fair,", "Whether the moon, into her chamber gone,", "Leaves midnight to the golden stars, or wan", "Climbs with diminished beams the azure steep;", "Or whether clouds sail o'er the inverse deep,", "Piloted by the many-wandering blast,", "And the rare stars rush through them dim and fast:--", "All this is beautiful in every land.--", "But what see you beside?--a shabby stand", "Of Hackney coaches--a brick house or wall", "Fencing some lonely court, white with the scrawl", "Of our unhappy politics;--or worse--", "A wretched woman reeling by, whose curse", "Mixed with the watchman's, partner of her trade,", "You must accept in place of serenade--", "Or yellow-haired Pollonia murmuring", "To Henry, some unutterable thing.", "I see a chaos of green leaves and fruit", "Built round dark caverns, even to the root", "Of the living stems that feed them--in whose bowers", "There sleep in their dark dew the folded flowers;", "Beyond, the surface of the unsickled corn", "Trembles not in the slumbering air, and borne", "In circles quaint, and ever-changing dance,", "Like winged stars the fire-flies flash and glance,", "Pale in the open moonshine, but each one", "Under the dark trees seems a little sun,", "A meteor tamed; a fixed star gone astray", "From the silver regions of the milky way;--", "Afar the Contadino's song is heard,", "Rude, but made sweet by distance--and a bird", "Which cannot be the Nightingale, and yet", "I know none else that sings so sweet as it", "At this late hour;--and then all is still--", "Now--Italy or London, which you will!", "", "Next winter you must pass with me; I'll have", "My house by that time turned into a grave", "Of dead despondence and low-thoughted care,", "And all the dreams which our tormentors are;", "Oh! that Hunt, Hogg, Peacock, and Smith were there,", "With everything belonging to them fair!--", "We will have books, Spanish, Italian, Greek;", "And ask one week to make another week", "As like his father, as I'm unlike mine,", "Which is not his fault, as you may divine.", "Though we eat little flesh and drink no wine,", "Yet let's be merry: we'll have tea and toast;", "Custards for supper, and an endless host", "Of syllabubs and jellies and mince-pies,", "And other such lady-like luxuries,--", "Feasting on which we will philosophize!", "And we'll have fires out of the Grand Duke's wood,", "To thaw the six weeks' winter in our blood.", "And then we'll talk;--what shall we talk about?", "Oh! there are themes enough for many a bout", "Of thought-entangled descant;--as to nerves--", "With cones and parallelograms and curves", "I've sworn to strangle them if once they dare", "To bother me--when you are with me there.", "And they shall never more sip laudanum,", "From Helicon or Himeros (1);--well, come,", "And in despite of God and of the devil,", "We'll make our friendly philosophic revel", "Outlast the leafless time; till buds and flowers", "Warn the obscure inevitable hours,", "Sweet meeting by sad parting to renew;--", "'To-morrow to fresh woods and pastures new.'" ], "linecount": "325" }, { "title": "With a Guitar, to Jane", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Ariel to Miranda:--Take", "This slave of Music, for the sake", "Of him who is the slave of thee,", "And teach it all the harmony", "In which thou canst, and only thou,", "Make the delighted spirit glow,", "Till joy denies itself again,", "And, too intense, is turned to pain;", "For by permission and command", "Of thine own Prince Ferdinand,", "Poor Ariel sends this silent token", "Of more than ever can be spoken;", "Your guardian spirit, Ariel, who,", "From life to life, must still pursue", "Your happiness;--for thus alone", "Can Ariel ever find his own.", "From Prospero's enchanted cell,", "As the mighty verses tell,", "To the throne of Naples, he", "Lit you o'er the trackless sea,", "Flitting on, your prow before,", "Like a living meteor.", "When you die, the silent Moon,", "In her interlunar swoon,", "Is not sadder in her cell", "Than deserted Ariel.", "When you live again on earth,", "Like an unseen star of birth,", "Ariel guides you o'er the sea", "Of life from your nativity.", "Many changes have been run", "Since Ferdinand and you begun", "Your course of love, and Ariel still", "Has tracked your steps, and served your will;", "Now, in humbler, happier lot,", "This is all remembered not;", "And now, alas! the poor sprite is", "Imprisoned, for some fault of his,", "In a body like a grave;--", "From you he only dares to crave,", "For his service and his sorrow,", "A smile today, a song tomorrow.", "", "The artist who this idol wrought,", "To echo all harmonious thought,", "Felled a tree, while on the steep", "The woods were in their winter sleep,", "Rocked in that repose divine", "On the wind-swept Apennine;", "And dreaming, some of Autumn past,", "And some of Spring approaching fast,", "And some of April buds and showers,", "And some of songs in July bowers,", "And all of love; and so this tree,--", "O that such our death may be!--", "Died in sleep, and felt no pain,", "To live in happier form again:", "From which, beneath Heaven's fairest star,", "The artist wrought this loved Guitar,", "And taught it justly to reply,", "To all who question skilfully,", "In language gentle as thine own;", "Whispering in enamoured tone", "Sweet oracles of woods and dells,", "And summer winds in sylvan cells;", "For it had learned all harmonies", "Of the plains and of the skies,", "Of the forests and the mountains,", "And the many-voiced fountains;", "The clearest echoes of the hills,", "The softest notes of falling rills,", "The melodies of birds and bees,", "The murmuring of summer seas,", "And pattering rain, and breathing dew,", "And airs of evening; and it knew", "That seldom-heard mysterious sound,", "Which, driven on its diurnal round,", "As it floats through boundless day,", "Our world enkindles on its way.--", "All this it knows, but will not tell", "To those who cannot question well", "The Spirit that inhabits it;", "It talks according to the wit", "Of its companions; and no more", "Is heard than has been felt before,", "By those who tempt it to betray", "These secrets of an elder day:", "But, sweetly as its answers will", "Flatter hands of perfect skill,", "It keeps its highest, holiest tone", "For our beloved Jane alone." ], "linecount": "90" }, { "title": "Fragment: To the Moon", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Bright wanderer, fair coquette of Heaven,", "To whom alone it has been given", "To change and be adored for ever,", "Envy not this dim world, for never", "But once within its shadow grew", "One fair as--" ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "Fragment: Supposed to Be an Epithalamium of Francis Ravaillac and Charlotte Corday", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "'Tis midnight now--athwart the murky air,", "Dank lurid meteors shoot a livid gleam;", "From the dark storm-clouds flashes a fearful glare,", "It shows the bending oak, the roaring stream.", "", "I pondered on the woes of lost mankind,", "I pondered on the ceaseless rage of Kings;", "My rapt soul dwelt upon the ties that bind", "The mazy volume of commingling things,", "When fell and wild misrule to man stern sorrow brings.", "", "I heard a yell--it was not the knell,", "When the blasts on the wild lake sleep,", "That floats on the pause of the summer gale's swell,", "O'er the breast of the waveless deep.", "", "I thought it had been death's accents cold", "That bade me recline on the shore;", "I laid mine hot head on the surge-beaten mould,", "And thought to breathe no more.", "", "But a heavenly sleep", "That did suddenly steep", "In balm my bosom's pain,", "Pervaded my soul,", "And free from control,", "Did mine intellect range again.", "", "Methought enthroned upon a silvery cloud,", "Which floated mid a strange and brilliant light;", "My form upborne by viewless aether rode,", "And spurned the lessening realms of earthly night.", "What heavenly notes burst on my ravished ears,", "What beauteous spirits met my dazzled eye!", "Hark! louder swells the music of the spheres,", "More clear the forms of speechless bliss float by,", "And heavenly gestures suit aethereal melody.", "", "But fairer than the spirits of the air,", "More graceful than the Sylph of symmetry,", "Than the enthusiast's fancied love more fair,", "Were the bright forms that swept the azure sky.", "Enthroned in roseate light, a heavenly band", "Strewed flowers of bliss that never fade away;", "They welcome virtue to its native land,", "And songs of triumph greet the joyous day", "When endless bliss the woes of fleeting life repay.", "", "Congenial minds will seek their kindred soul,", "E'en though the tide of time has rolled between;", "They mock weak matter's impotent control,", "And seek of endless life the eternal scene.", "At death's vain summons THIS will never die,", "In Nature's chaos THIS will not decay--", "These are the bands which closely, warmly, tie", "Thy soul, O Charlotte, 'yond this chain of clay,", "To him who thine must be till time shall fade away.", "", "Yes, Francis! thine was the dear knife that tore", "A tyrant's heart-strings from his guilty breast,", "Thine was the daring at a tyrant's gore,", "To smile in triumph, to contemn the rest;", "And thine, loved glory of thy sex! to tear", "From its base shrine a despot's haughty soul,", "To laugh at sorrow in secure despair,", "To mock, with smiles, life's lingering control,", "And triumph mid the griefs that round thy fate did roll.", "", "Yes! the fierce spirits of the avenging deep", "With endless tortures goad their guilty shades.", "I see the lank and ghastly spectres sweep", "Along the burning length of yon arcades;", "And I see Satan stalk athwart the plain;", "He hastes along the burning soil of Hell.", "'Welcome, ye despots, to my dark domain,", "With maddening joy mine anguished senses swell", "To welcome to their home the friends I love so well.'", "", "...", "", "Hark! to those notes, how sweet, how thrilling sweet", "They echo to the sound of angels' feet.", "", "...", "", "Oh haste to the bower where roses are spread,", "For there is prepared thy nuptial bed.", "Oh haste--hark! hark!--they're gone.", "", "...", "", "CHORUS OF SPIRITS:", "Stay, ye days of contentment and joy,", "Whilst love every care is erasing,", "Stay ye pleasures that never can cloy,", "And ye spirits that can never cease pleasing.", "", "And if any soft passion be near,", "Which mortals, frail mortals, can know,", "Let love shed on the bosom a tear,", "And dissolve the chill ice-drop of woe.", "", "SYMPHONY.", "", "FRANCIS:", "'Soft, my dearest angel, stay,", "Oh! you suck my soul away;", "Suck on, suck on, I glow, I glow!", "Tides of maddening passion roll,", "And streams of rapture drown my soul.", "Now give me one more billing kiss,", "Let your lips now repeat the bliss,", "Endless kisses steal my breath,", "No life can equal such a death.'", "", "CHARLOTTE:", "'Oh! yes I will kiss thine eyes so fair,", "And I will clasp thy form;", "Serene is the breath of the balmy air,", "But I think, love, thou feelest me warm", "And I will recline on thy marble neck", "Till I mingle into thee;", "And I will kiss the rose on thy cheek,", "And thou shalt give kisses to me.", "For here is no morn to flout our delight,", "Oh! dost thou not joy at this?", "And here we may lie an endless night,", "A long, long night of bliss.'", "", "Spirits! when raptures move,", "Say what it is to love,", "When passion's tear stands on the cheek,", "When bursts the unconscious sigh;", "And the tremulous lips dare not speak", "What is told by the soul-felt eye.", "But what is sweeter to revenge's ear", "Than the fell tyrant's last expiring yell?", "Yes! than love's sweetest blisses 'tis more dear", "To drink the floatings of a despot's knell.", "I wake--'tis done--'tis over.", "", "DESPAIR.", "", "And canst thou mock mine agony, thus calm", "In cloudless radiance, Queen of silver night?", "Can you, ye flow'rets, spread your perfumed balm", "Mid pearly gems of dew that shine so bright?", "And you wild winds, thus can you sleep so still", "Whilst throbs the tempest of my breast so high?", "Can the fierce night-fiends rest on yonder hill,", "And, in the eternal mansions of the sky,", "Can the directors of the storm in powerless silence lie?", "", "Hark! I hear music on the zephyr's wing,", "Louder it floats along the unruffled sky;", "Some fairy sure has touched the viewless string--", "Now faint in distant air the murmurs die.", "Awhile it stills the tide of agony.", "Now--now it loftier swells--again stern woe", "Arises with the awakening melody.", "Again fierce torments, such as demons know,", "In bitterer, feller tide, on this torn bosom flow.", "", "Arise ye sightless spirits of the storm,", "Ye unseen minstrels of the aereal song,", "Pour the fierce tide around this lonely form,", "And roll the tempest's wildest swell along.", "Dart the red lightning, wing the forked flash,", "Pour from thy cloud-formed hills the thunder's roar;", "Arouse the whirlwind--and let ocean dash", "In fiercest tumult on the rocking shore,--", "Destroy this life or let earth's fabric be no more.", "", "Yes! every tie that links me here is dead;", "Mysterious Fate, thy mandate I obey,", "Since hope and peace, and joy, for aye are fled,", "I come, terrific power, I come away.", "Then o'er this ruined soul let spirits of Hell,", "In triumph, laughing wildly, mock its pain;", "And though with direst pangs mine heart-strings swell,", "I'll echo back their deadly yells again,", "Cursing the power that ne'er made aught in vain." ], "linecount": "157" }, { "title": "On a Fete at Carlton House: Fragment", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "By the mossy brink,", "With me the Prince shall sit and think;", "Shall muse in visioned Regency,", "Rapt in bright dreams of dawning Royalty." ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "To Harriet", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Ever as now with Love and Virtue's glow", "May thy unwithering soul not cease to burn,", "Still may thine heart with those pure thoughts o'erflow", "Which force from mine such quick and warm return." ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "Sonnet. on Launching Some Bottles Filled With Knowledge into the Bristol Channel", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Vessels of heavenly medicine! may the breeze", "Auspicious waft your dark green forms to shore;", "Safe may ye stem the wide surrounding roar", "Of the wild whirlwinds and the raging seas;", "And oh! if Liberty e'er deigned to stoop", "From yonder lowly throne her crownless brow,", "Sure she will breathe around your emerald group", "The fairest breezes of her West that blow.", "Yes! she will waft ye to some freeborn soul", "Whose eye-beam, kindling as it meets your freight,", "Her heaven-born flame in suffering Earth will light,", "Until its radiance gleams from pole to pole,", "And tyrant-hearts with powerless envy burst", "To see their night of ignorance dispersed." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Farewell to North Devon", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Where man's profane and tainting hand", "Nature's primaeval loveliness has marred,", "And some few souls of the high bliss debarred", "Which else obey her powerful command;", "...mountain piles", "That load in grandeur Cambria's emerald vales." ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "To-Night", "author": "Edward Thomas", "lines": [ "HARRY, you know at night", "The larks in Castle Alley", "Sing from the attic's height", "As if the electric light", "Were the true sun above a summer valley:", "Whistle, don't knock, to-night.", "", "I shall come early, Kate:", "And we in Castle Alley", "Will sit close out of sight", "Alone, and ask no light", "Of lamp or sun above a summer valley:", "To-night I can stay late." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Thel's Motto", "author": "William Blake", "lines": [ "Does the Eagle know what is in the pit?", "Or wilt thou go ask the Mole:", "Can Wisdom be put in a silver rod?", "Or Love in a golden bowl?" ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "Epitaph. on Mr Elijah Fenton, at Easthamstead, in Berks, 1730.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "This modest stone, what few vain marbles can,", "May truly say, Here lies an honest man:", "A poet, blest beyond the poet's fate,", "Whom Heaven kept sacred from the proud and great:", "Foe to loud praise, and friend to learnèd ease,", "Content with science in the vale of peace.", "Calmly he look'd on either life, and here", "Saw nothing to regret, or there to fear;", "From Nature's temperate feast rose satisfied,", "Thank'd Heaven that he had lived, and that he died." ], "linecount": "10" }, { "title": "203. Sylvander to Clarinda", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "WHEN dear Clarinda, 1 matchless fair,", " First struck Sylvander’s raptur’d view,", "He gaz’d, he listened to despair,", " Alas! ’twas all he dared to do.", "", "", "Love, from Clarinda’s heavenly eyes,", " Transfixed his bosom thro’ and thro’;", "But still in Friendships’ guarded guise,", " For more the demon fear’d to do.", "", "", "That heart, already more than lost,", " The imp beleaguer’d all perdue;", "For frowning Honour kept his post—", " To meet that frown, he shrunk to do.", "", "", "His pangs the Bard refused to own,", " Tho’ half he wish’d Clarinda knew;", "But Anguish wrung the unweeting groan—", " Who blames what frantic Pain must do?", "", "", "That heart, where motley follies blend,", " Was sternly still to Honour true:", "To prove Clarinda’s fondest friend,", " Was what a lover sure might do.", "", "", "The Muse his ready quill employed,", " No nearer bliss he could pursue;", "That bliss Clarinda cold deny’d—", " “Send word by Charles how you do!”", "", "", "The chill behest disarm’d his muse,", " Till passion all impatient grew:", "He wrote, and hinted for excuse,", " ’Twas, ’cause “he’d nothing else to do.”", "", "", "But by those hopes I have above!", " And by those faults I dearly rue!", "The deed, the boldest mark of love,", " For thee that deed I dare uo do!", "", "", "O could the Fates but name the price", " Would bless me with your charms and you!", "With frantic joy I’d pay it thrice,", " If human art and power could do!", "", "", "Then take, Clarinda, friendship’s hand,", " (Friendship, at least, I may avow;)", "And lay no more your chill command,—", " I’ll write whatever I’ve to do.SYLVANDER.", "", "", " Note 1. A grass-widow, Mrs. M’Lehose. [back]" ], "linecount": "41" }, { "title": "466. Ode for General Washington’s Birthday", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "NO Spartan tube, no Attic shell,", " No lyre Æolian I awake;", "’Tis liberty’s bold note I swell,", " Thy harp, Columbia, let me take!", "See gathering thousands, while I sing,", "A broken chain exulting bring,", " And dash it in a tyrant’s face,", "And dare him to his very beard,", "And tell him he no more is feared—", " No more the despot of Columbia’s race!", "A tyrant’s proudest insults brav’d,", "They shout—a People freed! They hail an Empire saved.", "", "", "Where is man’s god-like form?", " Where is that brow erect and bold—", " That eye that can unmov’d behold", "The wildest rage, the loudest storm", "That e’er created fury dared to raise?", "Avaunt! thou caitiff, servile, base,", "That tremblest at a despot’s nod,", "Yet, crouching under the iron rod,", " Canst laud the hand that struck th’ insulting blow!", "Art thou of man’s Imperial line?", "Dost boast that countenance divine?", " Each skulking feature answers, No!", "But come, ye sons of Liberty,", "Columbia’s offspring, brave as free,", "In danger’s hour still flaming in the van,", "Ye know, and dare maintain, the Royalty of Man!", "", "", "Alfred! on thy starry throne,", " Surrounded by the tuneful choir,", " The bards that erst have struck the patriot lyre,", " And rous’d the freeborn Briton’s soul of fire,", "No more thy England own!", "Dare injured nations form the great design,", " To make detested tyrants bleed?", " Thy England execrates the glorious deed!", " Beneath her hostile banners waving,", " Every pang of honour braving,", "England in thunder calls, “The tyrant’s cause is mine!”", "That hour accurst how did the fiends rejoice", "And hell, thro’ all her confines, raise the exulting voice,", "That hour which saw the generous English name", "Linkt with such damned deeds of everlasting shame!", "", "", "Thee, Caledonia! thy wild heaths among,", "Fam’d for the martial deed, the heaven-taught song,", " To thee I turn with swimming eyes;", "Where is that soul of Freedom fled?", "Immingled with the mighty dead,", " Beneath that hallow’d turf where Wallace lies", "Hear it not, WALLACE! in thy bed of death.", " Ye babbling winds! in silence sweep,", " Disturb not ye the hero’s sleep,", "Nor give the coward secret breath!", "Is this the ancient Caledonian form,", "Firm as the rock, resistless as the storm?", "Show me that eye which shot immortal hate,", " Blasting the despot’s proudest bearing;", "Show me that arm which, nerv’d with thundering fate,", " Crush’d Usurpation’s boldest daring!—", "Dark-quench’d as yonder sinking star,", "No more that glance lightens afar;", "That palsied arm no more whirls on the waste of war." ], "linecount": "62" }, { "title": "540. Inscription to Chloris", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "’TIS Friendship’s pledge, my young, fair Friend,", " Nor thou the gift refuse,", "Nor with unwilling ear attend", " The moralising Muse.", "", "", "Since thou, in all thy youth and charms,", " Must bid the world adieu,", "(A world ’gainst Peace in constant arms)", " To join the Friendly Few.", "", "", "Since, thy gay morn of life o’ercast,", " Chill came the tempest’s lour;", "(And ne’er Misfortune’s eastern blast", " Did nip a fairer flower.)", "", "", "Since life’s gay scenes must charm no more,", " Still much is left behind,", "Still nobler wealth hast thou in store—", " The comforts of the mind!", "", "", "Thine is the self-approving glow,", " Of conscious Honour’s part;", "And (dearest gift of Heaven below)", " Thine Friendship’s truest heart.", "", "", "The joys refin’d of Sense and Taste,", " With every Muse to rove:", "And doubly were the Poet blest,", " These joys could he improve.R.B." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "56. Epistle to Davie, A Brother Poet", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "WHILE winds frae aff Ben-Lomond blaw,", "An’ bar the doors wi’ driving snaw,", " An’ hing us owre the ingle,", "I set me down to pass the time,", "An’ spin a verse or twa o’ rhyme,", " In hamely, westlin jingle.", "While frosty winds blaw in the drift,", " Ben to the chimla lug,", "I grudge a wee the great-folk’s gift,", " That live sae bien an’ snug:", " I tent less, and want less", " Their roomy fire-side;", " But hanker, and canker,", " To see their cursed pride.", "", "", "It’s hardly in a body’s pow’r", "To keep, at times, frae being sour,", " To see how things are shar’d;", "How best o’ chiels are whiles in want,", "While coofs on countless thousands rant,", " And ken na how to wair’t;", "But, Davie, lad, ne’er fash your head,", " Tho’ we hae little gear;", "We’re fit to win our daily bread,", " As lang’s we’re hale and fier:", " “Mair spier na, nor fear na,” 1", " Auld age ne’er mind a feg;", " The last o’t, the warst o’t", " Is only but to beg.", "", "", "To lie in kilns and barns at e’en,", "When banes are craz’d, and bluid is thin,", " Is doubtless, great distress!", "Yet then content could make us blest;", "Ev’n then, sometimes, we’d snatch a taste", " Of truest happiness.", "The honest heart that’s free frae a’", " Intended fraud or guile,", "However Fortune kick the ba’,", " Has aye some cause to smile;", " An’ mind still, you’ll find still,", " A comfort this nae sma’;", " Nae mair then we’ll care then,", " Nae farther can we fa’.", "", "", "What tho’, like commoners of air,", "We wander out, we know not where,", " But either house or hal’,", "Yet nature’s charms, the hills and woods,", "The sweeping vales, and foaming floods,", " Are free alike to all.", "In days when daisies deck the ground,", " And blackbirds whistle clear,", "With honest joy our hearts will bound,", " To see the coming year:", " On braes when we please, then,", " We’ll sit an’ sowth a tune;", " Syne rhyme till’t we’ll time till’t,", " An’ sing’t when we hae done.", "", "", "It’s no in titles nor in rank;", "It’s no in wealth like Lon’on bank,", " To purchase peace and rest:", "It’s no in makin’ muckle, mair;", "It’s no in books, it’s no in lear,", " To make us truly blest:", "If happiness hae not her seat", " An’ centre in the breast,", "We may be wise, or rich, or great,", " But never can be blest;", " Nae treasures, nor pleasures", " Could make us happy lang;", " The heart aye’s the part aye", " That makes us right or wrang.", "", "", "Think ye, that sic as you and I,", "Wha drudge an’ drive thro’ wet and dry,", " Wi’ never ceasing toil;", "Think ye, are we less blest than they,", "Wha scarcely tent us in their way,", " As hardly worth their while?", "Alas! how aft in haughty mood,", " God’s creatures they oppress!", "Or else, neglecting a’ that’s guid,", " They riot in excess!", " Baith careless and fearless", " Of either heaven or hell;", " Esteeming and deeming", " It’s a’ an idle tale!", "", "", "Then let us cheerfu’ acquiesce,", "Nor make our scanty pleasures less,", " By pining at our state:", "And, even should misfortunes come,", "I, here wha sit, hae met wi’ some—", " An’s thankfu’ for them yet.", "They gie the wit of age to youth;", " They let us ken oursel’;", "They make us see the naked truth,", " The real guid and ill:", " Tho’ losses an’ crosses", " Be lessons right severe,", " There’s wit there, ye’ll get there,", " Ye’ll find nae other where.", "", "", "But tent me, Davie, ace o’ hearts!", "(To say aught less wad wrang the cartes,", " And flatt’ry I detest)", "This life has joys for you and I;", "An’ joys that riches ne’er could buy,", " An’ joys the very best.", "There’s a’ the pleasures o’ the heart,", " The lover an’ the frien’;", "Ye hae your Meg, your dearest part,", " And I my darling Jean!", " It warms me, it charms me,", " To mention but her name:", " It heats me, it beets me,", " An’ sets me a’ on flame!", "", "", "O all ye Pow’rs who rule above!", "O Thou whose very self art love!", " Thou know’st my words sincere!", "The life-blood streaming thro’ my heart,", "Or my more dear immortal part,", " Is not more fondly dear!", "When heart-corroding care and grief", " Deprive my soul of rest,", "Her dear idea brings relief,", " And solace to my breast.", " Thou Being, All-seeing,", " O hear my fervent pray’r;", " Still take her, and make her", " Thy most peculiar care!", "", "", "All hail! ye tender feelings dear!", "The smile of love, the friendly tear,", " The sympathetic glow!", "Long since, this world’s thorny ways", "Had number’d out my weary days,", " Had it not been for you!", "Fate still has blest me with a friend,", " In ev’ry care and ill;", "And oft a more endearing band—", " A tie more tender still.", " It lightens, it brightens", " The tenebrific scene,", " To meet with, and greet with", " My Davie, or my Jean!", "", "", "O, how that name inspires my style!", "The words come skelpin, rank an’ file,", " Amaist before I ken!", "The ready measure rins as fine,", "As Phoebus an’ the famous Nine", " Were glowrin owre my pen.", "My spaviet Pegasus will limp,", " Till ance he’s fairly het;", "And then he’ll hilch, and stilt, an’ jimp,", " And rin an unco fit:", " But least then the beast then", " Should rue this hasty ride,", " I’ll light now, and dight now", " His sweaty, wizen’d hide.", "", "", " Note 1. Ramsay.—R. B. [back]" ], "linecount": "155" }, { "title": "155. Epistle to Mrs. Scott of Wauchope House", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "GUDEWIFE,I MIND it weel in early date,", "When I was bardless, young, and blate,", " An’ first could thresh the barn,", "Or haud a yokin’ at the pleugh;", "An, tho’ forfoughten sair eneugh,", " Yet unco proud to learn:", "When first amang the yellow corn", " A man I reckon’d was,", "An’ wi’ the lave ilk merry morn", " Could rank my rig and lass,", " Still shearing, and clearing", " The tither stooked raw,", " Wi’ claivers, an’ haivers,", " Wearing the day awa.", "", "", "E’en then, a wish, (I mind its pow’r),", "A wish that to my latest hour", " Shall strongly heave my breast,", "That I for poor auld Scotland’s sake", "Some usefu’ plan or book could make,", " Or sing a sang at least.", "The rough burr-thistle, spreading wide", " Amang the bearded bear,", "I turn’d the weeder-clips aside,", " An’ spar’d the symbol dear:", " No nation, no station,", " My envy e’er could raise;", " A Scot still, but blot still,", " I knew nae higher praise.", "", "", "But still the elements o’ sang,", "In formless jumble, right an’ wrang,", " Wild floated in my brain;", "’Till on that har’st I said before,", "May partner in the merry core,", " She rous’d the forming strain;", "I see her yet, the sonsie quean,", " That lighted up my jingle,", "Her witching smile, her pawky een", " That gart my heart-strings tingle;", " I firèd, inspired,", " At every kindling keek,", " But bashing, and dashing,", " I fearèd aye to speak.", "", "", "Health to the sex! ilk guid chiel says:", "Wi’ merry dance in winter days,", " An’ we to share in common;", "The gust o’ joy, the balm of woe,", "The saul o’ life, the heaven below,", " Is rapture-giving woman.", "Ye surly sumphs, who hate the name,", " Be mindfu’ o’ your mither;", "She, honest woman, may think shame", " That ye’re connected with her:", " Ye’re wae men, ye’re nae men", " That slight the lovely dears;", " To shame ye, disclaim ye,", " Ilk honest birkie swears.", "", "", "For you, no bred to barn and byre,", "Wha sweetly tune the Scottish lyre,", " Thanks to you for your line:", "The marled plaid ye kindly spare,", "By me should gratefully be ware;", " ’Twad please me to the nine.", "I’d be mair vauntie o’ my hap,", " Douce hingin owre my curple,", "Than ony ermine ever lap,", " Or proud imperial purple.", " Farewell then, lang hale then,", " An’ plenty be your fa;", " May losses and crosses", " Ne’er at your hallan ca’!R. BURNS.March, 1787" ], "linecount": "70" }, { "title": "73. Song—Farewell to Ballochmyle", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "THE CATRINE woods were yellow seen,", " The flowers decay’d on Catrine lee,", "Nae lav’rock sang on hillock green,", " But nature sicken’d on the e’e.", "Thro’ faded groves Maria sang,", " Hersel’ in beauty’s bloom the while;", "And aye the wild-wood ehoes rang,", " Fareweel the braes o’ Ballochmyle!", "", "", "Low in your wintry beds, ye flowers,", " Again ye’ll flourish fresh and fair;", "Ye birdies dumb, in with’ring bowers,", " Again ye’ll charm the vocal air.", "But here, alas! for me nae mair", " Shall birdie charm, or floweret smile;", "Fareweel the bonie banks of Ayr,", " Fareweel, fareweel! sweet Ballochmyle!" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "115. The Farewell to the Brethren of St. James’s Lodge, Tarbolton", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "ADIEU! a heart-warm fond adieu;", " Dear brothers of the mystic tie!", "Ye favourèd, enlighten’d few,", " Companions of my social joy;", "Tho’ I to foreign lands must hie,", " Pursuing Fortune’s slidd’ry ba’;", "With melting heart, and brimful eye,", " I’ll mind you still, tho’ far awa.", "", "", "Oft have I met your social band,", " And spent the cheerful, festive night;", "Oft, honour’d with supreme command,", " Presided o’er the sons of light:", "And by that hieroglyphic bright,", " Which none but Craftsmen ever saw", "Strong Mem’ry on my heart shall write", " Those happy scenes, when far awa.", "", "", "May Freedom, Harmony, and Love,", " Unite you in the grand Design,", "Beneath th’ Omniscient Eye above,", " The glorious Architect Divine,", "That you may keep th’ unerring line,", " Still rising by the plummet’s law,", "Till Order bright completely shine,", " Shall be my pray’r when far awa.", "", "", "And you, farewell! whose merits claim", " Justly that highest badge to wear:", "Heav’n bless your honour’d noble name,", " To Masonry and Scotia dear!", "A last request permit me here,—", " When yearly ye assemble a’,", "One round, I ask it with a tear,", " To him, the Bard that’s far awa." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "137. Song—Farewell to the Banks of Ayr", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "THE GLOOMY night is gath’ring fast,", "Loud roars the wild, inconstant blast,", "Yon murky cloud is foul with rain,", "I see it driving o’er the plain;", "The hunter now has left the moor.", "The scatt’red coveys meet secure;", "While here I wander, prest with care,", "Along the lonely banks of Ayr.", "", "", "The Autumn mourns her rip’ning corn", "By early Winter’s ravage torn;", "Across her placid, azure sky,", "She sees the scowling tempest fly:", "Chill runs my blood to hear it rave;", "I think upon the stormy wave,", "Where many a danger I must dare,", "Far from the bonie banks of Ayr.", "", "", "’Tis not the surging billow’s roar,", "’Tis not that fatal, deadly shore;", "Tho’ death in ev’ry shape appear,", "The wretched have no more to fear:", "But round my heart the ties are bound,", "That heart transpierc’d with many a wound;", "These bleed afresh, those ties I tear,", "To leave the bonie banks of Ayr.", "", "", "Farewell, old Coila’s hills and dales,", "Her healthy moors and winding vales;", "The scenes where wretched Fancy roves,", "Pursuing past, unhappy loves!", "Farewell, my friends! farewell, my foes!", "My peace with these, my love with those:", "The bursting tears my heart declare—", "Farewell, the bonie banks of Ayr!" ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "123. Lines to an Old Sweetheart", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "ONCE fondly lov’d, and still remember’d dear,", " Sweet early object of my youthful vows,", "Accept this mark of friendship, warm, sincere,", " Friendship! ’tis all cold duty now allows.", "And when you read the simple artless rhymes,", " One friendly sigh for him—he asks no more,", "Who, distant, burns in flaming torrid climes,", " Or haply lies beneath th’ Atlantic roar." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "117. Song—Farewell to Eliza", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "FROM thee, Eliza, I must go,", " And from my native shore;", "The cruel fates between us throw", " A boundless ocean’s roar:", "But boundless oceans, roaring wide,", " Between my love and me,", "They never, never can divide", " My heart and soul from thee.", "", "", "Farewell, farewell, Eliza dear,", " The maid that I adore!", "A boding voice is in mine ear,", " We part to meet no more!", "But the latest throb that leaves my heart,", " While Death stands victor by,—", "That throb, Eliza, is thy part,", " And thine that latest sigh!" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "247. Ode, Sacred to the Memory of Mrs. Oswald of Auchencruive", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "DWELLER in yon dungeon dark,", " Hangman of creation! mark,", " Who in widow-weeds appears,", " Laden with unhonour’d years,", " Noosing with care a bursting purse,", " Baited with many a deadly curse?", "", "", "STROPHE View the wither’d Beldam’s face;", " Can thy keen inspection trace", "Aught of Humanity’s sweet, melting grace?", " Note that eye, ’tis rheum o’erflows;", " Pity’s flood there never rose,", " See these hands ne’er stretched to save,", " Hands that took, but never gave:", " Keeper of Mammon’s iron chest,", " Lo, there she goes, unpitied and unblest,", "She goes, but not to realms of everlasting rest!", "", "", "ANTISTROPHEPlunderer of Armies! lift thine eyes,", " (A while forbear, ye torturing fiends;)", "Seest thou whose step, unwilling, hither bends?", "No fallen angel, hurl’d from upper skies;", " ’Tis thy trusty quondam Mate,", " Doom’d to share thy fiery fate;", " She, tardy, hell-ward plies.", "", "", "EPODE And are they of no more avail,", "Ten thousand glittering pounds a-year?", " In other worlds can Mammon fail,", " Omnipotent as he is here!", "", "", "O, bitter mockery of the pompous bier,", " While down the wretched Vital Part is driven!", "The cave-lodged Beggar,with a conscience clear,", " Expires in rags, unknown, and goes to Heaven." ], "linecount": "31" }, { "title": "294. Song—To Mary in Heaven", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "THOU ling’ring star, with lessening ray,", " That lov’st to greet the early morn,", "Again thou usher’st in the day", " My Mary from my soul was torn.", "O Mary! dear departed shade!", " Where is thy place of blissful rest?", "See’st thou thy lover lowly laid?", " Hear’st thou the groans that rend his breast?", "", "", "That sacred hour can I forget,", " Can I forget the hallow’d grove,", "Where, by the winding Ayr, we met,", " To live one day of parting love!", "Eternity will not efface", " Those records dear of transports past,", "Thy image at our last embrace,", " Ah! little thought we ’twas our last!", "", "", "Ayr, gurgling, kiss’d his pebbled shore,", " O’erhung with wild-woods, thickening green;", "The fragrant birch and hawthorn hoar,", " ’Twin’d amorous round the raptur’d scene:", "The flowers sprang wanton to be prest,", " The birds sang love on every spray;", "Till too, too soon, the glowing west,", " Proclaim’d the speed of winged day.", "", "", "Still o’er these scenes my mem’ry wakes,", " And fondly broods with miser-care;", "Time but th’ impression stronger makes,", " As streams their channels deeper wear,", "My Mary! dear departed shade!", " Where is thy blissful place of rest?", "See’st thou thy lover lowly laid?", " Hear’st thou the groans that rend his breast?" ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "A Christmas Carol, Sung to the King in the Presence at White-Hall", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Chorus.", "", "What sweeter music can we bring,", "Than a Carol, for to sing", "The Birth of this our heavenly King?", "Awake the Voice! Awake the String!", "Heart, Ear, and Eye, and every thing", "Awake! the while the active Finger", "Runs division with the Singer.", "", "From the Flourish they came to the Song.", "", "Voice 1:", "Dark and dull night, fly hence away,", "And give the honor to this Day,", "That sees December turn'd to May.", "", "Voice 2:", "If we may ask the reason, say:", "The why, and wherefore all things here", "Seem like the Spring-time fo the year?", "", "Voice 3:", "Why does the chilling Winter's morn", "Smile, like a field beset with corn?", "Or smell, like to a mead new-shorn,", "Thus, on the sudden?", "", "Voice 4:", "Come and see", "The cause, why things thus fragrant be:", "'Tis He is born, whose quick'ning Birth", "Gives life and luster, public mirth,", "To Heaven and the under-Earth.", "", "Chorus:", "We see Him come, and know Him ours,", "Who, with His Sun-shine, and His Showers,", "Turns all the patient ground to flowers.", "", "Voice 1:", "The Darling of the World is come,", "And fit it is, we find a room", "To welcome Him.", "", "Voice 2:", "The nobler part", "Of all the house here, is the Heart,", "", "Chorus:", "Which we will give Him; and bequeath", "This Holly and this Ivy Wreath,", "To do Him honor; who's our King,", "And Lord of all this Revelling." ], "linecount": "44" }, { "title": "TO THE WILLOW-TREE", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Thou art to all lost love the best,", "The only true plant found,", "Wherewith young men and maids distrest", "And left of love, are crown'd.", "", "When once the lover's rose is dead", "Or laid aside forlorn,", "Then willow-garlands, 'bout the head,", "Bedew'd with tears, are worn.", "", "When with neglect, the lover's bane,", "Poor maids rewarded be,", "For their love lost their only gain", "Is but a wreath from thee.", "", "And underneath thy cooling shade,", "When weary of the light,", "The love-spent youth, and love-sick maid,", "Come to weep out the night." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "To his Girls", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Wanton wenches do not bring", "For my hairs black colouring :", "For my locks, girls, let 'em be", "Grey or white, all's one to me." ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "TO PRIMROSES FILLED WITH MORNING DEW", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Why do ye weep, sweet babes? can tears", "Speak grief in you,", "Who were but born", "just as the modest morn", "Teem'd her refreshing dew?", "Alas, you have not known that shower", "That mars a flower,", "Nor felt th' unkind", "Breath of a blasting wind,", "Nor are ye worn with years;", "Or warp'd as we,", "Who think it strange to see,", "Such pretty flowers, like to orphans young,", "To speak by tears, before ye have a tongue.", "", "Speak, whimp'ring younglings, and make known", "The reason why", "Ye droop and weep;", "Is it for want of sleep,", "Or childish lullaby?", "Or that ye have not seen as yet", "The violet?", "Or brought a kiss", "From that Sweet-heart, to this?", "--No, no, this sorrow shown", "By your tears shed,", "Would have this lecture read,", "That things of greatest, so of meanest worth,", "Conceived with grief are, and with tears brought forth." ], "linecount": "28" }, { "title": "TO HIS SAVIOUR, A CHILD;A PRESENT, BY A CHILD", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Go, pretty child, and bear this flower", "Unto thy little Saviour;", "And tell him, by that bud now blown,", "He is the Rose of Sharon known.", "When thou hast said so, stick it there", "Upon his bib or stomacher;", "And tell him, for good handsel too,", "That thou hast brought a whistle new,", "Made of a clean straight oaten reed,", "To charm his cries at time of need;", "Tell him, for coral, thou hast none,", "But if thou hadst, he should have one;", "But poor thou art, and known to be", "Even as moneyless as he.", "Lastly, if thou canst win a kiss", "From those melifluous lips of his;--", "Then never take a second on,", "To spoil the first impression." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "THE PARLIAMENT OF ROSES TO JULIA", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "I dreamt the Roses one time went", "To meet and sit in Parliament;", "The place for these, and for the rest", "Of flowers, was thy spotless breast.", "Over the which a state was drawn", "Of tiffany, or cob-web lawn;", "Then in that Parly all those powers", "Voted the Rose the Queen of flowers;", "But so, as that herself should be", "The Maid of Honour unto thee." ], "linecount": "10" }, { "title": "TO MUSIC, TO BECALM HIS FEVER", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Charm me asleep, and melt me so", "With thy delicious numbers;", "That being ravish'd, hence I go", "Away in easy slumbers.", "Ease my sick head,", "And make my bed,", "Thou Power that canst sever", "From me this ill;--", "And quickly still,", "Though thou not kill", "My fever.", "", "Thou sweetly canst convert the same", "From a consuming fire,", "Into a gentle-licking flame,", "And make it thus expire.", "Then make me weep", "My pains asleep,", "And give me such reposes,", "That I, poor I,", "May think, thereby,", "I live and die", "'Mongst roses.", "", "Fall on me like a silent dew,", "Or like those maiden showers,", "Which, by the peep of day, do strew", "A baptism o'er the flowers.", "Melt, melt my pains", "With thy soft strains;", "That having ease me given,", "With full delight,", "I leave this light,", "And take my flight", "For Heaven." ], "linecount": "33" }, { "title": "TO HIS KINSWOMAN, MISTRESS SUSANNA HERRICK", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "When I consider, dearest, thou dost stay", "But here awhile, to languish and decay;", "Like to these garden glories, which here be", "The flowery-sweet resemblances of thee:", "With grief of heart, methinks, I thus do cry,", "Would thou hadst ne'er been born, or might'st not die!" ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "COMFORT TO A YOUTH THAT HAD LOST HIS LOVE", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "What needs complaints,", "When she a place", "Has with the race", "Of saints?", "In endless mirth,", "She thinks not on", "What's said or done", "In earth:", "She sees no tears,", "Or any tone", "Of thy deep groan", "She hears;", "Nor does she mind,", "Or think on't now,", "That ever thou", "Wast kind:--", "But changed above,", "She likes not there,", "As she did here,", "Thy love.", "--Forbear, therefore,", "And lull asleep", "Thy woes, and weep", "No more." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "A Thanksgiving to God for His House", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Lord, Thou hast given me a cell", "Wherein to dwell;", "An little house, whose humble roof", "Is weather-proof;", "Under the spars of which I lie", "Both soft and dry;", "Where Thou my chamber for to ward", "Hast set a guard", "Of harmless thoughts, to watch and keep", "Me, while I sleep.", "Low is my porch as is my fate,", "Both void of state;", "And yet the threshold of my door", "Is worn by'th' poor,", "Who thither come, and freely get", "Good words, or meat;", "Like as my parlour, so my hall", "And kitchen's small;", "A little butterie and therein", "A little bin,", "Which keeps my little loaf of bread", "Unchipp'd, unflay'd;", "Some brittle sticks of thorn or briar", "Make me a fire,", "Close by whose living coal I sit,", "And glow like it.", "Lord, I confess too, when I dine,", "The pulse is Thine,", "And all those other bits that be", "There plac'd by Thee;", "The worts, the purslain, and the mess", "Of water-cress,", "Which of Thy kindness Thou hast sent;", "And my content", "Makes those, and my beloved beet,", "To be more sweet.", "'Tis Thou that crown'st my glitt'ring hearth", "With guiltless mirth;", "And giv'st me wassail bowls to drink,", "Spic'd to the brink.", "Lord, 'tis Thy plenty-dropping hand", "That soils my land;", "And giv'st me, for my bushel sown,", "Twice ten for one;", "Thou mak'st my teeming hen to lay", "Her egg each day;", "Besides my healthful ewes to bear", "Me twins each year;", "The while the conduits of my kine", "Run cream (for wine.)", "All these, and better Thou dost send", "Me, to this end,", "That I should render, for my part,", "A thankful heart,", "Which, fir'd with incense, I resign", "As wholly Thine;", "But the acceptance, that must be,", "My Christ, by Thee." ], "linecount": "58" }, { "title": "ART ABOVE NATURE: TO JULIA", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "When I behold a forest spread", "With silken trees upon thy head;", "And when I see that other dress", "Of flowers set in comeliness;", "When I behold another grace", "In the ascent of curious lace,", "Which, like a pinnacle, doth shew", "The top, and the top-gallant too;", "Then, when I see thy tresses bound", "Into an oval, square, or round,", "And knit in knots far more than I.", "Can tell by tongue, or True-love tie;", "Next, when those lawny films I see", "Play with a wild civility;", "And all those airy silks to flow,", "Alluring me, and tempting so--", "I must confess, mine eye and heart", "Dotes less on nature than on art." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "TO THE WATER-NYMPHS DRINKING AT THEFOUNTAIN", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Reach with your whiter hands to me", "Some crystal of the spring;", "And I about the cup shall see", "Fresh lilies flourishing.", "", "Or else, sweet nymphs, do you but this--", "To th' glass your lips incline;", "And I shall see by that one kiss", "The water turn'd to wine." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "A COUNTRY LIFE:TO HIS BROTHER, MR THOMAS HERRICK", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Thrice, and above, blest, my soul's half, art thou,", "In thy both last and better vow;", "Could'st leave the city, for exchange, to see", "The country's sweet simplicity;", "And it to know and practise, with intent", "To grow the sooner innocent;", "By studying to know virtue, and to aim", "More at her nature than her name;", "The last is but the least; the first doth tell", "Ways less to live, than to live well:--", "And both are known to thee, who now canst live", "Led by thy conscience, to give", "Justice to soon-pleased nature, and to show", "Wisdom and she together go,", "And keep one centre; This with that conspires", "To teach man to confine desires,", "And know that riches have their proper stint", "In the contented mind, not mint;", "And canst instruct that those who have the itch", "Of craving more, are never rich.", "These things thou knows't to th' height, and dost prevent", "That plague, because thou art content", "With that Heaven gave thee with a wary hand,", "(More blessed in thy brass than land)", "To keep cheap Nature even and upright;", "To cool, not cocker appetite.", "Thus thou canst tersely live to satisfy", "The belly chiefly, not the eye;", "Keeping the barking stomach wisely quiet,", "Less with a neat than needful diet.", "But that which most makes sweet thy country life,", "Is the fruition of a wife,", "Whom, stars consenting with thy fate, thou hast", "Got not so beautiful as chaste;", "By whose warm side thou dost securely sleep,", "While Love the sentinel doth keep,", "With those deeds done by day, which ne'er affright", "Thy silken slumbers in the night:", "Nor has the darkness power to usher in", "Fear to those sheets that know no sin.", "The damask'd meadows and the pebbly streams", "Sweeten and make soft your dreams:", "The purling springs, groves, birds, and well weaved bowers,", "With fields enamelled with flowers,", "Present their shapes, while fantasy discloses", "Millions of Lilies mix'd with Roses.", "Then dream, ye hear the lamb by many a bleat", "Woo'd to come suck the milky teat;", "While Faunus in the vision comes, to keep", "From rav'ning wolves the fleecy sheep:", "With thousand such enchanting dreams, that meet", "To make sleep not so sound as sweet;", "Nor call these figures so thy rest endear,", "As not to rise when Chanticlere", "Warns the last watch;--but with the dawn dost rise", "To work, but first to sacrifice;", "Making thy peace with Heaven for some late fault,", "With holy-meal and spirting salt;", "Which done, thy painful thumb this sentence tells us,", "'Jove for our labour all things sells us.'", "Nor are thy daily and devout affairs", "Attended with those desp'rate cares", "Th' industrious merchant has, who for to find", "Gold, runneth to the Western Ind,", "And back again, tortured with fears, doth fly,", "Untaught to suffer Poverty;--", "But thou at home, blest with securest ease,", "Sitt'st, and believ'st that there be seas,", "And watery dangers; while thy whiter hap", "But sees these things within thy map;", "And viewing them with a more safe survey,", "Mak'st easy fear unto thee say,", "'A heart thrice walled with oak and brass, that man", "Had, first durst plough the ocean.'", "But thou at home, without or tide or gale,", "Canst in thy map securely sail;", "Seeing those painted countries, and so guess", "By those fine shades, their substances;", "And from thy compass taking small advice,", "Buy'st travel at the lowest price.", "Nor are thine ears so deaf but thou canst hear,", "Far more with wonder than with fear,", "Fame tell of states, of countries, courts, and kings,", "And believe there be such things;", "When of these truths thy happier knowledge lies", "More in thine ears than in thine eyes.", "And when thou hear'st by that too true report,", "Vice rules the most, or all, at court,", "Thy pious wishes are, though thou not there,", "Virtue had, and moved her sphere.", "But thou liv'st fearless; and thy face ne'er shows", "Fortune when she comes, or goes;", "But with thy equal thoughts, prepared dost stand", "To take her by the either hand;", "Nor car'st which comes the first, the foul or fair:--", "A wise man ev'ry way lies square;", "And like a surly oak with storms perplex'd", "Grows still the stronger, strongly vex'd.", "Be so, bold Spirit; stand centre-like, unmoved;", "And be not only thought, but proved", "To be what I report thee, and inure", "Thyself, if want comes, to endure;", "And so thou dost; for thy desires are", "Confined to live with private Lar:", "Nor curious whether appetite be fed", "Or with the first, or second bread.", "Who keep'st no proud mouth for delicious cates;", "Hunger makes coarse meats, delicates.", "Canst, and unurged, forsake that larded fare,", "Which art, not nature, makes so rare;", "To taste boil'd nettles, coleworts, beets, and eat", "These, and sour herbs, as dainty meat:--", "While soft opinion makes thy Genius say,", "'Content makes all ambrosia;'", "Nor is it that thou keep'st this stricter size", "So much for want, as exercise;", "To numb the sense of dearth, which, should sin haste it,", "Thou might'st but only see't, not taste it;", "Yet can thy humble roof maintain a quire", "Of singing crickets by thy fire;", "And the brisk mouse may feast herself with crumbs,", "Till that the green-eyed kitling comes;", "Then to her cabin, blest she can escape", "The sudden danger of a rape.", "--And thus thy little well-kept stock doth prove,", "Wealth cannot make a life, but love.", "Nor art thou so close-handed, but canst spend,", "(Counsel concurring with the end),", "As well as spare; still conning o'er this theme,", "To shun the first and last extreme;", "Ordaining that thy small stock find no breach,", "Or to exceed thy tether's reach;", "But to live round, and close, and wisely true", "To thine own self, and known to few.", "Thus let thy rural sanctuary be", "Elysium to thy wife and thee;", "There to disport your selves with golden measure;", "For seldom use commends the pleasure.", "Live, and live blest; thrice happy pair; let breath,", "But lost to one, be th' other's death:", "And as there is one love, one faith, one troth,", "Be so one death, one grave to both;", "Till when, in such assurance live, ye may", "Nor fear, or wish your dying day." ], "linecount": "144" }, { "title": "TO THE LADY CREWE, UPON THE DEATH OF HER CHILD", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Why, Madam, will ye longer weep,", "Whenas your baby's lull'd asleep?", "And, pretty child, feels now no more", "Those pains it lately felt before.", "", "All now is silent; groans are fled;", "Your child lies still, yet is not dead,", "But rather like a flower hid here,", "To spring again another year." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "TO MUSIC", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Begin to charm, and as thou strok'st mine ears", "With thine enchantment, melt me into tears.", "Then let thy active hand scud o'er thy lyre,", "And make my spirits frantic with the fire;", "That done, sink down into a silvery strain,", "And make me smooth as balm and oil again." ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "TO A GENTLEWOMAN, OBJECTING TO HIM HISGRAY HAIRS", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Am I despised, because you say;", "And I dare swear, that I am gray?", "Know, Lady, you have but your day!", "And time will come when you shall wear", "Such frost and snow upon your hair;", "And when, though long, it comes to pass,", "You question with your looking-glass,", "And in that sincere crystal seek", "But find no rose-bud in your cheek,", "Nor any bed to give the shew", "Where such a rare carnation grew:-", "Ah! then too late, close in your chamber keeping,", "It will be told", "That you are old,--", "By those true tears you're weeping." ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "TO MUSIC: A SONG", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Music, thou queen of heaven, care-charming spell,", "That strik'st a stillness into hell;", "Thou that tam'st tigers, and fierce storms, that rise,", "With thy soul-melting lullabies;", "Fall down, down, down, from those thy chiming spheres", "To charm our souls, as thou enchant'st our ears." ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "TO THE ROSE: SONG", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Go, happy Rose, and interwove", "With other flowers, bind my Love.", "Tell her, too, she must not be", "Longer flowing, longer free,", "That so oft has fetter'd me.", "", "Say, if she's fretful, I have bands", "Of pearl and gold, to bind her hands;", "Tell her, if she struggle still,", "I have myrtle rods at will,", "For to tame, though not to kill.", "", "Take thou my blessing thus, and go", "And tell her this,--but do not so!--", "Lest a handsome anger fly", "Like a lightning from her eye,", "And burn thee up, as well as I!" ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "HIS AGE:DEDICATED TO HIS PECULIAR FRIEND,MR JOHN WICKES, UNDER THE NAME OFPOSTUMUS", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Ah, Posthumus! our years hence fly", "And leave no sound: nor piety,", "Or prayers, or vow", "Can keep the wrinkle from the brow;", "But we must on,", "As fate does lead or draw us; none,", "None, Posthumus, could e'er decline", "The doom of cruel Proserpine.", "", "The pleasing wife, the house, the ground", "Must all be left, no one plant found", "To follow thee,", "Save only the curst cypress-tree!", "--A merry mind", "Looks forward, scorns what's left behind;", "Let's live, my Wickes, then, while we may,", "And here enjoy our holiday.", "", "We've seen the past best times, and these", "Will ne'er return; we see the seas,", "And moons to wane,", "But they fill up their ebbs again;", "But vanish'd man,", "Like to a lily lost, ne'er can,", "Ne'er can repullulate, or bring", "His days to see a second spring.", "", "But on we must, and thither tend,", "Where Ancus and rich Tullus blend", "Their sacred seed;", "Thus has infernal Jove decreed;", "We must be made,", "Ere long a song, ere long a shade.", "Why then, since life to us is short,", "Let's make it full up by our sport.", "", "Crown we our heads with roses then,", "And 'noint with Tyrian balm; for when", "We two are dead,", "The world with us is buried.", "Then live we free", "As is the air, and let us be", "Our own fair wind, and mark each one", "Day with the white and lucky stone.", "", "We are not poor, although we have", "No roofs of cedar, nor our brave", "Baiae, nor keep", "Account of such a flock of sheep;", "Nor bullocks fed", "To lard the shambles; barbels bred", "To kiss our hands; nor do we wish", "For Pollio's lampreys in our dish.", "", "If we can meet, and so confer,", "Both by a shining salt-cellar,", "And have our roof,", "Although not arch'd, yet weather-proof,", "And cieling free,", "From that cheap candle-baudery;", "We'll eat our bean with that full mirth", "As we were lords of all the earth.", "", "Well, then, on what seas we are tost,", "Our comfort is, we can't be lost.", "Let the winds drive", "Our bark, yet she will keep alive", "Amidst the deeps;", "'Tis constancy, my Wickes, which keeps", "The pinnace up; which, though she errs", "I' th' seas, she saves her passengers.", "", "Say, we must part; sweet mercy bless", "Us both i' th' sea, camp, wilderness!", "Can we so far", "Stray, to become less circular", "Than we are now?", "No, no, that self-same heart, that vow", "Which made us one, shall ne'er undo,", "Or ravel so, to make us two.", "", "Live in thy peace; as for myself,", "When I am bruised on the shelf", "Of time, and show", "My locks behung with frost and snow;", "When with the rheum,", "The cough, the pthisic, I consume", "Unto an almost nothing; then,", "The ages fled, I'll call again,", "", "And with a tear compare these last", "Lame and bad times with those are past,", "While Baucis by,", "My old lean wife, shall kiss it dry;", "And so we'll sit", "By th' fire, foretelling snow and slit", "And weather by our aches, grown", "Now old enough to be our own", "", "True calendars, as puss's ear", "Wash'd o'er 's, to tell what change is near;", "Then to assuage", "The gripings of the chine by age,", "I'll call my young", "Iulus to sing such a song", "I made upon my Julia's breast,", "And of her blush at such a feast.", "", "Then shall he read that flower of mine", "Enclosed within a crystal shrine;", "A primrose next;", "A piece then of a higher text;", "For to beget", "In me a more transcendant heat,", "Than that insinuating fire", "Which crept into each aged sire", "", "When the fair Helen from her eyes", "Shot forth her loving sorceries;", "At which I'll rear", "Mine aged limbs above my chair;", "And hearing it,", "Flutter and crow, as in a fit", "Of fresh concupiscence, and cry,", "'No lust there's like to Poetry.'", "", "Thus frantic, crazy man, God wot,", "I'll call to mind things half-forgot;", "And oft between", "Repeat the times that I have seen;", "Thus ripe with tears,", "And twisting my Iulus' hairs,", "Doting, I'll weep and say, 'In truth,", "Baucis, these were my sins of youth.'", "", "Then next I'Il cause my hopeful lad,", "If a wild apple can be had,", "To crown the hearth;", "Lar thus conspiring with our mirth;", "Then to infuse", "Our browner ale into the cruse;", "Which, sweetly spiced, we'll first carouse", "Unto the Genius of the house.", "", "Then the next health to friends of mine.", "Loving the brave Burgundian wine,", "High sons of pith,", "Whose fortunes I have frolick'd with;", "Such as could well", "Bear up the magic bough and spell;", "And dancing 'bout the mystic Thyrse,", "Give up the just applause to verse;", "", "To those, and then again to thee,", "We'll drink, my Wickes, until we be", "Plump as the cherry,", "Though not so fresh, yet full as merry", "As the cricket,", "The untamed heifer, or the pricket,", "Until our tongues shall tell our ears,", "We're younger by a score of years.", "", "Thus, till we see the fire less shine", "From th' embers than the kitling's eyne,", "We'll still sit up,", "Sphering about the wassail cup,", "To all those times", "Which gave me honour for my rhymes;", "The coal once spent, we'll then to bed,", "Far more than night bewearied." ], "linecount": "152" }, { "title": "TO THE VIRGINS, TO MAKE MUCH OF TIME", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Gather ye rose-buds while ye may:", "Old Time is still a-flying;", "And this same flower that smiles to-day,", "To-morrow will be dying.", "", "The glorious lamp of heaven, the Sun,", "The higher he's a-getting,", "The sooner will his race be run,", "And nearer he's to setting.", "", "That age is best, which is the first,", "When youth and blood are warmer;", "But being spent, the worse, and worst", "Times, still succeed the former.", "", "--Then be not coy, but use your time,", "And while ye may, go marry;", "For having lost but once your prime,", "You may for ever tarry." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "HIS MISTRESS TO HIM AT HIS FAREWELL", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "You may vow I'll not forget", "To pay the debt", "Which to thy memory stands as due", "As faith can seal it you.", "--Take then tribute of my tears;", "So long as I have fears", "To prompt me, I shall ever", "Languish and look, but thy return see never.", "Oh then to lessen my despair,", "Print thy lips into(the air,", "So by this", "Means, I may kiss thy kiss,", "Whenas some kind", "Wind", "Shall hither waft it:--And, in lieu,", "My lips shall send a thousand back to you." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "An Ode to Master Endymion Porter, Upon His Brother's Death", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Not all thy flushing suns are set,", "Herrick, as yet ;", "Nor doth this far-drawn hemisphere", "Frown and look sullen ev'rywhere.", "Days may conclude in nights, and suns may rest", "As dead within the west ;", "Yet, the next morn, regild the fragrant east.", "", "Alas ! for me, that I have lost", "E'en all almost ;", "Sunk is my sight, set is my sun,", "And all the loom of life undone :", "The staff, the elm, the prop, the shelt'ring wall", "Whereon my vine did crawl,", "Now, now blown down ; needs must the old stock fall.", "", "Yet, Porter, while thou keep'st alive,", "In death I thrive :", "And like a phoenix re-aspire", "From out my nard and fun'ral fire ;", "And as I prune my feathered youth, so I", "Do mar'l how I could die", "When I had thee, my chief preserver, by.", "", "I'm up, I'm up, and bless that hand", "Which makes me stand", "Now as I do, and but for thee", "I must confess I could not be.", "The debt is paid ; for he who doth resign", "Thanks to the gen'rous vine", "Invites fresh grapes to fill his press with wine." ], "linecount": "28" }, { "title": "A Lyric to Mirth", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "While the milder fates consent,", "Let's enjoy our merriment :", "Drink, and dance, and pipe, and play ;", "Kiss our dollies night and day :", "Crowned with clusters of the vine,", "Let us sit, and quaff our wine.", "Call on Bacchus, chant his praise ;", "Shake the thyrse, and bite the bays :", "Rouse Anacreon from the dead,", "And return him drunk to bed :", "Sing o'er Horace, for ere long", "Death will come and mar the song :", "Then shall Wilson and Gotiere", "Never sing or play more here." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "TO MUSIC, TO BECALM A SWEET SICK YOUTH", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Charms, that call down the moon from out her sphere,", "On this sick youth work your enchantments here!", "Bind up his senses with your numbers, so", "As to entrance his pain, or cure his woe.", "Fall gently, gently, and a-while him keep", "Lost in the civil wilderness of sleep:", "That done, then let him, dispossess'd of pain,", "Like to a slumbering bride, awake again." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "His Prayer To Ben Jonson", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "When I a verse shall make,", "Know I have pray'd thee,", "For old religion's sake,", "Saint Ben to aid me.", "", "Make the way smooth for me,", "When I, thy Herrick,", "Honouring thee, on my knee", "Offer my lyric.", "", "Candles I'll give to thee,", "And a new altar,", "And thou, Saint Ben, shalt be", "Writ in my psalter." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "To Virgins, to Make Much of Time", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,", "Old time is still a-flying", "And this same flower that smiles today", "Tomorrow will be dying.", "", "The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,", "The higher he's a-getting,", "The sooner will his race be run,", "And nearer he's to setting.", "", "That age is best which is the first,", "When youth and blood are warmer;", "But being spent, the worse, and worst", "Times still succeed the former.", "", "Then be not coy, but use your time,", "And, while ye may, go marry;", "For, having lost but once your prime,", "You may forever tarry." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "TO HIS DYING BROTHER, MASTER WILLIAM HERRICK", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Life of my life, take not so soon thy flight,", "But stay the time till we have bade good-night.", "Thou hast both wind and tide with thee; thy way", "As soon dispatch'd is by the night as day.", "Let us not then so rudely henceforth go", "Till we have wept, kiss'd, sigh'd, shook hands, or so.", "There's pain in parting, and a kind of hell", "When once true lovers take their last farewell.", "What? shall we two our endless leaves take here", "Without a sad look, or a solemn tear?", "He knows not love that hath not this truth proved,", "Love is most loth to leave the thing beloved.", "Pay we our vows and go; yet when we part,", "Then, even then, I will bequeath my heart", "Into thy loving hands; for I'll keep none", "To warm my breast, when thou, my pulse, art gone,", "No, here I'll last, and walk, a harmless shade,", "About this urn, wherein thy dust is laid,", "To guard it so, as nothing here shall be", "Heavy, to hurt those sacred seeds of thee." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "TO ENJOY THE TIME", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "While fates permit us, let's be merry;", "Pass all we must the fatal ferry;", "And this our life, too, whirls away,", "With the rotation of the day." ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "TO HEAVEN", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Open thy gates", "To him who weeping waits,", "And might come in,", "But that held back by sin.", "Let mercy be", "So kind, to set me free,", "And I will straight", "Come in, or force the gate." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "God Gave To Me A Child In Part", "author": "Robert Louis Stevenson", "lines": [ "GOD gave to me a child in part,", "Yet wholly gave the father's heart:", "Child of my soul, O whither now,", "Unborn, unmothered, goest thou?", "", "You came, you went, and no man wist;", "Hapless, my child, no breast you kist;", "On no dear knees, a privileged babbler, clomb,", "Nor knew the kindly feel of home.", "", "My voice may reach you, O my dear-", "A father's voice perhaps the child may hear;", "And, pitying, you may turn your view", "On that poor father whom you never knew.", "", "Alas! alone he sits, who then,", "Immortal among mortal men,", "Sat hand in hand with love, and all day through", "With your dear mother wondered over you." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "To My Name-Child", "author": "Robert Louis Stevenson", "lines": [ "1", "", "Some day soon this rhyming volume, if you learn with proper speed,", "Little Louis Sanchez, will be given you to read.", "Then you shall discover, that your name was printed down", "By the English printers, long before, in London town.", "", "In the great and busy city where the East and West are met,", "All the little letters did the English printer set;", "While you thought of nothing, and were still too young to play,", "Foreign people thought of you in places far away.", "", "Ay, and when you slept, a baby, over all the English lands", "Other little children took the volume in their hands;", "Other children questioned, in their homes across the seas:", "Who was little Louis, won't you tell us, mother, please?", "", "2", "", "Now that you have spelt your lesson, lay it down and go and play,", "Seeking shells and seaweed on the sands of Monterey,", "Watching all the mighty whalebones, lying buried by the breeze,", "Tiny sandpipers, and the huge Pacific seas.", "", "And remember in your playing, as the sea-fog rolls to you,", "Long ere you could read it, how I told you what to do;", "And that while you thought of no one, nearly half the world away", "Some one thought of Louis on the beach of Monterey!" ], "linecount": "22" }, { "title": "To Friends At Home", "author": "Robert Louis Stevenson", "lines": [ "TO friends at home, the lone, the admired, the lost", "The gracious old, the lovely young, to May", "The fair, December the beloved,", "These from my blue horizon and green isles,", "These from this pinnacle of distances I,", "The unforgetful, dedicate." ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "Death, To The Dead For Evermore", "author": "Robert Louis Stevenson", "lines": [ "DEATH, to the dead for evermore", "A King, a God, the last, the best of friends -", "Whene'er this mortal journey ends", "Death, like a host, comes smiling to the door;", "Smiling, he greets us, on that tranquil shore", "Where neither piping bird nor peeping dawn", "Disturbs the eternal sleep,", "But in the stillness far withdrawn", "Our dreamless rest for evermore we keep.", "", "For as from open windows forth we peep", "Upon the night-time star beset", "And with dews for ever wet;", "So from this garish life the spirit peers;", "And lo! as a sleeping city death outspread,", "Where breathe the sleepers evenly; and lo!", "After the loud wars, triumphs, trumpets, tears", "And clamour of man's passion, Death appears,", "And we must rise and go.", "", "Soon are eyes tired with sunshine; soon the ears", "Weary of utterance, seeing all is said;", "Soon, racked by hopes and fears,", "The all-pondering, all-contriving head,", "Weary with all things, wearies of the years;", "And our sad spirits turn toward the dead;", "And the tired child, the body, longs for bed." ], "linecount": "25" }, { "title": "Farewell to the Farm", "author": "Robert Louis Stevenson", "lines": [ "The coach is at the door at last;", "The eager children, mounting fast", "And kissing hands, in chorus sing:", "Good-bye, good-bye, to everything!", "", "To house and garden, field and lawn,", "The meadow-gates we swang upon,", "To pump and stable, tree and swing,", "Good-bye, good-bye, to everything!", "", "And fare you well for evermore,", "O ladder at the hayloft door,", "O hayloft where the cobwebs cling,", "Good-bye, good-bye, to everything!", "", "Crack goes the whip, and off we go;", "The trees and houses smaller grow;", "Last, round the woody turn we sing:", "Good-bye, good-bye, to everything!" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "The Angler Rose, He Took His Rod", "author": "Robert Louis Stevenson", "lines": [ "THE angler rose, he took his rod,", "He kneeled and made his prayers to God.", "The living God sat overhead:", "The angler tripped, the eels were fed" ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "To My Mother", "author": "Robert Louis Stevenson", "lines": [ "You too, my mother, read my rhymes", "For love of unforgotten times,", "And you may chance to hear once more", "The little feet along the floor." ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "To My Own Minature Picture Taken At Two Years Of Age", "author": "Robert Southey", "lines": [ "And I was once like this! that glowing cheek", "Was mine, those pleasure-sparkling eyes, that brow", "Smooth as the level lake, when not a breeze", "Dies o'er the sleeping surface! twenty years", "Have wrought strange alteration! Of the friends", "Who once so dearly prized this miniature,", "And loved it for its likeness, some are gone", "To their last home; and some, estranged in heart,", "Beholding me with quick-averted glance", "Pass on the other side! But still these hues", "Remain unalter'd, and these features wear", "The look of Infancy and Innocence.", "I search myself in vain, and find no trace", "Of what I was: those lightly-arching lines", "Dark and o'erhanging now; and that mild face", "Settled in these strong lineaments!--There were", "Who form'd high hopes and flattering ones of thee", "Young Robert! for thine eye was quick to speak", "Each opening feeling: should they not have known", "When the rich rainbow on the morning cloud", "Reflects its radiant dies, the husbandman", "Beholds the ominous glory sad, and fears", "Impending storms? they augur'd happily,", "For thou didst love each wild and wonderous tale", "Of faery fiction, and thine infant tongue", "Lisp'd with delight the godlike deeds of Greece", "And rising Rome; therefore they deem'd forsooth", "That thou shouldst tread PREFERMENT'S pleasant path.", "Ill-judging ones! they let thy little feet", "Stray in the pleasant paths of POESY,", "And when thou shouldst have prest amid the crowd", "There didst thou love to linger out the day", "Loitering beneath the laurels barren shade.", "SPIRIT of SPENSER! was the wanderer wrong?", "This little picture was for ornament", "Design'd, to shine amid the motley mob", "Of Fashion and of Folly,--is it not", "More honour'd by this solitary song?" ], "linecount": "38" }, { "title": "Hymn To The Penates", "author": "Robert Southey", "lines": [ "Yet one Song more! one high and solemn strain", "Ere PAEAN! on thy temple's ruined wall", "I hang the silent harp: there may its strings,", "When the rude tempest shakes the aged pile,", "Make melancholy music. One Song more!", "PENATES! hear me! for to you I hymn", "The votive lay. Whether, as sages deem,", "Ye dwell in the inmost Heaven, the COUNSELLORS", "Of JOVE; or if, SUPREME OF DEITIES,", "All things are yours, and in your holy train", "JOVE proudly ranks, and JUNO, white arm'd Queen.", "", "And wisest of Immortals, aweful Maid", "ATHENIAN PALLAS. Venerable Powers!", "Hearken your hymn of praise! tho' from your rites", "Estranged, and exiled from your altars long,", "I have not ceased to love you, HOUSEHOLD GODS!", "In many a long and melancholy hour", "Of solitude and sorrow, has my heart", "With earnest longings prayed to rest at length", "Beside your hallowed hearth--for PEACE is there!", "", "Yes I have loved you long. I call on you", "Yourselves to witness with what holy joy,", "Shunning the polished mob of human kind,", "I have retired to watch your lonely fires", "And commune with myself. Delightful hours", "That gave mysterious pleasure, made me know", "All the recesses of my wayward heart,", "Taught me to cherish with devoutest care", "Its strange unworldly feelings, taught me too", "The best of lessons--to respect myself!", "", "Nor have I ever ceas'd to reverence you", "DOMESTIC DEITIES! from the first dawn", "Of reason, thro' the adventurous paths of youth", "Even to this better day, when on mine ear", "The uproar of contending nations sounds,", "But like the passing wind--and wakes no pulse", "To tumult. When a child--(for still I love", "To dwell with fondness on my childish years,", "Even as that Persian favorite would retire", "From the court's dangerous pageantry and pomp,", "To gaze upon his shepherd garb, and weep,", "Rememb'ring humble happiness.) When first", "A little one, I left my father's home,", "I can remember the first grief I felt,", "And the first painful smile that cloathed my front", "With feelings not its own: sadly at night", "I sat me down beside a stranger's hearth;", "And when the lingering hour of rest was come,", "First wet with tears my pillow. As I grew", "In years and knowledge, and the course of Time", "Developed the young feelings of my heart,", "When most I loved in solitude to rove", "Amid the woodland gloom; or where the rocks", "Darken'd old Avon's stream, in the ivied cave", "Recluse to sit and brood the future song,", "Yet not the less, PENATES, loved I then", "Your altars, not the less at evening hour", "Delighted by the well-trimm'd fire to sit,", "Absorbed in many a dear deceitful dream", "Of visionary joys: deceitful dreams--", "Not wholly vain--for painting purest joys,", "They form'd to Fancy's mould her votary's heart.", "", "By Cherwell's sedgey side, and in the meads", "Where Isis in her calm clear stream reflects", "The willow's bending boughs, at earliest dawn", "In the noon-tide hour, and when the night-mists rose,", "I have remembered you: and when the noise", "Of loud intemperance on my lonely ear", "Burst with loud tumult, as recluse I sat,", "Pondering on loftiest themes of man redeemed", "From servitude, and vice, and wretchedness,", "I blest you, HOUSEHOLD GODS! because I loved", "Your peaceful altars and serener rites.", "Nor did I cease to reverence you, when driven", "Amid the jarring crowd, an unfit man", "To mingle with the world; still, still my heart", "Sighed for your sanctuary, and inly pined;", "And loathing human converse, I have strayed", "Where o'er the sea-beach chilly howl'd the blast,", "And gaz'd upon the world of waves, and wished", "That I were far beyond the Atlantic deep,", "In woodland haunts--a sojourner with PEACE.", "", "Not idly fabled they the Bards inspired,", "Who peopled Earth with Deities. They trod", "The wood with reverence where the DRYADS dwelt;", "At day's dim dawn or evening's misty hour", "They saw the OREADS on their mountain haunts.", "And felt their holy influence, nor impure", "Of thought--or ever with polluted hands", "Touched they without a prayer the NAIAD'S spring;", "Yet was their influence transient; such brief awe", "Inspiring as the thunder's long loud peal", "Strikes to the feeble spirit. HOUSEHOLD GODS,", "Not such your empire! in your votaries' breasts", "No momentary impulse ye awake--", "Nor fleeting like their local energies,", "The deep devotion that your fanes impart.", "O ye whom YOUTH has wilder'd on your way,", "Or VICE with fair-mask'd foulness, or the lure", "Of FAME that calls ye to her crowded paths", "With FOLLY's rattle, to your HOUSEHOLD GODS", "Return! for not in VICE's gay abodes,", "Not in the unquiet unsafe halls of FAME", "Does HAPPINESS abide! O ye who weep", "Much for the many miseries of Mankind,", "More for their vices, ye whose honest eyes", "Frown on OPPRESSION,--ye whose honest hearts", "Beat high when FREEDOM sounds her dread tocsin;--", "O ye who quit the path of peaceful life", "Crusading for mankind--a spaniel race", "That lick the hand that beats them, or tear all", "Alike in frenzy--to your HOUSEHOLD GODS", "Return, for by their altars VIRTUE dwells", "And HAPPINESS with her; for by their fires", "TRANQUILLITY in no unsocial mood", "Sits silent, listening to the pattering shower;", "For, so SUSPICION sleep not at the gate", "Of WISDOM,--FALSEHOOD shall not enter there.", "", "As on the height of some huge eminence,", "Reach'd with long labour, the way-faring man", "Pauses awhile, and gazing o'er the plain", "With many a sore step travelled, turns him then", "Serious to contemplate the onward road,", "And calls to mind the comforts of his home,", "And sighs that he has left them, and resolves", "To stray no more: I on my way of life", "Muse thus PENATES, and with firmest faith", "Devote myself to you. I will not quit", "To mingle with the mob your calm abodes,", "Where, by the evening hearth CONTENTMENT sits", "And hears the cricket chirp; where LOVE delights", "To dwell, and on your altars lays his torch", "That burns with no extinguishable flame.", "", "Hear me ye POWERS benignant! there is one", "Must be mine inmate--for I may not chuse", "But love him. He is one whom many wrongs", "Have sicken'd of the world. There was a time", "When he would weep to hear of wickedness", "And wonder at the tale; when for the opprest", "He felt a brother's pity, to the oppressor", "A good man's honest anger. His quick eye", "Betray'd each rising feeling, every thought", "Leapt to his tongue. When first among mankind", "He mingled, by himself he judged of them,", "And loved and trusted them, to Wisdom deaf,", "And took them to his bosom. FALSEHOOD met", "Her unsuspecting victim, fair of front,", "And lovely as Apega's sculptured form,", "Like that false image caught his warm embrace", "And gored his open breast. The reptile race", "Clung round his bosom, and with viper folds", "Encircling, stung the fool who fostered them.", "His mother was SIMPLICITY, his sire", "BENEVOLENCE; in earlier days he bore", "His father's name; the world who injured him", "Call him MISANTHROPY. I may not chuse", "But love him, HOUSEHOLD GODS! for we were nurst", "In the same school.", "", "PENATES! some there are", "Who say, that not in the inmost heaven ye dwell,", "Gazing with eye remote on all the ways", "Of man, his GUARDIAN GODS; wiselier they deem", "A dearer interest to the human race", "Links you, yourselves the SPIRITS OF THE DEAD.", "No mortal eye may pierce the invisible world,", "No light of human reason penetrate", "That depth where Truth lies hid. Yet to this faith", "My heart with instant sympathy assents;", "And I would judge all systems and all faiths", "By that best touchstone, from whose test DECEIT", "Shrinks like the Arch-Fiend at Ithuriel's spear,", "And SOPHISTRY'S gay glittering bubble bursts,", "As at the spousals of the Nereid's son,", "When that false Florimel, by her prototype", "Display'd in rivalry, with all her charms", "Dissolved away.", "", "Nor can the halls of Heaven", "Give to the human soul such kindred joy,", "As hovering o'er its earthly haunts it feels,", "When with the breeze it wantons round the brow", "Of one beloved on earth; or when at night", "In dreams it comes, and brings with it the DAYS", "And JOYS that are no more, Or when, perchance", "With power permitted to alleviate ill", "And fit the sufferer for the coming woe,", "Some strange presage the SPIRIT breathes, and fills", "The breast with ominous fear, and disciplines", "For sorrow, pours into the afflicted heart", "The balm of resignation, and inspires", "With heavenly hope. Even as a Child delights", "To visit day by day the favorite plant", "His hand has sown, to mark its gradual growth,", "And watch all anxious for the promised flower;", "Thus to the blessed spirit, in innocence", "And pure affections like a little child,", "Sweet will it be to hover o'er the friends", "Beloved; then sweetest if, as Duty prompts,", "With earthly care we in their breasts have sown", "The seeds of Truth and Virtue, holy flowers", "Whose odour reacheth Heaven.", "", "When my sick Heart,", "(Sick with hope long delayed, than, which no care", "Presses the crush'd heart heavier from itself", "Seeks the best comfort, often have I deemed", "That thou didst witness every inmost thought", "SEWARD! my dear dead friend! for not in vain,", "Oh early summon'd in thy heavenly course!", "Was thy brief sojourn here: me didst thou leave", "With strengthen'd step to follow the right path", "Till we shall meet again. Meantime I soothe", "The deep regret of Nature, with belief,", "My EDMUND! that thine eye's celestial ken", "Pervades me now, marking no mean joy", "The movements of the heart that loved thee well!", "", "Such feelings Nature prompts, and hence your rites", "DOMESTIC GODS! arose. When for his son", "With ceaseless grief Syrophanes bewail'd,", "Mourning his age left childless, and his wealth", "Heapt for an alien, he with fixed eye", "Still on the imaged marble of the dead", "Dwelt, pampering sorrow. Thither from his wrath", "A safe asylum, fled the offending slave,", "And garlanded the statue and implored", "His young lost Lord to save: Remembrance then", "Softened the father, and he loved to see", "The votive wreath renewed, and the rich smoke", "Curl from the costly censer slow and sweet.", "From Egypt soon the sorrow-soothing rites", "Divulging spread; before your idol forms", "By every hearth the blinded Pagan knelt,", "Pouring his prayers to these, and offering there", "Vain sacrifice or impious, and sometimes", "With human blood your sanctuary defil'd:", "Till the first BRUTUS, tyrant-conquering chief,", "Arose; he first the impious rites put down,", "He fitliest, who for FREEDOM lived and died,", "The friend of humankind. Then did your feasts", "Frequent recur and blameless; and when came", "The solemn festival, whose happiest rites", "Emblem'd EQUALITY, the holiest truth!", "Crown'd with gay garlands were your statues seen,", "To you the fragrant censer smok'd, to you", "The rich libation flow'd: vain sacrifice!", "For nor the poppy wreath nor fruits nor wine.", "Ye ask, PENATES! nor the altar cleans'd", "With many a mystic form; ye ask the heart", "Made pure, and by domestic Peace and Love", "Hallowed to you.", "", "Hearken your hymn of praise,", "PENATES! to your shrines I come for rest,", "There only to be found. Often at eve,", "Amid my wanderings I have seen far off", "The lonely light that spake of comfort there,", "It told my heart of many a joy of home,", "And my poor heart was sad. When I have gazed", "From some high eminence on goodly vales", "And cots and villages embower'd below,", "The thought would rise that all to me was strange", "Amid the scene so fair, nor one small spot", "Where my tir'd mind might rest and call it home,", "There is a magic in that little word;", "It is a mystic circle that surrounds", "Comforts and Virtues never known beyond", "The hallowed limit. Often has my heart", "Ached for that quiet haven; haven'd now,", "I think of those in this world's wilderness", "Who wander on and find no home of rest", "Till to the grave they go! them POVERTY", "Hollow-eyed fiend, the child of WEALTH and POWER,", "Bad offspring of worse parents, aye afflicts,", "Cankering with her foul mildews the chill'd heart--", "Them WANT with scorpion scourge drives to the den", "Of GUILT--them SLAUGHTER with the price of death", "Buys for her raven brood. Oh not on them", "GOD OF ETERNAL JUSTICE! not on them", "Let fall thy thunder!", "", "HOUSEHOLD DEITIES!", "Then only shall be Happiness on earth", "When Man shall feel your sacred power, and love", "Your tranquil joys; then shall the city stand", "A huge void sepulchre, and rising fair", "Amid the ruins of the palace pile", "The Olive grow, there shall the TREE OF PEACE", "Strike its roots deep and flourish. This the state", "Shall bless the race redeemed of Man, when WEALTH", "And POWER and all their hideous progeny", "Shall sink annihilate, and all mankind", "Live in the equal brotherhood of LOVE.", "Heart-calming hope and sure! for hitherward", "Tend all the tumults of the troubled world,", "Its woes, its wisdom, and its wickedness", "Alike: so he hath will'd whose will is just.", "", "Meantime, all hoping and expecting all", "In patient faith, to you, DOMESTIC GODS!", "I come, studious of other lore than song,", "Of my past years the solace and support:", "Yet shall my Heart remember the past years", "With honest pride, trusting that not in vain", "Lives the pure song of LIBERTY and TRUTH." ], "linecount": "299" }, { "title": "A Letter to a Live Poet", "author": "Rupert Brooke", "lines": [ "Sir, since the last Elizabethan died,", "Or, rather, that more Paradisal muse,", "Blind with much light, passed to the light more glorious", "Or deeper blindness, no man's hand, as thine,", "Has, on the world's most noblest chord of song,", "Struck certain magic strains. Ears satiate", "With the clamorous, timorous whisperings of to-day,", "Thrilled to perceive once more the spacious voice", "And serene unterrance of old. We heard", "-- With rapturous breath half-held, as a dreamer dreams", "Who dares not know it dreaming, lest he wake --", "The odorous, amorous style of poetry,", "The melancholy knocking of those lines,", "The long, low soughing of pentameters,", "-- Or the sharp of rhyme as a bird's cry --", "And the innumerable truant polysyllables", "Multitudinously twittering like a bee.", "Fulfilled our hearts were with the music then,", "And all the evenings sighed it to the dawn,", "And all the lovers heard it from all the trees.", "All of the accents upon the all the norms!", "-- And ah! the stress of the penultimate!", "We never knew blank verse could have such feet.", "", "Where is it now? Oh, more than ever, now", "I sometimes think no poetry is read", "Save where some sepultured Cѕsura bled,", "Royally incarnadining all the line.", "Is the imperial iamb laid to rest,", "And the young trochee, having done enough?", "Ah! turn again! Sing so to us, who are sick", "Of seeming-simple rhymes, bizarre emotions,", "Decked in the simple verses of the day,", "Infinite meaning in a little gloom,", "Irregular thoughts in stanzas regular,", "Modern despair in antique metres, myths", "Incomprehensible at evening,", "And symbols that mean nothing in the dawn.", "The slow lines swell. The new style sighs. The Celt", "Moans round with many voices.", "God! to see", "Gaunt anapѕsts stand up out of the verse,", "Combative accents, stress where no stress should be,", "Spondee on spondee, iamb on choriamb,", "The thrill of all the tribrachs in the world,", "And all the vowels rising to the E!", "To hear the blessed mutter of those verbs,", "Conjunctions passionate toward each other's arms,", "And epithets like amaranthine lovers", "Stretching luxuriously to the stars,", "All prouder pronouns than the dawn, and all", "The thunder of the trumpets of the noun!" ], "linecount": "51" }, { "title": "To A Primrose", "author": "Samuel Coleridge", "lines": [ "The first seen in the season", "", "Nitens et roboris expers", "Turget et insolida est: et spe delectat.", "- Ovid, Metam. [xv.203].", "", "Thy smiles I note, sweet early Flower,", "That peeping from thy rustic bower", "The festive news to earth dost bring,", "A fragrant messenger of Spring.", "", "But, tender blossom, why so pale?", "Dost hear stern Winter in the gale?", "And didst thou tempt the ungentle sky", "To catch one vernal glance and die?", "", "Such the wan lustre Sickness wears", "When Health's first feeble beam appears;", "So languid are the smiles that seek", "To settle on the care-worn cheek,", "", "When timorous Hope the head uprears,", "Still drooping and still moist with tears,", "If, through dispersing grief, be seen", "Of Bliss the heavenly spark serene.", "", "And sweeter far the early blow,", "Fast following after storms of Woe,", "Than (Comfort's riper season come)", "Are full-blown joys and Pleasure's gaudy bloom." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "The Lime-tree Bower my Prison [Addressed to Charles Lamb, o", "author": "Samuel Coleridge", "lines": [ "Well, they are gone, and here must I remain,", "This lime-tree bower my prison! I have lost", "Beauties and feelings, such as would have been", "Most sweet to my remembrance even when age", "Had dimm'd mine eyes to blindness! They, meanwhile,", "Friends, whom I never more may meet again,", "On springy heath, along the hill-top edge,", "Wander in gladness, and wind down, perchance,", "To that still roaring dell, of which I told;", "The roaring dell, o'erwooded, narrow, deep,", "And only speckled by the mid-day sun;", "Where its slim trunk the ash from rock to rock", "Flings arching like a bridge;--that branchless ash,", "Unsunn'd and damp, whose few poor yellow leaves", "Ne'er tremble in the gale, yet tremble still,", "Fann'd by the water-fall! and there my friends", "Behold the dark green file of long lank weeds,", "That all at once (a most fantastic sight!)", "Still nod and drip beneath the dripping edge", "Of the blue clay-stone.", "", "Now, my friends emerge", "Beneath the wide wide Heaven--and view again", "The many-steepled tract magnificent", "Of hilly fields and meadows, and the sea,", "With some fair bark, perhaps, whose sails light up", "The slip of smooth clear blue betwixt two Isles", "Of purple shadow! Yes! they wander on", "In gladness all; but thou, methinks, most glad,", "My gentle-hearted Charles! for thou hast pined", "And hunger'd after Nature, many a year,", "In the great City pent, winning thy way", "With sad yet patient soul, through evil and pain", "And strange calamity! Ah! slowly sink", "Behind the western ridge, thou glorious Sun!", "Shine in the slant beams of the sinking orb,", "Ye purple heath-flowers! richlier burn, ye clouds!", "Live in the yellow light, ye distant groves!", "And kindle, thou blue Ocean! So my friend", "Struck with deep joy may stand, as I have stood,", "Silent with swimming sense; yea, gazing round", "On the wide landscape, gaze till all doth seem", "Less gross than bodily; and of such hues", "As veil the Almighty Spirit, when yet he makes", "Spirits perceive his presence.", "", "A delight", "Comes sudden on my heart, and I am glad", "As I myself were there! Nor in this bower,", "This little lime-tree bower, have I not mark'd", "Much that has sooth'd me. Pale beneath the blaze", "Hung the transparent foliage; and I watch'd", "Some broad and sunny leaf, and lov'd to see", "The shadow of the leaf and stem above", "Dappling its sunshine! And that walnut-tree", "Was richly ting'd, and a deep radiance lay", "Full on the ancient ivy, which usurps", "Those fronting elms, and now, with blackest mass", "Makes their dark branches gleam a lighter hue", "Through the late twilight: and though now the bat", "Wheels silent by, and not a swallow twitters,", "Yet still the solitary humble-bee", "Sings in the bean-flower! Henceforth I shall know", "That Nature ne'er deserts the wise and pure;", "No plot so narrow, be but Nature there,", "No waste so vacant, but may well employ", "Each faculty of sense, and keep the heart", "Awake to Love and Beauty! and sometimes", "'Tis well to be bereft of promis'd good,", "That we may lift the soul, and contemplate", "With lively joy the joys we cannot share.", "My gentle-hearted Charles! when the last rook", "Beat its straight path along the dusky air", "Homewards, I blest it! deeming its black wing", "(Now a dim speck, now vanishing in light)", "Had cross'd the mighty Orb's dilated glory,", "While thou stood'st gazing; or, when all was still,", "Flew creeking o'er thy head, and had a charm", "For thee, my gentle-hearted Charles, to whom", "No sound is dissonant which tells of Life." ], "linecount": "78" }, { "title": "The Improvisatore", "author": "Samuel Coleridge", "lines": [ "Scene--A spacious drawing-room, with music-room adjoining.", "", "Katharine. What are the words ?", "", "Eliza. Ask our friend, the Improvisatore ; here he comes. Kate has a favour", "to ask of you, Sir ; it is that you will repeat the ballad [Believe me if", "all those endearing young charms.--EHC's ? note] that Mr. ____ sang so", "sweetly.", "", "Friend. It is in Moore's Irish Melodies ; but I do not recollect the", "words distinctly. The moral of them, however, I take to be this :--", "", "Love would remain the same if true,", "When we were neither young nor new ;", "Yea, and in all within the will that came,", "By the same proofs would show itself the same.", "", "Eliza. What are the lines you repeated from Beaumont and Fletcher, which my", "mother admired so much ? It begins with something about two vines so close", "that their tendrils intermingle.", "", "Friend. You mean Charles' speech to Angelina, in The Elder Brother.", "", "We'll live together, like two neighbour vines,", "Circling our souls and loves in one another !", "We'll spring together, and we'll bear one fruit ;", "One joy shall make us smile, and one grief mourn ;", "One age go with us, and one hour of death", "Shall close our eyes, and one grave make us happy.", "", "Katharine. A precious boon, that would go far to reconcile one to old", "age--this love--if true ! But is there any such true love ?", "", "Friend. I hope so.", "", "Katharine. But do you believe it ?", "", "Eliza (eagerly). I am sure he does.", "", "Friend. From a man turned of fifty, Katharine, I imagine, expects a", "less confident answer.", "", "Katharine. A more sincere one, perhaps.", "", "Friend. Even though he should have obtained the nick-name of", "Improvisatore, by perpetrating charades and extempore verses at", "Christmas times ?", "", "Eliza. Nay, but be serious.", "", "Friend. Serious ! Doubtless. A grave personage of my years giving a", "Love-lecture to two young ladies, cannot well be otherwise. The", "difficulty, I suspect, would be for them to remain so. It will be", "asked whether I am not the `elderly gentleman' who sate `despairing", "beside a clear stream', with a willow for his wig-block.", "", "Eliza. Say another word, and we will call it downright affectation.", "", "Katharine. No ! we will be affronted, drop a courtesy, and ask pardon for", "our presumption in expecting that Mr. ___ would waste his sense on two", "insignificant girls.", "", "Friend. Well, well, I will be serious. Hem ! Now then commences the", "discourse ; Mr. Moore's song being the text. Love, as distinguished", "from Friendship, on the one hand, and from the passion that too often", "usurps its name, on the other--", "", "Lucius (Eliza's brother, who had just joined the trio, in a whisper to the", "Friend). But is not Love the union of both ?", "", "Friend (aside to Lucius). He never loved who thinks so.", "", "Eliza. Brother, we don't want you. There ! Mrs. H. cannot arrange the", "flower vase without you. Thank you, Mrs. Hartman.", "", "Lucius. I'll have my revenge ! I know what I will say !", "", "Eliza. Off ! Off ! Now, dear Sir,--Love, you were saying--", "", "Friend. Hush ! Preaching, you mean, Eliza.", "", "Eliza (impatiently). Pshaw !", "", "Friend. Well then, I was saying that Love, truly such, is itself not", "the most common thing in the world : and that mutual love still less", "so. But that enduring personal attachment, so beautifully delineated", "by Erin's sweet melodist, and still more touchingly, perhaps, in the", "well-known ballad, `John Anderson, my Jo, John,' in addition to a", "depth and constancy of character of no every-day occurrence, supposes", "a peculiar sensibility and tenderness of nature ; a constitutional", "communicativeness and utterancy of heart and soul ; a delight in the", "detail of sympathy, in the outward and visible signs of the sacrament", "within--to count, as it were, the pulses of the life of love. But", "above all, it supposes a soul which, even in the pride and summer-tide", "of life--even in the lustihood of health and strength, had felt", "oftenest and prized highest that which age cannot take away and which,", "in all our lovings, is the Love ;----", "", "Eliza. There is something here (pointing to her heart) that seems to", "understand you, but wants the word that would make it understand itself.", "", "Katharine. I, too, seem to feel what you mean. Interpret the feeling for", "us.", "", "Friend. ---- I mean that willing sense of the insufficingness of the", "self for itself, which predisposes a generous nature to see, in the", "total being of another, the supplement and completion of its own", ";--that quiet perpetual seeking which the presence of the beloved", "object modulates, not suspends, where the heart momently finds, and,", "finding, again seeks on ;--lastly, when `life's changeful orb has", "pass'd the full', a confirmed faith in the nobleness of humanity, thus", "brought home and pressed, as it were, to the very bosom of hourly", "experience ; it supposes, I say, a heartfelt reverence for worth, not", "the less deep because divested of its solemnity by habit, by", "familiarity, by mutual infirmities, and even by a feeling of modesty", "which will arise in delicate minds, when they are conscious of", "possessing the same or the correspondent excellence in their own", "characters. In short, there must be a mind, which, while it feels the", "beautiful and the excellent in the beloved as its own, and by right of", "love appropriates it, can call Goodness its Playfellow ; and dares", "make sport of time and infirmity, while, in the person of a", "thousand-foldly endeared partner, we feel for aged Virtue the", "caressing fondness that belongs to the Innocence of childhood, and", "repeat the same attentions and tender courtesies which had been", "dictated by the same affection to the same object when attired in", "feminine loveliness or in manly beauty.", "", "Eliza. What a soothing--what an elevating idea !", "", "Katharine. If it be not only an idea.", "", "Friend. At all events, these qualities which I have enumerated, are", "rarely found united in a single individual. How much more rare must it", "be, that two such individuals should meet together in this wide world", "under circumstances that admit of their union as Husband and Wife. A", "person may be highly estimable on the whole, nay, amiable as a", "neighbour, friend, housemate--in short, in all the concentric circles", "of attachment save only the last and inmost ; and yet from how many", "causes be estranged from the highest perfection in this ! Pride,", "coldness, or fastidiousness of nature, worldly cares, an anxious or", "ambitious disposition, a passion for display, a sullen temper,--one or", "the other--too often proves `the dead fly in the compost of spices',", "and any one is enough to unfit it for the precious balm of unction.", "For some mighty good sort of people, too, there is not seldom a sort", "of solemn saturnine, or, if you will, ursine vanity, that keeps itself", "alive by sucking the paws of its own self-importance. And as this high", "sense, or rather sensation of their own value is, for the most part,", "grounded on negative qualities, so they have no better means of", "preserving the same but by negatives--that is, but not doing or saying", "any thing, that might be put down for fond, silly, or nonsensical", ";--or, (to use their own phrase) by never forgetting themselves, which", "some of their acquaintance are uncharitable enough to think the most", "worthless object they could be employed in remembering.", "", "Eliza (in answer to a whisper from Katharine). To a hair ! He must have", "sate for it himself. Save me from such folks ! But they are out of the", "question.", "", "Friend. True ! but the same effect is produced in thousands by the too", "general insensibility to a very important truth ; this, namely, that", "the MISERY of human life is made up of large masses, each separated", "from the other by certain intervals. One year, the death of a child ;", "years after, a failure in trade ; after another longer or shorter", "interval, a daughter may have married unhappily ;--in all but the", "singularly unfortunate, the integral parts that compose the sum total", "of the unhappiness of a man's life, are easily counted, and distinctly", "remembered. The HAPPINESS of life, on the contrary, is made up of", "minute fractions--the little, soon-forgotten charities of a kiss, a", "smile, a kind look, a heartfelt compliment in the disguise of a", "playful raillery, and the countless other infinitesimals of", "pleasurable thought and genial feeling.", "", "Katharine. Well, Sir ; you have said quite enough to make me despair of", "finding a `John Anderson, my Jo, John', with whom to totter down the hill", "of life.", "", "Friend. Not so ! Good men are not, I trust, so much scarcer than good", "women, but that what another would find in you, you may hope to find", "in another. But well, however, may that boon be rare, the possession", "of which would be more than an adequate reward for the rarest virtue.", "", "Eliza. Surely, he, who has described it so well, must have possessed it ?", "", "Friend. If he were worthy to have possessed it, and had believingly", "anticipated and not found it, how bitter the disappointment !", "", "(Then, after a pause of a few minutes),", "", "--------------------------------------", "ANSWER, ex improviso", "", "Yes, yes ! that boon, life's richest treat", "He had, or fancied that he had ;", "Say, 'twas but in his own conceit--", "The fancy made him glad !", "Crown of his cup, and garnish of his dish !", "The boon, prefigured in his earliest wish,", "The fair fulfilment of his poesy,", "When his young heart first yearn'd for sympathy !", "But e'en the meteor offspring of the brain", "Unnourished wane ;", "Faith asks her daily bread,", "And Fancy must be fed !", "Now so it chanced--from wet or dry,", "It boots not how--I know not why--", "She missed her wonted food ; and quickly", "Poor Fancy stagger'd and grew sickly.", "Then came a restless state, 'twixt yea and nay,", "His faith was fix'd, his heart all ebb and flow ;", "Or like a bark, in some half-shelter'd bay,", "Above its anchor driving to and fro.", "", "That boon, which but to have possess'd", "In a belief, gave life a zest--", "Uncertain both what it had been,", "And if by error lost, or luck ;", "And what is was ;--an evergreen", "Which some insidious blight had struck,", "Or annual flower, which, past its blow,", "No vernal spell shall e'er revive ;", "Uncertain, and afraid to know,", "Doubts toss'd him to and fro :", "Hope keeping Love, Love Hope alive,", "Like babes bewildered in a snow,", "That cling and huddle from the cold", "In hollow tree or ruin'd fold.", "", "Those sparkling colours, once his boast", "Fading, one by one away,", "Thin and hueless as a ghost,", "Poor Fancy on her sick bed lay ;", "Ill at distance, worse when near,", "Telling her dreams to jealous Fear !", "Where was it then, the sociable sprite,", "That crown'd the Poet's cup and deck'd his dish !", "Poor shadow cast from an unsteady wish,", "Itself a substance by no other right", "But that it intercepted Reason's light ;", "It dimm'd his eye, it darken'd on his brow,", "A peevish mood, a tedious time, I trow !", "Thank Heaven ! 'tis not so now.", "", "O bliss of blissful hours !", "The boon of Heaven's decreeing,", "While yet in Eden's bowers", "Dwelt the first husband and his sinless mate !", "The one sweet plant, which, piteous Heaven agreeing,", "They bore with them thro' Eden's closing gate !", "Of life's gay summer tide the sovran Rose !", "Late autumn's Amaranth, that more fragrant blows", "When Passion's flowers all fall or fade ;", "If this were ever his, in outward being,", "Or but his own true love's projected shade,", "Now that at length by certain proof he knows,", "That whether real or a magic show,", "Whate'er it was, it is no longer so ;", "Though heart be lonesome, Hope laid low,", "Yet, Lady ! deem him not unblest :", "The certainty that struck Hope dead,", "Hath left Contentment in her stead :", "And that is next to Best !" ], "linecount": "216" }, { "title": "To Nature", "author": "Samuel Coleridge", "lines": [ "It may indeed be fantasy when I", "Essay to draw from all created things", "Deep, heartfelt, inward joy that closely clings;", "And trace in leaves and flowers that round me lie", "Lessons of love and earnest piety.", "So let it be; and if the wide world rings", "In mock of this belief, it brings", "Nor fear, nor grief, nor vain perplexity.", "So will I build my altar in the fields,", "And the blue sky my fretted dome shall be,", "And the sweet fragrance that the wild flower yields", "Shall be the incense I will yield to Thee,", "Thee only God! and thou shalt not despise", "Even me, the priest of this poor sacrifice." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Nearer, my God, to Thee.", "author": "Sarah Flower Adams", "lines": [ "Nearer, my God, to Thee,", "Nearer to Thee!", "E'en though it be a cross", "That raiseth me:", "Still all my song shall be", "Nearer, my God! to Thee,", "Nearer to Thee.", "", "Though, like the wanderer,", "The sun gone down,", "Darkness be over me,", "My rest a stone;", "Yet in my dreams I'd be", "Nearer, my God, to Thee,", "Nearer to Thee.", "", "Then let the way appear", "Steps unto heaven;", "All that Thou sendest me", "In mercy given:", "Angels to beckon me", "Nearer, my God, to Thee,", "Nearer to Thee.", "", "Then with my waking thoughts", "Bright with Thy praise,", "Out of my stony griefs", "Bethel I'll raise;", "So by my woes to be", "Nearer, my God, to Thee,", "Nearer to Thee.", "", "Or if on joyful wing,", "Cleaving the sky,", "Sun, moon, and stars forgot,", "Upward I fly:", "Still all my song shall be,", "Nearer, my God, to Thee,", "Nearer to Thee." ], "linecount": "35" }, { "title": "A Birthday Song. To S. G.", "author": "Sidney Lanier", "lines": [ "For ever wave, for ever float and shine", "Before my yearning eyes, oh! dream of mine", "Wherein I dreamed that time was like a vine,", "", "A creeping rose, that clomb a height of dread", "Out of the sea of Birth, all filled with dead,", "Up to the brilliant cloud of Death o'erhead.", "", "This vine bore many blossoms, which were years.", "Their petals, red with joy, or bleached by tears,", "Waved to and fro i' the winds of hopes and fears.", "", "Here all men clung, each hanging by his spray.", "Anon, one dropped; his neighbor 'gan to pray;", "And so they clung and dropped and prayed, alway.", "", "But I did mark one lately-opened bloom,", "Wherefrom arose a visible perfume", "That wrapped me in a cloud of dainty gloom.", "", "And rose -- an odor by a spirit haunted --", "And drew me upward with a speed enchanted,", "Swift floating, by wild sea or sky undaunted,", "", "Straight through the cloud of death, where men are free.", "I gained a height, and stayed and bent my knee.", "Then glowed my cloud, and broke and unveiled thee.", "", "\"O flower-born and flower-souled!\" I said,", "\"Be the year-bloom that breathed thee ever red,", "Nor wither, yellow, down among the dead.", "", "\"May all that cling to sprays of time, like me,", "Be sweetly wafted over sky and sea", "By rose-breaths shrining maidens like to thee!\"", "", "Then while we sat upon the height afar", "Came twilight, like a lover late from war,", "With soft winds fluting to his evening star.", "", "And the shy stars grew bold and scattered gold,", "And chanting voices ancient secrets told,", "And an acclaim of angels earthward rolled." ], "linecount": "33" }, { "title": "The Tournament", "author": "Sidney Lanier", "lines": [ "Joust First.", "", "", "I.", "", "Bright shone the lists, blue bent the skies,", "And the knights still hurried amain", "To the tournament under the ladies' eyes,", "Where the jousters were Heart and Brain.", "", "II.", "", "Flourished the trumpets: entered Heart,", "A youth in crimson and gold.", "Flourished again: Brain stood apart,", "Steel-armored, dark and cold.", "", "III.", "", "Heart's palfrey caracoled gayly round,", "Heart tra-li-ra'd merrily;", "But Brain sat still, with never a sound,", "So cynical-calm was he.", "", "IV.", "", "Heart's helmet-crest bore favors three", "From his lady's white hand caught;", "While Brain wore a plumeless casque; not he", "Or favor gave or sought.", "", "V.", "", "The herald blew; Heart shot a glance", "To find his lady's eye,", "But Brain gazed straight ahead his lance", "To aim more faithfully.", "", "VI.", "", "They charged, they struck; both fell, both bled.", "Brain rose again, ungloved,", "Heart, dying, smiled and faintly said,", "\"My love to my beloved!\"", "", "____", "Camp French, Wilmington, N.C., May, 1862.", "", "", "", "Joust Second.", "", "", "I.", "", "A-many sweet eyes wept and wept,", "A-many bosoms heaved again;", "A-many dainty dead hopes slept", "With yonder Heart-knight prone o' the plain.", "", "II.", "", "Yet stars will burn through any mists,", "And the ladies' eyes, through rains of fate,", "Still beamed upon the bloody lists", "And lit the joust of Love and Hate.", "", "III.", "", "O strange! or ere a trumpet blew,", "Or ere a challenge-word was given,", "A knight leapt down i' the lists; none knew", "Whether he sprang from earth or heaven.", "", "IV.", "", "His cheek was soft as a lily-bud,", "His grey eyes calmed his youth's alarm;", "Nor helm nor hauberk nor even a hood", "Had he to shield his life from harm.", "", "V.", "", "No falchion from his baldric swung,", "He wore a white rose in its place.", "No dagger at his girdle hung,", "But only an olive-branch, for grace.", "", "VI.", "", "And \"Come, thou poor mistaken knight,\"", "Cried Love, unarmed, yet dauntless there,", "\"Come on, God pity thee! -- I fight", "Sans sword, sans shield; yet, Hate, beware!\"", "", "VII.", "", "Spurred furious Hate; he foamed at mouth,", "His breath was hot upon the air,", "His breath scorched souls, as a dry drought", "Withers green trees and burns them bare.", "", "VIII.", "", "Straight drives he at his enemy,", "His hairy hands grip lance in rest,", "His lance it gleams full bitterly,", "God! -- gleams, true-point, on Love's bare breast!", "", "IX.", "", "Love's grey eyes glow with a heaven-heat,", "Love lifts his hand in a saintly prayer;", "Look! Hate hath fallen at his feet!", "Look! Hate hath vanished in the air!", "", "X.", "", "Then all the throng looked kind on all;", "Eyes yearned, lips kissed, dumb souls were freed;", "Two magic maids' hands lifted a pall", "And the dead knight, Heart, sprang on his steed.", "", "XI.", "", "Then Love cried, \"Break me his lance, each knight!", "Ye shall fight for blood-athirst Fame no more!\"", "And the knights all doffed their mailed might", "And dealt out dole on dole to the poor.", "", "XII.", "", "Then dove-flights sanctified the plain,", "And hawk and sparrow shared a nest.", "And the great sea opened and swallowed Pain,", "And out of this water-grave floated Rest!" ], "linecount": "94" }, { "title": "To The Sad Moon", "author": "Sir Philip Sidney", "lines": [ "With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the skies!", "How silently, and with how wan a face!", "What! May it be that even in heavenly place", "That busy archer his sharp arrows tries?", "Sure, if that long-with-love-acquainted eyes", "Can judge of love, thou feel'st a lover's case:", "I read it in thy looks; thy languished grace", "To me, that feel the like, thy state descries.", "Then, even of fellowship, O Moon, tell me,", "Is constant love deemed there but want of wit?", "Are beauties there as proud as here they be?", "Do they above love to be loved, and yet", "Those lovers scorn whom that love doth possess?", "Do they call 'virtue' there— ungratefulness?" ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "A Farewell to False Love", "author": "Sir Walter Raleigh", "lines": [ "Farewell, false love, the oracle of lies,", "A mortal foe and enemy to rest,", "An envious boy, from whom all cares arise,", "A bastard vile, a beast with rage possessed,", "A way of error, a temple full of treason,", "In all effects contrary unto reason.", "", "A poisoned serpent covered all with flowers,", "Mother of sighs, and murderer of repose,", "A sea of sorrows whence are drawn such showers", "As moisture lend to every grief that grows;", "A school of guile, a net of deep deceit,", "A gilded hook that holds a poisoned bait.", "", "A fortress foiled, which reason did defend,", "A siren song, a fever of the mind,", "A maze wherein affection finds no end,", "A raging cloud that runs before the wind,", "A substance like the shadow of the sun,", "A goal of grief for which the wisest run.", "", "A quenchless fire, a nurse of trembling fear,", "A path that leads to peril and mishap,", "A true retreat of sorrow and despair,", "An idle boy that sleeps in pleasure's lap,", "A deep mistrust of that which certain seems,", "A hope of that which reason doubtful deems.", "", "Sith then thy trains my younger years betrayed,", "And for my faith ingratitude I find;", "And sith repentance hath my wrongs bewrayed,", "Whose course was ever contrary to kind:", "False love, desire, and beauty frail, adieu.", "Dead is the root whence all these fancies grew." ], "linecount": "30" }, { "title": "Farewell to the Court", "author": "Sir Walter Raleigh", "lines": [ "Like truthless dreams, so are my joys expir'd,", "And past return are all my dandled days;", "My love misled, and fancy quite retir'd--", "Of all which pass'd the sorrow only stays.", "", "My lost delights, now clean from sight of land,", "Have left me all alone in unknown ways;", "My mind to woe, my life in fortune's hand--", "Of all which pass'd the sorrow only stays.", "", "As in a country strange, without companion,", "I only wail the wrong of death's delays,", "Whose sweet spring spent, whose summer well-nigh done--", "Of all which pass'd only the sorrow stays.", "", "Whom care forewarns, ere age and winter cold,", "To haste me hence to find my fortune's fold." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "To a Lady with an Unruly and Ill-mannered Dog Who Bit several Persons of Importance", "author": "Sir Walter Raleigh", "lines": [ "Your dog is not a dog of grace;", "He does not wag the tail or beg;", "He bit Miss Dickson in the face;", "He bit a Bailie in the leg.", "", "What tragic choices such a dog", "Presents to visitor or friend!", "Outside there is the Glasgow fog;", "Within, a hydrophobic end.", "", "Yet some relief even terror brings,", "For when our life is cold and gray", "We waste our strength on little things,", "And fret our puny souls away.", "", "A snarl! A scruffle round the room!", "A sense that Death is drawing near!", "And human creatures reassume", "The elemental robe of fear.", "", "So when my colleague makes his moan", "Of careless cooks, and warts, and debt,", "-- Enlarge his views, restore his tone,", "And introduce him to your Pet!", "", "Quod Raleigh." ], "linecount": "21" }, { "title": "The ocean said to me once", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "The ocean said to me once,", "\"Look!", "Yonder on the shore", "Is a woman, weeping.", "I have watched her.", "Go you and tell her this --", "Her lover I have laid", "In cool green hall.", "There is wealth of golden sand", "And pillars, coral-red;", "Two white fish stand guard at his bier.", "", "\"Tell her this", "And more --", "That the king of the seas", "Weeps too, old, helpless man.", "The bustling fates", "Heap his hands with corpses", "Until he stands like a child", "With a surplus of toys.\"" ], "linecount": "19" }, { "title": "\"It was wrong to do this,\" said the angel", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "\"It was wrong to do this,\" said the angel.", "\"You should live like a flower,", "Holding malice like a puppy,", "Waging war like a lambkin.\"", "", "\"Not so,\" quoth the man", "Who had no fear of spirits;", "\"It is only wrong for angels", "Who can live like the flowers,", "Holding malice like the puppies,", "Waging war like the lambkins.\"" ], "linecount": "10" }, { "title": "The chatter of a death-demon from a tree-top", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "The chatter of a death-demon from a tree-top", "", "Blood -- blood and torn grass --", "Had marked the rise of his agony --", "This lone hunter.", "The grey-green woods impassive", "Had watched the threshing of his limbs.", "", "A canoe with flashing paddle,", "A girl with soft searching eyes,", "A call: \"John!\"", ". . . . .", "Come, arise, hunter!", "Can you not hear?", "", "The chatter of a death-demon from a tree-top." ], "linecount": "13" }, { "title": "When a people reach the top of a hill,", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "When a people reach the top of a hill,", "Then does God lean toward them,", "Shortens tongues and lengthens arms.", "A vision of their dead comes to the weak.", "The moon shall not be too old", "Before the new battalions rise,", "Blue battalions.", "The moon shall not be too old", "When the children of change shall fall", "Before the new battalions,", "The blue battalions.", "", "Mistakes and virtues will be trampled deep.", "A church and a thief shall fall together.", "A sword will come at the bidding of the eyeless,", "The God-led, turning only to beckon,", "Swinging a creed like a censer", "At the head of the new battalions,", "Blue battalions.", "March the tools of nature's impulse,", "Men born of wrong, men born of right,", "Men of the new battalions,", "The blue battalions.", "", "The clang of swords is Thy wisdom,", "The wounded make gestures like Thy Son's;", "The feet of mad horses is one part --", "Ay, another is the hand of a mother on the brow of a youth.", "Then, swift as they charge through a shadow,", "The men of the new battalions,", "Blue battalions --", "God lead them high, God lead them far,", "God lead them far, God lead them high,", "These new battalions,", "The blue battalions.", "", "THE END" ], "linecount": "34" }, { "title": "Ode to Winter", "author": "Thomas Campbell", "lines": [ "When first the fiery-mantled sun", "His heavenly race begun to run;", "Round the earth and ocean blue,", "His children four the Seasons flew.", "First, in green apparel dancing,", "The young Spring smiled with angel grace;", "Rosy summer next advancing,", "Rushed into her sire's embrace:-", "Her blue-haired sire, who bade her keep", "For ever nearest to his smile,", "On Calpe's olive-shaded steep,", "On India's citron-covered isles:", "More remote and buxom-brown,", "The Queen of vintage bowed before his throne,", "A rich pomegranate gemmed her gown,", "A ripe sheaf bound her zone.", "But howling Winter fled afar,", "To hills that prop the polar star,", "And lives on deer-borne car to ride", "With barren darkness at his side,", "Round the shore where loud Lofoden", "Whirls to death the roaring whale,", "Round the hall where runic Odin", "Howls his war-song to the gale;", "Save when adown the ravaged globe", "He travels on his native storm,", "Deflowering Nature's grassy robe,", "And trampling on her faded form:-", "Till light's returning lord assume", "The shaft the drives him to his polar field,", "Of power to pierce his raven plume", "And crystal-covered shield.", "Oh, sire of storms! whose savage ear", "The Lapland drum delights to hear,", "When frenzy with her blood-shot eye", "Implores thy dreadful deity,", "Archangel! power of desolation!", "Fast descending as thou art,", "Say, hath mortal invocation", "Spells to touch thy stony heart?", "Then, sullen Winter, hear my prayer,", "And gently rule the ruined year;", "Nor chill the wanders bosom bare,", "Nor freeze the wretch's falling tear;-", "To shuddering Want's unmantled bed", "Thy horror-breathing agues cease to lead,", "And gently on the orphan head", "Of innocence descend.-", "But chiefly spare, O king of clouds!", "The sailor on his airy shrouds;", "When wrecks and beacons strew the steep,", "And specters walk along the deep.", "Milder yet thy snowy breezes", "Pour on yonder tented shores,", "Where the Rhine's broad billow freezes,", "Or the Dark-brown Danube roars.", "Oh, winds of winter! List ye there", "To many a deep and dying groan;", "Or start, ye demons of the midnight air,", "At shrieks and thunders louder than your own.", "Alas! Even unhallowed breath", "May spare the victim fallen low;", "But man will ask no truce of death,-", "No bounds to human woe." ], "linecount": "64" }, { "title": "Song to the Evening Star", "author": "Thomas Campbell", "lines": [ "1 Star that bringest home the bee,", "2 And sett'st the weary labourer free!", "3 If any star shed peace, 'tis thou,", "4 That send'st it from above,", "5 Appearing when Heaven's breath and brow", "6 Are sweet as hers we love.", "", "7 Come to the luxuriant skies", "8 Whilst the landscape's odours rise,", "9 Whilst far-off lowing herds are heard,", "10 And songs, when toil is done,", "11 From cottages whose smoke unstirred", "12 Curls yellow in the sun.", "", "13 Star of lover's soft interviews,", "14 Parted lovers on thee muse;", "15 Their remembrancer in heaven", "16 Of thrilling vows thou art,", "17 Too delicious to be riven", "18 By absence from the heart." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "To the Evening Star", "author": "Thomas Campbell", "lines": [ "Star that bringest home the bee,", "And sett’st the weary labourer free!", "If any star shed peace, ‘tis thou,", "That send ‘st it from above,", "Appearing when Heaven’s breath and brow", "Are sweet as hers we love.", "", "Come to the luxuriant skies,", "Whilst the landscape’s odours rise,", "Whilst far-off lowing herds are heard,", "And songs when toil is done,", "From cottages whose smoke unstirr’d", "Curls yellow in the sun.", "", "Star of love’s soft interviews.", "Parted lovers on thee muse;", "Their remembrancer in heaven", "Of thrilling vows thou art,", "Too delicious to be riven", "By absence from the heart." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "Ode to the Memory of Burns", "author": "Thomas Campbell", "lines": [ "Soul of the Poet ! wheresoe'er,", "Reclaimed from earth, thy genius plume", "Her wings of immortality ;", "Suspend thy harp in happier sphere,", "And with thine influence illume", "The gladness of our jubilee.", "", "And fly like fiends from secret spell,", "Discord and Strife, at Burn's name,", "Exorcised by his memory ;", "For he was chief of bards that swell", "The heart with songs of social flame,", "And high delicious revelry.", "", "And Love's own strain to him was given,", "To warble all its ecstacies", "With Pythian words unsought, unwilled,—", "Love, the surviving gift of Heaven", "The choicest sweet of Paradise,", "In life's else bitter cup distilled.", "", "Who that has melted o'er his lay", "To Mary's soul, in Heaven above ,", "But pictured sees, in fancy strong,", "The landscape and the livelong day", "That smiled upon their mutual love ?", "Who that has felt forgets the song ?", "", "Nor skilled one flame alone to fan:", "His country's high-souled peasantry", "What patriot-pride he taught !—how much", "To weigh the inborn worth of man !", "And rustic life and poverty", "Grow beautiful beneath his touch.", "", "Him, in his clay-built cot, the Muse", "Entranced, and showed him all the forms,", "Of fairy-light and wizard gloom,", "(That only gifted Poet views,)", "The Genii of the floods and storms,", "And martial shades from Glory's tomb.", "", "On Bannock-field what thoughts arouse", "The swain whom Burns's song inspires !", "Beat not his Caledonian veins,", "As o'er the heroic turf he ploughs,", "With all the spirit of his sires,", "And all their scorn of death and chains ?", "", "And see the Scottish exile, tanned", "By many a far and foreign clime,", "Bend o'er his home-born verse, and weep", "In memory of his native land,", "With love that scorns the lapse of time,", "And ties that stretch beyond the deep.", "", "Encamped by Indian rivers wild,", "The soldier resting on his arms,", "In Burns's carol sweet recalls", "The scenes that blessed him when a child,", "And glows and gladdens at the charms", "Of Scotia's woods and waterfalls.", "", "O deem not, 'midst this worldly strife,", "An idle art the Poet brings:", "Let high Philosophy control,", "And sages calm the stream of life,", "'T is he refines its fountain-springs,", "The nobler passions of the soul.", "", "It is the muse that consecrates", "The native banner of the brave,", "Unfurling, at the trumpet's breath,", "Rose, thistle, harp ; 't is she elates", "", "To sweep the field or ride the wave,", "A sunburst in the storm of death.", "", "And thou, young hero , when thy pall", "Is crossed with mournful sword and plume,", "When public grief begins to fade,", "And only tears of kindred fall,", "Who but the bard shall dress thy tomb,", "And greet with fame thy gallant shade ?", "", "Such was the soldier—Burns, forgive", "That sorrows of mine own intrude", "In strains to thy great memory due.", "In verse like thine, oh ! Could he live,", "The friend I mourned—the brave—the good", "Edward that died at Waterloo !*", "", "Farewell, high chief of Scottish song !", "That couldst alternately impart", "Wisdom and rapture in thy page,", "And brand each vice with satire strong,", "Whose lines are mottoes of the heart?", "Whose truths electrify the sage.", "", "Farewell ! and ne'er may Envy dare", "To wring one baleful poison drop", "From the crushed laurels of thy bust ;", "But while the lark sings sweet in air,", "Still may the grateful pilgrim stop,", "To bless the spot that holds thy dust." ], "linecount": "90" }, { "title": "What the Bee Is To the Floweret", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "What the bee is to the floweret,", "When he looks for honey-dew,", "Through the leaves that close embower it,", "That, my love, I'll be to you.", "", "She. --", "", "What the bank, with verdure glowing,", "Is to waves that wander near,", "Whispering kisses, while they're going,", "That I'll be to you, my dear.", "", "She. --", "", "But they say, the bee's a rover,", "Who will fly, when sweets are gone,", "And, when once the kiss is over,", "Faithless brooks will wander on.", "", "He. --", "", "Nay, if flowers will lose their looks", "If sunny banks will wear away,", "'Tis but right that bees and brooks", "Should sip and kiss them, while they may." ], "linecount": "19" }, { "title": "Ode to the Goddess Ceres", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "Dear Goddess of Corn, whom the ancients we know,", "(Among other odd whims of those comical bodies,)", "Adorn'd with somniferous poppies, to show,", "Thou wert always a true Country-gentleman's Goddess.", "", "Behold in his best, shooting-jacket, before thee,", "An eloquent 'Squire, who most humbly beseeches,", "Great Queen of the Mark-lane (if the thing doesn't bore thee),", "Thou'lt read o'er the last of his -- never-last speeches.", "", "Ah! Ceres, thou know'st not the slander and scorn", "Now heap'd upon England's 'Squirearchy, so boasted;", "Improving on Hunt, 'tis no longer the Corn,", "'Tis the growers of Corn that are now, alas! roasted.", "", "In speeches, in books, in all shapes they attack us --", "Reviewers, economists - fellows, no doubt,", "That you, my dear Ceres, and Venus, and Bacchus,", "And Gods of high fashion know little about.", "", "There's B-nth-m, whose English is all his own making --", "Who thinks just as little of settling a nation", "As he would of smoking his pipe, or of taking", "(What he, himself, calls) his \"post-prandial vibration.\"", "", "There are two Mr. M---lls, too, whom those that love reading", "Through all that's unreadable, call very clever; --", "And whreas M---ll Senior makes war on good breeding,", "M---ll Junio makes war on all breeding whatever!", "", "In short, my dear Goddess, Old England's divided", "Between ultra blockheads and superfine sages; --", "With which of these classes we, landlords, have sided", "Thou'lt find in my Speech, if thou'lt read a few pages.", "", "For therein I've prov'd, to my own satisfaction,", "And that of all 'Squires I've the honour of meeting,", "That 'tis the most senseless and foul-mouth'd detraction", "To say that poor people are fond of cheap eating.", "", "On the contrary, such the \"chaste notions\" of food", "that dwell in each pale manufacturer's heart,", "They would scorn any law, be it every so good,", "That would make thee, dear Goddess, less dear than thou art!", "", "And, oh! for Monopoly what a blest day,", "When the Land and the Silk shall, in fond combination,", "(Like Sulky and Silky, that pair in the play)", "Cry out, with one voice, High Rents and Starvation!", "", "Long life to the Minister! -- no matter who,", "Or how dull he may be, if, with dignified spirit, he", "Keeps the ports shut -- and the people's mouth too, --", "We shall all have a long run of Freddy's prosperity.", "", "And, as for myself, who've like Hannibal, sworn", "To hate the whole crew who would take our rents from us,", "Had England but One to stand by thee, Dear Corn,", "That last, honest Uni-Corn would be Sir Th-m-s!" ], "linecount": "48" }, { "title": "While History's Muse", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "While History's Muse the memorial was keeping", "Of all that the dark hand of Destiny weaves,", "Beside her the Genius of Erin stood weeping,", "For hers was the story that blotted the leaves.", "But oh! how the tear in her eyelids grew bright,", "When, after whole pages of sorrow and shame,", "She saw History write,", "With a pencil of light", "That illumed the whole volume, her Wellington's name.", "", "\"Yet still the last crown of thy toils is remaining,", "The grandest, the purest, even thou hast yet known;", "Though proud was thy task, other nations unchaining,", "Far prouder to heal the deep wounds of thy own.", "At the foot of that throne, for whose weal thou hast stood,", "Go, plead for the land that first cradled thy fame,", "And, bright o'er the flood", "Of her tears, and her blood,", "Let the rainbow of Hope be her Wellington's name.\"" ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "A Boston Ballad, 1854.", "author": "Walt Whitman", "lines": [ "TO get betimes in Boston town, I rose this morning early;", "Here’s a good place at the corner—I must stand and see the show.", "", "Clear the way there, Jonathan!", "Way for the President’s marshal! Way for the government cannon!", "Way for the Federal foot and dragoons—and the apparitions copiously tumbling.", "", "I love to look on the stars and stripes—I hope the fifes will play Yankee Doodle.", "", "How bright shine the cutlasses of the foremost troops!", "Every man holds his revolver, marching stiff through Boston town.", "", "A fog follows—antiques of the same come limping,", "Some appear wooden-legged, and some appear bandaged and bloodless.", "", "Why this is indeed a show! It has called the dead out of the earth!", "The old grave-yards of the hills have hurried to see!", "Phantoms! phantoms countless by flank and rear!", "Cock’d hats of mothy mould! crutches made of mist!", "Arms in slings! old men leaning on young men’s shoulders!", "", "What troubles you, Yankee phantoms? What is all this chattering of bare gums?", "Does the ague convulse your limbs? Do you mistake your crutches for fire-locks, and level", " them?", "", "", "If you blind your eyes with tears, you will not see the President’s marshal;", "If you groan such groans, you might balk the government cannon.", "", "For shame, old maniacs! Bring down those toss’d arms, and let your white hair be;", "Here gape your great grand-sons—their wives gaze at them from the windows,", "See how well dress’d—see how orderly they conduct themselves.", "", "Worse and worse! Can’t you stand it? Are you retreating?", "Is this hour with the living too dead for you?", "", "Retreat then! Pell-mell!", "To your graves! Back! back to the hills, old limpers!", "I do not think you belong here, anyhow.", "", "But there is one thing that belongs here—shall I tell you what it is, gentlemen of", " Boston?", "", "I will whisper it to the Mayor—he shall send a committee to England;", "They shall get a grant from the Parliament, go with a cart to the royal vault—haste!", "", "Dig out King George’s coffin, unwrap him quick from the grave-clothes, box up his", " bones", " for a", " journey;", "Find a swift Yankee clipper—here is freight for you, black-bellied clipper,", "Up with your anchor! shake out your sails! steer straight toward Boston bay.", "", "Now call for the President’s marshal again, bring out the government cannon,", "Fetch home the roarers from Congress, make another procession, guard it with foot and", " dragoons.", "", "This centre-piece for them:", "Look! all orderly citizens—look from the windows, women!", "", "The committee open the box, set up the regal ribs, glue those that will not stay,", "Clap the skull on top of the ribs, and clap a crown on top of the skull.", "", "You have got your revenge, old buster! The crown is come to its own, and more than its", " own.", "", "Stick your hands in your pockets, Jonathan—you are a made man from this day;", "You are mighty cute—and here is one of your bargains." ], "linecount": "49" }, { "title": "Passage to India.", "author": "Walt Whitman", "lines": [ "1", "SINGING my days,", "Singing the great achievements of the present,", "Singing the strong, light works of engineers,", "Our modern wonders, (the antique ponderous Seven outvied,)", "In the Old World, the east, the Suez canal,", "The New by its mighty railroad spann’d,", "The seas inlaid with eloquent, gentle wires,", "I sound, to commence, the cry, with thee, O soul,", "The Past! the Past! the Past!", "", "The Past! the dark, unfathom’d retrospect!", "The teeming gulf! the sleepers and the shadows!", "The past! the infinite greatness of the past!", "For what is the present, after all, but a growth out of the past?", "(As a projectile, form’d, impell’d, passing a certain line, still keeps on,", "So the present, utterly form’d, impell’d by the past.)", "", "2", "Passage, O soul, to India!", "Eclaircise the myths Asiatic—the primitive fables.", "", "Not you alone, proud truths of the world!", "Nor you alone, ye facts of modern science!", "But myths and fables of eld—Asia’s, Africa’s fables!", "The far-darting beams of the spirit!—the unloos’d dreams!", "The deep diving bibles and legends;", "The daring plots of the poets—the elder religions;", "—O you temples fairer than lilies, pour’d over by the rising sun!", "O you fables, spurning the known, eluding the hold of the known, mounting to heaven!", "You lofty and dazzling towers, pinnacled, red as roses, burnish’d with gold!", "Towers of fables immortal, fashion’d from mortal dreams!", "You too I welcome, and fully, the same as the rest;", "You too with joy I sing.", "", "3", "Passage to India!", "Lo, soul! seest thou not God’s purpose from the first?", "The earth to be spann’d, connected by net-work,", "The people to become brothers and sisters,", "The races, neighbors, to marry and be given in marriage,", "The oceans to be cross’d, the distant brought near,", "The lands to be welded together.", "", "(A worship new, I sing;", "You captains, voyagers, explorers, yours!", "You engineers! you architects, machinists, your!", "You, not for trade or transportation only,", "But in God’s name, and for thy sake, O soul.)", "", "4", "Passage to India!", "Lo, soul, for thee, of tableaus twain,", "I see, in one, the Suez canal initiated, open’d,", "I see the procession of steamships, the Empress Eugenie’s leading the van;", "I mark, from on deck, the strange landscape, the pure sky, the level sand in the distance;", "", "I pass swiftly the picturesque groups, the workmen gather’d,", "The gigantic dredging machines.", "", "In one, again, different, (yet thine, all thine, O soul, the same,)", "I see over my own continent the Pacific Railroad, surmounting every barrier;", "I see continual trains of cars winding along the Platte, carrying freight and passengers;", "I hear the locomotives rushing and roaring, and the shrill steam-whistle,", "I hear the echoes reverberate through the grandest scenery in the world;", "I cross the Laramie plains—I note the rocks in grotesque shapes—the buttes;", "I see the plentiful larkspur and wild onions—the barren, colorless, sage-deserts;", "I see in glimpses afar, or towering immediately above me, the great mountains—I see", " the", " Wind River and the Wahsatch mountains;", "I see the Monument mountain and the Eagle’s Nest—I pass the Promontory—I", " ascend", " the Nevadas;", "I scan the noble Elk mountain, and wind around its base;", "I see the Humboldt range—I thread the valley and cross the river,", "I see the clear waters of Lake Tahoe—I see forests of majestic pines,", "Or, crossing the great desert, the alkaline plains, I behold enchanting mirages of waters", " and", " meadows;", "Marking through these, and after all, in duplicate slender lines,", "Bridging the three or four thousand miles of land travel,", "Tying the Eastern to the Western sea,", "The road between Europe and Asia.", "", "(Ah Genoese, thy dream! thy dream!", "Centuries after thou art laid in thy grave,", "The shore thou foundest verifies thy dream!)", "", "5", "Passage to India!", "Struggles of many a captain—tales of many a sailor dead!", "Over my mood, stealing and spreading they come,", "Like clouds and cloudlets in the unreach’d sky.", "", "Along all history, down the slopes,", "As a rivulet running, sinking now, and now again to the surface rising,", "A ceaseless thought, a varied train—Lo, soul! to thee, thy sight, they rise,", "The plans, the voyages again, the expeditions:", "Again Vasco de Gama sails forth;", "Again the knowledge gain’d, the mariner’s compass,", "Lands found, and nations born—thou born, America, (a hemisphere unborn,)", "For purpose vast, man’s long probation fill’d,", "Thou, rondure of the world, at last accomplish’d.", "", "6", "O, vast Rondure, swimming in space!", "Cover’d all over with visible power and beauty!", "Alternate light and day, and the teeming, spiritual darkness;", "Unspeakable, high processions of sun and moon, and countless stars, above;", "Below, the manifold grass and waters, animals, mountains, trees;", "With inscrutable purpose—some hidden, prophetic intention;", "Now, first, it seems, my thought begins to span thee.", "", "Down from the gardens of Asia, descending, radiating,", "Adam and Eve appear, then their myriad progeny after them,", "Wandering, yearning, curious—with restless explorations,", "With questionings, baffled, formless, feverish—with never-happy hearts,", "With that sad, incessant refrain, Wherefore, unsatisfied Soul? and Whither, O", " mocking", " Life?", "", "Ah, who shall soothe these feverish children?", "Who justify these restless explorations?", "Who speak the secret of impassive Earth?", "Who bind it to us? What is this separate Nature, so unnatural?", "What is this Earth, to our affections? (unloving earth, without a throb to answer ours;", "Cold earth, the place of graves.)", "", "Yet, soul, be sure the first intent remains—and shall be carried out;", "(Perhaps even now the time has arrived.)", "", "After the seas are all cross’d, (as they seem already cross’d,)", "After the great captains and engineers have accomplish’d their work,", "After the noble inventors—after the scientists, the chemist, the geologist,", " ethnologist,", "Finally shall come the Poet, worthy that name;", "The true Son of God shall come, singing his songs.", "", "Then, not your deeds only, O voyagers, O scientists and inventors, shall be justified,", "All these hearts, as of fretted children, shall be sooth’d,", "All affection shall be fully responded to—the secret shall be told;", "All these separations and gaps shall be taken up, and hook’d and link’d", " together;", "The whole Earth—this cold, impassive, voiceless Earth, shall be completely justified;", "", "Trinitas divine shall be gloriously accomplish’d and compacted by the the Son of God,", " the", " poet,", "(He shall indeed pass the straits and conquer the mountains,", "He shall double the Cape of Good Hope to some purpose;)", "Nature and Man shall be disjoin’d and diffused no more,", "The true Son of God shall absolutely fuse them.", "", "7", "Year at whose open’d, wide-flung door I sing!", "Year of the purpose accomplish’d!", "Year of the marriage of continents, climates and oceans!", "(No mere Doge of Venice now, wedding the Adriatic;)", "I see, O year, in you, the vast terraqueous globe, given, and giving all,", "Europe to Asia, Africa join’d, and they to the New World;", "The lands, geographies, dancing before you, holding a festival garland,", "As brides and bridegrooms hand in hand.", "", "8", "Passage to India!", "Cooling airs from Caucasus far, soothing cradle of man,", "The river Euphrates flowing, the past lit up again.", "", "Lo, soul, the retrospect, brought forward;", "The old, most populous, wealthiest of Earth’s lands,", "The streams of the Indus and the Ganges, and their many affluents;", "(I, my shores of America walking to-day, behold, resuming all,)", "The tale of Alexander, on his warlike marches, suddenly dying,", "On one side China, and on the other side Persia and Arabia,", "To the south the great seas, and the Bay of Bengal;", "The flowing literatures, tremendous epics, religions, castes,", "Old occult Brahma, interminably far back—the tender and junior Buddha,", "Central and southern empires, and all their belongings, possessors,", "The wars of Tamerlane, the reign of Aurungzebe,", "The traders, rulers, explorers, Moslems, Venetians, Byzantium, the Arabs, Portuguese,", "The first travelers, famous yet, Marco Polo, Batouta the Moor,", "Doubts to be solv’d, the map incognita, blanks to be fill’d,", "The foot of man unstay’d, the hands never at rest,", "Thyself, O soul, that will not brook a challenge.", "", "9", "The medieval navigators rise before me,", "The world of 1492, with its awaken’d enterprise;", "Something swelling in humanity now like the sap of the earth in spring,", "The sunset splendor of chivalry declining.", "", "And who art thou, sad shade?", "Gigantic, visionary, thyself a visionary,", "With majestic limbs, and pious, beaming eyes,", "Spreading around, with every look of thine, a golden world,", "Enhuing it with gorgeous hues.", "", "As the chief histrion,", "Down to the footlights walks, in some great scena,", "Dominating the rest, I see the Admiral himself,", "(History’s type of courage, action, faith;)", "Behold him sail from Palos, leading his little fleet;", "His voyage behold—his return—his great fame,", "His misfortunes, calumniators—behold him a prisoner, chain’d,", "Behold his dejection, poverty, death.", "", "(Curious, in time, I stand, noting the efforts of heroes;", "Is the deferment long? bitter the slander, poverty, death?", "Lies the seed unreck’d for centuries in the ground? Lo! to God’s due occasion,", "Uprising in the night, it sprouts, blooms,", "And fills the earth with use and beauty.)", "", "10", "Passage indeed, O soul, to primal thought!", "Not lands and seas alone—thy own clear freshness,", "The young maturity of brood and bloom;", "To realms of budding bibles.", "", "O soul, repressless, I with thee, and thou with me,", "Thy circumnavigation of the world begin;", "Of man, the voyage of his mind’s return,", "To reason’s early paradise,", "Back, back to wisdom’s birth, to innocent intuitions,", "Again with fair Creation.", "", "11", "O we can wait no longer!", "We too take ship, O soul!", "Joyous, we too launch out on trackless seas!", "Fearless, for unknown shores, on waves of extasy to sail,", "Amid the wafting winds, (thou pressing me to thee, I thee to me, O soul,)", "Caroling free—singing our song of God,", "Chanting our chant of pleasant exploration.", "", "With laugh, and many a kiss,", "(Let others deprecate—let others weep for sin, remorse, humiliation;)", "O soul, thou pleasest me—I thee.", "", "Ah, more than any priest, O soul, we too believe in God;", "But with the mystery of God we dare not dally.", "", "O soul, thou pleasest me—I thee;", "Sailing these seas, or on the hills, or waking in the night,", "Thoughts, silent thoughts, of Time, and Space, and Death, like waters flowing,", "Bear me, indeed, as through the regions infinite,", "Whose air I breathe, whose ripples hear—lave me all over;", "Bathe me, O God, in thee—mounting to thee,", "I and my soul to range in range of thee.", "", "O Thou transcendant!", "Nameless—the fibre and the breath!", "Light of the light—shedding forth universes—thou centre of them!", "Thou mightier centre of the true, the good, the loving!", "Thou moral, spiritual fountain! affection’s source! thou reservoir!", "(O pensive soul of me! O thirst unsatisfied! waitest not there?", "Waitest not haply for us, somewhere there, the Comrade perfect?)", "Thou pulse! thou motive of the stars, suns, systems,", "That, circling, move in order, safe, harmonious,", "Athwart the shapeless vastnesses of space!", "", "How should I think—how breathe a single breath—how speak—if, out of myself,", "I could not launch, to those, superior universes?", "", "Swiftly I shrivel at the thought of God,", "At Nature and its wonders, Time and Space and Death,", "But that I, turning, call to thee, O soul, thou actual Me,", "And lo! thou gently masterest the orbs,", "Thou matest Time, smilest content at Death,", "And fillest, swellest full, the vastnesses of Space.", "", "Greater than stars or suns,", "Bounding, O soul, thou journeyest forth;", "—What love, than thine and ours could wider amplify?", "What aspirations, wishes, outvie thine and ours, O soul?", "What dreams of the ideal? what plans of purity, perfection, strength?", "What cheerful willingness, for others’ sake, to give up all?", "For others’ sake to suffer all?", "", "Reckoning ahead, O soul, when thou, the time achiev’d,", "(The seas all cross’d, weather’d the capes, the voyage done,)", "Surrounded, copest, frontest God, yieldest, the aim attain’d,", "As, fill’d with friendship, love complete, the Elder Brother found,", "The Younger melts in fondness in his arms.", "", "12", "Passage to more than India!", "Are thy wings plumed indeed for such far flights?", "O Soul, voyagest thou indeed on voyages like these?", "Disportest thou on waters such as these?", "Soundest below the Sanscrit and the Vedas?", "Then have thy bent unleash’d.", "", "Passage to you, your shores, ye aged fierce enigmas!", "Passage to you, to mastership of you, ye strangling problems!", "You, strew’d with the wrecks of skeletons, that, living, never reach’d you.", "", "13", "Passage to more than India!", "O secret of the earth and sky!", "Of you, O waters of the sea! O winding creeks and rivers!", "Of you, O woods and fields! Of you, strong mountains of my land!", "Of you, O prairies! Of you, gray rocks!", "O morning red! O clouds! O rain and snows!", "O day and night, passage to you!", "", "O sun and moon, and all you stars! Sirius and Jupiter!", "Passage to you!", "", "Passage—immediate passage! the blood burns in my veins!", "Away, O soul! hoist instantly the anchor!", "Cut the hawsers—haul out—shake out every sail!", "Have we not stood here like trees in the ground long enough?", "Have we not grovell’d here long enough, eating and drinking like mere brutes?", "Have we not darken’d and dazed ourselves with books long enough?", "", "Sail forth! steer for the deep waters only!", "Reckless, O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me;", "For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,", "And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.", "", "O my brave soul!", "O farther, farther sail!", "O daring joy, but safe! Are they not all the seas of God?", "O farther, farther, farther sail!" ], "linecount": "281" }, { "title": "Proud Music of The Storm.", "author": "Walt Whitman", "lines": [ "1", "PROUD music of the storm!", "Blast that careers so free, whistling across the prairies!", "Strong hum of forest tree-tops! Wind of the mountains!", "Personified dim shapes! you hidden orchestras!", "You serenades of phantoms, with instruments alert,", "Blending, with Nature’s rhythmus, all the tongues of nations;", "You chords left us by vast composers! you choruses!", "You formless, free, religious dances! you from the Orient!", "You undertone of rivers, roar of pouring cataracts;", "You sounds from distant guns, with galloping cavalry!", "Echoes of camps, with all the different bugle-calls!", "Trooping tumultuous, filling the midnight late, bending me powerless,", "Entering my lonesome slumber-chamber—Why have you seiz’d me?", "", "2", "Come forward, O my Soul, and let the rest retire;", "Listen—lose not—it is toward thee they tend;", "Parting the midnight, entering my slumber-chamber,", "For thee they sing and dance, O Soul.", "", "A festival song!", "The duet of the bridegroom and the bride—a marriage-march,", "With lips of love, and hearts of lovers, fill’d to the brim with love;", "The red-flush’d cheeks, and perfumes—the cortege swarming, full of friendly", " faces,", " young and old,", "To flutes’ clear notes, and sounding harps’ cantabile.", "", "3", "Now loud approaching drums!", "Victoria! see’st thou in powder-smoke the banners torn but flying? the rout of the", " baffled?", "Hearest those shouts of a conquering army?", "", "(Ah, Soul, the sobs of women—the wounded groaning in agony,", "The hiss and crackle of flames—the blacken’d ruins—the embers of cities,", "The dirge and desolation of mankind.)", "", "4", "Now airs antique and medieval fill me!", "I see and hear old harpers with their harps, at Welsh festivals:", "I hear the minnesingers, singing their lays of love,", "I hear the minstrels, gleemen, troubadours, of the feudal ages.", "", "5", "Now the great organ sounds,", "Tremulous—while underneath, (as the hid footholds of the earth,", "On which arising, rest, and leaping forth, depend,", "All shapes of beauty, grace and strength—all hues we know,", "Green blades of grass, and warbling birds—children that gambol and play—the", " clouds of", " heaven above,)", "The strong base stands, and its pulsations intermits not,", "Bathing, supporting, merging all the rest—maternity of all the rest;", "And with it every instrument in multitudes,", "The players playing—all the world’s musicians,", "The solemn hymns and masses, rousing adoration,", "All passionate heart-chants, sorrowful appeals,", "The measureless sweet vocalists of ages,", "And for their solvent setting, Earth’s own diapason,", "Of winds and woods and mighty ocean waves;", "A new composite orchestra—binder of years and climes—ten-fold renewer,", "As of the far-back days the poets tell—the Paradiso,", "The straying thence, the separation long, but now the wandering done,", "The journey done, the Journeyman come home,", "And Man and Art, with Nature fused again.", "", "6", "Tutti! for Earth and Heaven!", "The Almighty Leader now for me, for once has signal’d with his wand.", "", "The manly strophe of the husbands of the world,", "And all the wives responding.", "", "The tongues of violins!", "(I think, O tongues, ye tell this heart, that cannot tell itself;", "This brooding, yearning heart, that cannot tell itself.)", "", "7", "Ah, from a little child,", "Thou knowest, Soul, how to me all sounds became music;", "My mother’s voice, in lullaby or hymn;", "(The voice—O tender voices—memory’s loving voices!", "Last miracle of all—O dearest mother’s, sister’s, voices;)", "The rain, the growing corn, the breeze among the long-leav’d corn,", "The measur’d sea-surf, beating on the sand,", "The twittering bird, the hawk’s sharp scream,", "The wild-fowl’s notes at night, as flying low, migrating north or south,", "The psalm in the country church, or mid the clustering trees, the open air camp-meeting,", "The fiddler in the tavern—the glee, the long-strung sailor-song,", "The lowing cattle, bleating sheep—the crowing cock at dawn.", "", "8", "All songs of current lands come sounding ’round me,", "The German airs of friendship, wine and love,", "Irish ballads, merry jigs and dances—English warbles,", "Chansons of France, Scotch tunes—and o’er the rest,", "Italia’s peerless compositions.", "", "Across the stage, with pallor on her face, yet lurid passion,", "Stalks Norma, brandishing the dagger in her hand.", "", "I see poor crazed Lucia’s eyes’ unnatural gleam;", "Her hair down her back falls loose and dishevell’d.", "", "I see where Ernani, walking the bridal garden,", "Amid the scent of night-roses, radiant, holding his bride by the hand,", "Hears the infernal call, the death-pledge of the horn.", "", "To crossing swords, and grey hairs bared to heaven,", "The clear, electric base and baritone of the world,", "The trombone duo—Libertad forever!", "", "From Spanish chestnut trees’ dense shade,", "By old and heavy convent walls, a wailing song,", "Song of lost love—the torch of youth and life quench’d in despair,", "Song of the dying swan—Fernando’s heart is breaking.", "", "Awaking from her woes at last, retriev’d Amina sings;", "Copious as stars, and glad as morning light, the torrents of her joy.", "", "(The teeming lady comes!", "The lustrious orb—Venus contralto—the blooming mother,", "Sister of loftiest gods—Alboni’s self I hear.)", "", "9", "I hear those odes, symphonies, operas;", "I hear in the William Tell, the music of an arous’d and angry people;", "I hear Meyerbeer’s Huguenots, the Prophet, or Robert;", "Gounod’s Faust, or Mozart’s Don Juan.", "", "10", "I hear the dance-music of all nations,", "The waltz, (some delicious measure, lapsing, bathing me in bliss;)", "The bolero, to tinkling guitars and clattering castanets.", "", "I see religious dances old and new,", "I hear the sound of the Hebrew lyre,", "I see the Crusaders marching, bearing the cross on high, to the martial clang of cymbals;", "I hear dervishes monotonously chanting, interspers’d with frantic shouts, as they", " spin", " around, turning always towards Mecca;", "I see the rapt religious dances of the Persians and the Arabs;", "Again, at Eleusis, home of Ceres, I see the modern Greeks dancing,", "I hear them clapping their hands, as they bend their bodies,", "I hear the metrical shuffling of their feet.", "", "I see again the wild old Corybantian dance, the performers wounding each other;", "I see the Roman youth, to the shrill sound of flageolets, throwing and catching their", " weapons,", "As they fall on their knees, and rise again.", "", "I hear from the Mussulman mosque the muezzin calling;", "I see the worshippers within, (nor form, nor sermon, argument, nor word,", "But silent, strange, devout—rais’d, glowing heads—extatic faces.)", "", "11", "I hear the Egyptian harp of many strings,", "The primitive chants of the Nile boatmen;", "The sacred imperial hymns of China,", "To the delicate sounds of the king, (the stricken wood and stone;)", "Or to Hindu flutes, and the fretting twang of the vina,", "A band of bayaderes.", "", "12", "Now Asia, Africa leave me—Europe, seizing, inflates me;", "To organs huge, and bands, I hear as from vast concourses of voices,", "Luther’s strong hymn, Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott;", "Rossini’s Stabat Mater dolorosa;", "Or, floating in some high cathedral dim, with gorgeous color’d windows,", "The passionate Agnus Dei, or Gloria in Excelsis.", "", "13", "Composers! mighty maestros!", "And you, sweet singers of old lands—Soprani! Tenori! Bassi!", "To you a new bard, carolling free in the west,", "Obeisant, sends his love.", "", "(Such led to thee, O Soul!", "All senses, shows and objects, lead to thee,", "But now, it seems to me, sound leads o’er all the rest.)", "", "14", "I hear the annual singing of the children in St. Paul’s Cathedral;", "Or, under the high roof of some colossal hall, the symphonies, oratorios of Beethoven,", " Handel,", " or Haydn;", "The Creation, in billows of godhood laves me.", "", "Give me to hold all sounds, (I, madly struggling, cry,)", "Fill me with all the voices of the universe,", "Endow me with their throbbings—Nature’s also,", "The tempests, waters, winds—operas and chants—marches and dances,", "Utter—pour in—for I would take them all.", "", "15", "Then I woke softly,", "And pausing, questioning awhile the music of my dream,", "And questioning all those reminiscences—the tempest in its fury,", "And all the songs of sopranos and tenors,", "And those rapt oriental dances, of religious fervor,", "And the sweet varied instruments, and the diapason of organs,", "And all the artless plaints of love, and grief and death,", "I said to my silent, curious Soul, out of the bed of the slumber-chamber,", "Come, for I have found the clue I sought so long,", "Let us go forth refresh’d amid the day,", "Cheerfully tallying life, walking the world, the real,", "Nourish’d henceforth by our celestial dream.", "", "And I said, moreover,", "Haply, what thou hast heard, O Soul, was not the sound of winds,", "Nor dream of raging storm, nor sea-hawk’s flapping wings, nor harsh scream,", "Nor vocalism of sun-bright Italy,", "Nor German organ majestic—nor vast concourse of voices—nor layers of harmonies;", "Nor strophes of husbands and wives—nor sound of marching soldiers,", "Nor flutes, nor harps, nor the bugle-calls of camps;", "But, to a new rhythmus fitted for thee,", "Poems, bridging the way from Life to Death, vaguely wafted in night air, uncaught,", " unwritten,", "Which, let us go forth in the bold day, and write." ], "linecount": "190" }, { "title": "Adieu to a Soldier.", "author": "Walt Whitman", "lines": [ "ADIEU, O soldier!", "You of the rude campaigning, (which we shared,)", "The rapid march, the life of the camp,", "The hot contention of opposing fronts—the long manoeuver,", "Red battles with their slaughter,—the stimulus—the strong, terrific game,", "Spell of all brave and manly hearts—the trains of Time through you, and like of you,", " all", " fill’d,", "With war, and war’s expression.", "", "Adieu, dear comrade!", "Your mission is fulfill’d—but I, more warlike,", "Myself, and this contentious soul of mine,", "Still on our own campaigning bound,", "Through untried roads, with ambushes, opponents lined,", "Through many a sharp defeat and many a crisis—often baffled,", "Here marching, ever marching on, a war fight out—aye here,", "To fiercer, weightier battles give expression." ], "linecount": "17" }, { "title": "To Think of Time.", "author": "Walt Whitman", "lines": [ "1", "TO think of time—of all that retrospection!", "To think of to-day, and the ages continued henceforward!", "", "Have you guess’d you yourself would not continue?", "Have you dreaded these earth-beetles?", "Have you fear’d the future would be nothing to you?", "", "Is to-day nothing? Is the beginningless past nothing?", "If the future is nothing, they are just as surely nothing.", "", "To think that the sun rose in the east! that men and women were flexible, real, alive!", " that", " everything was alive!", "To think that you and I did not see, feel, think, nor bear our part!", "To think that we are now here, and bear our part!", "", "2", "Not a day passes—not a minute or second, without an accouchement!", "Not a day passes—not a minute or second, without a corpse!", "", "The dull nights go over, and the dull days also,", "The soreness of lying so much in bed goes over,", "The physician, after long putting off, gives the silent and terrible look for an answer,", "The children come hurried and weeping, and the brothers and sisters are sent for,", "Medicines stand unused on the shelf—(the camphor-smell has long pervaded the rooms,)", "The faithful hand of the living does not desert the hand of the dying,", "The twitching lips press lightly on the forehead of the dying,", "The breath ceases, and the pulse of the heart ceases,", "The corpse stretches on the bed, and the living look upon it,", "It is palpable as the living are palpable.", "", "The living look upon the corpse with their eye-sight,", "But without eye-sight lingers a different living, and looks curiously on the corpse.", "", "3", "To think the thought of Death, merged in the thought of materials!", "To think that the rivers will flow, and the snow fall, and fruits ripen, and act upon", " others as", " upon us now—yet not act upon us!", "To think of all these wonders of city and country, and others taking great interest in", " them—and we taking no interest in them!", "", "To think how eager we are in building our houses!", "To think others shall be just as eager, and we quite indifferent!", "", "(I see one building the house that serves him a few years, or seventy or eighty years at", " most,", "I see one building the house that serves him longer than that.)", "", "Slow-moving and black lines creep over the whole earth—they never cease—they are", " the", " burial lines,", "He that was President was buried, and he that is now President shall surely be buried.", "", "4", "A reminiscence of the vulgar fate,", "A frequent sample of the life and death of workmen,", "Each after his kind:", "Cold dash of waves at the ferry-wharf—posh and ice in the river, half-frozen mud in", " the", " streets, a gray, discouraged sky overhead, the short, last daylight of Twelfth-month,", "A hearse and stages—other vehicles give place—the funeral of an old Broadway", " stage-driver, the cortege mostly drivers.", "", "Steady the trot to the cemetery, duly rattles the death-bell, the gate is pass’d, the", " new-dug grave is halted at, the living alight, the hearse uncloses,", "The coffin is pass’d out, lower’d and settled, the whip is laid on the coffin,", " the", " earth is swiftly shovel’d in,", "The mound above is flatted with the spades—silence,", "A minute—no one moves or speaks—it is done,", "He is decently put away—is there anything more?", "", "He was a good fellow, free-mouth’d, quick-temper’d, not bad-looking, able to", " take his", " own part, witty, sensitive to a slight, ready with life or death for a friend, fond of", " women,", " gambled, ate hearty, drank hearty, had known what it was to be flush, grew low-spirited", " toward", " the last, sicken’d, was help’d by a contribution, died, aged forty-one", " years—and", " that was his funeral.", "", "Thumb extended, finger uplifted, apron, cape, gloves, strap, wet-weather clothes, whip", " carefully chosen, boss, spotter, starter, hostler, somebody loafing on you, you loafing", " on", " somebody, headway, man before and man behind, good day’s work, bad day’s work,", " pet", " stock, mean stock, first out, last out, turning-in at night;", "To think that these are so much and so nigh to other drivers—and he there takes no", " interest in them!", "", "5", "The markets, the government, the working-man’s wages—to think what account they", " are", " through our nights and days!", "To think that other working-men will make just as great account of them—yet we make", " little", " or no account!", "", "The vulgar and the refined—what you call sin, and what you call goodness—to", " think how", " wide a difference!", "To think the difference will still continue to others, yet we lie beyond the difference.", "", "To think how much pleasure there is!", "Have you pleasure from looking at the sky? have you pleasure from poems?", "Do you enjoy yourself in the city? or engaged in business? or planning a nomination and", " election? or with your wife and family?", "Or with your mother and sisters? or in womanly housework? or the beautiful maternal cares?", "", "—These also flow onward to others—you and I flow onward,", "But in due time, you and I shall take less interest in them.", "", "Your farm, profits, crops,—to think how engross’d you are!", "To think there will still be farms, profits, crops—yet for you, of what avail?", "", "6", "What will be, will be well—for what is, is well,", "To take interest is well, and not to take interest shall be well.", "", "The sky continues beautiful,", "The pleasure of men with women shall never be sated, nor the pleasure of women with men,", " nor", " the pleasure from poems,", "The domestic joys, the daily housework or business, the building of houses—these are", " not", " phantasms—they have weight, form, location;", "Farms, profits, crops, markets, wages, government, are none of them phantasms,", "The difference between sin and goodness is no delusion,", "The earth is not an echo—man and his life, and all the things of his life, are", " well-consider’d.", "", "You are not thrown to the winds—you gather certainly and safely around yourself;", "Yourself! Yourself! Yourself, forever and ever!", "", "7", "It is not to diffuse you that you were born of your mother and father—it is to", " identify", " you;", "It is not that you should be undecided, but that you should be decided;", "Something long preparing and formless is arrived and form’d in you,", "You are henceforth secure, whatever comes or goes.", "", "The threads that were spun are gather’d, the weft crosses the warp, the pattern is", " systematic.", "", "The preparations have every one been justified,", "The orchestra have sufficiently tuned their instruments—the baton has given the", " signal.", "", "The guest that was coming—he waited long, for reasons—he is now housed,", "He is one of those who are beautiful and happy—he is one of those that to look upon", " and be", " with is enough.", "", "The law of the past cannot be eluded,", "The law of the present and future cannot be eluded,", "The law of the living cannot be eluded—it is eternal,", "The law of promotion and transformation cannot be eluded,", "The law of heroes and good-doers cannot be eluded,", "The law of drunkards, informers, mean persons—not one iota thereof can be eluded.", "", "8", "Slow moving and black lines go ceaselessly over the earth,", "Northerner goes carried, and Southerner goes carried, and they on the Atlantic side, and", " they", " on the Pacific, and they between, and all through the Mississippi country, and all over", " the", " earth.", "", "The great masters and kosmos are well as they go—the heroes and good-doers are well,", "The known leaders and inventors, and the rich owners and pious and distinguish’d, may", " be", " well,", "But there is more account than that—there is strict account of all.", "", "The interminable hordes of the ignorant and wicked are not nothing,", "The barbarians of Africa and Asia are not nothing,", "The common people of Europe are not nothing—the American aborigines are not nothing,", "The infected in the immigrant hospital are not nothing—the murderer or mean person is", " not", " nothing,", "The perpetual successions of shallow people are not nothing as they go,", "The lowest prostitute is not nothing—the mocker of religion is not nothing as he", " goes.", "", "9", "Of and in all these things,", "I have dream’d that we are not to be changed so much, nor the law of us changed,", "I have dream’d that heroes and good-doers shall be under the present and past law,", "And that murderers, drunkards, liars, shall be under the present and past law,", "For I have dream’d that the law they are under now is enough.", "", "If otherwise, all came but to ashes of dung,", "If maggots and rats ended us, then Alarum! for we are betray’d!", "Then indeed suspicion of death.", "", "Do you suspect death? If I were to suspect death, I should die now,", "Do you think I could walk pleasantly and well-suited toward annihilation?", "", "10", "Pleasantly and well-suited I walk,", "Whither I walk I cannot define, but I know it is good,", "The whole universe indicates that it is good,", "The past and the present indicate that it is good.", "", "How beautiful and perfect are the animals!", "How perfect the earth, and the minutest thing upon it!", "", "What is called good is perfect, and what is called bad is just as perfect,", "The vegetables and minerals are all perfect, and the imponderable fluids are perfect;", "Slowly and surely they have pass’d on to this, and slowly and surely they yet pass", " on.", "", "11", "I swear I think now that everything without exception has an eternal Soul!", "The trees have, rooted in the ground! the weeds of the sea have! the animals!", "", "I swear I think there is nothing but immortality!", "That the exquisite scheme is for it, and the nebulous float is for it, and the cohering is", " for", " it;", "And all preparation is for it! and identity is for it! and life and materials are", " altogether", " for it" ], "linecount": "189" }, { "title": "To a Locomotive in Winter.", "author": "Walt Whitman", "lines": [ "THEE for my recitative!", "Thee in the driving storm, even as now—the snow—the winter-day declining;", "Thee in thy panoply, thy measured dual throbbing, and thy beat convulsive;", "Thy black cylindric body, golden brass, and silvery steel;", "Thy ponderous side-bars, parallel and connecting rods, gyrating, shuttling at thy sides;", "Thy metrical, now swelling pant and roar—now tapering in the distance;", "Thy great protruding head-light, fix’d in front;", "Thy long, pale, floating vapor-pennants, tinged with delicate purple;", "The dense and murky clouds out-belching from thy smoke-stack;", "Thy knitted frame—thy springs and valves—the tremulous twinkle of thy wheels;", "Thy train of cars behind, obedient, merrily-following,", "Through gale or calm, now swift, now slack, yet steadily careering:", "Type of the modern! emblem of motion and power! pulse of the continent!", "For once, come serve the Muse, and merge in verse, even as here I see thee,", "With storm, and buffeting gusts of wind, and falling snow;", "By day, thy warning, ringing bell to sound its notes,", "By night, thy silent signal lamps to swing.", "", "Fierce-throated beauty!", "Roll through my chant, with all thy lawless music! thy swinging lamps at night;", "Thy piercing, madly-whistled laughter! thy echoes, rumbling like an earthquake, rousing", " all!", "Law of thyself complete, thine own track firmly holding;", "(No sweetness debonair of tearful harp or glib piano thine,)", "Thy trills of shrieks by rocks and hills return’d,", "Launch’d o’er the prairies wide—across the lakes,", "To the free skies, unpent, and glad, and strong." ], "linecount": "26" }, { "title": "Peace after a Storm", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "When darkness long has veil'd my mind,", "And smiling day once more appears,", "Then, my Redeemer, then I find", "The folly of my doubts and fears.", "", "Straight I upbraid my wandering heart,", "And blush that I should ever be", "Thus prone to act so base a part,", "Or harbour one hard thought of Thee!", "", "Oh! let me then at length be taught", "What I am still so slow to learn,", "That God is love, and changes not,", "Nor knows the shadow of a turn.", "", "Sweet truth, and easy to repeat!", "But when my faith is sharply tried,", "I find myself a learner yet,", "Unskilful, weak, and apt to slide.", "", "But, O my Lord, one look from Thee", "Subdues the disobedient will,", "Drives doubt and discontent away,", "And Thy rebellious worm is still.", "", "Thou art as ready to forgive", "As I am ready to repine;", "Thou, therefore, all the praise receive;", "Be shame and self-abhorrence mine." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Exhortation to Prayer", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "What various hindrances we meet", "In coming to a mercy seat!", "Yet who that knows the worth of prayer,", "But wishes to be often there?", "", "Prayer makes the darken'd cloud withdraw,", "Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw,", "Gives exercise to faith and love,", "Brings every blessing from above.", "", "Restraining prayer, we cease to fight;", "Prayer makes the Christian's armour bright;", "And Satan trembles when he sees", "The weakest saint upon his knees.", "", "While Moses stood with arms spread wide,", "Success was found on Israel's side;", "But when through weariness they fail'd,", "That moment Amalek prevail'd.", "", "Have you no words? Ah, think again,", "Words flow apace when you complain,", "And fill your fellow-creature's ear", "With the sad tale of all your care.", "", "Were half the breath thus vainly spent", "To heaven in supplication sent,", "Your cheerful song would oftener be,", "\"Hear what the Lord has done for me.\"" ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Jesus Hasting to Suffer", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "The Saviour, what a noble flame", "Was kindled in his breast,", "When hasting to Jerusalem,", "He march'd before the rest.", "", "Good will to men, and zeal for God,", "His every thought engross;", "He longs to be baptized with blood,", "He pants to reach the cross!", "", "With all His suffering full in view,", "And woes to us unknown,", "Forth to the task His spirit flew,", "'Twas love that urged Him on.", "", "Lord, we return Thee what we can:", "Our hearts shall sound abroad,", "Salvation to the dying Man,", "And to the rising God!", "", "And while Thy bleeding glories here", "Engage our wondering eyes,", "We learn our lighter cross to bear,", "And hasten to the skies." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "Spring in Town", "author": "William Cullen Bryant", "lines": [ "The country ever has a lagging Spring,", "Waiting for May to call its violets forth,", "And June its roses--showers and sunshine bring,", "Slowly, the deepening verdure o'er the earth;", "To put their foliage out, the woods are slack,", "And one by one the singing-birds come back.", "", "Within the city's bounds the time of flowers", "Comes earlier. Let a mild and sunny day,", "Such as full often, for a few bright hours,", "Breathes through the sky of March the airs of May,", "Shine on our roofs and chase the wintry gloom--", "And lo! our borders glow with sudden bloom.", "", "For the wide sidewalks of Broadway are then", "Gorgeous as are a rivulet's banks in June,", "That overhung with blossoms, through its glen,", "Slides soft away beneath the sunny noon,", "And they who search the untrodden wood for flowers", "Meet in its depths no lovelier ones than ours.", "", "For here are eyes that shame the violet,", "Or the dark drop that on the pansy lies,", "And foreheads, white, as when in clusters set,", "The anemonies by forest fountains rise;", "", "And the spring-beauty boasts no tenderer streak", "Than the soft red on many a youthful cheek.", "", "And thick about those lovely temples lie", "Locks that the lucky Vignardonne has curled,", "Thrice happy man! whose trade it is to buy,", "And bake, and braid those love-knots of the world;", "Who curls of every glossy colour keepest,", "And sellest, it is said, the blackest cheapest.", "", "And well thou may'st--for Italy's brown maids", "Send the dark locks with which their brows are dressed,", "And Gascon lasses, from their jetty braids,", "Crop half, to buy a riband for the rest;", "But the fresh Norman girls their tresses spare,", "And the Dutch damsel keeps her flaxen hair.", "", "Then, henceforth, let no maid nor matron grieve,", "To see her locks of an unlovely hue,", "Frouzy or thin, for liberal art shall give", "Such piles of curls as nature never knew.", "Eve, with her veil of tresses, at the sight", "Had blushed, outdone, and owned herself a fright.", "", "Soft voices and light laughter wake the street,", "Like notes of woodbirds, and where'er the eye", "Threads the long way, plumes wave, and twinkling feet", "Fall light, as hastes that crowd of beauty by.", "The ostrich, hurrying o'er the desert space,", "Scarce bore those tossing plumes with fleeter pace.", "", "No swimming Juno gait, of languor born,", "Is theirs, but a light step of freest grace,", "Light as Camilla's o'er the unbent corn,", "A step that speaks the spirit of the place,", "Since Quiet, meek old dame, was driven away", "To Sing Sing and the shores of Tappan bay.", "", "Ye that dash by in chariots! who will care", "For steeds or footmen now? ye cannot show", "Fair face, and dazzling dress, and graceful air,", "And last edition of the shape! Ah no,", "These sights are for the earth and open sky,", "And your loud wheels unheeded rattle by." ], "linecount": "60" }, { "title": "To a Waterfowl", "author": "William Cullen Bryant", "lines": [ "Whither, midst falling dew,", "While glow the heavens with the last steps of day", "Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue", "Thy solitary way?", "", "Vainly the fowler's eye", "Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong", "As, darkly seen against the crimson sky,", "Thy figure floats along.", "", "Seek'st thou the plashy brink", "Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,", "Or where the rocking billows rise and sing", "On the chafed ocean side?", "", "There is a Power whose care", "Teaches thy way along that pathless coast--", "The desert and illimitable air--", "Lone wandering, but not lost.", "", "All day thy wings have fanned,", "At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere,", "Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land,", "Though the dark night is near.", "", "And soon that toil shall end;", "Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest,", "And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend,", "Soon, o'er thy sheltered nest.", "", "Thou'rt gone, the abyss of heaven", "Hath swallowed up thy form; yet, on my heart", "Deeply has sunk the lesson thou hast given,", "And shall not soon depart.", "", "He who, from zone to zone,", "Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,", "In the long way that I must tread alone,", "Will lead my steps aright." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "Hymn To Death", "author": "William Cullen Bryant", "lines": [ "Oh! could I hope the wise and pure in heart", "Might hear my song without a frown, nor deem", "My voice unworthy of the theme it tries,--", "I would take up the hymn to Death, and say", "To the grim power, The world hath slandered thee", "And mocked thee. On thy dim and shadowy brow", "They place an iron crown, and call thee king", "Of terrors, and the spoiler of the world,", "Deadly assassin, that strik'st down the fair,", "The loved, the good--that breath'st upon the lights", "Of virtue set along the vale of life,", "And they go out in darkness. I am come,", "Not with reproaches, not with cries and prayers,", "Such as have stormed thy stern insensible ear", "From the beginning. I am come to speak", "Thy praises. True it is, that I have wept", "Thy conquests, and may weep them yet again:", "And thou from some I love wilt take a life", "Dear to me as my own. Yet while the spell", "Is on my spirit, and I talk with thee", "In sight of all thy trophies, face to face,", "Meet is it that my voice should utter forth", "", "Thy nobler triumphs: I will teach the world", "To thank thee.--Who are thine accusers?--Who?", "The living!--they who never felt thy power,", "And know thee not. The curses of the wretch", "Whose crimes are ripe, his sufferings when thy hand", "Is on him, and the hour he dreads is come,", "Are writ among thy praises. But the good--", "Does he whom thy kind hand dismissed to peace,", "Upbraid the gentle violence that took off", "His fetters, and unbarred his prison cell?", "Raise then the Hymn to Death. Deliverer!", "God hath anointed thee to free the oppressed", "And crush the oppressor. When the armed chief,", "The conqueror of nations, walks the world,", "And it is changed beneath his feet, and all", "Its kingdoms melt into one mighty realm--", "Thou, while his head is loftiest, and his heart", "Blasphemes, imagining his own right hand", "Almighty, sett'st upon him thy stern grasp,", "And the strong links of that tremendous chain", "That bound mankind are crumbled; thou dost break", "Sceptre and crown, and beat his throne to dust.", "Then the earth shouts with gladness, and her tribes", "Gather within their ancient bounds again.", "Else had the mighty of the olden time,", "Nimrod, Sesostris, or the youth who feigned", "His birth from Lybian Ammon, smote even now", "The nations with a rod of iron, and driven", "Their chariot o'er our necks. Thou dost avenge,", "In thy good time, the wrongs of those who know", "", "No other friend. Nor dost thou interpose", "Only to lay the sufferer asleep,", "Where he who made him wretched troubles not", "His rest--thou dost strike down his tyrant too.", "Oh, there is joy when hands that held the scourge", "Drop lifeless, and the pitiless heart is cold.", "Thou too dost purge from earth its horrible", "And old idolatries; from the proud fanes", "Each to his grave their priests go out, till none", "Is left to teach their worship; then the fires", "Of sacrifice are chilled, and the green moss", "O'ercreeps their altars; the fallen images", "Cumber the weedy courts, and for loud hymns,", "Chanted by kneeling crowds, the chiding winds", "Shriek in the solitary aisles. When he", "Who gives his life to guilt, and laughs at all", "The laws that God or man has made, and round", "Hedges his seat with power, and shines in wealth,--", "Lifts up his atheist front to scoff at Heaven,", "And celebrates his shame in open day,", "Thou, in the pride of all his crimes, cutt'st off", "The horrible example. Touched by thine,", "The extortioner's hard hand foregoes the gold", "Wrong from the o'er-worn poor. The perjurer,", "Whose tongue was lithe, e'en now, and voluble", "Against his neighbour's life, and he who laughed", "And leaped for joy to see a spotless fame", "Blasted before his own foul calumnies,", "Are smit with deadly silence. He, who sold", "His conscience to preserve a worthless life,", "", "Even while he hugs himself on his escape,", "Trembles, as, doubly terrible, at length,", "Thy steps o'ertake him, and there is no time", "For parley--nor will bribes unclench thy grasp.", "Oft, too, dost thou reform thy victim, long", "Ere his last hour. And when the reveller,", "Mad in the chase of pleasure, stretches on,", "And strains each nerve, and clears the path of life", "Like wind, thou point'st him to the dreadful goal,", "And shak'st thy hour-glass in his reeling eye,", "And check'st him in mid course. Thy skeleton hand", "Shows to the faint of spirit the right path,", "And he is warned, and fears to step aside.", "Thou sett'st between the ruffian and his crime", "Thy ghastly countenance, and his slack hand", "Drops the drawn knife. But, oh, most fearfully", "Dost thou show forth Heaven's justice, when thy shafts", "Drink up the ebbing spirit--then the hard", "Of heart and violent of hand restores", "The treasure to the friendless wretch he wronged.", "Then from the writhing bosom thou dost pluck", "The guilty secret; lips, for ages sealed,", "Are faithless to the dreadful trust at length,", "And give it up; the felon's latest breath", "Absolves the innocent man who bears his crime;", "The slanderer, horror smitten, and in tears,", "Recalls the deadly obloquy he forged", "To work his brother's ruin. Thou dost make", "Thy penitent victim utter to the air", "The dark conspiracy that strikes at life,", "", "And aims to whelm the laws; ere yet the hour", "Is come, and the dread sign of murder given.", "Thus, from the first of time, hast thou been found", "On virtue's side; the wicked, but for thee,", "Had been too strong for the good; the great of earth", "Had crushed the weak for ever. Schooled in guile", "For ages, while each passing year had brought", "Its baneful lesson, they had filled the world", "With their abominations; while its tribes,", "Trodden to earth, imbruted, and despoiled,", "Had knelt to them in worship; sacrifice", "Had smoked on many an altar, temple roofs", "Had echoed with the blasphemous prayer and hymn:", "But thou, the great reformer of the world,", "Tak'st off the sons of violence and fraud", "In their green pupilage, their lore half learned--", "Ere guilt has quite o'errun the simple heart", "God gave them at their birth, and blotted out", "His image. Thou dost mark them, flushed with hope,", "As on the threshold of their vast designs", "Doubtful and loose they stand, and strik'st them down.", "", "Alas, I little thought that the stern power", "Whose fearful praise I sung, would try me thus", "Before the strain was ended. It must cease--", "For he is in his grave who taught my youth", "The art of verse, and in the bud of life", "Offered me to the muses. Oh, cut off", "Untimely! when thy reason in its strength,", "Ripened by years of toil and studious search", "", "And watch of Nature's silent lessons, taught", "Thy hand to practise best the lenient art", "To which thou gavest thy laborious days.", "And, last, thy life. And, therefore, when the earth", "Received thee, tears were in unyielding eyes", "And on hard cheeks, and they who deemed thy skill", "Delayed their death-hour, shuddered and turned pale", "When thou wert gone. This faltering verse, which thou", "Shalt not, as wont, o'erlook, is all I have", "To offer at thy grave--this--and the hope", "To copy thy example, and to leave", "A name of which the wretched shall not think", "As of an enemy's, whom they forgive", "As all forgive the dead. Rest, therefore, thou", "Whose early guidance trained my infant steps--", "Rest, in the bosom of God, till the brief sleep", "Of death is over, and a happier life", "Shall dawn to waken thine insensible dust.", "Now thou art not--and yet the men whose guilt", "Has wearied Heaven for vengeance--he who bears", "False witness--he who takes the orphan's bread,", "And robs the widow--he who spreads abroad", "Polluted hands in mockery of prayer,", "Are left to cumber earth. Shuddering I look", "On what is written, yet I blot not out", "The desultory numbers--let them stand.", "The record of an idle revery." ], "linecount": "168" }, { "title": "Ballade of Dead Actors", "author": "William Ernest Henley", "lines": [ "Where are the passions they essayed,", "And where the tears they made to flow?", "Where the wild humours they portrayed", "For laughing worlds to see and know?", "Othello's wrath and Juliet's woe?", "Sir Peter's whims and Timon's gall?", "And Millamant and Romeo?", "Into the night go one and all.", "Where are the braveries, fresh or frayed?", "The plumes, the armours -- friend and foe?", "The cloth of gold, the rare brocade,", "The mantles glittering to and fro?", "The pomp, the pride, the royal show?", "The cries of war and festival?", "The youth, the grace, the charm, the glow?", "Into the night go one and all.", "The curtain falls, the play is played:", "The Beggar packs beside the Beau;", "The Monarch troops, and troops the Maid;", "The Thunder huddles with the Snow.", "Where are the revellers high and low?", "The clashing swords? The lover's call?", "The dancers gleaming row on row?", "Into the night go one and all." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Song II: Have No Thought for Tomorrow", "author": "William Morris", "lines": [ "Love is enough: have no thought for to-morrow", "If ye lie down this even in rest from your pain,", "Ye who have paid for your bliss with great sorrow:", "For as it was once so it shall be again.", "Ye shall cry out for death as ye stretch forth in vain", "", "Feeble hands to the hands that would help but they may not,", "Cry out to deaf ears that would hear if they could;", "Till again shall the change come, and words your lips say not", "Your hearts make all plain in the best wise they would", "And the world ye thought waning is glorious and good:", "", "And no morning now mocks you and no nightfall is weary,", "The plains are not empty of song and of deed:", "The sea strayeth not, nor the mountains are dreary;", "The wind is not helpless for any man's need,", "Nor falleth the rain but for thistle and weed.", "", "O surely this morning all sorrow is hidden,", "All battle is hushed for this even at least;", "And no one this noontide may hunger, unbidden", "To the flowers and the singing and the joy of your feast", "Where silent ye sit midst the world's tale increased.", "", "Lo, the lovers unloved that draw nigh for your blessing!", "For your tale makes the dreaming whereby yet they live", "The dreams of the day with their hopes of redressing,", "The dreams of the night with the kisses they give,", "The dreams of the dawn wherein death and hope strive.", "", "Ah, what shall we say then, but that earth threatened often", "Shall live on for ever that such things may be,", "That the dry seed shall quicken, the hard earth shall soften,", "And the spring-bearing birds flutter north o'er the sea,", "That earth's garden may bloom round my love's feet and me?" ], "linecount": "30" }, { "title": "King Arthur's Tomb", "author": "William Morris", "lines": [ "Hot August noon: already on that day", "Since sunrise through the Wiltshire downs, most sad", "Of mouth and eye, he had gone leagues of way;", "Ay and by night, till whether good or bad", "", "He was, he knew not, though he knew perchance", "That he was Launcelot, the bravest knight", "Of all who since the world was, have borne lance,", "Or swung their swords in wrong cause or in right.", "", "Nay, he knew nothing now, except that where", "The Glastonbury gilded towers shine,", "A lady dwelt, whose name was Guenevere;", "This he knew also; that some fingers twine,", "", "Not only in a man's hair, even his heart,", "(Making him good or bad I mean,) but in his life,", "Skies, earth, men's looks and deeds, all that has part,", "Not being ourselves, in that half-sleep, half-strife,", "", "(Strange sleep, strange strife,) that men call living; so", "Was Launcelot most glad when the moon rose,", "Because it brought new memories of her. \"Lo,", "Between the trees a large moon, the wind lows", "", "\"Not loud, but as a cow begins to low,", "Wishing for strength to make the herdsman hear:", "The ripe corn gathereth dew; yea, long ago,", "In the old garden life, my Guenevere", "", "\"Loved to sit still among the flowers, till night", "Had quite come on, hair loosen'd, for she said,", "Smiling like heaven, that its fairness might", "Draw up the wind sooner to cool her head.", "", "\"Now while I ride how quick the moon gets small,", "As it did then: I tell myself a tale", "That will not last beyond the whitewashed wall,", "Thoughts of some joust must help me through the vale,", "", "\"Keep this till after: How Sir Gareth ran", "A good course that day under my Queen's eyes,", "And how she sway'd laughing at Dinadan.", "No. Back again, the other thoughts will rise,", "", "\"And yet I think so fast 'twill end right soon:", "Verily then I think, that Guenevere,", "Made sad by dew and wind, and tree-barred moon,", "Did love me more than ever, was more dear", "", "\"To me than ever, she would let me lie", "And kiss her feet, or, if I sat behind,", "Would drop her hand and arm most tenderly,", "And touch my mouth. And she would let me wind", "", "\"Her hair around my neck, so that it fell", "Upon my red robe, strange in the twilight", "With many unnamed colours, till the bell", "Of her mouth on my cheek sent a delight", "", "\"Through all my ways of being; like the stroke", "Wherewith God threw all men upon the face", "When he took Enoch, and when Enoch woke", "With a changed body in the happy place.", "", "\"Once, I remember, as I sat beside,", "She turn'd a little, and laid back her head,", "And slept upon my breast; I almost died", "In those night-watches with my love and dread.", "", "\"There lily-like she bow'd her head and slept,", "And I breathed low, and did not dare to move,", "But sat and quiver'd inwardly, thoughts crept,", "And frighten'd me with pulses of my Love.", "", "\"The stars shone out above the doubtful green", "Of her bodice, in the green sky overhead;", "Pale in the green sky were the stars I ween,", "Because the moon shone like a star she shed", "", "\"When she dwelt up in heaven a while ago,", "And ruled all things but God: the night went on,", "The wind grew cold, and the white moon grew low,", "One hand had fallen down, and now lay on", "", "\"My cold stiff palm; there were no colours then", "For near an hour, and I fell asleep", "In spite of all my striving, even when", "I held her whose name-letters make me leap.", "", "\"I did not sleep long, feeling that in sleep", "I did some loved one wrong, so that the sun", "Had only just arisen from the deep", "Still land of colours, when before me one", "", "\"Stood whom I knew, but scarcely dared to touch,", "She seemed to have changed so in the night;", "Moreover she held scarlet lilies, such", "As Maiden Margaret bears upon the light", "", "\"Of the great church walls, natheless did I walk", "Through the fresh wet woods, and the wheat that morn,", "Touching her hair and hand and mouth, and talk", "Of love we held, nigh hid among the corn.", "", "\"Back to the palace, ere the sun grew high,", "We went, and in a cool green room all day", "I gazed upon the arras giddily,", "Where the wind set the silken kings a-sway.", "", "\"I could not hold her hand, or see her face;", "For which may God forgive me! but I think,", "Howsoever, that she was not in that place.\"", "These memories Launcelot was quick to drink;", "", "And when these fell, some paces past the wall,", "There rose yet others, but they wearied more,", "And tasted not so sweet; they did not fall", "So soon, but vaguely wrenched his strained heart sore", "", "In shadowy slipping from his grasp: these gone,", "A longing followed; if he might but touch", "That Guenevere at once! Still night, the lone", "Grey horse's head before him vex'd him much,", "", "In steady nodding over the grey road:", "Still night, and night, and night, and emptied heart", "Of any stories; what a dismal load", "Time grew at last, yea, when the night did part,", "", "And let the sun flame over all, still there", "The horse's grey ears turn'd this way and that,", "And still he watch'd them twitching in the glare", "Of the morning sun, behind them still he sat,", "", "Quite wearied out with all the wretched night,", "Until about the dustiest of the day,", "On the last down's brow he drew his rein in sight", "Of the Glastonbury roofs that choke the way.", "", "And he was now quite giddy as before,", "When she slept by him, tired out, and her hair", "Was mingled with the rushes on the floor,", "And he, being tired too, was scarce aware", "", "Of her presence; yet as he sat and gazed,", "A shiver ran throughout him, and his breath", "Came slower, he seem'd suddenly amazed,", "As though he had not heard of Arthur's death.", "", "This for a moment only, presently", "He rode on giddy still, until he reach'd", "A place of apple-trees, by the thorn-tree", "Wherefrom St. Joseph in the days past preached.", "", "Dazed there he laid his head upon a tomb,", "Not knowing it was Arthur's, at which sight", "One of her maidens told her, \"He is come,\"", "And she went forth to meet him; yet a blight", "", "Had settled on her, all her robes were black,", "With a long white veil only; she went slow,", "As one walks to be slain, her eyes did lack", "Half her old glory, yea, alas! the glow", "", "Had left her face and hands; this was because", "As she lay last night on her purple bed,", "Wishing for morning, grudging every pause", "Of the palace clocks, until that Launcelot's head", "", "Should lie on her breast, with all her golden hair", "Each side: when suddenly the thing grew drear,", "In morning twilight, when the grey downs bare", "Grew into lumps of sin to Guenevere.", "", "At first she said no word, but lay quite still,", "Only her mouth was open, and her eyes", "Gazed wretchedly about from hill to hill;", "As though she asked, not with so much surprise", "", "As tired disgust, what made them stand up there", "So cold and grey. After, a spasm took", "Her face, and all her frame, she caught her hair,", "All her hair, in both hands, terribly she shook,", "", "And rose till she was sitting in the bed,", "Set her teeth hard, and shut her eyes and seem'd", "As though she would have torn it from her head,", "Natheless she dropp'd it, lay down, as she deem'd", "", "It matter'd not whatever she might do:", "O Lord Christ! pity on her ghastly face!", "Those dismal hours while the cloudless blue", "Drew the sun higher: He did give her grace;", "", "Because at last she rose up from her bed,", "And put her raiment on, and knelt before", "The blessed rood, and with her dry lips said,", "Muttering the words against the marble floor:", "", "\"Unless you pardon, what shall I do, Lord,", "But go to hell? and there see day by day", "Foul deed on deed, hear foulest word on word,", "For ever and ever, such as on the way", "", "\"To Camelot I heard once from a churl,", "That curled me up upon my jennet's neck", "With bitter shame; how then, Lord, should I curl", "For ages and for ages? dost thou reck", "", "\"That I am beautiful, Lord, even as you", "And your dear mother? why did I forget", "You were so beautiful, and good, and true,", "That you loved me so, Guenevere? O yet", "", "\"If even I go to hell, I cannot choose", "But love you, Christ, yea, though I cannot keep", "From loving Launcelot; O Christ! must I lose", "My own heart's love? see, though I cannot weep,", "", "\"Yet am I very sorry for my sin;", "Moreover, Christ, I cannot bear that hell,", "I am most fain to love you, and to win", "A place in heaven some time: I cannot tell:", "", "\"Speak to me, Christ! I kiss, kiss, kiss your feet;", "Ah! now I weep!\" The maid said, \"By the tomb", "He waiteth for you, lady,\" coming fleet,", "Not knowing what woe filled up all the room.", "", "So Guenevere rose and went to meet him there,", "He did not hear her coming, as he lay", "On Arthur's head, till some of her long hair", "Brush'd on the new-cut stone: \"Well done! to pray", "", "\"For Arthur, my dear Lord, the greatest king", "That ever lived.\" \"Guenevere! Guenevere!", "Do you not know me, are you gone mad? fling", "Your arms and hair about me, lest I fear", "", "\"You are not Guenevere, but some other thing.\"", "\"Pray you forgive me, fair lord Launcelot!", "I am not mad, but I am sick; they cling,", "God's curses, unto such as I am; not", "", "\"Ever again shall we twine arms and lips.\"", "\"Yea, she is mad: thy heavy law, O Lord,", "Is very tight about her now, and grips", "Her poor heart, so that no right word", "", "\"Can reach her mouth; so, Lord, forgive her now,", "That she not knowing what she does, being mad,", "Kills me in this way: Guenevere, bend low", "And kiss me once! for God's love kiss me! sad", "", "\"Though your face is, you look much kinder now;", "Yea once, once for the last time kiss me, lest I die.\"", "\"Christ! my hot lips are very near his brow,", "Help me to save his soul! Yea, verily,", "", "\"Across my husband's head, fair Launcelot!", "Fair serpent mark'd with V upon the head!", "This thing we did while yet he was alive,", "Why not, O twisting knight, now he is dead?", "", "\"Yea, shake! shake now and shiver! if you can", "Remember anything for agony,", "Pray you remember how when the wind ran", "One cool spring evening through fair aspen-tree,", "", "\"And elm and oak about the palace there", "The king came back from battle, and I stood", "To meet him, with my ladies, on the stair,", "My face made beautiful with my young blood.\"", "", "\"Will she lie now, Lord God?\" \"Remember too,", "Wrung heart, how first before the knights there came", "A royal bier, hung round with green and blue,", "About it shone great tapers with sick flame.", "", "\"And thereupon Lucius, the Emperor,", "Lay royal-robed, but stone-cold now and dead,", "Not able to hold sword or sceptre more,", "But not quite grim; because his cloven head", "", "\"Bore no marks now of Launcelot's bitter sword,", "Being by embalmers deftly solder'd up;", "So still it seem'd the face of a great lord,", "Being mended as a craftsman mends a cup.", "", "\"Also the heralds sung rejoicingly", "To their long trumpets; 'Fallen under shield,", "Here lieth Lucius, King of Italy,", "Slain by Lord Launcelot in open field.'", "", "\"Thereat the people shouted: 'Launcelot!'", "And through the spears I saw you drawing nigh,", "You and Lord Arthur: nay, I saw you not,", "But rather Arthur, God would not let die,", "", "\"I hoped, these many years; he should grow great,", "And in his great arms still encircle me,", "Kissing my face, half blinded with the heat", "Of king's love for the queen I used to be.", "", "\"Launcelot, Launcelot, why did he take your hand,", "When he had kissed me in his kingly way?", "Saying: 'This is the knight whom all the land", "Calls Arthur's banner, sword, and shield to-day;", "", "\"'Cherish him, love.' Why did your long lips cleave", "In such strange way unto my fingers then?", "So eagerly glad to kiss, so loath to leave", "When you rose up? Why among helmed men", "", "\"Could I always tell you by your long strong arms,", "And sway like an angel's in your saddle there?", "Why sicken'd I so often with alarms", "Over the tilt-yard? Why were you more fair", "", "\"Than aspens in the autumn at their best?", "Why did you fill all lands with your great fame,", "So that Breuse even, as he rode, fear'd lest", "At turning of the way your shield should flame?", "", "\"Was it nought then, my agony and strife?", "When as day passed by day, year after year,", "I found I could not live a righteous life!", "Didst ever think queens held their truth for dear?", "", "\"O, but your lips say: 'Yea, but she was cold", "Sometimes, always uncertain as the spring;", "When I was sad she would be overbold,", "Longing for kisses. When war-bells did ring,", "", "\"'The back-toll'd bells of noisy Camelot.'\"", "\"Now, Lord God, listen! listen, Guenevere,", "Though I am weak just now, I think there's not", "A man who dares to say: 'You hated her,", "", "\"'And left her moaning while you fought your fill", "In the daisied meadows!' lo you her thin hand,", "That on the carven stone can not keep still,", "Because she loves me against God's command,", "", "\"Has often been quite wet with tear on tear,", "Tears Launcelot keeps somewhere, surely not", "In his own heart, perhaps in Heaven, where", "He will not be these ages.\" \"Launcelot!", "", "\"Loud lips, wrung heart! I say when the bells rang,", "The noisy back-toll'd bells of Camelot,", "There were two spots on earth, the thrushes sang", "In the lonely gardens where my love was not,", "", "\"Where I was almost weeping; I dared not", "Weep quite in those days, lest one maid should say,", "In tittering whispers: 'Where is Launcelot", "To wipe with some kerchief those tears away?'", "", "\"Another answer sharply with brows knit,", "And warning hand up, scarcely lower though:", "'You speak too loud, see you, she heareth it,", "This tigress fair has claws, as I well know,", "", "\"'As Launcelot knows too, the poor knight! well-a-day!", "Why met he not with Iseult from the West,", "Or better still, Iseult of Brittany?", "Perchance indeed quite ladyless were best.'", "", "\"Alas, my maids, you loved not overmuch", "Queen Guenevere, uncertain as sunshine", "In March; forgive me! for my sin being such,", "About my whole life, all my deeds did twine,", "", "\"Made me quite wicked; as I found out then,", "I think; in the lonely palace where each morn", "We went, my maids and I, to say prayers when", "They sang mass in the chapel on the lawn.", "", "\"And every morn I scarce could pray at all,", "For Launcelot's red-golden hair would play,", "Instead of sunlight, on the painted wall,", "Mingled with dreams of what the priest did say;", "", "\"Grim curses out of Peter and of Paul;", "Judging of strange sins in Leviticus;", "Another sort of writing on the wall,", "Scored deep across the painted heads of us.", "", "\"Christ sitting with the woman at the well,", "And Mary Magdalen repenting there,", "Her dimmed eyes scorch'd and red at sight of hell", "So hardly 'scaped, no gold light on her hair.", "", "\"And if the priest said anything that seemed", "To touch upon the sin they said we did,", "(This in their teeth) they looked as if they deem'd", "That I was spying what thoughts might be hid", "", "\"Under green-cover'd bosoms, heaving quick", "Beneath quick thoughts; while they grew red with shame,", "And gazed down at their feet: while I felt sick,", "And almost shriek'd if one should call my name.", "", "\"The thrushes sang in the lone garden there:", "But where you were the birds were scared I trow:", "Clanging of arms about pavilions fair,", "Mixed with the knights' laughs; there, as I well know,", "", "\"Rode Launcelot, the king of all the band,", "And scowling Gauwaine, like the night in day,", "And handsome Gareth, with his great white hand", "Curl'd round the helm-crest, ere he join'd the fray;", "", "\"And merry Dinadan with sharp dark face,", "All true knights loved to see; and in the fight", "Great Tristram, and though helmed you could trace", "In all his bearing the frank noble knight;", "", "\"And by him Palomydes, helmet off,", "He fought, his face brush'd by his hair,", "Red heavy swinging hair; he fear'd a scoff", "So overmuch, though what true knight would dare", "", "\"To mock that face, fretted with useless care,", "And bitter useless striving after love?", "O Palomydes, with much honour bear", "Beast Glatysaunt upon your shield, above", "", "\"Your helm that hides the swinging of your hair,", "And think of Iseult, as your sword drives through", "Much mail and plate: O God, let me be there", "A little time, as I was long ago!", "", "\"Because stout Gareth lets his spear fall low,", "Gauwaine and Launcelot, and Dinadan", "Are helm'd and waiting; let the trumpets go!", "Bend over, ladies, to see all you can!", "", "\"Clench teeth, dames, yea, clasp hands, for Gareth's spear", "Throws Kay from out his saddle, like a stone", "From a castle-window when the foe draws near:", "'Iseult!' Sir Dinadan rolleth overthrown.", "", "\"'Iseult!' again: the pieces of each spear", "Fly fathoms up, and both the great steeds reel;", "'Tristram for Iseult!' 'Iseult!' and 'Guenevere!'", "The ladies' names bite verily like steel.", "", "\"They bite: bite me, Lord God! I shall go mad,", "Or else die kissing him, he is so pale,", "He thinks me mad already, O bad! bad!", "Let me lie down a little while and wail.\"", "", "\"No longer so, rise up, I pray you, love,", "And slay me really, then we shall be heal'd,", "Perchance, in the aftertime by God above.\"", "\"Banner of Arthur, with black-bended shield", "", "\"Sinister-wise across the fair gold ground!", "Here let me tell you what a knight you are,", "O sword and shield of Arthur! you are found", "A crooked sword, I think, that leaves a scar", "", "\"On the bearer's arm, so be he thinks it straight,", "Twisted Malay's crease beautiful blue-grey,", "Poison'd with sweet fruit; as he found too late,", "My husband Arthur, on some bitter day!", "", "\"O sickle cutting hemlock the day long!", "That the husbandman across his shoulder hangs,", "And, going homeward about evensong,", "Dies the next morning, struck through by the fangs!", "", "\"Banner, and sword, and shield, you dare not die,", "Lest you meet Arthur in the other world,", "And, knowing who you are, he pass you by,", "Taking short turns that he may watch you curl'd,", "", "\"Body and face and limbs in agony,", "Lest he weep presently and go away,", "Saying: 'I loved him once,' with a sad sigh,", "Now I have slain him, Lord, let me go too, I pray.", "", "[Launcelot falls.]", "", "\"Alas! alas! I know not what to do,", "If I run fast it is perchance that I", "May fall and stun myself, much better so,", "Never, never again! not even when I die.\"", "", "[LAUNCELOT, on awaking.]", "", "\"I stretch'd my hands towards her and fell down,", "How long I lay in swoon I cannot tell:", "My head and hands were bleeding from the stone,", "When I rose up, also I heard a bell.\"" ], "linecount": "398" }, { "title": "The Story of Sigurd the Volsung (excerpt)", "author": "William Morris", "lines": [ "But therewith the sun rose upward and lightened all the earth,", "And the light flashed up to the heavens from the rims of the glorious girth;", "But they twain arose together, and with both her palms outspread,", "And bathed in the light returning, she cried aloud and said:", "\"All hail, O Day and thy Sons, and thy kin of the coloured things!", "Hail, following Night, and thy Daughter that leadeth thy wavering wings!", "Look down With unangry eyes on us today alive,", "And give us the hearts victorious, and the gain for which we strive!", "All hail, ye Lords of God-home, and ye Queens of the House of Gold!", "Hail, thou dear Earth that bearest, and thou Wealth of field and fold!", "Give us, your noble children, the glory of wisdom and speech,", "And the hearts and the hands of healing, and the mouths and hands that teach!\"", "", "Then they turned and were knit together; and oft and o'er again", "They craved, and kissed rejoicing, and their hearts were full and fain.", "Then Sigurd looketh upon her, and the words from his heart arise:", "\"Thou art the fairest of earth, and the wisest of the wise;", "O who art thou that lovest? I am Sigurd, e'en as I told;", "I have slain the Foe of the Gods, and gotten the Ancient Gold;", "And great were the gain of thy love, and the gift of mine earthly days,", "If we twain should never sunder as we wend on the changing ways.", "O who art thou that lovest, thou fairest of all things born?", "And what meanest thy sleep and thy slumber in the wilderness forlorn?\"", "", "She said: \"I am one that loveth: I was born of the earthly folk,", "But of old Allfather took me from the Kings and their wedding yoke:", "And he called me the Victory-Wafter, and I went and came as he would,", "And I chose the slain for his war-host, and the days were glorious and good,", "Till the thoughts of my heart overcame me, and the pride of my wisdom and speech,", "And I scorned the earth-folk's Framer and the Lord of the world I must teach:", "For the death-doomed I caught from the sword, and the fated life I slew,", "And I deemed that my deeds were goodly, and that long I should do and undo.", "But Allfather came against me and the God in his wrath arose;", "And he cried: `Thou hast thought in thy folly that the Gods have friends and foes,", "That they wake, and the world wends onward, that they sleep, and the world slips back,", "That they laugh, and the world's weal waxeth, that they frown and fashion the the wrack:", "Thou hast cast up the curse against me; it shall fall aback on thine head;", "Go back to the sons of repentance, with the children of sorrow wed!", "For the Gods are great unholpen, and their grief is seldom seen,", "And the wrong that they will and must be is soon as it had not been.'", "", "\"Yet I thought: `Shall I wed in the world,shall I gather grief on the earth?", "Then the fearless heart shall I wed, and bring the best to birth,", "And fashion such tales for the telling, that Earth shall be holpen at least,", "If the Gods think scorn of its fairness, as they sit at the changeless feast.'", "\"Then somewhat smiled Allfather; and he spake: 'So let it be!", "The doom thereof abideth; the doom of me and thee.", "Yet long shall the time pass over ere thy waking day be born:", "Fare forth, and forget and be weary 'neath the Sting of the Sleepful Thorn!'", "", "'So I came to the head of Hindfell and the ruddy shields and white,", "And the wall of the wildfire wavering around the isle of night;", "And there the Sleep-thorn pierced me, and the slumber on me fell,", "And the night of nameless sorrows that hath no tale to tell.", "Now I am she that loveth; and the day is nigh at hand", "When I, who have ridden the sea-realm and the regions of the land,", "And dwelt in the measureless mountains and the forge of stormy days,", "Shall dwell in the house of my fathers and the land of the people's praise;", "And there shall hand meet hand, and heart by heart shall beat,", "And the lying-down shall be joyous, and the morn's uprising sweet.", "Lo now, I look on thine heart and behold of thine inmost will,", "That thou of the days wouldst hearken that our portion shall fulfil;", "But O, be wise of man-folk, and the hope of thine heart refrain!", "As oft in the battle's beginning ye vex the steed with the rein,", "Lest at last in the latter ending, when the sword hath hushed the horn,", "His limbs should be weary and fail, and his might be over-worn.", "O be wise, lest thy love constrain me, and my vision wax o'er-clear,", "And thou ask of the thing that thou shouldst not, and the thing that thou wouldst not hear.", "", "Know thou, most mighty of men, that the Norns shall order all,", "And yet without thine helping shall no whit of their will befall;", "Be wise! 'tis a marvel of words, and a mock for the fool and the blind;", "But I saw it writ in the heavens, and its fashioning there did I find:", "And the night of the Norns and their slumber, and the tide when the world runs back,", "And the way of the sun is tangled, it is wrought of the dastard's lack.", "But the day when the fair earth blossoms, and the sun is bright above,", "Of the daring deeds is it fashioned and the eager hearts of love.", "", "\"Be wise, and cherish thine hope in the freshness of the days,", "And scatter its seed from thine hand in the field of the people's praise;", "Then fair shall it fall in the furrow, and some the earth shall speed,", "And the sons of men shall marvel at the blossom of the deed:", "But some the earth shall speed not: nay rather, the wind of the heaven", "Shall waft it away from thy longing--and a gift to the Gods hast thou given,", "And a tree for the roof and the wall in the house of the hope that shall be,", "Though it seemeth our very sorrow, and the grief of thee and me.", "", "\"Strive not with the fools of man-folk: for belike thou shalt overcome;", "And what then is the gain of thine hunting when thou bearest the quarry home?", "Or else shall the fool overcome thee, and what deed thereof shall grow?", "Nay, strive with the wise man rather, and increase thy woe and his woe;", "Yet thereof a gain hast thou gotten; and the half of thine heart hast thou won", "If thou mayst prevail against him, and his deeds are the deeds thou hast done;", "Yea, and if thou fall before him, in him shalt thou live again,", "And thy deeds in his hand shall blossom, and his heart of thine heart shall be fain.", "", "\"When thou hearest the fool rejoicing, and he saith, 'It is over and past,", "And the wrong was better than right, and hate turns into love at the last,", "And we strove for nothing at all, and the Gods are fallen asleep;", "For so good is the world a-growing that the evil good shall reap:'", "Then loosen thy sword in the scabbard and settle the helm on thine head,", "For men betrayed are mighty, and great are the wrongfully dead.", "", "\"Wilt thou do the deed and repent it? thou hadst better never been born:", "Wilt thou do the deed and exalt it? then thy fame shall be outworn:", "Thou shalt do the deed and abide it, and sit on thy throne on high,", "And look on today and tomorrow as those that never die.", "", "\"Love thou the Gods--and withstand them, lest thy fame should fail in the end,", "And thou be but their thrall and their bondsman, who wert born for their very friend:", "For few things from the Gods are hidden, and the hearts of men they know,", "And how that none rejoiceth to quail and crouch alow.", "", "\"I have spoken the words, belov{`e}d, to thy matchless glory and worth;", "But thy heart to my heart hath been speaking, though my tongue hath set it forth:", "For I am she that loveth, and I know what thou wouldst teach", "From the heart of thine unlearned wisdom, and I needs must speak thy speech.\"", "", "Then words were weary and silent, but oft and o'er again", "They craved and kissed rejoicing, and their hearts were full and fain.", "", "Then spake the Son of Sigmund: \"Fairest, and most of worth,", "Hast thou seen the ways of man-folk and the regions of the earth?", "Then speak yet more of wisdom; for most meet meseems it is", "That my soul to thy soul be shapen, and that I should know thy bliss.\"", "", "So she took his right hand meekly, nor any word would say,", "Not e'en of love or praising, his longing to delay;", "And they sat on the side of Hindfell, and their fain eyes looked and loved,", "As she told of the hidden matters whereby the world is moved:", "And she told of the framing of all things, and the houses of the heaven;", "And she told of the star-worlds' courses, and how the winds be driven;", "And she told of the Norns and their names, and the fate that abideth the earth;", "And she told of the ways of the King-folk in their anger and their mirth;", "And she spoke of the love of women, and told of the flame that burns,", "And the fall of mighty houses, and the friend that falters and turns,", "And the lurking blinded vengeance, and the wrong that amendeth wrong,", "And the hand that repenteth its stroke, and the grief that endureth for long:", "And how man shall bear and forbear, and be master of all that is;", "And how man shall measure it all, the wrath, and the grief, and the bliss.", "\"I saw the body of Wisdom, and of shifting guise was she wrought,", "And I stretched out my hands to hold her, and a mote of the dust they caught;", "And I prayed her to come for my teaching, and she came in the midnight dream--", "And I woke and might not remember, nor betwixt her tangle deem:", "She spake, and how might I hearken; I heard, and how might I know;", "I knew, and how might I fashion, or her hidden glory show?", "All things I have told thee of Wisdom are but fleeting images", "Of her hosts that abide in the heavens, and her light that Allfather sees:", "Yet wise is the sower that sows, and wise is the reaper that reaps,", "And wise is the smith in his smiting, and wise is the warder that keeps:", "And wise shalt thou be to deliver, and I shall be wise to desire;", "--And lo, the tale that is told, and the sword and the wakening fire!", "Lo now, I am she that loveth, and hark how Greyfell neighs,", "And Fafnir's Bed is gleaming, and green go the downward ways,", "The road to the children of men and the deeds that thou shalt do", "In the joy of thy life-days' morning, when thine hope is fashioned anew.", "Come now, O Bane of the Serpent, for now is the high-noon come,", "And the sun hangeth over Hindfell and looks on the earth-folk's home;", "But the soul is so great within thee, and so glorious are thine eyes,", "And me so love constraineth, and mine heart that was called the wise,", "That we twain may see men's dwellings and the house where we shall dwell,", "And the place of our life's beginning, where the tale shall be to tell.\"", "", "So they climb the burg of Hindfell, and hand in hand they fare,", "Till all about and above them is nought but the sunlit air,", "And there close they cling together rejoicing in their mirth;", "For far away beneath them lie the kingdoms of the earth,", "And the garths of men-folk's dwellings and the streams that water them,", "And the rich and plenteous acres, and the silver ocean's hem,", "And the woodland wastes and the mountains, and all that holdeth all;", "The house and the ship and the island, the loom and the mine and the stall,", "The beds of bane and healing, the crafts that slay and save,", "The temple of God and the Doom-ring, the cradle and the grave.", "", "Then spake the Victory-Wafter: \"O King of the Earthly Age,", "As a God thou beholdest the treasure and the joy of thine heritage,", "And where on the wings of his hope is the spirit of Sigurd borne?", "Yet I bid thee hover awhile as a lark alow on the corn;", "Yet I bid thee look on the land 'twixt the wood and the silver sea", "In the bight of the swirling river, and the house that cherished me!", "There dwelleth mine earthly sister and the king that she hath wed;", "There morn by morn aforetime I woke on the golden bed;", "There eve by eve I tarried mid the speech and the lays of kings;", "There noon by noon I wandered and plucked the blossoming things;", "The little land of Lymdale by the swirling river's side,", "Where Brynhild once was I called in the days ere my father died;", "The little land of Lymdale 'twixt the woodland and the sea,", "Where on thee mine eyes shall brighten and thine eyes shall beam on me.\"", "\"I shall seek thee there,\" said Sigurd, \"when the day-spring is begun,", "Ere we wend the world together in the season of the sun.\"", "", "\"I shall bide thee there,\" said Brynhild, \"till the fulness of the days,", "And the time for the glory appointed, and the springing-tide of praise.\"", "From his hand then draweth Sigurd Andvari's ancient Gold;", "There is nought but the sky above them as the ring together they hold,", "The shapen ancient token, that hath no change nor end,", "No change, and no beginning, no flaw for God to mend:", "Then Sigurd cries: \"O Brynhild, now hearken while I swear,", "That the sun shall die in the heavens and the day no more be fair,", "If I seek not love in Lymdale and the house that fostered thee,", "And the land where thou awakedst 'twixt the woodland and the sea!\"", "", "And she cried: \"O Sigurd, Sigurd, now hearken while I swear", "That the day shall die for ever and the sun to blackness wear,", "Ere I forget thee, Sigurd, as I lie 'twixt wood and sea", "In the little land of Lymdale and the house that fostered me!\"", "", "Then he set the ring on her finger and once, if ne'er again,", "They kissed and clung together, and their hearts were full and fain.", "", "So the day grew old about them and the joy of their desire,", "And eve and the sunset came, and faint grew the sunset fire,", "And the shadowless death of the day was sweet in the golden tide;", "But the stars shone forth on the world, and the twilight changed and died;", "And sure if the first of man-folk had been born to that starry night,", "And had heard no tale of the sunrise, he had never longed for the light:", "But Earth longed amidst her slumber, as 'neath the night she lay,", "And fresh and all abundant abode the deeds of Day." ], "linecount": "198" }, { "title": "The Loss of the Victoria", "author": "William Topaz McGonagall", "lines": [ "Alas! Now o'er Britannia there hangs a gloom,", "Because over 400 British Tars have met with a watery tomb;", "Who served aboard the \" Victoria,\" the biggest ship in the navy,", "And one of the finest battleships that ever sailed the sea.", "", "And commanded by Sir George Tyron, a noble hero bold,", "And his name on his tombstone should be written in letters of gold;", "For he was skilful in naval tactics, few men could with him cope,", "And he was considered to be the nation's hope.", "", "'Twas on Thursday, the twenty-second of June,", "And off the coast of Syria, and in the afternoon,", "And in the year of our Lord eighteen ninety-three,", "That the ill-fated \"Victoria\" sank to the bottom of the sea.", "", "The \"Victoria\" sank in fifteen minutes after she was rammed,", "In eighty fathoms of water, which was smoothly calmed;", "The monster war vessel capsized bottom uppermost,", "And, alas, lies buried in the sea totally lost.", "", "The \"Victoria\" was the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet,", "And was struck by the \"Camperdown\" when too close they did meet,", "While practising the naval and useful art of war,", "How to wheel and discharge their shot at the enemy afar.", "", "Oh, Heaven ! Methinks I see some men lying in their beds,", "And some skylarking, no doubt, and not a soul dreads", "The coming avalanche that was to seal their doom,", "Until down came the mighty fabric of the engine room.", "", "Then death leaped on them from all quarters in a moment,", "And there were explosions of magazines and boilers rent;", "And the fire and steam and water beat out all life,", "But I hope the drowned ones are in the better world free from strife.", "", "Sir George Tyron was on the bridge at the moment of the accident", "With folded arms, seemingly quite content;", "And seeing the vessel couldn't be saved he remained till the last,", "And went down with the \"Victoria\" when all succour was past.", "", "Methinks I see him on the bridge like a hero brave,", "And the ship slowly sinking into the briny wave;", "And when the men cried, \"Save yourselves without delay,\"", "He told them to save themselves, he felt no dismay.", "", "'Twas only those that leaped from the vessel at the first alarm,", "Luckily so, that were saved from any harm", "By leaping into the boats o'er the vessel's side,", "Thanking God they had escaped as o'er the smooth water they did glide.", "", "At Whitehall, London, mothers and fathers did call,", "And the pitiful scene did the spectators' hearts appal;", "But the most painful case was the mother of J. P. Scarlet,", "Who cried, \"Oh, Heaven, the loss of my son I'll never forget.\"", "", "Oh, Heaven! Befriend the bereaved ones, hard is their fate,", "Which I am sorry at heart to relate;", "But I hope God in His goodness will provide for them,", "Especially the widows, for the loss of their men.", "", "Alas! Britannia now will mourn the loss of her naval commander,", "Who was as brave as the great Alexander;", "And to his honour be it fearlessly told,", "Few men would excel this hero bold.", "", "Alas! 'Tis sad to be buried in eighty fathoms of Syrian sea,", "Which will hide the secret of the \"Victoria\" to all eternity;", "Which causes Britannia's sorrow to be profound", "For the brave British Tars that have been drowned." ], "linecount": "56" }, { "title": "General Gordon, the Hero of Khartoum", "author": "William Topaz McGonagall", "lines": [ "Alas! now o'er the civilised world there hangs a gloom", "For brave General Gordon, that was killed in Khartoum,", "He was a Christian hero, and a soldier of the Cross,", "And to England his death will be a very great loss.", "", "He was very cool in temper, generous and brave,", "The friend of the poor, the sick, and the slave;", "And many a poor boy he did educate,", "And laboured hard to do so early and late.", "", "He was a man that did not care for worldly gear,", "Because the living and true God he did fear;", "And the hearts of the poor he liked to cheer,", "And by his companions in arms he was loved most dear.", "", "He always took the Bible for his guide,", "And he liked little boys to walk by his side;", "He preferred their company more so than men,", "Because he knew there was less guile in them.", "", "And in his conversation he was modest and plain,", "Denouncing all pleasures he considered sinful and vain,", "And in battle he carried no weapon but a small cane,", "Whilst the bullets fell around him like a shower of rain.", "", "He burnt the debtors' books that were imprisoned in Khartoum,", "And freed them from a dismal prison gloom,", "Those that were imprisoned for debt they couldn't pay,", "And sent them rejoicing on their way.", "", "While engaged in the Russian war, in the midst of the fight,", "He stood upon a rising ground and viewed them left and right,", "But for their shot and shell he didn't care a jot,", "While the officers cried, Gordon, come down, or else you'll be shot.", "", "His cane was christened by the soldiers Gordon's wand of victory", "And when he waved it the soldiers' hearts were filled with glee", "While with voice and gesture he encouraged them in the strife,", "And he himself appeared to possess a charmed life.", "", "Once when leading a storming party the soldiers drew back,", "But he quickly observed that courage they did lack,", "Then he calmly lighted a cigar, and turned cheerfully found,", "And the soldiers rushed boldly on with a bound.", "", "And they carried the position without delay,", "And the Chinese rebels soon gave way,", "Because God was with him during the day,", "And with those that trust Him for ever and aye.", "", "He was always willing to conduct meetings for the poor,", "Also meat and clothing for them he tried to procure,", "And he always had little humorous speeches at command,", "And to hear him deliver them it must have been grand.", "", "In military life his equal couldn't he found,", "No! if you were to search the wide world around,", "And 'tis pitiful to think he has met with such a doom", "By a base traitor knave while in Khartoum.", "", "Yes, the black-hearted traitor opened the gates of Khartoum,", "And through that the Christian hero has met his doom,", "For when the gates were opened the Arabs rushed madly in,", "And foully murdered him while they laughingly did grin.", "", "But he defended himself nobly with axe and sword in hand,", "But, alas! he was soon overpowered by that savage band,", "And his body received a hundred spear wounds and more,", "While his murderers exultingly did loudly shriek and roar.", "", "But heaven's will,'tis said, must be done,", "And according to his own opinion his time was come;", "But I hope he is now in heaven reaping his reward.", "Although his fate on earth was really very hard.", "", "I hope the people will his memory revere,", "And take an example from him, and worship God in fear,", "And never be too fond of worldly gear,", "And walk in General Gordon's footsteps, while they are here." ], "linecount": "64" }, { "title": "An Address to the New Tay Bridge", "author": "William Topaz McGonagall", "lines": [ "Beautiful new railway bridge of the Silvery Tay,", "With your strong brick piers and buttresses in so grand array,", "And your thirteen central girders, which seem to my eye", "Strong enough all windy storms to defy.", "And as I gaze upon thee my heart feels gay,", "Because thou are the greatest railway bridge of the present day,", "And can be seen for miles away", "From North, South, East or West of the Tay", "On a beautiful and clear sunshiny day,", "And ought to make the hearts of the \"Mars\" boys feel gay,", "Because thine equal nowhere can be seen,", "Only near by Dundee and the bonnie Magdalen Green.", "Beautiful new railway bridge of the Silvery Tay,", "With thy beautiful side-screens along your railway,", "Which will be a great protection on a windy day,", "So as the railway carriages won`t be blown away,", "And ought to cheer the hearts of the passengers night and day", "As they are conveyed along thy beautiful railway,", "And towering above the Silvery Tay,", "Spanning the beautiful river shore to shore", "Upwards of two miles and more,", "Which is most beautiful to be seen", "Near by Dundee and the bonnie Magdalen Green,", "", "Thy structure to my eye seems strong and grand,", "And the workmanship most skilfully planned;", "And I hope the designers, Messrs Barlow and Arrol, will prosper for many a day", "For erecting thee across the beautiful Tay.", "And I think nobody need have the least dismay", "To cross o`er thee by night or by day,", "Because thy strength is visible to be seen", "Near by Dundee and the bonnie Magdalen Green.", "", "Beautiful new railway bridge of the Silvery Tay,", "I wish you success for many a year and a day,", "And I hope thousands of people will come from faraway,", "Both high and low without delay,", "From the North, South, East and West,", "Because as a railway bridge thou art the best;", "Thou standest unequalled to be seen", "Near by Dundee and bonnie Magdalen Green.", "", "And for beauty thou art most lovely to be seen", "As the train crosses o'er thee with her cloud of steam;", "And you look well, painted the colour of marone,", "And to find thy equal there is none,", "Which, without fear of contradiction, I venture to say,", "Because you are the longest railway bridge of the present day", "That now crosses o'er a tidal river stream,", "And the most handsome to be seen", "Near by Dundee and the bonnie Magdalen Green.", "", "", "The New Yorkers boast about their Brooklyn Bridge,", "But in comparison to thee it seems like a midge,", "Because thou spannest the Silvery Tay", "A mile and more longer I venture to say;", "Besides the railway carriages are pulled across by a rope,", "Therefore Brooklyn Bridge cannot with thee cope;", "And as you have been opened on the 20th day of June,", "I hope Her Majesty Queen Victoria will visit thee very soon,", "Because thou art worthy of a visit from Duke, Lord or Queen,", "And strong and securely built, which is most worthy to be seen", "Near by Dundee and the bonnie Magdalen Green." ], "linecount": "59" }, { "title": "The Clepington Catastrophe", "author": "William Topaz McGonagall", "lines": [ "'Twas on a Monday morning, and in the year of 1884,", "That a fire broke out in Bailie Bradford's store,", "Which contained bales of jute and large quantities of waste,", "Which the brave firemen ran to extinguish in great haste.", "", "They left their wives that morning without any dread,", "Never thinking, at the burning pile, they would be killed dead", "By the falling of the rickety and insecure walls;", "When I think of it, kind Christians, my heart it appals!", "", "Because it has caused widows and their families to shed briny tears,", "For there hasn't been such a destructive fire for many years;", "Whereby four brave firemen have perished in the fire,", "And for better fathers or husbands no family could desire.", "", "'Twas about five o'clock in the morning the fire did break out,", "While one of the workmen was inspecting the premises round about--", "Luckily before any one had begun their work for the day--", "So he instantly gave the alarm without delay.", "", "At that time only a few persons were gathered on the spot,", "But in a few minutes some hundreds were got,", "Who came flying in all directions, and in great dismay;", "So they help'd to put out the fire without delay.", "", "But the spreading flames, within the second flats, soon began to appear,", "Which filled the spectators' hearts with sympathy and fear,", "Lest any one should lose their life in the merciless fire,", "When they saw it bursting out and ascending higher and higher.", "", "Captain Ramsay, of the Dundee Fire Brigade, was the first to arrive,", "And under his directions the men seemed all alive,", "For they did their work heroically, with all their might and main,", "In the midst of blinding smoke and the burning flame.", "", "As soon as the catastrophe came to be known,", "The words, Fire! Fire! from every mouth were blown;", "And a cry of despair rang out on the morning air,", "When they saw the burning pile with its red fiery glare.", "", "While a dense cloud of smoke seemed to darken the sky,", "And the red glaring flame ascended up on high,", "Which made the scene appear weird-like around;", "While from the spectators was heard a murmuring sound.", "", "But the brave firemen did their duty manfully to the last,", "And plied the water on the burning pile, copiously and fast;", "But in a moment, without warning, the front wall gave way,", "Which filled the people's hearts with horror and dismay:", "", "Because four brave firemen were killed instantaneously on the spot,", "Which by the spectators will never be forgot;", "While the Fire Fiend laughingly did hiss and roar,", "As he viewed their mangled bodies. with the debris covered o'er.", "", "But in the midst of dust and fire they did their duty well,", "Aye! in the midst of a shower of bricks falling on them pell-mell,", "Until they were compelled to let the water-hose go;", "While the blood from their bruised heads and arms did flow.", "", "But brave James Fyffe held on to the hose until the last,", "And when found in the debris, the people stood aghast.", "When they saw him lying dead, with the hose in his hand,", "Their tears for him they couldn't check nor yet command.", "", "Oh, heaven! I must confess it was no joke", "To see them struggling in the midst of suffocating smoke,", "Each man struggling hard, no doubt, to save his life,", "When he thought of his dear children and his wife.", "", "But still the merciless flame shot up higher and higher;", "Oh, God! it is terrible and cruel to perish by fire;", "Alas! it was saddening and fearful to behold,", "When I think of it, kind Christians, it makes my blood run cold.", "", "What makes the death of Fyffe the more distressing,", "He was going to be the groomsman at his sister's bridal dressing,", "Who was going to be married the next day;", "But, alas! the brave hero's life was taken away.", "", "But accidents will happen by land and by sea,", "Therefore, to save ourselves from accidents, we needn't try to flee,", "For whatsoever God has ordained will come to pass;", "For instance, ye may be killed by a stone or a piece of glass.", "", "I hope the Lord will provide for the widows in their distress,", "For they are to be pitied, I really must confess;", "And I hope the public of Dundee will lend them a helping hand;", "To help the widows and the fatherless is God's command." ], "linecount": "72" }, { "title": "Beautiful Torquay", "author": "William Topaz McGonagall", "lines": [ "All ye lovers of the picturesque, away", "To beautiful Torquay and spend a holiday", "'Tis health for invalids for to go there", "To view the beautiful scenery and inhale the fragrant air,", "Especially in the winter and spring-time of the year,", "When the weather is not too hot, but is balmy and clear.", "", "Torquay lies in a very deep and well-sheltered spot,", "And at first sight by strangers it won't be forgot;", "'Tis said to be the mildest place in ah England,", "And surrounded by lofty hills most beautiful and grand.", "", "Twas here that William of Orange first touched English ground,", "And as he viewed the beautiful spot his heart with joy did rebound;", "And an obelisk marks the spot where he did stand,", "And which for long will be remembered throughout England.", "", "Torquay, with its pier and its diadem of white,", "Is a moat beautiful and very dazzling sight,", "With its white villas glittering on the sides of its green hills,", "And as the tourist gases thereon with joy his heart fills.", "", "The heights around Torquay are most beautiful to be seen,", "Especially when the trees and shrubberies are green,", "And to see the pretty houses under the cliff is a treat,", "And the little town enclosed where two deep valleys meet.", "", "There is also a fine bathing establishment near the pier,", "Where the tourist can bathe without any fear;", "And as the tourists there together doth stroll,", "I advise them to visit a deep chasm called Daddy's Hole.", "", "Then there's Bablicome, only two miles from Torquay,", "Which will make the stranger's heart feel gay,", "As he stands on the cliff four hundred feet above the sea,", "Looking down,'tis sure to fill his heart with ecstasy.", "", "The lodging-houses at Bablicome are magnificent to be seen,", "And the accommodation there would suit either king or queen,", "And there's some exquisite cottages embowered in the woodland,", "And sloping down to the sea shore, is really very grand.", "", "You do not wonder at Napoleon's exclamation", "As he stood on the deck of the \"Bellerophon,\" in a fit of admiration,", "When the vessel was lying to windbound,", "He exclaimed - \"Oh, what a beautiful country!\" his joy was profound.", "", "And as the tourist there in search of beautiful spots doth rove,", "Let them not forget to enquire for Anstey's Cove,", "And there they will see a beautiful beach of milky white,", "And the sight will fill their hearts with delight.", "", "Oh! beautiful Torquay, with your lovely scenery,", "And your magnificent cottages sloping down to the sea,", "You are the most charming spot in all England,", "With your picturesque bay and villas most grand.", "", "And, in conclusion, to tourists I will say,", "Off! off to Torquay and make no delay,", "For the scenery is magnificent, and salubrious the air,", "And 'tis good for the health to reside there." ], "linecount": "50" }, { "title": "The Summary History of Sir William Wallace", "author": "William Topaz McGonagall", "lines": [ "Sir William Wallace of Ellerslie,", "I'm told he went to the High School in Dundee,", "For to learn to read and write,", "And after that he learned to fight,", "While at the High School in Dundee,", "The Provost's son with him disagree,", "Because Wallace did wear a dirk,", "He despised him like an ignorant stirk,", "Which with indignation he keenly felt,", "And told him it would become him better in his belt.", "", "Then Wallace's blood began to boil,", "Just like the serpent in its coil,", "Before it leaps upon its prey;", "And unto him he thus did say:", "'Proud saucy cur, come cease your prate,", "for no longer shall i wait,", "For to hear you insult me,", "At the High School in Dundee;", "For such insolence makes my heart to smart,", "And I'll plunge my dagger in you heart,'", "", "Then his heart's blood did quickly flow,", "And poor Wallace did not know where to go;", "And he stood by him until dead.", "Then far from him he quickly fled,", "Lamenting greatly the deed he had done,", "the murdering of the Provost's son.", "", "The scene shifts to where he was fishing on day,", "Where three English soldiers met him by the way,", "And they asked him fo give them some fish,", "And from them they would make a delicious dish,", "then Wallace gave them share of his fish,", "For to satisfy their wish;", "But they seemed dissatisfied with the share they got,", "So they were resolved to have all the lot.", "", "Then Wallace he thought it was time to look out,", "When they were resolved to have all his trout;", "So he swung his fishing-rod with great force round his head,", "And struck on of them a blow that killed him dead;", "So he instantly seized the fallen man's sword,", "And the other two fled without uttering a word.", "", "Sir William Wallace of Ellerslie,", "You were a warrior of great renown,", "And might have worn Scotland's crown;", "Had it not been for Monteith, the base traitor knave,", "That brought you to a premature grave;", "Yes! you were sold for English gold,", "And brought like a sheep from the fold,", "To die upon a shameful scaffold high,", "Amidst the derisive shouts of your enemies standing by.", "", "But you met your doom like a warrior bold,", "Bidding defiance to them that had you sold,", "And bared your neck for the headsman's stroke;", "And cried, 'Marion, dear, my heart is broke;", "My lovely dear I come to thee,", "Oh! I am longing thee to see!'", "But the headsman was as stolid as the rock,", "And the axe fell heavily on the block,", "And the scaffold did shake with the terrible shock,", "As the body of noble Wallace fell,", "Who had fought for Scotland so well." ], "linecount": "60" }, { "title": "A Summary History of Lord Clive", "author": "William Topaz McGonagall", "lines": [ "About a hundred and fifty years ago,", "History relates it happened so,", "A big ship sailed from the shores of Britain", "Bound for India across the raging main.", "", "And many of the passengers did cry and moan", "As they took the last look of their old home,", "Which they were fast leaving far behind,", "And which some of them would long bear in mind.", "", "Among the passengers was a youth about seventeen years old,", "Who had been a wild boy at home and very bold,", "And by his conduct had filled his parent's hearts with woe,", "Because to school he often refused to go.", "", "And now that he was going so far away from home,", "The thought thereof made him sigh and groan,", "For he felt very sad and dejected were his looks,", "And he often wished he had spent more time at his books.", "", "And when he arrived in India he searched for work there,", "And got to be a clerk in a merchant's office, but for it he didn't care;", "The only pleasure he found was in reading books,", "And while doing so, sad and forlorn were his looks.", "", "One day while feeling unhappy he fired a pistol at his own head,", "Expecting that he would kill himself dead;", "But the pistol wouldn't go off although he tried every plan,", "And he felt sorry, and resolved to become a better man.", "", "So Clive left his desk and became a soldier brave,", "And soon rose to be a captain and manfully did behave;", "For he beat the French in every battle,", "After all their foolish talk and prattle.", "", "Then he thought he would take a voyage home to his friends,", "And for his bad behaviour towards them he would make some amends;", "For he hadn't seen them for many years,", "And when he thought of them he shed briny tears.", "", "And when he arrived in London", "The people after him in crowds did run;", "And they flocked to see him every minute,", "Because they thought him the most famous man in it.", "", "And all the greatest people in the land", "Were proud to shake him by the hand;", "And they gave him a beautiful sword because he had fought so well", "And of his bravery the people to each other did tell.", "", "And when his own friends saw him they to him ran,", "And they hardly knew him, he looked so noble a man;", "And his parents felt o'erjoyed when they saw him home again,", "And when he left his parents again for India it caused them great pain.", "", "But it was a good thing Clive returned to India again,", "Because a wicked prince in his territory wouldn't allow the british to remain,", "And he resolved to drive them off his land,", "And marched upon them boldly with thousands of his band.", "", "But the bad prince trembled when he heard that Clice had come,", "Because the British at the charge of the bayonet made his army run;", "And the bad prince was killed by one of his own band,", "And the British fortunately got all his land.", "", "And nearly all India now belongs to this country,", "Which has been captured by land and by sea,", "By some of the greatest men that ever did live,", "But the greatest of them all was Robert Clive." ], "linecount": "56" }, { "title": "Sonnet 8: Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly?", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly?", "Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy:", "Why lov'st thou that which thou receiv'st not gladly,", "Or else receiv'st with pleasure thine annoy?", "If the true concord of well-tuned sounds,", "By unions married, do offend thine ear,", "They do but sweetly chide thee, who confounds", "In singleness the parts that thou shouldst bear.", "Mark how one string, sweet husband to another,", "Strikes each in each by mutual ordering;", "Resembling sire and child and happy mother,", "Who, all in one, one pleasing note do sing:", " Whose speechless song being many, seeming one,", " Sings this to thee: 'Thou single wilt prove none.'" ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 9: Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye,", "That thou consum'st thy self in single life?", "Ah! if thou issueless shalt hap to die,", "The world will wail thee like a makeless wife;", "The world will be thy widow and still weep", "That thou no form of thee hast left behind,", "When every private widow well may keep", "By children's eyes, her husband's shape in mind:", "Look! what an unthrift in the world doth spend", "Shifts but his place, for still the world enjoys it;", "But beauty's waste hath in the world an end,", "And kept unused the user so destroys it.", " No love toward others in that bosom sits", " That on himself such murd'rous shame commits." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 10: For shame! deny that thou bear'st love to any", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "For shame! deny that thou bear'st love to any,", "Who for thy self art so unprovident.", "Grant, if thou wilt, thou art belov'd of many,", "But that thou none lov'st is most evident:", "For thou art so possess'd with murderous hate,", "That 'gainst thy self thou stick'st not to conspire,", "Seeking that beauteous roof to ruinate", "Which to repair should be thy chief desire.", "O! change thy thought, that I may change my mind:", "Shall hate be fairer lodg'd than gentle love?", "Be, as thy presence is, gracious and kind,", "Or to thyself at least kind-hearted prove:", " Make thee another self for love of me,", " That beauty still may live in thine or thee." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 17: Who will believe my verse in time to come", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Who will believe my verse in time to come,", "If it were fill'd with your most high deserts?", "Though yet heaven knows it is but as a tomb", "Which hides your life, and shows not half your parts.", "If I could write the beauty of your eyes,", "And in fresh numbers number all your graces,", "The age to come would say 'This poet lies;", "Such heavenly touches ne'er touch'd earthly faces.'", "So should my papers, yellow'd with their age,", "Be scorn'd, like old men of less truth than tongue,", "And your true rights be term'd a poet's rage", "And stretched metre of an antique song:", " But were some child of yours alive that time,", " You should live twice,--in it, and in my rhyme." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?", "Thou art more lovely and more temperate:", "Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,", "And summer's lease hath all too short a date:", "Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,", "And often is his gold complexion dimm'd,", "And every fair from fair sometime declines,", "By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd:", "But thy eternal summer shall not fade,", "Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,", "Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,", "When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,", " So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,", " So long lives this, and this gives life to thee." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 23: As an unperfect actor on the stage", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "As an unperfect actor on the stage,", "Who with his fear is put beside his part,", "Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,", "Whose strength's abundance weakens his own heart;", "So I, for fear of trust, forget to say", "The perfect ceremony of love's rite,", "And in mine own love's strength seem to decay,", "O'ercharg'd with burthen of mine own love's might.", "O! let my looks be then the eloquence", "And dumb presagers of my speaking breast,", "Who plead for love, and look for recompense,", "More than that tongue that more hath more express'd.", " O! learn to read what silent love hath writ:", " To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 26: Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage", "Thy merit hath my duty strongly knit,", "To thee I send this written embassage,", "To witness duty, not to show my wit:", "Duty so great, which wit so poor as mine", "May make seem bare, in wanting words to show it,", "But that I hope some good conceit of thine", "In thy soul's thought, all naked, will bestow it:", "Till whatsoever star that guides my moving,", "Points on me graciously with fair aspect,", "And puts apparel on my tatter'd loving,", "To show me worthy of thy sweet respect:", " Then may I dare to boast how I do love thee;", " Till then, not show my head where thou mayst prove me." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 27: Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed,", "The dear respose for limbs with travel tir'd;", "But then begins a journey in my head", "To work my mind, when body's work's expired:", "For then my thoughts--from far where I abide--", "Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,", "And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,", "Looking on darkness which the blind do see:", "Save that my soul's imaginary sight", "Presents thy shadow to my sightless view,", "Which, like a jewel (hung in ghastly night,", "Makes black night beauteous, and her old face new.", " Lo! thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind,", " For thee, and for myself, no quiet find." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 30: When to the sessions of sweet silent thought", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "When to the sessions of sweet silent thought", "I summon up remembrance of things past,", "I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,", "And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:", "Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,", "For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,", "And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe,", "And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight:", "Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,", "And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er", "The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,", "Which I new pay as if not paid before.", " But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,", " All losses are restor'd and sorrows end." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 38: How can my muse want subject to invent", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "How can my muse want subject to invent,", "While thou dost breathe, that pour'st into my verse", "Thine own sweet argument, too excellent", "For every vulgar paper to rehearse?", "O! give thy self the thanks, if aught in me", "Worthy perusal stand against thy sight;", "For who's so dumb that cannot write to thee,", "When thou thy self dost give invention light?", "Be thou the tenth Muse, ten times more in worth", "Than those old nine which rhymers invocate;", "And he that calls on thee, let him bring forth", "Eternal numbers to outlive long date.", " If my slight muse do please these curious days,", " The pain be mine, but thine shall be the praise." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 47: Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took,", "And each doth good turns now unto the other:", "When that mine eye is famish'd for a look,", "Or heart in love with sighs himself doth smother,", "With my love's picture then my eye doth feast,", "And to the painted banquet bids my heart;", "Another time mine eye is my heart's guest,", "And in his thoughts of love doth share a part:", "So, either by thy picture or my love,", "Thy self away, art present still with me;", "For thou not farther than my thoughts canst move,", "And I am still with them, and they with thee;", " Or, if they sleep, thy picture in my sight", " Awakes my heart, to heart's and eye's delight." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 48: How careful was I when I took my way", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "How careful was I when I took my way,", "Each trifle under truest bars to thrust,", "That to my use it might unused stay", "From hands of falsehood, in sure wards of trust!", "But thou, to whom my jewels trifles are,", "Most worthy comfort, now my greatest grief,", "Thou best of dearest, and mine only care,", "Art left the prey of every vulgar thief.", "Thee have I not lock'd up in any chest,", "Save where thou art not, though I feel thou art,", "Within the gentle closure of my breast,", "From whence at pleasure thou mayst come and part;", " And even thence thou wilt be stol'n I fear,", " For truth proves thievish for a prize so dear." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 60: Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,", "So do our minutes hasten to their end;", "Each changing place with that which goes before,", "In sequent toil all forwards do contend.", "Nativity, once in the main of light,", "Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown'd,", "Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight,", "And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.", "Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth", "And delves the parallels in beauty's brow,", "Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth,", "And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow:", " And yet to times in hope, my verse shall stand.", " Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 65: Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,", "But sad mortality o'ersways their power,", "How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea,", "Whose action is no stronger than a flower?", "O! how shall summer's honey breath hold out,", "Against the wrackful siege of battering days,", "When rocks impregnable are not so stout,", "Nor gates of steel so strong but Time decays?", "O fearful meditation! where, alack,", "Shall Time's best jewel from Time's chest lie hid?", "Or what strong hand can hold his swift foot back?", "Or who his spoil of beauty can forbid?", " O! none, unless this miracle have might,", " That in black ink my love may still shine bright." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 72: O! lest the world should task you to recite", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "O! lest the world should task you to recite", "What merit lived in me, that you should love", "After my death,--dear love, forget me quite,", "For you in me can nothing worthy prove;", "Unless you would devise some virtuous lie,", "To do more for me than mine own desert,", "And hang more praise upon deceased I", "Than niggard truth would willingly impart:", "O! lest your true love may seem false in this", "That you for love speak well of me untrue,", "My name be buried where my body is,", "And live no more to shame nor me nor you.", " For I am shamed by that which I bring forth,", " And so should you, to love things nothing worth." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 75: So are you to my thoughts as food to life", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "So are you to my thoughts as food to life,", "Or as sweet-season'd showers are to the ground;", "And for the peace of you I hold such strife", "As 'twixt a miser and his wealth is found.", "Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon", "Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure;", "Now counting best to be with you alone,", "Then better'd that the world may see my pleasure:", "Sometime all full with feasting on your sight,", "And by and by clean starved for a look;", "Possessing or pursuing no delight,", "Save what is had, or must from you be took.", " Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day,", " Or gluttoning on all, or all away." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 81: Or I shall live your epitaph to make", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Or I shall live your epitaph to make,", "Or you survive when I in earth am rotten;", "From hence your memory death cannot take,", "Although in me each part will be forgotten.", "Your name from hence immortal life shall have,", "Though I, once gone, to all the world must die:", "The earth can yield me but a common grave,", "When you entombed in men's eyes shall lie.", "Your monument shall be my gentle verse,", "Which eyes not yet created shall o'er-read;", "And tongues to be, your being shall rehearse,", "When all the breathers of this world are dead;", " You still shall live,--such virtue hath my pen,--", " Where breath most breathes, even in the mouths of men." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 82: I grant thou wert not married to my Muse", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "I grant thou wert not married to my Muse,", "And therefore mayst without attaint o'erlook", "The dedicated words which writers use", "Of their fair subject, blessing every book.", "Thou art as fair in knowledge as in hue,", "Finding thy worth a limit past my praise;", "And therefore art enforced to seek anew", "Some fresher stamp of the time-bettering days.", "And do so, love; yet when they have devis'd,", "What strained touches rhetoric can lend,", "Thou truly fair, wert truly sympathiz'd", "In true plain words, by thy true-telling friend;", " And their gross painting might be better us'd", " Where cheeks need blood; in thee it is abus'd." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 85: My tongue-tied Muse in manners holds her still", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "My tongue-tied Muse in manners holds her still,", "While comments of your praise richly compil'd,", "Reserve their character with golden quill,", "And precious phrase by all the Muses fil'd.", "I think good thoughts, whilst others write good words,", "And like unlettered clerk still cry 'Amen'", "To every hymn that able spirit affords,", "In polish'd form of well-refined pen.", "Hearing you praised, I say ''tis so, 'tis true,'", "And to the most of praise add something more;", "But that is in my thought, whose love to you,", "Though words come hindmost, holds his rank before.", " Then others, for the breath of words respect,", " Me for my dumb thoughts, speaking in effect." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 87: Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing,", "And like enough thou know'st thy estimate,", "The charter of thy worth gives thee releasing;", "My bonds in thee are all determinate.", "For how do I hold thee but by thy granting?", "And for that riches where is my deserving?", "The cause of this fair gift in me is wanting,", "And so my patent back again is swerving.", "Thy self thou gav'st, thy own worth then not knowing,", "Or me to whom thou gav'st it, else mistaking;", "So thy great gift, upon misprision growing,", "Comes home again, on better judgement making.", " Thus have I had thee, as a dream doth flatter,", " In sleep a king, but waking no such matter." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 88: When thou shalt be dispos'd to set me light", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "When thou shalt be dispos'd to set me light,", "And place my merit in the eye of scorn,", "Upon thy side, against myself I'll fight,", "And prove thee virtuous, though thou art forsworn.", "With mine own weakness, being best acquainted,", "Upon thy part I can set down a story", "Of faults conceal'd, wherein I am attainted;", "That thou in losing me shalt win much glory:", "And I by this will be a gainer too;", "For bending all my loving thoughts on thee,", "The injuries that to myself I do,", "Doing thee vantage, double-vantage me.", " Such is my love, to thee I so belong,", " That for thy right, myself will bear all wrong." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 92: But do thy worst to steal thyself away", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "But do thy worst to steal thyself away,", "For term of life thou art assured mine;", "And life no longer than thy love will stay,", "For it depends upon that love of thine.", "Then need I not to fear the worst of wrongs,", "When in the least of them my life hath end.", "I see a better state to me belongs", "Than that which on thy humour doth depend:", "Thou canst not vex me with inconstant mind,", "Since that my life on thy revolt doth lie.", "O! what a happy title do I find,", "Happy to have thy love, happy to die!", " But what's so blessed-fair that fears no blot?", " Thou mayst be false, and yet I know it not." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 94: They that have power to hurt, and will do none", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "They that have power to hurt, and will do none,", "That do not do the thing they most do show,", "Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,", "Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow;", "They rightly do inherit heaven's graces,", "And husband nature's riches from expense;", "They are the lords and owners of their faces,", "Others, but stewards of their excellence.", "The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,", "Though to itself, it only live and die,", "But if that flower with base infection meet,", "The basest weed outbraves his dignity:", " For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;", " Lilies that fester, smell far worse than weeds." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 96: Some say thy fault is youth, some wantonness", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Some say thy fault is youth, some wantonness;", "Some say thy grace is youth and gentle sport;", "Both grace and faults are lov'd of more and less:", "Thou mak'st faults graces that to thee resort.", "As on the finger of a throned queen", "The basest jewel will be well esteem'd,", "So are those errors that in thee are seen", "To truths translated, and for true things deem'd.", "How many lambs might the stern wolf betray,", "If like a lamb he could his looks translate!", "How many gazers mightst thou lead away,", "if thou wouldst use the strength of all thy state!", " But do not so; I love thee in such sort,", " As, thou being mine, mine is thy good report." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 104: To me, fair friend, you never can be old", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "To me, fair friend, you never can be old,", "For as you were when first your eye I ey'd,", "Such seems your beauty still. Three winters cold,", "Have from the forests shook three summers' pride,", "Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turn'd,", "In process of the seasons have I seen,", "Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burn'd,", "Since first I saw you fresh, which yet are green.", "Ah! yet doth beauty like a dial-hand,", "Steal from his figure, and no pace perceiv'd;", "So your sweet hue, which methinks still doth stand,", "Hath motion, and mine eye may be deceiv'd:", " For fear of which, hear this thou age unbred:", " Ere you were born was beauty's summer dead." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Let me not to the marriage of true minds", "Admit impediments. Love is not love", "Which alters when it alteration finds,", "Or bends with the remover to remove:", "O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,", "That looks on tempests and is never shaken;", "It is the star to every wandering bark,", "Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.", "Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks", "Within his bending sickle's compass come;", "Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,", "But bears it out even to the edge of doom.", " If this be error and upon me prov'd,", " I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 118: Like as, to make our appetite more keen", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Like as, to make our appetite more keen,", "With eager compounds we our palate urge;", "As, to prevent our maladies unseen,", "We sicken to shun sickness when we purge;", "Even so, being full of your ne'er-cloying sweetness,", "To bitter sauces did I frame my feeding;", "And, sick of welfare, found a kind of meetness", "To be diseas'd, ere that there was true needing.", "Thus policy in love, to anticipate", "The ills that were not, grew to faults assur'd,", "And brought to medicine a healthful state", "Which, rank of goodness, would by ill be cur'd;", " But thence I learn and find the lesson true,", " Drugs poison him that so fell sick of you." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 121: 'Tis better to be vile than vile esteem'd", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "'Tis better to be vile than vile esteem'd,", "When not to be receives reproach of being;", "And the just pleasure lost, which is so deem'd", "Not by our feeling, but by others' seeing:", "For why should others' false adulterate eyes", "Give salutation to my sportive blood?", "Or on my frailties why are frailer spies,", "Which in their wills count bad what I think good?", "No, I am that I am, and they that level", "At my abuses reckon up their own:", "I may be straight though they themselves be bevel;", "By their rank thoughts, my deeds must not be shown;", " Unless this general evil they maintain,", " All men are bad and in their badness reign." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 125: Were't aught to me I bore the canopy", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Were't aught to me I bore the canopy,", "With my extern the outward honouring,", "Or laid great bases for eternity,", "Which proves more short than waste or ruining?", "Have I not seen dwellers on form and favour", "Lose all and more by paying too much rent", "For compound sweet; forgoing simple savour,", "Pitiful thrivers, in their gazing spent?", "No; let me be obsequious in thy heart,", "And take thou my oblation, poor but free,", "Which is not mix'd with seconds, knows no art,", "But mutual render, only me for thee.", " Hence, thou suborned informer! a true soul", " When most impeach'd, stands least in thy control." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 133: Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan", "For that deep wound it gives my friend and me!", "Is't not enough to torture me alone,", "But slave to slavery my sweet'st friend must be?", "Me from myself thy cruel eye hath taken,", "And my next self thou harder hast engross'd:", "Of him, myself, and thee I am forsaken;", "A torment thrice three-fold thus to be cross'd:", "Prison my heart in thy steel bosom's ward,", "But then my friend's heart let my poor heart bail;", "Whoe'er keeps me, let my heart be his guard;", "Thou canst not then use rigour in my jail:", " And yet thou wilt; for I, being pent in thee,", " Perforce am thine, and all that is in me." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 137: Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes,", "That they behold, and see not what they see?", "They know what beauty is, see where it lies,", "Yet what the best is take the worst to be.", "If eyes, corrupt by over-partial looks,", "Be anchor'd in the bay where all men ride,", "Why of eyes' falsehood hast thou forged hooks,", "Whereto the judgment of my heart is tied?", "Why should my heart think that a several plot,", "Which my heart knows the wide world's common place?", "Or mine eyes, seeing this, say this is not,", "To put fair truth upon so foul a face?", " In things right true my heart and eyes have err'd,", " And to this false plague are they now transferr'd." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 139: O! call not me to justify the wrong", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "O! call not me to justify the wrong", "That thy unkindness lays upon my heart;", "Wound me not with thine eye, but with thy tongue:", "Use power with power, and slay me not by art,", "Tell me thou lov'st elsewhere; but in my sight,", "Dear heart, forbear to glance thine eye aside:", "What need'st thou wound with cunning, when thy might", "Is more than my o'erpress'd defence can bide?", "Let me excuse thee: ah! my love well knows", "Her pretty looks have been mine enemies;", "And therefore from my face she turns my foes,", "That they elsewhere might dart their injuries:", " Yet do not so; but since I am near slain,", " Kill me outright with looks, and rid my pain." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 143: Lo, as a careful housewife runs to catch", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Lo, as a careful housewife runs to catch", "One of her feather'd creatures broke away,", "Sets down her babe, and makes all swift dispatch", "In pursuit of the thing she would have stay;", "Whilst her neglected child holds her in chase,", "Cries to catch her whose busy care is bent", "To follow that which flies before her face,", "Not prizing her poor infant's discontent;", "So runn'st thou after that which flies from thee,", "Whilst I thy babe chase thee afar behind;", "But if thou catch thy hope, turn back to me,", "And play the mother's part, kiss me, be kind;", " So will I pray that thou mayst have thy 'Will,'", " If thou turn back and my loud crying still." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 151: Love is too young to know what conscience is", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Love is too young to know what conscience is,", "Yet who knows not conscience is born of love?", "Then, gentle cheater, urge not my amiss,", "Lest guilty of my faults thy sweet self prove:", "For, thou betraying me, I do betray", "My nobler part to my gross body's treason;", "My soul doth tell my body that he may", "Triumph in love; flesh stays no farther reason,", "But rising at thy name doth point out thee,", "As his triumphant prize. Proud of this pride,", "He is contented thy poor drudge to be,", "To stand in thy affairs, fall by thy side.", " No want of conscience hold it that I call", " Her 'love,' for whose dear love I rise and fall." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "The Cross Roads; or, The Haymaker's Story", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "Stopt by the storm, that long in sullen black", "From the south-west stained its encroaching track,", "Haymakers, hustling from the rain to hide,", "Sought the grey willows by the pasture-side;", "And there, while big drops bow the grassy stems,", "And bleb the withering hay with pearly gems,", "Dimple the brook, and patter in the leaves,", "The song or tale an hour's restraint relieves.", "And while the old dames gossip at their ease,", "And pinch the snuff-box empty by degrees,", "The young ones join in love's delightful themes,", "Truths told by gipsies, and expounded dreams;", "And mutter things kept secrets from the rest,", "As sweethearts' names, and whom they love the best;", "And dazzling ribbons they delight to show,", "And last new favours of some veigling beau,", "Who with such treachery tries their hearts to move,", "And, like the highest, bribes the maidens' love.", "The old dames, jealous of their whispered praise,", "Throw in their hints of man's deluding ways;", "And one, to give her counsels more effect,", "And by example illustrate the fact", "Of innocence oercome by flattering man,", "Thrice tapped her box, and pinched, and thus began.", "", " \"Now wenches listen, and let lovers lie,", "Ye'll hear a story ye may profit by;", "I'm your age treble, with some oddments to't,", "And right from wrong can tell, if ye'll but do't:", "Ye need not giggle underneath your hat,", "Mine's no joke-matter, let me tell you that;", "So keep ye quiet till my story's told,", "And don't despise your betters cause they're old.", "", " \"That grave ye've heard of, where the four roads meet,", "Where walks the spirit in a winding-sheet,", "Oft seen at night, by strangers passing late,", "And tarrying neighbours that at market wait,", "Stalking along as white as driven snow,", "And long as one's shadow when the sun is low;", "The girl that's buried there I knew her well,", "And her whole history, if ye'll hark, can tell.", "Her name was Jane, and neighbour's children we,", "And old companions once, as ye may be;", "And like to you, on Sundays often strolled", "To gipsies' camps to have our fortunes told;", "And oft, God rest her, in the fortune-book", "Which we at hay-time in our pockets took,", "Our pins at blindfold on the wheel we stuck,", "When hers would always prick the worst of luck;", "For try, poor thing, as often as she might,", "Her point would always on the blank alight;", "Which plainly shows the fortune one's to have,", "As such like go unwedded to the grave,--", "And so it proved.--The next succeeding May,", "We both to service went from sports and play,", "Though in the village still; as friends and kin", "Thought neighbour's service better to begin.", "So out we went:--Jane's place was reckoned good,", "Though she bout life but little understood,", "And had a master wild as wild can be,", "And far unfit for such a child as she;", "And soon the whisper went about the town,", "That Jane's good looks procured her many a gown", "From him, whose promise was to every one,", "But whose intention was to wive with none.", "Twas nought to wonder, though begun by guess;", "For Jane was lovely in her Sunday dress,", "And all expected such a rosy face", "Would be her ruin--as was just the case.", "The while the change was easily perceived,", "Some months went by, ere I the tales believed;", "For there are people nowadays, Lord knows,", "Will sooner hatch up lies than mend their clothes;", "And when with such-like tattle they begin,", "Don't mind whose character they spoil a pin:", "But passing neighbours often marked them smile,", "And watched him take her milkpail oer a stile;", "And many a time, as wandering closer by,", "From Jenny's bosom met a heavy sigh;", "And often marked her, as discoursing deep,", "When doubts might rise to give just cause to weep,", "Smothering their notice, by a wished disguise", "To slive her apron corner to her eyes.", "Such signs were mournful and alarming things,", "And far more weighty than conjecture brings;", "Though foes made double what they heard of all,", "Swore lies as proofs, and prophesied her fall.", "Poor thoughtless wench! it seems but Sunday past", "Since we went out together for the last,", "And plain enough indeed it was to find", "She'd something more than common on her mind;", "For she was always fond and full of chat,", "In passing harmless jokes bout beaus and that,", "But nothing then was scarcely talked about,", "And what there was, I even forced it out.", "A gloomy wanness spoiled her rosy cheek,", "And doubts hung there it was not mine to seek;", "She neer so much as mentioned things to come,", "But sighed oer pleasures ere she left her home;", "And now and then a mournful smile would raise", "At freaks repeated of our younger days,", "Which I brought up, while passing spots of ground", "Where we, when children, \"hurly-burlied\" round,", "Or \"blindman-buffed\" some morts of hours away--", "Two games, poor thing, Jane dearly loved to play.", "She smiled at these, but shook her head and sighed", "When eer she thought my look was turned aside;", "Nor turned she round, as was her former way,", "To praise the thorn, white over then with May;", "Nor stooped once, though thousands round her grew,", "To pull a cowslip as she used to do:", "For Jane in flowers delighted from a child--", "I like the garden, but she loved the wild--", "And oft on Sundays young men's gifts declined,", "Posies from gardens of the sweetest kind,", "And eager scrambled the dog-rose to get,", "And woodbine-flowers at every bush she met.", "The cowslip blossom, with its ruddy streak,", "Would tempt her furlongs from the path to seek;", "And gay long purple, with its tufty spike,", "She'd wade oer shoes to reach it in the dyke;", "And oft, while scratching through the briary woods", "For tempting cuckoo-flowers and violet buds,", "Poor Jane, I've known her crying sneak to town,", "Fearing her mother, when she'd torn her gown.", "Ah, these were days her conscience viewed with pain,", "Which all are loth to lose, as well as Jane.", "And, what I took more odd than all the rest,", "Was, that same night she neer a wish exprest", "To see the gipsies, so beloved before,", "That lay a stone's throw from us on the moor:", "I hinted it; she just replied again--", "She once believed them, but had doubts since then.", "And when we sought our cows, I called, \"Come mull!\"", "But she stood silent, for her heart was full.", "She loved dumb things: and ere she had begun", "To milk, caressed them more than eer she'd done;", "But though her tears stood watering in her eye,", "I little took it as her last good-bye;", "For she was tender, and I've often known", "Her mourn when beetles have been trampled on:", "So I neer dreamed from this, what soon befell,", "Till the next morning rang her passing-bell.", "My story's long, but time's in plenty yet,", "Since the black clouds betoken nought but wet;", "And I'll een snatch a minute's breath or two,", "And take another pinch, to help me through.", "", " \"So, as I said, next morn I heard the bell,", "And passing neighbours crossed the street, to tell", "That my poor partner Jenny had been found", "In the old flag-pool, on the pasture, drowned.", "God knows my heart! I twittered like a leaf,", "And found too late the cause of Sunday's grief;", "For every tongue was loosed to gabble oer", "The slanderous things that secret passed before:", "With truth or lies they need not then be strict,", "The one they railed at could not contradict.", "Twas now no secret of her being beguiled,", "For every mouth knew Jenny died with child;", "And though more cautious with a living name,", "Each more than guessed her master bore the blame.", "That very morning, it affects me still,", "Ye know the foot-path sidles down the hill,", "Ignorant as babe unborn I passed the pond", "To milk as usual in our close beyond,", "And cows were drinking at the water's edge,", "And horses browsed among the flags and sedge,", "And gnats and midges danced the water oer,", "Just as I've marked them scores of times before,", "And birds sat singing, as in mornings gone,--", "While I as unconcerned went soodling on,", "But little dreaming, as the wakening wind", "Flapped the broad ash-leaves oer the pond reclin'd,", "And oer the water crinked the curdled wave,", "That Jane was sleeping in her watery grave.", "The neatherd boy that used to tend the cows,", "While getting whip-sticks from the dangling boughs", "Of osiers drooping by the water-side,", "Her bonnet floating on the top espied;", "He knew it well, and hastened fearful down", "To take the terror of his fears to town,--", "", "A melancholy story, far too true;", "And soon the village to the pasture flew,", "Where, from the deepest hole the pond about,", "They dragged poor Jenny's lifeless body out,", "And took her home, where scarce an hour gone by", "She had been living like to you and I.", "I went with more, and kissed her for the last,", "And thought with tears on pleasures that were past;", "And, the last kindness left me then to do,", "I went, at milking, where the blossoms grew,", "And handfuls got of rose and lambtoe sweet,", "And put them with her in her winding-sheet.", "A wilful murder, jury made the crime;", "Nor parson 'lowed to pray, nor bell to chime;", "On the cross roads, far from her friends and kin,", "The usual law for their ungodly sin", "Who violent hands upon themselves have laid,", "Poor Jane's last bed unchristian-like was made;", "And there, like all whose last thoughts turn to heaven,", "She sleeps, and doubtless hoped to be forgiven.", "But, though I say't, for maids thus veigled in", "I think the wicked men deserve the sin;", "And sure enough we all at last shall see", "The treachery punished as it ought to be.", "For ere his wickedness pretended love,", "Jane, I'll be bound, was spotless as the dove,", "And's good a servant, still old folks allow,", "As ever scoured a pail or milked a cow;", "And ere he led her into ruin's way,", "As gay and buxom as a summer's day:", "The birds that ranted in the hedge-row boughs,", "As night and morning we have sought our cows,", "With yokes and buckets as she bounced along,", "Were often deafed to silence with her song.", "", "But now she's gone:--girls, shun deceitful men,", "The worst of stumbles ye can fall agen;", "Be deaf to them, and then, as twere, ye'll see", "Your pleasures safe as under lock and key.", "Throw not my words away, as many do;", "They're gold in value, though they're cheap to you.", "And husseys hearken, and be warned from this,", "If ye love mothers, never do amiss:", "Jane might love hers, but she forsook the plan", "To make her happy, when she thought of man.", "Poor tottering dame, it was too plainly known,", "Her daughter's dying hastened on her own,", "For from the day the tidings reached her door", "She took to bed and looked up no more,", "And, ere again another year came round,", "She, well as Jane, was laid within the ground;", "And all were grieved poor Goody's end to see:", "No better neighbour entered house than she,", "A harmless soul, with no abusive tongue,", "Trig as new pins, and tight's the day was long;", "And go the week about, nine times in ten", "Ye'd find her house as cleanly as her sen.", "But, Lord protect us! time such change does bring,", "We cannot dream what oer our heads may hing;", "The very house she lived in, stick and stone,", "Since Goody died, has tumbled down and gone:", "And where the marjoram once, and sage, and rue,", "And balm, and mint, with curled-leaf parsley grew,", "And double marygolds, and silver thyme,", "And pumpkins neath the window used to climb;", "And where I often when a child for hours", "Tried through the pales to get the tempting flowers,", "As lady's laces, everlasting peas,", "True-love-lies-bleeding, with the hearts-at-ease,", "And golden rods, and tansy running high", "That oer the pale-tops smiled on passers-by,", "Flowers in my time that every one would praise,", "Though thrown like weeds from gardens nowadays;", "Where these all grew, now henbane stinks and spreads,", "And docks and thistles shake their seedy heads,", "And yearly keep with nettles smothering oer;--", "The house, the dame, the garden known no more:", "While, neighbouring nigh, one lonely elder-tree", "Is all that's left of what had used to be,", "Marking the place, and bringing up with tears", "The recollections of one's younger years.", "And now I've done, ye're each at once as free", "To take your trundle as ye used to be;", "To take right ways, as Jenny should have ta'en,", "Or headlong run, and be a second Jane;", "For by one thoughtless girl that's acted ill", "A thousand may be guided if they will:", "As oft mong folks to labour bustling on,", "We mark the foremost kick against a stone,", "Or stumble oer a stile he meant to climb,", "While hind ones see and shun the fall in time.", "But ye, I will be bound, like far the best", "Love's tickling nick-nacks and the laughing jest,", "And ten times sooner than be warned by me,", "Would each be sitting on some fellow's knee,", "Sooner believe the lies wild chaps will tell", "Than old dames' cautions, who would wish ye well:", "So have your wills.\"--She pinched her box again,", "And ceased her tale, and listened to the rain,", "Which still as usual pattered fast around,", "And bowed the bent-head loaded to the ground;", "While larks, their naked nest by force forsook,", "Pruned their wet wings in bushes by the brook.", "", " The maids, impatient now old Goody ceased,", "As restless children from the school released,", "Right gladly proving, what she'd just foretold,", "That young ones' stories were preferred to old,", "Turn to the whisperings of their former joy,", "That oft deceive, but very rarely cloy." ], "linecount": "288" }, { "title": "Snow Storm", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "What a night! The wind howls, hisses, and but stops", "To howl more loud, while the snow volley keeps", "Incessant batter at the window pane,", "Making our comfort feel as sweet again;", "And in the morning, when the tempest drops,", "At every cottage door mountainous heaps", "Of snow lie drifted, that all entrance stops", "Untill the beesom and the shovel gain", "The path, and leave a wall on either side.", "The shepherd rambling valleys white and wide", "With new sensations his old memory fills,", "When hedges left at night, no more descried,", "Are turned to one white sweep of curving hills,", "And trees turned bushes half their bodies hide.", "", "The boy that goes to fodder with surprise", "Walks oer the gate he opened yesternight.", "The hedges all have vanished from his eyes;", "Een some tree tops the sheep could reach to bite.", "The novel scene emboldens new delight,", "And, though with cautious steps his sports begin,", "He bolder shuffles the huge hills of snow,", "Till down he drops and plunges to the chin,", "And struggles much and oft escape to win--", "Then turns and laughs but dare not further go;", "For deep the grass and bushes lie below,", "Where little birds that soon at eve went in", "With heads tucked in their wings now pine for day", "And little feel boys oer their heads can stray." ], "linecount": "28" }, { "title": "Farewell and Defiance to Love", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "Love and thy vain employs, away", "From this too oft deluded breast!", "No longer will I court thy stay,", "To be my bosom's teazing guest.", "Thou treacherous medicine, reckoned pure,", "Thou quackery of the harassed heart,", "That kills what it pretends to cure,", " Life's mountebank thou art.", "", "With nostrums vain of boasted powers,", "That, ta'en, a worse disorder leave;", "An asp hid in a group of flowers,", "That bites and stings when few perceive;", "Thou mock-truce to the troubled mind,", "Leading it more in sorrow's way,", "Freedom, that leaves us more confined,", " I bid thee hence away.", "", "Dost taunt, and deem thy power beyond", "The resolution reason gave?", "Tut! Falsity hath snapt each bond,", "That kept me once thy quiet slave,", "And made thy snare a spider's thread,", "Which een my breath can break in twain;", "Nor will I be, like Sampson, led", " To trust thy wiles again.", "", "I took thee as my staff to guide", "Me on the road I did pursue,", "And when my weakness most relied", "Upon its strength it broke in two.", "I took thee as my friendly host", "That counsel might in dangers show,", "But when I needed thee the most", " I found thou wert my foe.", "", "Tempt me no more with rosy cheeks,", "Nor daze my reason with bright eyes;", "I'm wearied with thy painted freaks,", "And sicken at such vanities:", "Be roses fine as eer they will,", "They, with the meanest, fade and die,", "And eyes, though thronged with darts to kill,", " Share like mortality.", "Feed the young bard, that madly sips", "His nectar-draughts from folly's flowers,", "Bright eyes, fair cheeks, and ruby lips,", "Till muses melt to honey showers;", "Lure him to thrum thy empty lays,", "While flattery listens to the chimes,", "Till words themselves grow sick with praise", " And stop for want of rhymes.", "", "Let such be still thy paramours,", "And chaunt love's old and idle tune,", "Robbing the spring of all its flowers,", "And heaven of all her stars and moon,", "To gild with dazzling similes", "Blind folly's vain and empty lay:", "I'm sobered from such phantasies,", " So get thee hence away.", "", "Nor bid me sigh for mine own cost,", "Nor count its loss, for mine annoy,", "Nor say my stubbornness hath lost", "A paradise of dainty joy:", "I'll not believe thee, till I know", "That sober reason turns an ape,", "And acts the harlequin, to show", " That cares in every shape,", "", "Heart-achings, sighs, and grief-wrung tears,", "Shame-blushes at betrayed distress,", "Dissembled smiles, and jealous fears,", "Are nought but real happiness:", "Then will I mourn what now I brave,", "And suffer Celia's quirks to be", "(Like a poor fate-bewilder'd slave,)", " The rulers of my destiny.", "", "I'll weep and sigh wheneer she wills", "To frown, and when she deigns to smile", "It shall be cure for all my ills,", "And, foolish still, I'll laugh the while;", "But till that comes, I'll bless the rules", "Experience taught, and deem it wise", "To hold thee as the game of fools,", " And all thy tricks despise." ], "linecount": "80" }, { "title": "To John Milton \"From his honoured friend, William Davenant\"", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "Poet of mighty power, I fain", "Would court the muse that honoured thee,", "And, like Elisha's spirit, gain", " A part of thy intensity;", "And share the mantle which she flung", "Around thee, when thy lyre was strung.", "", "Though faction's scorn at first did shun", "With coldness thy inspired song,", "Though clouds of malice passed thy sun,", " They could not hide it long;", "Its brightness soon exhaled away", "Dank night, and gained eternal day.", "", "The critics' wrath did darkly frown", "Upon thy muse's mighty lay;", "But blasts that break the blossom down", " Do only stir the bay;", "And thine shall flourish, green and long,", "With the eternity of song.", "", "Thy genius saw, in quiet mood,", "Gilt fashion's follies pass thee by,", "And, like the monarch of the wood,", " Towered oer it to the sky,", "Where thou couldst sing of other spheres,", "And feel the fame of future years.", "", "Though bitter sneers and stinging scorns", "Did throng the muse's dangerous way,", "Thy powers were past such little thorns,", " They gave thee no dismay;", "The scoffer's insult passed thee by,", "Thou smild'st and mad'st him no reply.", "", "Envy will gnaw its heart away", "To see thy genius gather root;", "And as its flowers their sweets display", " Scorn's malice shall be mute;", "Hornets that summer warmed to fly,", "Shall at the death of summer die.", "", "Though friendly praise hath but its hour.", "And little praise with thee hath been;", "The bay may lose its summer flower,", " But still its leaves are green;", "And thine, whose buds are on the shoot,", "Shall only fade to change to fruit.", "", "Fame lives not in the breath of words,", "In public praises' hue and cry;", "The music of these summer birds", " Is silent in a winter sky,", "When thine shall live and flourish on,", "Oer wrecks where crowds of fames are gone.", "", "The ivy shuns the city wall,", "When busy clamorous crowds intrude,", "And climbs the desolated hall", " In silent solitude;", "The time-worn arch, the fallen dome,", "Are roots for its eternal home.", "", "The bard his glory neer receives", "Where summer's common flowers are seen,", "But winter finds it when she leaves", " The laurel only green;", "And time from that eternal tree,", "Shall weave a wreath to honour thee;", "", "A sunny wreath for poets meet,", "From Helicon's immortal soil,", "Where sacred Time with pilgrim feet", " Walks forth to worship, not to spoil,", "A wreath which Fame creates and bears,", "And deathless genius only heirs.", "", "Nought but thy ashes shall expire;", "Thy genius, at thy obsequies,", "Shall kindle up its living fire", " And light the muse's skies;", "Ay, it shall rise, and shine, and be", "A sun in song's posterity." ], "linecount": "72" }, { "title": "Nature's Hymn to the Deity", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "All nature owns with one accord", "The great and universal Lord:", "The sun proclaims him through the day,", "The moon when daylight drops away,", "The very darkness smiles to wear", "The stars that show us God is there,", "On moonlight seas soft gleams the sky", "And \"God is with us\" waves reply.", "", "Winds breathe from God's abode \"we come,\"", "Storms louder own God is their home,", "And thunder yet with louder call,", "Sounds \"God is mightiest over all\";", "Till earth right loath the proof to miss", "Echoes triumphantly \"He is,\"", "And air and ocean makes reply,", "God reigns on earth, in air and sky.", "", "All nature owns with one accord", "The great and universal Lord:", "Insect and bird and tree and flower--", "The witnesses of every hour--", "Are pregnant with his prophesy", "And \"God is with us\" all reply.", "The first link in the mighty plan", "Is still--and all upbraideth man." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "To Napoleon", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "The heroes of the present and the past", " Were puny, vague, and nothingness to thee:", "Thou didst a span grasp mighty to the last,", " And strain for glory when thy die was cast.", "That little island, on the Atlantic sea,", " Was but a dust-spot in a lake: thy mind", "Swept space as shoreless as eternity.", " Thy giant powers outstript this gaudy age", "Of heroes; and, as looking at the sun,", " So gazing on thy greatness, made men blind", "To merits, that had adoration won", " In olden times. The world was on thy page", " Of victories but a comma. Fame could find", " No parallel, thy greatness to presage." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Stonepit", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "The passing traveller with wonder sees", "A deep and ancient stonepit full of trees;", "So deep and very deep the place has been,", "The church might stand within and not be seen.", "The passing stranger oft with wonder stops", "And thinks he een could walk upon their tops,", "And often stoops to see the busy crow,", "And stands above and sees the eggs below;", "And while the wild horse gives its head a toss,", "The squirrel dances up and runs across.", "The boy that stands and kills the black nosed bee", "Dares down as soon as magpies' nests are found,", "And wonders when he climbs the highest tree", "To find it reaches scarce above the ground." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Where She Told Her Love", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ " I saw her crop a rose", " Right early in the day,", " And I went to kiss the place", " Where she broke the rose away", " And I saw the patten rings", " Where she oer the stile had gone,", " And I love all other things", " Her bright eyes look upon.", "If she looks upon the hedge or up the leafing tree,", "The whitethorn or the brown oak are made dearer things to me.", "", " I have a pleasant hill", " Which I sit upon for hours,", " Where she cropt some sprigs of thyme", " And other little flowers;", " And she muttered as she did it", " As does beauty in a dream,", " And I loved her when she hid it", " On her breast, so like to cream,", "Near the brown mole on her neck that to me a diamond shone", "Then my eye was like to fire, and my heart was like to stone.", "", " There is a small green place", " Where cowslips early curled,", " Which on Sabbath day I trace,", " The dearest in the world.", " A little oak spreads oer it,", " And throws a shadow round,", " A green sward close before it,", " The greenest ever found:", "There is not a woodland nigh nor is there a green grove,", "Yet stood the fair maid nigh me and told me all her love." ], "linecount": "30" }, { "title": "Invitation to Eternity", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "Say, wilt thou go with me, sweet maid,", "Say, maiden, wilt thou go with me", "Through the valley-depths of shade,", "Of bright and dark obscurity;", "Where the path has lost its way,", "Where the sun forgets the day,", "Where there's nor light nor life to see,", "Sweet maiden, wilt thou go with me?", "", "Where stones will turn to flooding streams,", "Where plains will rise like ocean's waves,", "Where life will fade like visioned dreams", "And darkness darken into caves,", "Say, maiden, wilt thou go with me", "Through this sad non-identity", "Where parents live and are forgot,", "And sisters live and know us not?", "", "Say, maiden, wilt thou go with me", "In this strange death of life to be,", "To live in death and be the same,", "Without this life or home or name,", "At once to be and not to be--", "That was and is not--yet to see", "Things pass like shadows, and the sky", "Above, below, around us lie?", "", "The land of shadows wilt thou trace,", "Nor look nor know each other's face;", "The present marred with reason gone,", "And past and present both as one?", "Say, maiden, can thy life be led", "To join the living and the dead?", "Then trace thy footsteps on with me:", "We are wed to one eternity." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "To John Clare", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "Well, honest John, how fare you now at home?", "The spring is come, and birds are building nests;", "The old cock robin to the stye is come,", "With olive feathers and its ruddy breast;", "And the old cock, with wattles and red comb,", "Struts with the hens, and seems to like some best,", "Then crows, and looks about for little crumbs,", "Swept out by little folks an hour ago;", "The pigs sleep in the stye; the bookman comes--", "The little boy lets home-close nesting go,", "And pockets tops and taws, where daisies bloom,", "To look at the new number just laid down,", "With lots of pictures, and good stories too,", "And Jack the Giant-killer's high renown." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Love Lives Beyond the Tomb", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ " Love lives beyond", "The tomb, the earth, which fades like dew!", " I love the fond,", "The faithful, and the true.", "", " Love lives in sleep,", "The happiness of healthy dreams:", " Eve's dews may weep,", "But love delightful seems.", "", " Tis seen in flowers,", "And in the morning's pearly dew;", " In earth's green hours,", "And in the heaven's eternal blue.", "", " Tis heard in Spring", "When light and sunbeams, warm and kind,", " On angel's wing", "Bring love and music to the mind.", "", " And where is voice,", "So young, so beautiful, and sweet", " As Nature's choice,", "Where Spring and lovers meet?", "", " Love lives beyond", "The tomb, the earth, the flowers, and dew.", " I love the fond,", "The faithful, young and true." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "A Tale (Epilogue to \"The Two Poets of Croisic.\")", "author": "Robert Browning", "lines": [ "What a pretty tale you told me", " Once upon a time", "--Said you found it somewhere (scold me!)", " Was it prose or was it rhyme,", "Greek or Latin? Greek, you said,", "While your shoulder propped my head.", "", "Anyhow there's no forgetting", " This much if no more,", "That a poet (pray, no petting!)", " Yes, a bard, sir, famed of yore,", "Went where suchlike used to go,", "Singing for a prize, you know.", "", "Well, he had to sing, nor merely", " Sing but play the lyre;", "Playing was important clearly", " Quite as singing: I desire,", "Sir, you keep the fact in mind", "For a purpose that's behind.", "", "There stood he, while deep attention", " Held the judges round,", "--Judges able, I should mention,", " To detect the slightest sound", "Sung or played amiss: such ears", "Had old judges, it appears!", "", "None the less he sang out boldly,", " Played in time and tune,", "Till the judges, weighing coldly", " Each note's worth, seemed, late or soon,", "Sure to smile \"In vain one tries", "Picking faults out: take the prize!\"", "", "When, a mischief! Were they seven", " Strings the lyre possessed?", "Oh, and afterwards eleven,", " Thank you! Well, sir,--who had guessed", "Such ill luck in store?--it happed", "One of those same seven strings snapped.", "", "All was lost, then! No! a cricket", " (What \"cicada\"? Pooh!)", "--Some mad thing that left its thicket", " For mere love of music--flew", "With its little heart on fire,", "Lighted on the crippled lyre.", "", "So that when (Ah joy!) our singer", " For his truant string", "Feels with disconcerted finger,", " What does cricket else but fling", "Fiery heart forth, sound the note", "Wanted by the throbbing throat?", "", "Ay and, ever to the ending,", " Cricket chirps at need,", "Executes the hand's intending,", " Promptly, perfectly,--indeed", "Saves the singer from defeat", "With her chirrup low and sweet.", "", "Till, at ending, all the judges", " Cry with one assent", "\"Take the prize--a prize who grudges", " Such a voice and instrument?", "Why, we took your lyre for harp,", "So it shrilled us forth F sharp!\"", "", "Did the conqueror spurn the creature", " Once its service done?", "That's no such uncommon feature", " In the case when Music's son", "Finds his Lotte's power too spent", "For aiding soul development.", "", "No! This other, on returning", " Homeward, prize in hand,", "Satisfied his bosom's yearning:", " (Sir, I hope you understand!)", "--Said \"Some record there must be", "Of this cricket's help to me!\"", "", "So, he made himself a statue:", " Marble stood, life size;", "On the lyre, he pointed at you,", " Perched his partner in the prize;", "Never more apart you found", "Her, he throned, from him, she crowned.", "", "That's the tale: its application?", " Somebody I know", "Hopes one day for reputation", " Thro' his poetry that's--Oh,", "All so learned and so wise", "And deserving of a prize!", "", "If he gains one, will some ticket", " When his statue's built,", "Tell the gazer \"'Twas a cricket", " Helped my crippled lyre, whose lilt", "Sweet and low, when strength usurped", "Softness' place i' the scale, she chirped?", "", "\"For as victory was nighest,", " While I sang and played,--", "With my lyre at lowest, highest,", " Right alike,--one string that made", "'Love' sound soft was snapt in twain", "Never to be heard again,--", "", "\"Had not a kind cricket fluttered,", " Perched upon the place", "Vacant left, and duly uttered", " 'Love, Love, Love,' whene'er the bass", "Asked the treble to atone", "For its somewhat sombre drone.\"", "", "But you don't know music! Wherefore", " Keep on casting pearls", "To a--poet? All I care for", " Is--to tell him that a girl's", "\"Love\" comes aptly in when gruff", "Grows his singing, (There, enough!)" ], "linecount": "108" }, { "title": "The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church (Rome, 15--)", "author": "Robert Browning", "lines": [ "Vanity, saith the preacher, vanity!", "Draw round my bed: is Anselm keeping back?", "Nephews--sons mine ... ah God, I know not! Well,", "She, men would have to be your mother once,", "Old Gandolf envied me, so fair she was!", "What's done is done, and she is dead beside,", "Dead long ago, and I am Bishop since.", "And as she died so must we die ourselves,", "And thence ye may perceive the world's a dream.", "Life, how and what is it? As here I lie", "In this state-chamber, dying by degrees,", "Hours and long hours in the dead night, I ask", "\"Do I live, am I dead?\" Peace, peace seems all.", "Saint Praxed's ever was the church for peace;", "And so, about this tomb of mine. I fought", "With tooth and nail to save my niche, ye know:", "--Old Gandolf cozened me, despite my care;", "Shrewd was that snatch from out the corner South", "He graced his carrion with, God curse the same!", "Yet still my niche is not so cramped but thence", "One sees the pulpit o' the epistle-side,", "And somewhat of the choir, those silent seats,", "And up into the aery dome where live", "The angels, and a sunbeam's sure to lurk:", "And I shall fill my slab of basalt there,", "And 'neath my tabernacle take my rest,", "With those nine columns round me, two and two,", "The odd one at my feet where Anselm stands:", "Peach-blossom marble all, the rare, the ripe", "As fresh-poured red wine of a mighty pulse,", "--Old Gandolf with his paltry onion-stone,", "Put me where I may look at him! True peach,", "Rosy and flawless: how I earned the prize!", "Draw close: that conflagration of my church", "--What then? So much was saved if aught were missed!", "My sons, ye would not be my death? Go dig", "The white-grape vineyard where the oil-press stood,", "Drop water gently till the surface sink,", "And if ye find... Ah God, I know not, I!...", "Bedded in store of rotten fig-leaves soft,", "And corded up in a tight olive-frail,", "Some lump, ah God, oflapis lazuli_,", "Big as a Jew's head cut off at the nape,", "Blue as a vein o'er the Madonna's breast...", "Sons, all have I bequeathed you, villas, all,", "That brave Frascati villa, with its bath,", "So, let the blue lump poise between my knees,", "Like God the Father's globe on both his hands", "Ye worship in the Jesu Church, so gay,", "For Gandolf shall not choose but see and burst!", "Swift as a weaver's shuttle fleet our years:", "Man goeth to the grave, and where is he?", "Did I say, basalt for my slab, sons? Black--", "'Twas ever antique-black I meant! How else", "Shall ye contrast my frieze to come beneath?", "The bas-relief in bronze ye promised me,", "Those Pans and Nymphs ye wot of, and perchance", "Some tripod, thyrsus, with a vase or so,", "The Saviour at his sermon on the mount,", "Saint Praxed in a glory, and one Pan", "Ready to twitch the Nymph's last garment off,", "And Moses with the tables ... but I know", "Ye mark me not! What do they whisper thee,", "Child of my bowels, Anselm? Ah, ye hope", "To revel down my villas while I gasp", "Bricked o'er with beggar's mouldy travertine", "Which Gandolf from his tomb-top chuckles at!", "Nay, boys, ye love me--all of jasper, then!", "'Tis jasper ye stand pledged to, lest I grieve", "My bath must needs be left behind, alas!", "One block, pure green as a pistachio-nut,", "There's plenty jasper somewhere in the world--", "And have I not Saint Praxed's ear to pray", "Horses for ye, and brown Greek manuscripts,", "And mistresses with great smooth marbly limbs?", "--That's if ye carve my epitaph aright,", "Choice Latin, picked phrase, Tully's every word,", "No gaudy ware like Gandolf's second line--", "Tully, my masters? Ulpian serves his need!", "And then how I shall lie thro' centuries,", "And hear the blessed mutter of the mass,", "And see God made and eaten all day long,", "And feel the steady candle-flame, and taste", "Good strong thick stupefying incense-smoke!", "For as I lie here, hours of the dead night,", "Dying in state and by such slow degrees,", "I fold my arms as if they clasped a crook,", "And stretch my feet forth straight as stone can point,", "And let the bedclothes, for a mortcloth, drop", "Into great laps and folds of sculptor's-work:", "And as yon tapers dwindle, and strange thoughts", "Grow, with a certain humming in my ears,", "About the life before I lived this life,", "And this life too, popes, cardinals, and priests,", "Saint Praxed at his sermon on the mount,", "Your tall pale mother with her talking eyes,", "And new-found agate urns as fresh as day,", "And marble's language, Latin pure, discreet,", "--Aha, ELUCESCEBAT quoth our friend?", "No Tully, said I, Ulpian at the best!", "Evil and brief hath been my pilgrimage.", "Alllapis_, all, sons! Else I give the Pope", "My villas! Will ye ever eat my heart?", "Ever your eyes were as a lizard's quick,", "They glitter like your mother's for my soul.", "Or ye would heighten my impoverished frieze,", "Piece out its starved design, and fill my vase", "With grapes, and add a visor and a Term,", "And to the tripod ye would tie a lynx", "That in his struggle throws the thyrsus down,", "To comfort me on my entablature", "Whereon I am to lie till I must ask", "\"Do I live, am I dead?\" There, leave me, there!", "For ye have stabbed me with ingratitude", "To death--ye wish it--God, ye wish it! stone--", "Gritstone, a-crumble! clammy squares which sweat", "As if the corpse they keep were oozing through--", "And no morelapis_ to delight the world!", "Well, go! I bless ye. Fewer tapers there,", "But in a row: and, going, turn your backs", "--Ay, like departing altar-ministrants,", "And leave me in my church, the church for peace,", "That I may watch, at leisure if he leers--", "Old Gandolf--at me, from his onion-stone,", "As still he envied me, so fair she was!" ], "linecount": "125" }, { "title": "The Laboratory (Ancien Regime)", "author": "Robert Browning", "lines": [ "Now that I, tying thy glass mask tightly,", "May gaze through these faint smokes curling whitely,", "As thou pliest thy trade in this devil's-smithy--", "Which is the poison to poison her, prithee?", "", "He is with her, and they know that I know", "Where they are, what they do: they believe my tears flow", "While they laugh, laugh at me, at me fled to the drear", "Empty church, to pray God in, for them!--I am here!", "", "Grind away, moisten and mash up thy paste,", "Pound at thy powder, I am not in haste!", "Better sit thus and observe thy strange things,", "Than go where men wait me, and dance at the King's.", "", "That in the mortar--you call it a gum?", "Ah, the brave tree whence such gold oozings come!", "And yonder soft phial, the exquisite blue,", "Sure to taste sweetly,--is that poison, too?", "Had I but all of them, thee and thy treasures,", "What a wild crowd of Invisible pleasures!", "To carry pure death in an earring, a casket,", "A signet, a fan-mount, a filigree basket!", "", "Soon, at the King's, a mere lozenge to give", "And Pauline should have just thirty minutes to live!", "But to light a pastille, and Elise, with her head", "And her breast and her arms and her hands, should drop dead!", "", "Quick--is it finished? The colour's too grim!", "Why not soft like the phial's, enticing and dim?", "Let it brighten her drink, let her turn it and stir,", "And try it and taste, ere she fix and prefer!", "", "What a drop! She's not little, no minion like me!", "That's why she ensnared him: this never will free", "The soul from those masculine eyes,--say \"No!\"", "To that pulse's magnificent come-and-go.", "", "For only last night, as they whispered, I brought", "My own eyes to bear on her so that I thought", "Could I keep them one half-minute fixed, she would fall", "Shrivelled; she fell not: yet this does it all!", "", "Not that I bid you spare her the pain;", "Let death be felt and the proof remain:", "Brand, burn up, bite into its grace--", "He is sure to remember her dying face!", "", "Is it done? Take my mask off! Nay, be not morose;", "It kills her, and this prevents seeing it close:", "The delicate droplet, my whole fortune's fee!", "If it hurts her, beside, can it ever hurt me?", "", "Now, take all my jewels, gorge gold to your fill,", "You may kiss me, old man, on my mouth if you will!", "But brush this dust off me, lest horror it brings", "Ere I know it--next moment I dance at the King's!" ], "linecount": "48" }, { "title": "Andrea Del Sarto (Called \"the Faultless Painter\")", "author": "Robert Browning", "lines": [ "But do not let us quarrel any more,", "No, my Lucrezia! bear with me for once:", "Sit down and all shall happen as you wish.", "You turn your face, but does it bring your heart?", "I'll work then for your friend's friend, never fear.", "Treat his own subject after his own way,", "Fix his own time, accept too his own price,", "And shut the money into this small hand", "When next it takes mine. Will it? tenderly?", "Oh, I'll content him,--but to-morrow, Love!", "I often am much wearier than you think,", "This evening more than usual: and it seems", "As if--forgive now--should you let me sit", "Here by the window, with your hand in mine,", "And look a half-hour forth on Fiesole,", "Both of one mind, as married people use,", "Quietly, quietly the evening through,", "I might get up to-morrow to my work", "Cheerful and fresh as ever. Let us try.", "To-morrow, how you shall be glad for this!", "Your soft hand is a woman of itself,", "And mine the man's bared breast she curls inside.", "Don't count the time lost, neither; you must serve", "For each of the five pictures we require:", "It saves a model. So! keep looking so--", "My serpentining beauty, rounds on rounds!", "--How could you ever prick those perfect ears,", "Even to put the pearl there! oh, so sweet--", "My face, my moon, my everybody's moon.", "Which everybody looks on and calls his,", "And, I suppose, is looked on by in turn,", "While she looks--no one's: very dear, no less.", "You smile? why, there's my picture ready made,", "There's what we painters call our harmony!", "A common grayness silvers everything,--", "All in a twilight, you and I alike", "--You, at the point of your first pride in me", "(That's gone, you know)--but I, at every point;", "My youth, my hope, my art, being all toned down", "To yonder sober pleasant Fiesole.", "There's the bell clinking from the chapel-top;", "That length of convent-wall across the way", "Holds the trees safer, huddled more inside;", "The last monk leaves the garden; days decrease,", "And autumn grows, autumn in everything.", "Eh? the whole seems to fall into a shape,", "As if I saw alike my work and self", "And all that I was born to be and do,", "A twilight-piece. Love, we are in God's hand.", "How strange now, looks the life he makes us lead;", "So free we seem, so fettered fast we are!", "I feel he laid the fetter: let it lie!", "This chamber for example--turn your head--", "All that's behind us! You don't understand", "Nor care to understand about my art,", "But you can hear at least when people speak:", "And that cartoon, the second from the door", "--It is the thing, Love! so such things should be--", "Behold Madonna!--I am bold to say.", "I can do with my pencil what I know,", "What I see, what at bottom of my heart", "I wish for, if I ever wish so deep--", "Do easily, too--when I say, perfectly,", "I do not boast, perhaps: yourself are judge,", "Who listened to the Legate's talk last week;", "And just as much they used to say in France.", "At any rate 'tis easy, all of it!", "No sketches first, no studies, that's long past:", "I do what many dream of, all their lives,", "--Dream? strive to do, and agonize to do,", "And fail in doing. I could count twenty such", "On twice your fingers, and not leave this town,", "Who strive--you don't know how the others strive", "To paint a little thing like that you smeared", "Carelessly passing with your robes afloat,--", "Yet do much less, so much less. Someone says,", "(I know his name, no matter)--so much less!", "Well, less is more, Lucrezia: I am judged.", "There burns a truer light of God in them,", "In their vexed beating stuffed and stopped-up brain,", "Heart, or whate'er else, than goes on to prompt", "This low-pulsed forthright craftsman's hand of mine.", "Their works drop groundward, but themselves, I know,", "Reach many a time a heaven that's shut to me,", "Enter and take their place there sure enough,", "Tho' they come back and cannot tell the world.", "My works are nearer heaven, but I sit here.", "The sudden blood of these men! at a word--", "Praise them, it boils, or blame them, it boils too.", "I, painting from myself and to myself,", "Know what I do, am unmoved by men's blame", "Or their praise either. Somebody remarks", "Morello's outline there is wrongly traced,", "His hue mistaken; what of that? or else,", "Rightly traced and well ordered; what of that?", "Speak as they please, what does the mountain care?", "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,", "Or what's a heaven for? All is silver-gray,", "Placid and perfect with my art: the worse!", "I know both what I want and what might gain,", "And yet how profitless to know, to sigh", "\"Had I been two, another and myself,", "Our head would have o'erlooked the world!\" No doubt.", "", "Yonder's a work now, of that famous youth", "The Urbinate who died five years ago.", "('Tis copied, George Vasari sent it me.)", "Well, I can fancy how he did it all,", "Pouring his soul, with kings and popes to see,", "Reaching, that heaven might so replenish him,", "Above and thro' his art--for it gives way;", "That arm is wrongly put--and there again--", "A fault to pardon in the drawing's lines,", "Its body, so to speak: its soul is right,", "He means right--that, a child may understand.", "Still, what an arm! and I could alter it:", "But all the play, the insight and the stretch--", "Out of me, out of me! And wherefore out?", "Had you enjoined them on me, given me soul,", "We might have risen to Rafael, I and you!", "Nay, Love, you did give all I asked, I think--", "More than I merit, yes, by many times.", "But had you--oh, with the same perfect brow,", "And perfect eyes, and more than perfect mouth,", "And the low voice my soul hears, as a bird", "The fowler's pipe, and follows to the snare--", "Had you, with these the same, but brought a mind!", "Some women do so. Had the mouth there urged", "\"God and the glory! never care for gain.", "", "The present by the future, what is that?", "Live for fame, side by side with Agnolo!", "Rafael is waiting: up to God, all three!\"", "I might have done it for you. So it seems:", "Perhaps not. All is as God over-rules.", "Beside, incentives come from the soul's self;", "The rest avail not. Why do I need you?", "What wife had Rafael, or has Agnolo?", "In this world, who can do a thing, will not;", "And who would do it, cannot, I perceive:", "Yet the will's somewhat--somewhat, too, the power--", "And thus we half-men struggle. At the end,", "God, I conclude, compensates, punishes.", "'Tis safer for me, if the award be strict,", "That I am something underrated here,", "Poor this long while, despised, to speak the truth.", "I dared not, do you know, leave home all day,", "For fear of chancing on the Paris lords.", "The best is when they pass and look aside;", "But they speak sometimes; I must bear it all.", "Well may they speak. That Francis, that first time,", "And that long festal year at Fontainebleau!", "I surely then could sometimes leave the ground,", "Put on the glory, Rafael's daily wear,", "In that humane great monarch's golden look,--", "One finger in his beard or twisted curl", "Over his mouth's good mark that made the smile.", "One arm, about my shoulder, round my neck,", "The jingle of his gold chain in my ear,", "I painting proudly with his breath on me,", "All his court round him, seeing with his eyes.", "Such frank French eyes, and such a fire of souls", "Profuse, my hand kept plying by those hearts,--", "And, best of all, this, this, this face beyond,", "This in the background, waiting on my work,", "To crown the issue with a last reward!", "A good tune, was it not, my kingly days?", "And had you not grown restless ... but I know--", "'Tis done and past; 'twas right, my instinct said;", "Too live the life grew, golden and not gray:", "And I'm the weak-eyed bat no sun should tempt", "Out of the grange whose four walls make his world,", "How could it end in any other way?", "You called me, and I came home to your heart,", "The triumph was--to reach and stay there; since", "I reached it ere the triumph, what is lost?", "Let my hands frame your face in your hair's gold,", "You beautiful Lucrezia that are mine!", "\"Rafael did this, Andrea painted that;", "The Roman's is the better when you pray,", "But still the other's Virgin was his wife--\"", "Men will excuse me. I am glad to judge", "Both pictures in your presence; clearer grows", "My better fortune, I resolve to think.", "For, do you know, Lucrezia, as God lives,", "Said one day Agnolo, his very self,", "To Rafael... I have known it all these years...", "(When the young man was flaming out his thoughts", "Upon a palace-wall for Rome to see,", "Too lifted up in heart because of it)", "\"Friend, there's a certain sorry little scrub", "Goes up and down our Florence, none cares how,", "Who, were he set to plan and execute", "As you are, pricked on by your popes and kings,", "Would bring the sweat into that brow of yours!\"", "To Rafael's!--And indeed the arm is wrong.", "I hardly dare ... yet, only you to see,", "Give the chalk here--quick, thus the line should go!", "Ay, but the soul! he's Rafael! rub it out!", "Still, all I care for, if he spoke the truth,", "(What he? why, who but Michel Agnolo?", "Do you forget already words like those?)", "If really there was such a chance so lost,--", "Is, whether you're--not grateful--but more pleased.", "Well, let me think so. And you smile indeed!", "", "This hour has been an hour! Another smile?", "If you would sit thus by me every night", "I should work better, do you comprehend?", "I mean that I should earn more, give you more.", "See, it is settled dusk now; there's a star;", "Morello's gone, the watch-lights show the wall,", "The cue-owls speak the name we call them by.", "Come from the window, Love,--come in, at last,", "Inside the melancholy little house", "We built to be so gay with. God is just.", "King Francis may forgive me: oft at nights", "When I look up from painting, eyes tired out,", "The walls become illumined, brick from brick", "Distinct, instead of mortar, fierce, bright gold,", "That gold of his I did cement them with!", "Let us but love each other. Must you go?", "That Cousin here again? he waits outside?", "Must see you--you, and not with me? Those loans?", "More gaming debts to pay? you smiled for that?", "Well, let smiles buy me! have you more to spend?", "While hand and eye and something of a heart", "Are left me, work's my ware, and what's it worth?", "I'll pay my fancy. Only let me sit", "The gray remainder of the evening out,", "Idle, you call it, and muse perfectly", "How I could paint, were I but back in France,", "One picture, just one more--the Virgin's face,", "Not yours this time! I want you at my side", "To hear them--that is, Michel Agnolo--", "Judge all I do and tell you of its worth.", "Will you? To-morrow, satisfy your friend.", "I take the subjects for his corridor,", "Finish the portrait out of hand--there, there,", "And throw him in another thing or two", "If he demurs; the whole should prove enough", "To pay for this same Cousin's freak. Beside,", "What's better and what's all I care about,", "Get you the thirteen scudi for the ruff!", "Love, does that please you? Ah, but what does he,", "The Cousin! what does he to please you more?", "", "I am grown peaceful as old age to-night.", "I regret little, I would change still less.", "Since there my past life lies, why alter it?", "The very wrong to Francis!--it is true", "I took his coin, was tempted and complied,", "And built this house and sinned, and all is said", "My father and my mother died of want.", "Well, had I riches of my own? you see", "How one gets rich! Let each one bear his lot.", "They were born poor, lived poor, and poor they died:", "And I have laboured somewhat in my time", "And not been paid profusely. Some good son", "Paint my two hundred pictures--let him try!", "No doubt, there's something strikes a balance. Yes,", "You love me quite enough, it seems to-night.", "This must suffice me here. What would one have?", "In heaven, perhaps, new chances, one more chance--", "Four great walls in the New Jerusalem,", "Meted on each side by the angel's reed,", "For Leonard, Rafael, Agnolo, and me", "To cover--the three first without a wife,", "While I have mine! So--still they overcome", "Because there's still Lucrezia,--as I choose.", "", " Again the Cousin's whistle! Go, my Love." ], "linecount": "267" }, { "title": "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came", "author": "Robert Browning", "lines": [ "My first thought was, he lied in every word,", " That hoary cripple, with malicious eye", " Askance to watch the working of his lie", "On mine, and mouth scarce able to afford", "Suppression of the glee, that pursed and scored", " Its edge, at one more victim gained thereby.", "", "What else should he be set for, with his staff?", " What, save to waylay with his lies, ensnare", " All travellers who might find him posted there,", "And ask the road? I guessed what skull-like laugh", "Would break, what crutch 'gin write my epitaph", " For pastime in the dusty thoroughfare,", "", "If at his counsel I should turn aside", " Into that ominous tract which, all agree,", " Hides the Dark Tower. Yet acquiescingly", "I did turn as he pointed: neither pride", "Nor hope rekindling at the end descried.", " So much as gladness that some end might be.", "", "For, what with my whole world-wide wandering,", " What, with my search drawn out thro' years, my hope", " Dwindled into a ghost not fit to cope", "With that obstreperous joy success would bring,--", "I hardly tried now to rebuke the spring", " My heart made, finding failure in its scope.", "", "As when a sick man very near to death", " Seems dead indeed, and feels begin and end", " The tears, and takes the farewell of each friend,", "And hears one bid the other go, draw breath", "Freelier outside, (\"since all is o'er,\" he saith,", " \"And the blow fallen no grieving can amend;\")", "", "While some discuss if near the other graves", " Be room enough for this, and when a day", " Suits best for carrying the corpse away,", "With care about the banners, scarves, and staves:", "And still the man hears all, and only craves", " He may not shame such tender love and stay.", "", "Thus, I had so long suffered in this quest,", " Heard failure prophesied so oft, been writ", " So many times among \"The Band\"--to wit,", "The knights who to the Dark Tower's search addressed", "Their steps--that just to fail as they, seemed best,", " And all the doubt was now--should I be fit?", "", "So, quiet as despair, I turned from him,", " That hateful cripple, out of his highway", " Into the path he pointed. All the day", "Had been a dreary one at best, and dim", "Was settling to its close, yet shot one grim", " Red leer to see the plain catch its estray.", "", "For mark! no sooner was I fairly found", " Pledged to the plain, after a pace or two,", " Than, pausing to throw backward a last view", "O'er the safe road, 'twas gone; gray plain all round:", "Nothing but plain to the horizon's bound,", " I might go on; naught else remained to do.", "", "So, on I went. I think I never saw", " Such starved ignoble nature; nothing throve:", " For flowers--as well expect a cedar grove!", "But cockle, spurge, according to their law", "Might propagate their kind, with none to awe,", " You'd think; a burr had been a treasure trove.", "", "No! penury, inertness, and grimace,", " In some strange sort, were the land's portion. \"See", " Or shut your eyes,\" said Nature peevishly,", "\"It nothing skills: I cannot help my case:", "'Tis the Last Judgment's fire must cure this place,", " Calcine its clods and set my prisoners free.\"", "", "If there pushed any ragged thistle-stalk", " Above its mates, the head was chopped; the bents", " Were jealous else. What made those holes and rents", "In the dock's harsh swarth leaves, bruised as to balk", "All hope of greenness? 'tis a brute must walk", " Pashing their life out, with a brute's intents.", "", "As for the grass, it grew as scant as hair", " In leprosy; thin dry blades pricked the mud", " Which underneath looked kneaded up with blood.", "One stiff blind horse, his every bone a-stare,", "Stood stupefied, however he came there:", " Thrust out past service from the devil's stud!", "", "Alive? he might be dead for aught I know,", " With that red gaunt and colloped neck a-strain,", " And shut eyes underneath the rusty mane;", "Seldom went such grotesqueness with such woe;", "I never saw a brute I hated so;", " He must be wicked to deserve such pain.", "", "I shut my eyes and turned them on my heart.", " As a man calls for wine before he fights,", " I asked one draught of earlier, happier sights,", "Ere fitly I could hope to play my part.", "Think first, fight afterwards--the soldier's art:", " One taste of the old time sets all to rights.", "", "Not it! I fancied Cuthbert's reddening face", " Beneath its garniture of curly gold,", " Dear fellow, till I almost felt him fold", "An arm in mine to fix me to the place,", "That way he used. Alas, one night's disgrace!", " Out went my heart's new fire and left it cold.", "", "Giles then, the soul of honour--there he stands", " Frank as ten years ago when knighted first.", " What honest man should dare (he said) he durst.", "Good--but the scene shifts--faugh! what hangman hands", "Pin to his breast a parchment? His own bands", " Read it. Poor traitor, spit upon and curst!", "", "Better this present than a past like that;", " Back therefore to my darkening path again!", " No sound, no sight so far as eye could strain.", "Will the night send a howlet or a bat?", "I asked: when something on the dismal flat", " Came to arrest my thoughts and change their train.", "", "A sudden little river crossed my path", " As unexpected as a serpent comes.", " No sluggish tide congenial to the glooms;", "This, as it frothed by, might have been a bath", "For the fiend's glowing hoof--to see the wrath", " Of its black eddy bespate with flakes and spumes.", "", "So petty, yet so spiteful! All along,", " Low scrubby alders kneeled down over it;", " Drenched willows flung them headlong in a fit", "Of mute despair, a suicidal throng:", "The river which had done them all the wrong,", " Whate'er that was, rolled by, deterred no whit.", "", "Which, while I forded,--good saints, how I feared", " To set my foot upon a dead man's cheek,", " Each step, or feel the spear I thrust to seek", "For hollows, tangled in his hair or beard!", "--It may have been a water-rat I speared,", " But, ugh! it sounded like a baby's shriek.", "", "Glad was I when I reached the other bank.", " Now for a better country. Vain presage!", " Who were the strugglers, what war did they wage", "Whose savage trample thus could pad the dank", "Soil to a plash? Toads in a poisoned tank,", " Or wild cats in a red-hot iron cage--", "", "The fight must so have seemed in that fell cirque.", " What penned them there, with all the plain, to choose?", " No foot-print leading to that horrid mews,", "None out of it. Mad brewage set to work", "Their brains, no doubt, like galley-slaves the Turk", " Pits for his pastime, Christians against Jews.", "", "And more than that--a furlong on--why, there!", " What bad use was that engine for, that wheel,", " Or brake, not wheel--that harrow fit to reel", "Men's bodies out like silk? with all the air", "Of Tophet's tool, on earth left unaware,", " Or brought to sharpen its rusty teeth of steel.", "", "Then came a bit of stubbed ground, once a wood,", " Next a marsh, it would seem, and now mere earth", " Desperate and done with; (so a fool finds mirth,", "Makes a thing and then mars it, till his mood", "Changes, and off he goes!) within a rood--", " Bog, clay, and rubble, sand, and stark black dearth.", "", "Now blotches rankling, coloured gay and grim,", " Now patches where some leanness of the soil's", " Broke into moss or substances like boils;", "Then came some palsied oak, a cleft in him", "Like a distorted mouth that splits its rim", " Gaping at death, and dies while it recoils.", "", "And just as far as ever from the end,", " Naught in the distance but the evening, naught", " To point my footstep further! At the thought,", "A great black bird, Apollyon's bosom-friend,", "Sailed past, nor beat his wide wing dragon-penned", " That brushed my cap--perchance the guide I sought.", "", "For, looking up, aware I somehow grew,", " 'Spite of the dusk, the plain had given place", " All round to mountains--with such name to grace", "Mere ugly heights and heaps now stolen in view.", "How thus they had surprised me,--solve it, you!", " How to get from them was no clearer case.", "", "Yet half I seemed to recognize some trick", " Of mischief happened to me, Gods knows when--", " In a bad dream, perhaps. Here ended, then,", "Progress this way. When, in the very nick", "Of giving up, one time more, came a click", " As when a trap shuts--you're inside the den.", "", "Burningly it came on me all at once,", " This was the place! those two hills on the right,", " Crouched like two bulls locked horn in horn in fight;", "While, to the left, a tall scalped mountain ... Dunce,", "Dotard, a-dozing at the very nonce,", " After a life spent training for the sight!", "", "What in the midst lay but the Tower itself?", " The round squat turret, blind as the fool's heart,", " Built of brown stone, without a counterpart", "In the whole world. The tempest's mocking elf", "Points to the shipman thus the unseen shelf", " He strikes on, only when the timbers start.", "", "Not see? because of night perhaps?--why, day", " Came back again for that! before it left,", " The dying sunset kindled thro' a cleft:", "The hills, like giants at a hunting, lay,", "Chin upon hand, to see the game at bay,", " \"Now stab and end the creature--to the heft!\"", "", "Not hear? when noise was everywhere! it tolled", " Increasing like a bell. Names in my ears,", " Of all the lost adventurers my peers,--", "How such a one was strong, and such was bold,", "And such was fortunate, yet each of old", " Lost, lost! one moment knelled the woe of years.", "", "There they stood, ranged along the hillsides, met", " To view the last of me, a living frame", " For one more picture! in a sheet of flame", "I saw them and I knew them all. And yet", "Dauntless the slug-horn to my lips I set,", " And blew. \"_Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came._\"" ], "linecount": "204" }, { "title": "One Word More: To E.B.B.", "author": "Robert Browning", "lines": [ "There they are, my fifty men and women", "Naming me the fifty poems finished!", "Take them, Love, the book and me together;", "Where the heart lies, let the brain lie also.", "", "Rafael made a century of sonnets,", "Made and wrote them in a certain volume", "Dinted with the silver-pointed pencil", "Else he only used to draw Madonnas;", "These, the world might view--but one, the volume.", "Who that one, you ask? Your heart instructs you.", "Did she live and love it all her lifetime?", "Did she drop, his lady of the sonnets,", "Die, and let it drop beside her pillow", "Where it lay in place of Rafael's glory,", "Rafael's cheek so duteous and so loving--", "Cheek, the world was wont to hail a painter's,", "Rafael's cheek, her love had turned a poet's?", "", "You and I would rather read that volume", "(Taken to his beating bosom by it),", "Lean and list the bosom-beats of Rafael,", "Would we not? than wonder at Madonnas--", "Her, San Sisto names, and Her, Foligno,", "Her, that visits Florence in a vision,", "Her, that's left with lilies in the Louvre--", "Seen by us and all the world in circle.", "", "You and I will never read that volume.", "Guido Reni, like his own eye's apple,", "Guarded long the treasure-book and loved it.", "Guido Reni dying, all Bologna", "Cried, and the world cried too, \"Ours, the treasure!\"", "Suddenly, as rare things will, it vanished.", "", "Dante once prepared to paint an angel:", "Whom to please? You whisper \"Beatrice.\"", "While he mused and traced it and retraced it", "(Peradventure with a pen corroded", "Still by drops of that hot ink he dipped for,", "When, his left-hand i' the hair o' the wicked,", "Back he held the brow and pricked its stigma,", "Bit into the live man's flesh for parchment,", "Loosed him, laughed to see the writing rankle,", "Let the wretch go festering through Florence)--", "Dante, who loved well because he hated,", "Hated wickedness that hinders loving,", "Dante, standing, studying his angel,--", "In there broke the folk of his Inferno.", "Says he--\"Certain people of importance\"", "(Such he gave his daily dreadful line to)", "\"Entered and would seize, forsooth, the poet.\"", "Says the poet--\"Then I stopped my painting.\"", "", "You and I would rather see that angel,", "Painted by the tenderness of Dante,", "Would we not?--than read a fresh Inferno.", "", "You and I will never see that picture.", "While he mused on love and Beatrice,", "While he softened o'er his outlined angel,", "In they broke, those \"people of importance\":", "We and Bice bear the loss forever.", "", "What of Rafael's sonnets, Dante's picture?", "This: no artist lives and loves, that longs not", "Once, and only once, and for one only,", "(Ah, the prize!) to find his love a language", "Fit and fair and simple and sufficient--", "Using nature that's an art to others,", "Not, this one time, art that's turned his nature.", "Ay, of all the artists living, loving,", "None but would forego his proper dowry,--", "Does he paint? he fain would write a poem,", "Does he write? he fain would paint a picture,--", "Put to proof art alien to the artist's,", "Once, and only once, and for one only,", "So to be the man and leave the artist,", "Gain the man's joy, miss the artist's sorrow.", "", "Wherefore? Heaven's gift takes earth's abatement!", "He who smites the rock and spreads the water,", "Bidding drink and live a crowd beneath him,", "Even he, the minute makes immortal,", "Proves, perchance, but mortal in the minute,", "Desecrates, belike, the deed in doing.", "While he smites, how can he but remember,", "So he smote before, in such a peril,", "When they stood and mocked--\"Shall smiting help us?\"", "When they drank and sneered--\"A stroke is easy!\"", "When they wiped their mouths and went their journey,", "Throwing him for thanks--\"But drought was pleasant.\"", "Thus old memories mar the actual triumph;", "Thus the doing savors of disrelish;", "Thus achievement lacks a gracious somewhat;", "O'er-importuned brows becloud the mandate,", "Carelessness or consciousness--the gesture.", "For he bears an ancient wrong about him,", "Sees and knows again those phalanxed faces,", "Hears, yet one time more, the 'customed prelude--", "\"How shouldst thou, of all men, smite, and save us?\"", "Guesses what is like to prove the sequel--", "\"Egypt's flesh-pots--nay, the drought was better.\"", "", "Oh, the crowd must have emphatic warrant!", "Theirs, the Sinai-forhead's cloven brilliance,", "Right-arm's rod-sweep, tongue's imperial fiat.", "Never dares the man put off the prophet.", "", "Did he love one face from out the thousands,", "(Were she Jethro's daughter, white and wifely,", "Were she but the Æthiopian bondslave),", "He would envy yon dumb, patient camel,", "Keeping a reserve of scanty water", "Meant to save his own life in the desert;", "Ready in the desert to deliver", "(Kneeling down to let his breast be opened)", "Hoard and life together for his mistress.", "", "I shall never, in the years remaining,", "Paint you pictures, no, nor carve you statues.", "Make you music that should all-express me;", "So it seems; I stand on my attainment.", "This of verse alone, one life allows me;", "Verse and nothing else have I to give you;", "Other heights in other lives, God willing;", "All the gifts from all the heights, your own, Love.", "", "Yet a semblance of resource avails us--", "Shade so finely touched, love's sense must seize it.", "Take these lines, look lovingly and nearly,", "Lines I write the first time and the last time.", "He who works in fresco steals a hair-brush,", "Curbs the liberal hand, subservient proudly,", "Cramps his spirit, crowds its all in little,", "Makes a strange art of an art familiar,", "Fills his lady's missal-marge with flowerets,", "He who blows through bronze may breathe through silver,", "Fitly serenade a slumbrous princess.", "He who writes, may write for once as I do.", "", "Love, you saw me gather men and women,", "Live or dead or fashioned by my fancy,", "Enter each and all, and use their service,", "Speak from every mouth,--the speech, a poem.", "Hardly shall I tell my joys and sorrows,", "Hopes and fears, belief and disbelieving:", "I am mine and yours--the rest be all men's,", "Karshish, Cleon, Norbert, and the fifty.", "Let me speak this once in my true person,", "Not as Lippo, Roland, or Andrea,", "Though the fruit of speech be just this sentence:", "Pray you, look on these my men and women,", "Take and keep my fifty poems finished;", "Where my heart lies, let my brain lie also!", "Poor the speech; be how I speak, for all things.", "", "Not but that you know me! Lo, the moon's self!", "Here in London, yonder late in Florence,", "Still we find her face, the thrice-transfigured.", "Curving on a sky imbrued with color,", "Drifted over Fiesole by twilight,", "Came she, our new crescent of a hair's-breadth.", "Full she flared it, lamping Samminiato,", "Rounder 'twixt the cypresses and rounder,", "Perfect till the nightingales applauded.", "Now, a piece of her old self, impoverished,", "Hard to greet, she traverses the house-roofs,", "Hurries with unhandsome thrift of silver,", "Goes dispiritedly, glad to finish.", "", "What, there's nothing in the moon noteworthy?", "Nay: for if that moon could love a mortal,", "Use, to charm him (so to fit a fancy),", "All her magic ('tis the old sweet mythos),", "She would turn a new side to her mortal,", "Side unseen of herdsman, huntsman, steersman,--", "Blank to Zoroaster on his terrace,", "Blind to Galileo on his turret.", "Dumb to Homer, dumb to Keats--him, even!", "Think, the wonder of the moonstruck mortal--", "When she turns round, comes again in heaven,", "Opens out anew for worse or better!", "Proves she like some portent of an iceberg", "Swimming full upon the ship it founders,", "Hungry with huge teeth of splintered crystals?", "Proves she as the paved work of a sapphire,", "Seen by Moses when he climbed the mountain?", "Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu", "Climbed and saw the very God, the Highest,", "Stand upon the paved work of a sapphire.", "Like the bodied heaven in his clearness", "Shone the stone, the sapphire of that paved work,", "When they ate and drank and saw God also!", "", "What were seen? None knows, none ever will know.", "Only this is sure--the sight were other,", "Not the moon's same side, born late in Florence,", "Dying now impoverished here in London.", "God be thanked, the meanest of his creatures", "Boasts two soul-sides, one to face the world with,", "One to show a woman when he loves her.", "", "This I say of me, but think of you, Love!", "This to you--yourself my moon of poets!", "Ah, but that's the world's side, there's the wonder,", "Thus they see you, praise you, think they know you!", "There, in turn I stand with them and praise you--", "Out of my own self, I dare to phrase it.", "But the best is when I glide from out them,", "Cross a step or two of dubious twilight,", "Come out on the other side, the novel", "Silent silver lights and darks undreamed of,", "Where I hush and bless myself with silence.", "", "Oh, their Rafael of the dear Madonnas,", "Oh, their Dante of the dread Inferno,", "Wrote one song--and in my brain I sing it,", "Drew one angel--borne, see, on my bosom!" ], "linecount": "201" }, { "title": "To E--", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Let Folly smile, to view the names", " Of thee and me, in Friendship twin'd;", "Yet Virtue will have greater claims", " To love, than rank with vice combin'd.", "", "And though unequal is _thy_ fate,", " Since title deck'd my higher birth;", "Yet envy not this gaudy state,", " _Thine_ is the pride of modest worth.", "", "Our _souls_ at least congenial meet,", " Nor can _thy_ lot _my_ rank disgrace;", "Our intercourse is not less sweet,", " Since worth of rank supplies the place." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "On the Death of a Young Lady, Cousin to the Author, and Very Dear to Him", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Hush'd are the winds, and still the evening gloom,", " Not e'en a zephyr wanders through the grove,", "Whilst I return to view my Margaret's tomb,", " And scatter flowers on the dust I love.", "", "Within this narrow cell reclines her clay,", " That clay, where once such animation beam'd;", "The King of Terrors seiz'd her as his prey;", " Not worth, nor beauty, have her life redeem'd.", "", "Oh! could that King of Terrors pity feel,", " Or Heaven reverse the dread decree of fate,", "Not here the mourner would his grief reveal,", " Not here the Muse her virtues would relate.", "", "But wherefore weep? Her matchless spirit soars", " Beyond where splendid shines the orb of day;", "And weeping angels lead her to those bowers,", " Where endless pleasures virtuous deeds repay.", "", "And shall presumptuous mortals Heaven arraign!", " And, madly, Godlike Providence accuse!", "Ah! no, far fly from me attempts so vain;--", " I'll ne'er submission to my God refuse.", "", "Yet is remembrance of those virtues dear,", " Yet fresh the memory of that beauteous face;", "Still they call forth my warm affection's tear,", " Still in my heart retain their wonted place." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "To D--", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "In thee, I fondly hop'd to clasp", " A friend, whom death alone could sever;", "Till envy, with malignant grasp,", " Detach'd thee from my breast for ever.", "", "True, she has forc'd thee from my _breast_,", " Yet, in my _heart_, thou keep'st thy seat;", "There, there, thine image still must rest,", " Until that heart shall cease to beat.", "", "And, when the grave restores her dead,", " When life again to dust is given,", "On _thy dear_ breast I'll lay my head--", " Without _thee! where_ would be _my Heaven?_" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "To Caroline", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Think'st thou I saw thy beauteous eyes,", " Suffus'd in tears, implore to stay;", "And heard _unmov'd_ thy plenteous sighs,", " Which said far more than words can say?", "", "Though keen the grief _thy_ tears exprest,", " When love and hope lay _both_ o'erthrown;", "Yet still, my girl, _this_ bleeding breast", " Throbb'd, with deep sorrow, as _thine own_.", "", "But, when our cheeks with anguish glow'd,", " When _thy_ sweet lips were join'd to mine;", "The tears that from _my_ eyelids flow'd", " Were lost in those which fell from _thine_.", "", "Thou could'st not feel my burning cheek,", " _Thy_ gushing tears had quench'd its flame,", "And, as thy tongue essay'd to speak,", " In _sighs alone_ it breath'd my name.", "", "And yet, my girl, we weep in vain,", " In vain our fate in sighs deplore;", "Remembrance only can remain,", " But _that_, will make us weep the more.", "", "Again, thou best belov'd, adieu!", " Ah! if thou canst, o'ercome regret,", "Nor let thy mind past joys review,", " Our only _hope_ is, to _forget_!" ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "To Caroline", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "You say you love, and yet your eye", " No symptom of that love conveys,", "You say you love, yet know not why,", " Your cheek no sign of love betrays.", "", "Ah! did that breast with ardour glow,", "With me alone it joy could know,", "Or feel with me the listless woe,", " Which racks my heart when far from thee.", "", "Whene'er we meet my blushes rise,", " And mantle through my purpled cheek,", "But yet no blush to mine replies,", " Nor e'en your eyes your love bespeak.", "", "Your voice alone declares your flame,", "And though so sweet it breathes my name,", "Our passions still are not the same;", " Alas! you cannot love like me.", "", "For e'en your lip seems steep'd in snow,", " And though so oft it meets my kiss,", "It burns with no responsive glow,", " Nor melts like mine in dewy bliss.", "", "Ah! what are words to love like _mine_,", "Though uttered by a voice like thine,", "I still in murmurs must repine,", " And think that love can ne'er be _true_,", "", "Which meets me with no joyous sign,", " Without a sigh which bids adieu;", "How different is my love from thine,", " How keen my grief when leaving you.", "", "Your image fills my anxious breast,", "Till day declines adown the West,", "And when at night, I sink to rest,", " In dreams your fancied form I view.", "", "'Tis then your breast, no longer cold,", " With equal ardour seems to burn,", "While close your arms around me fold,", " Your lips my kiss with warmth return.", "", "Ah! would these joyous moments last;", "Vain HOPE! the gay delusion's past,", "That voice!--ah! no, 'tis but the blast,", " Which echoes through the neighbouring grove.", "", "But when _awake_, your lips I seek,", " And clasp enraptur'd all your charms,", "So chill's the pressure of your cheek,", " I fold a statue in my arms.", "", "If thus, when to my heart embrac'd,", "No pleasure in your eyes is trac'd,", "You may be prudent, fair, and _chaste_,", " But ah! my girl, you _do not love_." ], "linecount": "48" }, { "title": "To Emma", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Since now the hour is come at last,", " When you must quit your anxious lover;", "Since now, our dream of bliss is past,", " One pang, my girl, and all is over.", "", "Alas! that pang will be severe,", " Which bids us part to meet no more;", "Which tears me far from _one_ so dear,", " _Departing_ for a distant shore.", "", "Well! we have pass'd some happy hours,", " And joy will mingle with our tears;", "When thinking on these ancient towers,", " The shelter of our infant years;", "", "Where from this Gothic casement's height,", " We view'd the lake, the park, the dell,", "And still, though tears obstruct our sight,", " We lingering look a last farewell,", "", "O'er fields through which we us'd to run,", " And spend the hours in childish play;", "O'er shades where, when our race was done,", " Reposing on my breast you lay;", "", "Whilst I, admiring, too remiss,", " Forgot to scare the hovering flies,", "Yet envied every fly the kiss,", " It dar'd to give your slumbering eyes:", "", "See still the little painted _bark_,", " In which I row'd you o'er the lake;", "See there, high waving o'er the park,", " The _elm_ I clamber'd for your sake.", "", "These times are past, our joys are gone,", " You leave me, leave this happy vale;", "These scenes, I must retrace alone;", " Without thee, what will they avail?", "", "Who can conceive, who has not prov'd,", " The anguish of a last embrace?", "When, torn from all you fondly lov'd,", " You bid a long adieu to peace.", "", "_This_ is the deepest of our woes,", " For _this_ these tears our cheeks bedew;", "This is of love the final close,", " Oh, God! the fondest, _last_ adieu!" ], "linecount": "40" }, { "title": "Answer to the Foregoing, Addressed to Miss----", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Dear simple girl, those flattering arts,", "(From which thou'dst guard frail female hearts,", "Exist but in imagination,", "Mere phantoms of thine own creation;", "For he who views that witching grace,", "That perfect form, that lovely face,", "With eyes admiring, oh! believe me,", "He never wishes to deceive thee:", "Once in thy polish'd mirror glance", "Thou'lt there descry that elegance", "Which from our sex demands such praises,", "But envy in the other raises.--", "Then he who tells thee of thy beauty,", "Believe me, only does his duty:", "Ah! fly not from the candid youth;", "It is not flattery,--'tis truth." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Adrian's Address to His Soul When Dying", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Animula! vagula, Blandula,", "Hospes, comesque corporis,", "Quæ nunc abibis in Loca--", "Pallidula, rigida, nudula,", "Nec, ut soles, dabis Jocos?" ], "linecount": "5" }, { "title": "To Caroline", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Oh! when shall the grave hide for ever my sorrow?", "Oh! when shall my soul wing her flight from this clay?", "The present is hell! and the coming to-morrow", " But brings, with new torture, the curse of to-day.", "", "From my eye flows no tear, from my lips flow no curses,", " I blast not the fiends who have hurl'd me from bliss;", "For poor is the soul which, bewailing, rehearses", " Its querulous grief, when in anguish like this--", "", "Was my eye, 'stead of tears, with red fury flakes bright'ning,", " Would my lips breathe a flame which no stream could assuage,", "On our foes should my glance launch in vengeance its lightning,", " With transport my tongue give a loose to its rage.", "", "But now tears and curses, alike unavailing,", " Would add to the souls of our tyrants delight;", "Could they view us our sad separation bewailing,", " Their merciless hearts would rejoice at the sight.", "", "Yet, still, though we bend with a feign'd resignation,", " Life beams not for us with one ray that can cheer;", "Love and Hope upon earth bring no more consolation,", " In the grave is our hope, for in life is our fear.", "", "Oh! when, my ador'd, in the tomb will they place me,", " Since, in life, love and friendship for ever are fled?", "If again in the mansion of death I embrace thee,", " Perhaps they will leave unmolested--the dead." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "To Caroline", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "When I hear you express an affection so warm,", " Ne'er think, my belov'd, that I do not believe;", "For your lip would the soul of suspicion disarm,", " And your eye beams a ray which can never deceive.", "", "Yet still, this fond bosom regrets, while adoring,", " That love, like the leaf, must fall into the sear,", "That Age will come on, when Remembrance, deploring,", "Contemplates the scenes of her youth, with a tear;", "", "That the time must arrive, when, no longer retaining", " Their auburn, those locks must wave thin to the breeze,", "When a few silver hairs of those tresses remaining,", " Prove nature a prey to decay and disease.", "", "Tis this, my belov'd, which spreads gloom o'er my features,", " Though I ne'er shall presume to arraign the decree", "Which God has proclaim'd as the fate of his creatures,", " In the death which one day will deprive you of me.", "", "Mistake not, sweet sceptic, the cause of emotion,", " No doubt can the mind of your lover invade;", "He worships each look with such faithful devotion,", " A smile can enchant, or a tear can dissuade.", "", "But as death, my belov'd, soon or late shall o'ertake us,", " And our breasts, which alive with such sympathy glow,", "Will sleep in the grave, till the blast shall awake us,", " When calling the dead, in Earth's bosom laid low.", "", "Oh! then let us drain, while we may, draughts of pleasure,", " Which from passion, like ours, must unceasingly flow;", "Let us pass round the cup of Love's bliss in full measure,", " And quaff the contents as our nectar below." ], "linecount": "28" }, { "title": "To Mary, on Receiving Her Picture", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "This faint resemblance of thy charms,", " (Though strong as mortal art could give,)", "My constant heart of fear disarms,", " Revives my hopes, and bids me live.", "", "Here, I can trace the locks of gold", " Which round thy snowy forehead wave;", "The cheeks which sprung from Beauty's mould,", " The lips, which made me 'Beauty's' slave.", "", "Here I can trace--ah, no! that eye,", " Whose azure floats in liquid fire,", "Must all the painter's art defy,", " And bid him from the task retire.", "", "Here, I behold its beauteous hue;", "But where's the beam so sweetly straying,", "Which gave a lustre to its blue,", " Like Luna o'er the ocean playing?", "", "Sweet copy! far more dear to me,", " Lifeless, unfeeling as thou art,", "Than all the living forms could be,", " Save her who plac'd thee next my heart.", "", "She plac'd it, sad, with needless fear,", " Lest time might shake my wavering soul,", "Unconscious that her image there", " Held every sense in fast controul.", "", "Thro' hours, thro' years, thro' time,'twill cheer--", " My hope, in gloomy moments, raise;", "In life's last conflict 'twill appear,", " And meet my fond, expiring gaze." ], "linecount": "28" }, { "title": "To a Lady Who Presented to the Author a Lock of Hair Braided With His Own, and Appointed a Night in December to Meet Him in the Garden", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "These locks, which fondly thus entwine,", "In firmer chains our hearts confine,", "Than all th' unmeaning protestations", "Which swell with nonsense, love orations.", "Our love is fix'd, I think we've prov'd it;", "Nor time, nor place, nor art have mov'd it;", "Then wherefore should we sigh and whine,", "With groundless jealousy repine;", "With silly whims, and fancies frantic,", "Merely to make our love romantic?", "Why should you weep, like _Lydia Languish_,", "And fret with self-created anguish?", "Or doom the lover you have chosen,", "On winter nights to sigh half frozen;", "In leafless shades, to sue for pardon,", "Only because the scene's a garden?", "For gardens seem, by one consent,", "(Since Shakespeare set the precedent;", "Since Juliet first declar'd her passion)", "To form the place of assignation.", "Oh! would some modern muse inspire,", "And seat her by a _sea-coal_ fire;", "Or had the bard at Christmas written,", "And laid the scene of love in Britain;", "He surely, in commiseration,", "Had chang'd the place of declaration.", "In Italy, I've no objection,", "Warm nights are proper for reflection;", "But here our climate is so rigid,", "That love itself, is rather frigid:", "Think on our chilly situation,", "And curb this rage for imitation.", "Then let us meet, as oft we've done,", "Beneath the influence of the sun;", "Or, if at midnight I must meet you,", "Within your mansion let me greet you:", "'There', we can love for hours together,", "Much better, in such snowy weather,", "Than plac'd in all th' Arcadian groves,", "That ever witness'd rural loves;", "'Then', if my passion fail to please,", "Next night I'll be content to freeze;", "No more I'll give a loose to laughter,", "But curse my fate, for ever after." ], "linecount": "44" }, { "title": "To a Beautiful Quaker", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Sweet girl! though only once we met,", "That meeting I shall ne'er forget;", "And though we ne'er may meet again,", "Remembrance will thy form retain;", "I would not say, \"I love,\" but still,", "My senses struggle with my will:", "In vain to drive thee from my breast,", "My thoughts are more and more represt;", "In vain I check the rising sighs,", "Another to the last replies:", "Perhaps, this is not love, but yet,", "Our meeting I can ne'er forget.", "", "What, though we never silence broke,", "Our eyes a sweeter language spoke;", "The tongue in flattering falsehood deals,", "And tells a tale it never feels:", "Deceit, the guilty lips impart,", "And hush the mandates of the heart;", "But soul's interpreters, the eyes,", "Spurn such restraint, and scorn disguise.", "As thus our glances oft convers'd,", "And all our bosoms felt rehears'd,", "No _spirit_, from within, reprov'd us,", "Say rather, \"'twas the _spirit mov'd_ us.\"", "Though, what they utter'd, I repress,", "Yet I conceive thou'lt partly guess;", "For as on thee, my memory ponders,", "Perchance to me, thine also wanders.", "This, for myself, at least, I'll say,", "Thy form appears through night, through day;", "Awake, with it my fancy teems,", "In sleep, it smiles in fleeting dreams;", "The vision charms the hours away,", "And bids me curse Aurora's ray", "For breaking slumbers of delight,", "Which make me wish for endless night.", "Since, oh! whate'er my future fate,", "Shall joy or woe my steps await;", "Tempted by love, by storms beset,", "Thine image, I can ne'er forget.", "", "Alas! again no more we meet,", "No more our former looks repeat;", "Then, let me breathe this parting prayer,", "The dictate of my bosom's care:", "\"May Heaven so guard my lovely quaker,", "That anguish never can o'ertake her;", "That peace and virtue ne'er forsake her,", "But bliss be aye her heart's partaker!", "Oh! may the happy mortal, fated", "To be, by dearest ties, related,", "For _her_, each hour, _new joys_ discover,", "And lose the husband in the lover!", "May that fair bosom never know", "What 'tis to feel the restless woe,", "Which stings the soul, with vain regret,", "Of him, who never can forget!\"" ], "linecount": "56" }, { "title": "To Lesbia!", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "LESBIA! since far from you I've rang'd,", " Our souls with fond affection glow not;", "You say, 'tis I, not you, have chang'd,", " I'd tell you why,--but yet I know not.", "", "Your polish'd brow no cares have crost;", " And Lesbia! we are not much older,", "Since, trembling, first my heart I lost,", " Or told my love, with hope grown bolder.", "", "Sixteen was then our utmost age,", " Two years have lingering pass'd away, love!", "And now new thoughts our minds engage,", " At least, I feel disposed to stray, love!", "", "\"Tis _I_ that am alone to blame,", " _I_, that am guilty of love's treason;", "Since your sweet breast is still the same,", " Caprice must be my only reason.", "", "I do not, love! suspect your truth,", " With jealous doubt my bosom heaves not;", "Warm was the passion of my youth,", " One trace of dark deceit it leaves not.", "", "No, no, my flame was not pretended;", " For, oh! I lov'd you most sincerely;", "And though our dream at last is ended", " My bosom still esteems you dearly.", "", "No more we meet in yonder bowers;", " Absence has made me prone to roving;", "But older, firmer _hearts_ than ours", " Have found monotony in loving.", "", "Your cheek's soft bloom is unimpair'd,", " New beauties, still, are daily bright'ning,", "Your eye, for conquest beams prepar'd,", " The forge of love's resistless lightning.", "", "Arm'd thus, to make their bosoms bleed,", " Many will throng, to sigh like me, love!", "More constant they may prove, indeed;", " Fonder, alas! they ne'er can be, love!" ], "linecount": "36" }, { "title": "To Woman", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Woman! experience might have told me", "That all must love thee, who behold thee:", "Surely experience might have taught", "Thy firmest promises are nought;", "But, plac'd in all thy charms before me,", "All I forget, but to _adore_ thee.", "Oh memory! thou choicest blessing,", "When join'd with hope, when still possessing;", "But how much curst by every lover", "When hope is fled, and passion's over.", "Woman, that fair and fond deceiver,", "How prompt are striplings to believe her!", "How throbs the pulse, when first we view", "The eye that rolls in glossy blue,", "Or sparkles black, or mildly throws", "A beam from under hazel brows!", "How quick we credit every oath,", "And hear her plight the willing troth!", "Fondly we hope 'twill last for ay,", "When, lo! she changes in a day.", "This record will for ever stand,'", "\"Woman, thy vows are trac'd in sand.\"" ], "linecount": "22" }, { "title": "To Eliza", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Eliza! what fools are the Mussulman sect,", " Who, to woman, deny the soul's future existence;", "Could they see thee, Eliza! they'd own their defect,", " And this doctrine would meet with a general resistance.", "", "Had their Prophet possess'd half an atom of sense,", " He ne'er would have _woman_ from Paradise driven;", "Instead of his _Houris_, a flimsy pretence,", " With _woman alone_ he had peopled his Heaven.", "", "Yet, still, to increase your calamities more,", " Not content with depriving your bodies of spirit,", "He allots one poor husband to share amongst four! -", " With _souls_ you'd dispense; but, this last, who could bear it?", "", "His religion to please neither party is made;", " On _husbands_ 'tis _hard_, to the wives most uncivil;", "Still I can't contradict, what so oft has been said,", " \"Though women are angels, yet wedlock's the devil.\"", "", "This terrible truth, even Scripture has told,", " Ye Benedicks! hear me, and listen with rapture;", "If a glimpse of redemption you wish to behold,", " Of ST. MATT.--read the second and twentieth chapter.", "", "'Tis surely enough upon earth to be vex'd,", " With wives who eternal confusion are spreading;", "\"But in Heaven\" (so runs the Evangelists' Text)", " \"We neither have giving in marriage, or wedding.\"", "", "From this we suppose, (as indeed well we may,)", " That should Saints after death, with their spouses put up more,", "And wives, as in life, aim at absolute sway,", " All Heaven would ring with the conjugal uproar.", "", "Distraction and Discord would follow in course,", " Nor MATTHEW, nor MARK, nor ST. PAUL, can deny it,", "The only expedient is general divorce,", " To prevent universal disturbance and riot.", "", "But though husband and wife, shall at length be disjoin'd,", " Yet woman and man ne'er were meant to dissever,", "Our chains once dissolv'd, and our hearts unconfin'd,", " We'll love without bonds, but we'll love you for ever.", "", "Though souls are denied you by fools and by rakes,", " Should you own it yourselves, I would even then doubt you,", "Your nature so much of _celestial_ partakes,", " The Garden of Eden would wither without you." ], "linecount": "40" }, { "title": "Reply to Some Verses of J. M. B. Pigot, Esq., on the Cruelty of His Mistress", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ " Why, Pigot, complain", " Of this damsel's disdain,", "Why thus in despair do you fret?", " For months you may try,", " Yet, believe me, a _sigh_", "Will never obtain a _coquette_.", "", " Would you teach her to love?", " For a time seem to rove;", "At first she may _frown_ in a _pet;_", " But leave her awhile,", " She shortly will smile,", "And then you may _kiss_ your _coquette_.", "", " For such are the airs", " Of these fanciful fairs,", "They think all our _homage_ a _debt_:", " Yet a partial neglect", " Soon takes an effect,", "And humbles the proudest _coquette_.", "", " Dissemble your pain,", " And lengthen your chain,", "And seem her _hauteur_ to _regret;_", " If again you shall sigh,", " She no more will deny,", "That _yours_ is the rosy _coquette_.", "", " If still, from false pride,", " Your pangs she deride,", "This whimsical virgin forget;", " Some _other_ admire,", " Who will _melt_ with your _fire_,", "And laugh at the _little coquette_.", "", " For _me_, I adore", " Some _twenty_ or more,", "And love them most dearly; but yet,", " Though my heart they enthral,", " I'd abandon them all,", "Did they act like your blooming _coquette_.", "", " No longer repine,", " Adopt this design,", "And break through her slight-woven net!", " Away with despair,", " No longer forbear", "To fly from the captious _coquette_.", "", " Then quit her, my friend!", " Your bosom defend,", "Ere quite with her snares you're beset:", " Lest your deep-wounded heart,", " When incens'd by the smart,", "Should lead you to _curse_ the _coquette_." ], "linecount": "48" }, { "title": "To the Sighing Strephon", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Your pardon, my friend,", "If my rhymes did offend,", "Your pardon, a thousand times o'er;", "From friendship I strove,", "Your pangs to remove,", "But, I swear, I will do so no more.", "", "Since your _beautiful_ maid,", "Your flame has repaid,", "No more I your folly regret;", "She's now most divine,", "And I bow at the shrine,", "Of this quickly reformèd coquette.", "", "Yet still, I must own,", "I should never have known,", "From _your verses_, what else she deserv'd;", "Your pain seem'd so great,", "I pitied your fate,", "As your fair was so dev'lish reserv'd.", "", "Since the balm-breathing kiss", "Of this magical Miss,", "Can such wonderful transports produce;", "Since the _\"world you forget,", "When your lips once have met,\"_", "My counsel will get but abuse.", "", "You say, \"When I rove,\"", "\"I know nothing of love;\"", "Tis true, I am given to range;", "If I rightly remember,", "_I've lov'd_ a good number;", "Yet there's pleasure, at least, in a change.", "", "I will not advance,", "By the rules of romance,", "To humour a whimsical fair;", "Though a smile may delight,", "Yet a _frown_ will _affright,_", "Or drive me to dreadful despair.", "", "While my blood is thus warm,", "I ne'er shall reform,", "To mix in the Platonists' school;", "Of this I am sure,", "Was my Passion so pure,", "Thy _Mistress_ would think me a fool.", "", "And if I should shun,", "Every _woman_ for _one,_", "Whose _image_ must fill my whole breast;", "Whom I must _prefer,_", "And _sigh_ but for _her,_", "What an _insult_ 'twould be to the _rest!_", "", "Now Strephon, good-bye;", "I cannot deny,", "Your _passion_ appears most _absurd;_", "Such _love_ as you plead,", "Is _pure_ love, indeed,", "For it _only_ consists in the _word_." ], "linecount": "54" }, { "title": "To M---", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Oh! did those eyes, instead of fire,", " With bright, but mild affection shine:", "Though they might kindle less desire,", " Love, more than mortal, would be thine.", "", "For thou art form'd so heavenly fair,", " _Howe'er_ those orbs _may_ wildly beam,", "We must _admire,_ but still despair;", " That fatal glance forbids esteem.", "", "When Nature stamp'd thy beauteous birth,", " So much perfection in thee shone,", "She fear'd that, too divine for earth,", " The skies might claim thee for their own.", "", "Therefore, to guard her dearest work,", " Lest angels might dispute the prize,", "She bade a secret lightning lurk,", " Within those once celestial eyes.", "", "These might the boldest Sylph appall,", " When gleaming with meridian blaze;", "Thy beauty must enrapture all;", " But who can dare thine ardent gaze?", "", "'Tis said that Berenice's hair,", " In stars adorns the vault of heaven;", "But they would ne'er permit _thee_ there,", " _Thou_ wouldst so far outshine the seven.", "", "For did those eyes as planets roll,", " Thy sister-lights would scarce appear:", "E'en suns, which systems now controul,", " Would twinkle dimly through their sphere." ], "linecount": "28" }, { "title": "Lines Addressed to a Young Lady", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Doubtless, sweet girl! the hissing lead,", " Wafting destruction o'er thy charms", "And hurtling o'er thy lovely head,", " Has fill'd that breast with fond alarms.", "", "Surely some envious Demon's force,", " Vex'd to behold such beauty here,", "Impell'd the bullet's viewless course,", " Diverted from its first career.", "", "Yes! in that nearly fatal hour,", " The ball obey'd some hell-born guide;", "But Heaven, with interposing power,", " In pity turn'd the death aside.", "", "Yet, as perchance one trembling tear", " Upon that thrilling bosom fell;", "Which _I_, th' unconscious cause of fear,", " Extracted from its glistening cell;--", "", "Say, what dire penance can atone", " For such an outrage, done to thee?", "Arraign'd before thy beauty's throne,", " What punishment wilt thou decree?", "", "Might I perform the Judge's part,", " The sentence I should scarce deplore;", "It only would restore a heart,", " Which but belong'd to _thee_ before.", "", "The least atonement I can make", " Is to become no longer free;", "Henceforth, I breathe but for thy sake,", " Thou shalt be _all in all_ to me.", "", "But thou, perhaps, may'st now reject", " Such expiation of my guilt;", "Come then--some other mode elect?", " Let it be death--or what thou wilt.", "", "Choose, then, relentless! and I swear", " Nought shall thy dread decree prevent;", "Yet hold--one little word forbear!", " Let it be aught but banishment." ], "linecount": "36" }, { "title": "Imitated From Catullus. to Ellen", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Oh! might I kiss those eyes of fire,", "A million scarce would quench desire;", "Still would I steep my lips in bliss,", "And dwell an age on every kiss;", "Nor then my soul should sated be,", "Still would I kiss and cling to thee:", "Nought should my kiss from thine dissever,", "Still would we kiss and kiss for ever;", "E'en though the numbers did exceed", "The yellow harvest's countless seed;", "To part would be a vain endeavour:", "Could I desist?--ah! never--never." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "To M. S. G", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Whene'er I view those lips of thine,", " Their hue invites my fervent kiss;", "Yet, I forego that bliss divine,", " Alas! it were--unhallow'd bliss.", "", "Whene'er I dream of that pure breast,", " How could I dwell upon its snows!", "Yet, is the daring wish represt,", " For that,--would banish its repose.", "", "A glance from thy soul-searching eye", " Can raise with hope, depress with fear;", "Yet, I conceal my love,--and why?", " I would not force a painful tear.", "", "I ne'er have told my love, yet thou", " Hast seen my ardent flame too well;", "And shall I plead my passion now,", " To make thy bosom's heaven a hell?", "", "No! for thou never canst be mine,", " United by the priest's decree:", "By any ties but those divine,", " Mine, my belov'd, thou ne'er shalt be.", "", "Then let the secret fire consume,", " Let it consume, thou shalt not know:", "With joy I court a certain doom,", " Rather than spread its guilty glow.", "", "I will not ease my tortur'd heart,", " By driving dove-ey'd peace from thine;", "Rather than such a sting impart,", " Each thought presumptuous I resign.", "", "Yes! yield those lips, for which I'd brave", " More than I here shall dare to tell;", "Thy innocence and mine to save,--", " I bid thee now a last farewell.", "", "Yes! yield that breast, to seek despair", " And hope no more thy soft embrace;", "Which to obtain, my soul would dare,", " All, all reproach, but thy disgrace.", "", "At least from guilt shall thou be free,", " No matron shall thy shame reprove;", "Though cureless pangs may prey on me,", " No martyr shall thou be to love." ], "linecount": "40" }, { "title": "Stanzas to a Lady, With the Poems of CamoëNs", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "This votive pledge of fond esteem,", " Perhaps, dear girl! for me thou'lt prize;", "It sings of Love's enchanting dream,", " A theme we never can despise.", "", "Who blames it but the envious fool,", " The old and disappointed maid?", "Or pupil of the prudish school,", " In single sorrow doom'd to fade?", "", "Then read, dear Girl! with feeling read,", " For thou wilt ne'er be one of those;", "To thee, in vain, I shall not plead", " In pity for the Poet's woes.", "", "He was, in sooth, a genuine Bard;", " His was no faint, fictitious flame:", "Like his, may Love be thy reward,", " But not thy hapless fate the same." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "To M. S. G", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "When I dream that you love me, you'll surely forgive;", " Extend not your anger to sleep;", "For in visions alone your affection can live,--", " I rise, and it leaves me to weep.", "", "Then, Morpheus! envelop my faculties fast,", " Shed o'er me your languor benign;", "Should the dream of to-night but resemble the last,", " What rapture celestial is mine!", "", "They tell us that slumber, the sister of death,", " Mortality's emblem is given;", "To fate how I long to resign my frail breath,", " If this be a foretaste of Heaven!", "", "Ah! frown not, sweet Lady, unbend your soft brow,", " Nor deem me too happy in this;", "If I sin in my dream, I atone for it now,", " Thus doom'd, but to gaze upon bliss.", "", "Though in visions, sweet Lady, perhaps you may smile,", " Oh! think not my penance deficient!", "When dreams of your presence my slumbers beguile,", " To awake, will be torture sufficient." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "Answer to a Beautiful Poem, Written by Montgomery, Author of \"the Wanderer of Switzerland,\" Etc., Entitled \"the Common Lot.\"", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Montgomery! true, the common lot", " Of mortals lies in Lethe's wave;", "Yet some shall never be forgot,", " Some shall exist beyond the grave.", "", "\"Unknown the region of his birth,\"", " The hero rolls the tide of war;", "Yet not unknown his martial worth,", " Which glares a meteor from afar.", "", "His joy or grief, his weal or woe,", " Perchance may 'scape the page of fame;", "Yet nations, now unborn, will know", " The record of his deathless name.", "", "The Patriot's and the Poet's frame", " Must share the common tomb of all:", "Their glory will not sleep the same;", " 'That' will arise, though Empires fall.", "", "The lustre of a Beauty's eye", " Assumes the ghastly stare of death;", "The fair, the brave, the good must die,", " And sink the yawning grave beneath.", "", "Once more, the speaking eye revives,", " Still beaming through the lover's strain;", "For Petrarch's Laura still survives:", " She died, but ne'er will die again.", "", "The rolling seasons pass away,", " And Time, untiring, waves his wing;", "Whilst honour's laurels ne'er decay,", " But bloom in fresh, unfading spring.", "", "All, all must sleep in grim repose,", " Collected in the silent tomb;", "The old, the young, with friends and foes,", " Fest'ring alike in shrouds, consume.", "", "The mouldering marble lasts its day,", " Yet falls at length an useless fane;", "To Ruin's ruthless fangs a prey,", " The wrecks of pillar'd Pride remain.", "", "What, though the sculpture be destroy'd,", " From dark Oblivion meant to guard;", "A bright renown shall be enjoy'd,", " By those, whose virtues claim reward.", "", "Then do not say the common lot", " Of all lies deep in Lethe's wave;", "Some few who ne'er will be forgot", " Shall burst the bondage of the grave." ], "linecount": "44" }, { "title": "Lines. Addressed to the Rev. J. T. Becher, on His Advising the Author to Mix More With Society", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Dear BECHER, you tell me to mix with mankind;", " I cannot deny such a precept is wise;", "But retirement accords with the tone of my mind:", " I will not descend to a world I despise.", "", "Did the Senate or Camp my exertions require,", " Ambition might prompt me, at once, to go forth;", "When Infancy's years of probation expire,", " Perchance, I may strive to distinguish my birth.", "", "The fire, in the cavern of Etna, conceal'd,", " Still mantles unseen in its secret recess;", "At length, in a volume terrific, reveal'd,", " No torrent can quench it, no bounds can repress.", "", "Oh! thus, the desire, in my bosom, for fame", " Bids me live, but to hope for Posterity's praise.", "Could I soar with the Phoenix on pinions of flame,", " With him I would wish to expire in the blaze.", "", "For the life of a Fox, of a Chatham the death,", " What censure, what danger, what woe would I brave!", "Their lives did not end, when they yielded their breath,", " Their glory illumines the gloom of their grave", "", "Yet why should I mingle in Fashion's full herd?", " Why crouch to her leaders, or cringe to her rules?", "Why bend to the proud, or applaud the absurd?", " Why search for delight, in the friendship of fools?", "", "I have tasted the sweets, and the bitters, of love,", " In friendship I early was taught to believe;", "My passion the matrons of prudence reprove,", " I have found that a friend may profess, yet deceive.", "", "To me what is wealth?--it may pass in an hour,", " If Tyrants prevail, or if Fortune should frown:", "To me what is title?--the phantom of power;", " To me what is fashion?--I seek but renown.", "", "Deceit is a stranger, as yet, to my soul;", " I, still, am unpractised to varnish the truth:", "Then, why should I live in a hateful controul?", " Why waste, upon folly, the days of my youth?" ], "linecount": "36" }, { "title": "Answer to Some Elegant Verses Sent by a Friend to the Author, Complaining That One of His Descriptions Was Rather Too Warmly Drawn", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ " \"But if any old Lady, Knight, Priest, or Physician,", " Should condemn me for printing a second edition;", " If good Madam Squintum my work should abuse,", " May I venture to give her a smack of my muse?\"", "", " Anstey's 'New Bath Guide', p. 169.", "", "Candour compels me, BECHER! to commend", "The verse, which blends the censor with the friend;", "Your strong yet just reproof extorts applause", "From me, the heedless and imprudent cause;", "For this wild error, which pervades my strain,", "I sue for pardon,--must I sue in vain?", "The wise sometimes from Wisdom's ways depart;", "Can youth then hush the dictates of the heart?", "Precepts of prudence curb, but can't controul,", "The fierce emotions of the flowing soul.", "When Love's delirium haunts the glowing mind,", "Limping Decorum lingers far behind;", "Vainly the dotard mends her prudish pace,", "Outstript and vanquish'd in the mental chase.", "The young, the old, have worn the chains of love;", "Let those, they ne'er confined, my lay reprove;", "Let those, whose souls contemn the pleasing power,", "Their censures on the hapless victim shower.", "Oh! how I hate the nerveless, frigid song,", "The ceaseless echo of the rhyming throng,", "Whose labour'd lines, in chilling numbers flow,", "To paint a pang the author ne'er can know!", "The artless Helicon, I boast, is youth;--", "My Lyre, the Heart--my Muse, the simple Truth.", "Far be't from me the \"virgin's mind\" to \"taint:\"", "Seduction's dread is here no slight restraint:", "The maid whose virgin breast is void of guile,", "Whose wishes dimple in a modest smile,", "Whose downcast eye disdains the wanton leer,", "Firm in her virtue's strength, yet not severe;", "She, whom a conscious grace shall thus refine,", "Will ne'er be \"tainted\" by a strain of mine.", "But, for the nymph whose premature desires", "Torment her bosom with unholy fires,", "No net to snare her willing heart is spread;", "She would have fallen, though she ne'er had read.", "For me, I fain would please the chosen few,", "Whose souls, to feeling and to nature true,", "Will spare the childish verse, and not destroy", "The light effusions of a heedless boy.", "I seek not glory from the senseless crowd;", "Of fancied laurels, I shall ne'er be proud;", "Their warmest plaudits I would scarcely prize,", "Their sneers or censures, I alike despise." ], "linecount": "49" }, { "title": "To George, Earl Delawarr", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Oh! yes, I will own we were dear to each other;", " The friendships of childhood, though fleeting, are true;", "The love which you felt was the love of a brother,", " Nor less the affection I cherish'd for you.", "", "But Friendship can vary her gentle dominion;", " The attachment of years, in a moment expires:", "Like Love, too, she moves on a swift-waving pinion,", " But glows not, like Love, with unquenchable fires.", "", "Full oft have we wander'd through Ida together,", " And blest were the scenes of our youth, I allow:", "In the spring of our life, how serene is the weather!", " But Winter's rude tempests are gathering now.", "", "No more with Affection shall Memory blending,", " The wonted delights of our childhood retrace:", "When Pride steels the bosom, the heart is unbending,", " And what would be Justice appears a disgrace.", "", "However, dear George, for I still must esteem you-", " The few, whom I love, I can never upbraid;", "The chance, which has lost, may in future redeem you,", " Repentance will cancel the vow you have made.", "", "I will not complain, and though chill'd is affection,", " With me no corroding resentment shall live:", "My bosom is calm'd by the simple reflection,", " That both may be wrong, and that both should forgive.", "", "You knew, that my soul, that my heart, my existence,", " If danger demanded, were wholly your own;", "You knew me unalter'd, by years or by distance,", " Devoted to love and to friendship alone.", "", "You knew,--but away with the vain retrospection!", " The bond of affection no longer endures;", "Too late you may droop o'er the fond recollection,", " And sigh for the friend, who was formerly yours.", "", "For the present, we part,--I will hope not for ever;", " For time and regret will restore you at last:", "To forget our dissension we both should endeavour,", " I ask no atonement, but days like the past." ], "linecount": "36" }, { "title": "To Marion", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "MARION! why that pensive brow?", "What disgust to life hast thou?", "Change that discontented air;", "Frowns become not one so fair.", "'Tis not Love disturbs thy rest,", "Love's a stranger to thy breast:", "_He_, in dimpling smiles, appears,", "Or mourns in sweetly timid tears;", "Or bends the languid eyelid down,", "But _shuns_ the cold forbidding 'frown'.", "Then resume thy former fire,", "Some will _love_, and all admire!", "While that icy aspect chills us,", "Nought but cool Indiff'rence thrills us.", "Would'st thou wand'ring hearts beguile,", "Smile, at least, or _seem_ to _smile_;", "Eyes like _thine_ were never meant", "To hide their orbs in dark restraint;", "Spite of all thou fain wouldst say,", "Still in _truant_ beams they play.", "Thy lips--but here my _modest_ Muse", "Her impulse _chaste_ must needs refuse:", "She _blushes, curtsies, frowns,_--in short She", "Dreads lest the _Subject_ should transport me;", "And flying off, in search of _Reason_,", "Brings Prudence back in proper season.", "_All_ I shall, therefore, say (whate'er", "I think, is neither here nor there,)", "Is, that such _lips_, of looks endearing,", "Were form'd for _better things_ than _sneering_.", "Of soothing compliments divested,", "Advice at least's disinterested;", "Such is my artless song to thee,", "From all the flow of Flatt'ry free;", "Counsel like _mine_ is as a brother's,", "_My_ heart is given to some others;", "That is to say, unskill'd to cozen,", "It shares itself among a dozen.", "", " Marion, adieu! oh, pr'ythee slight not", "This warning, though it may delight not;", "And, lest my precepts be displeasing,", "To those who think remonstrance teazing,", "At once I'll tell thee our opinion,", "Concerning Woman's soft Dominion:", "Howe'er we gaze, with admiration,", "On eyes of blue or lips carnation;", "Howe'er the flowing locks attract us,", "Howe'er those beauties may distract us;", "Still fickle, we are prone to rove,", "_These_ cannot fix our souls to love;", "It is not too _severe_ a stricture,", "To say they form a _pretty picture_;", "But would'st thou see the secret chain,", "Which binds us in your humble train,", "To hail you Queens of all Creation,", "Know, in a _word, 'tis Animation_." ], "linecount": "56" }, { "title": "Translation From Anacreon. Ode 1. to His Lyre", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "I wish to tune my quivering lyre,", "To deeds of fame, and notes of fire;", "To echo, from its rising swell,", "How heroes fought and nations fell,", "When Atreus' sons advanc'd to war,", "Or Tyrian Cadmus rov'd afar;", "But still, to martial strains unknown,", "My lyre recurs to Love alone.", "Fir'd with the hope of future fame,", "I seek some nobler Hero's name;", "The dying chords are strung anew,", "To war, to war, my harp is due:", "With glowing strings, the Epic strain", "To Jove's great son I raise again;", "Alcides and his glorious deeds,", "Beneath whose arm the Hydra bleeds;", "All, all in vain; my wayward lyre", "Wakes silver notes of soft Desire.", "Adieu, ye Chiefs renown'd in arms!", "Adieu the clang of War's alarms!", "To other deeds my soul is strung,", "And sweeter notes shall now be sung;", "My harp shall all its powers reveal,", "To tell the tale my heart must feel;", "Love, Love alone, my lyre shall claim,", "In songs of bliss and sighs of flame." ], "linecount": "26" }, { "title": "To Romance", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Parent of golden dreams, Romance!", " Auspicious Queen of childish joys,", "Who lead'st along, in airy dance,", " Thy votive train of girls and boys;", "At length, in spells no longer bound,", " I break the fetters of my youth;", "No more I tread thy mystic round,", " But leave thy realms for those of Truth.", "", "And yet 'tis hard to quit the dreams", " Which haunt the unsuspicious soul,", "Where every nymph a goddess seems,", " Whose eyes through rays immortal roll;", "While Fancy holds her boundless reign,", " And all assume a varied hue;", "When Virgins seem no longer vain,", " And even Woman's smiles are true.", "", "And must we own thee, but a name,", " And from thy hall of clouds descend?", "Nor find a Sylph in every dame,", " A Pylades in every friend?", "But leave, at once, thy realms of air", " To mingling bands of fairy elves;", "Confess that woman's false as fair,", " And friends have feeling for--themselves?", "", "With shame, I own, I've felt thy sway;", " Repentant, now thy reign is o'er;", "No more thy precepts I obey,", " No more on fancied pinions soar;", "Fond fool! to love a sparkling eye,", " And think that eye to truth was dear;", "To trust a passing wanton's sigh,", "And melt beneath a wanton's tear!", "", "Romance! disgusted with deceit,", " Far from thy motley court I fly,", "Where Affectation holds her seat,", " And sickly Sensibility;", "Whose silly tears can never flow", " For any pangs excepting thine;", "Who turns aside from real woe,", " To steep in dew thy gaudy shrine.", "", "Now join with sable Sympathy,", " With cypress crown'd, array'd in weeds,", "Who heaves with thee her simple sigh,", " Whose breast for every bosom bleeds;", "And call thy sylvan female choir,", " To mourn a Swain for ever gone,", "Who once could glow with equal fire,", " But bends not now before thy throne.", "", "Ye genial Nymphs, whose ready tears", " On all occasions swiftly flow;", "Whose bosoms heave with fancied fears,", " With fancied flames and phrenzy glow", "Say, will you mourn my absent name,", " Apostate from your gentle train?", "An infant Bard, at least, may claim", " From you a sympathetic strain.", "", "Adieu, fond race! a long adieu!", " The hour of fate is hovering nigh;", "E'en now the gulf appears in view,", " Where unlamented you must lie:", "Oblivion's blackening lake is seen,", " Convuls'd by gales you cannot weather,", "Where you, and eke your gentle queen,", " Alas! must perish altogether." ], "linecount": "64" }, { "title": "To Edward Noel Long, Esq", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ " \"Nil ego contulerim jucundo sanus amico.\"--HORACE.", "", "Dear LONG, in this sequester'd scene,", " While all around in slumber lie,", "The joyous days, which ours have been", " Come rolling fresh on Fancy's eye;", "Thus, if, amidst the gathering storm,", "While clouds the darken'd noon deform,", "Yon heaven assumes a varied glow,", "I hail the sky's celestial bow,", "Which spreads the sign of future peace,", "And bids the war of tempests cease.", "Ah! though the present brings but pain,", "I think those days may come again;", "Or if, in melancholy mood,", "Some lurking envious fear intrude,", "To check my bosom's fondest thought,", " And interrupt the golden dream,", "I crush the fiend with malice fraught,", " And, still, indulge my wonted theme.", "Although we ne'er again can trace,", " In Granta's vale, the pedant's lore,", "Nor through the groves of Ida chase", " Our raptured visions, as before;", "Though Youth has flown on rosy pinion,", "And Manhood claims his stern dominion,", "Age will not every hope destroy,", "But yield some hours of sober joy.", "", " Yes, I will hope that Time's broad wing", "Will shed around some dews of spring:", "But, if his scythe must sweep the flowers", "Which bloom among the fairy bowers,", "Where smiling Youth delights to dwell,", "And hearts with early rapture swell;", "If frowning Age, with cold controul,", "Confines the current of the soul,", "Congeals the tear of Pity's eye,", "Or checks the sympathetic sigh,", "Or hears, unmov'd, Misfortune's groan", "And bids me feel for self alone;", "Oh! may my bosom never learn", " To soothe its wonted heedless flow;", "Still, still, despise the censor stern,", " But ne'er forget another's woe.", "Yes, as you knew me in the days,", " O'er which Remembrance yet delays,", "Still may I rove untutor'd, wild,", " And even in age, at heart a child.", "", "Though, now, on airy visions borne,", " To you my soul is still the same.", "Oft has it been my fate to mourn,", " And all my former joys are tame:", "But, hence! ye hours of sable hue!", " Your frowns are gone, my sorrows o'er:", "By every bliss my childhood knew,", " I'll think upon your shade no more.", "Thus, when the whirlwind's rage is past,", " And caves their sullen roar enclose", "We heed no more the wintry blast,", " When lull'd by zephyr to repose.", "Full often has my infant Muse,", " Attun'd to love her languid lyre;", "But, now, without a theme to choose,", " The strains in stolen sighs expire.", "My youthful nymphs, alas! are flown;", " E----is a wife, and C----a mother,", "And Carolina sighs alone,", " And Mary's given to another;", "And Cora's eye, which roll'd on me,", " Can now no more my love recall--", "In truth, dear LONG, 'twas time to flee-", " For Cora's eye will shine on all.", "And though the Sun, with genial rays,", "His beams alike to all displays,", "And every lady's eye's a _sun_,", "These last should be confin'd to one.", "The soul's meridian don't become her,", "Whose Sun displays a general _summer_!", "Thus faint is every former flame,", "And Passion's self is now a name;", "As, when the ebbing flames are low,", " The aid which once improv'd their light,", "And bade them burn with fiercer glow,", " Now quenches all their sparks in night;", "Thus has it been with Passion's fires,", " As many a boy and girl remembers,", "While all the force of love expires,", " Extinguish'd with the dying embers.", "", " But now, dear LONG, 'tis midnight's noon,", "And clouds obscure the watery moon,", "Whose beauties I shall not rehearse,", "Describ'd in every stripling's verse;", "For why should I the path go o'er", "Which every bard has trod before?", "Yet ere yon silver lamp of night", " Has thrice perform'd her stated round,", "Has thrice retrac'd her path of light,", " And chas'd away the gloom profound,", "I trust, that we, my gentle Friend,", "Shall see her rolling orbit wend,", "Above the dear-lov'd peaceful seat,", "Which once contain'd our youth's retreat;", "And, then, with those our childhood knew,", "We'll mingle in the festive crew;", "While many a tale of former day", "Shall wing the laughing hours away;", "And all the flow of souls shall pour", "The sacred intellectual shower,", "Nor cease, till Luna's waning horn,", "Scarce glimmers through the mist of Morn." ], "linecount": "109" }, { "title": "To a Lady", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Oh! had my Fate been join'd with thine,", " As once this pledge appear'd a token,", "These follies had not, then, been mine,", " For, then, my peace had not been broken.", "", "To thee, these early faults I owe,", " To thee, the wise and old reproving:", "They know my sins, but do not know", " 'Twas thine to break the bonds of loving.", "", "For once my soul, like thine, was pure,", " And all its rising fires could smother;", "But, now, thy vows no more endure,", " Bestow'd by thee upon another.", "", "Perhaps, his peace I could destroy,", " And spoil the blisses that await him;", "Yet let my Rival smile in joy,", " For thy dear sake, I cannot hate him.", "", "Ah! since thy angel form is gone,", " My heart no more can rest with any;", "But what it sought in thee alone,", " Attempts, alas! to find in many.", "", "Then, fare thee well, deceitful Maid!", " 'Twere vain and fruitless to regret thee;", "Nor Hope, nor Memory yield their aid,", " But Pride may teach me to forget thee.", "", "Yet all this giddy waste of years,", " This tiresome round of palling pleasures;", "These varied loves, these matrons' fears,", " These thoughtless strains to Passion's measures--", "", "If thou wert mine, had all been hush'd:--", " This cheek, now pale from early riot,", "With Passion's hectic ne'er had flush'd,", " But bloom'd in calm domestic quiet.", "", "Yes, once the rural Scene was sweet,", " For Nature seem'd to smile before thee;", "And once my Breast abhorr'd deceit,--", " For then it beat but to adore thee.", "", "But, now, I seek for other joys--", " To think, would drive my soul to madness;", "In thoughtless throngs, and empty noise,", " I conquer half my Bosom's sadness.", "", "Yet, even in these, a thought will steal,", " In spite of every vain endeavour;", "And fiends might pity what I feel--", " To know that thou art lost for ever." ], "linecount": "44" }, { "title": "To the Duke of Dorset", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Dorset! whose early steps with mine have stray'd,", "Exploring every path of Ida's glade;", "Whom, still, affection taught me to defend,", "And made me less a tyrant than a friend,", "Though the harsh custom of our youthful band", "Bade _thee_ obey, and gave _me_ to command;", "Thee, on whose head a few short years will shower", "The gift of riches, and the pride of power;", "E'en now a name illustrious is thine own,", "Renown'd in rank, not far beneath the throne.", "Yet, Dorset, let not this seduce thy soul", "To shun fair science, or evade controul;", "Though passive tutors, fearful to dispraise", "The titled child, whose future breath may raise,", "View ducal errors with indulgent eyes,", "And wink at faults they tremble to chastise.", "When youthful parasites, who bend the knee", "To wealth, their golden idol, not to thee,--", "And even in simple boyhood's opening dawn", "Some slaves are found to flatter and to fawn,--", "When these declare, \"that pomp alone should wait", "On one by birth predestin'd to be great;", "That books were only meant for drudging fools,", "That gallant spirits scorn the common rules;\"", "Believe them not,--they point the path to shame,", "And seek to blast the honours of thy name:", "Turn to the few in Ida's early throng,", "Whose souls disdain not to condemn the wrong;", "Or if, amidst the comrades of thy youth,", "None dare to raise the sterner voice of truth,", "Ask thine own heart--'twill bid thee, boy, forbear!", "For _well_ I know that virtue lingers there.", "", "Yes! I have mark'd thee many a passing day,", "But now new scenes invite me far away;", "Yes! I have mark'd within that generous mind", "A soul, if well matur'd, to bless mankind;", "Ah! though myself, by nature haughty, wild,", "Whom Indiscretion hail'd her favourite child;", "Though every error stamps me for her own,", "And dooms my fall, I fain would fall alone;", "Though my proud heart no precept, now, can tame,", "I love the virtues which I cannot claim.", "", "'Tis not enough, with other sons of power,", "To gleam the lambent meteor of an hour;", "To swell some peerage page in feeble pride,", "With long-drawn names that grace no page beside;", "Then share with titled crowds the common lot--", "In life just gaz'd at, in the grave forgot;", "While nought divides thee from the vulgar dead,", "Except the dull cold stone that hides thy head,", "The mouldering 'scutcheon, or the Herald's roll,", "That well-emblazon'd but neglected scroll,", "Where Lords, unhonour'd, in the tomb may find", "One spot, to leave a worthless name behind.", "There sleep, unnotic'd as the gloomy vaults", "That veil their dust, their follies, and their faults,", "A race, with old armorial lists o'erspread,", "In records destin'd never to be read.", "Fain would I view thee, with prophetic eyes,", "Exalted more among the good and wise;", "A glorious and a long career pursue,", "As first in Rank, the first in Talent too:", "Spurn every vice, each little meanness shun;", "Not Fortune's minion, but her noblest son.", " Turn to the annals of a former day;", "Bright are the deeds thine earlier Sires display;", "One, though a courtier, lived a man of worth,", "And call'd, proud boast! the British drama forth.", "Another view! not less renown'd for Wit;", "Alike for courts, and camps, or senates fit;", "Bold in the field, and favour'd by the Nine;", "In every splendid part ordain'd to shine;", "Far, far distinguished from the glittering throng,", "The pride of Princes, and the boast of Song.", "Such were thy Fathers; thus preserve their name,", "Not heir to titles only, but to Fame.", "The hour draws nigh, a few brief days will close,", "To me, this little scene of joys and woes;", "Each knell of Time now warns me to resign", "Shades where Hope, Peace, and Friendship all were mine:", "Hope, that could vary like the rainbow's hue,", "And gild their pinions, as the moments flew;", "Peace, that reflection never frown'd away,", "By dreams of ill to cloud some future day;", "Friendship, whose truth let Childhood only tell;", "Alas! they love not long, who love so well.", "", "To these adieu! nor let me linger o'er", "Scenes hail'd, as exiles hail their native shore,", "Receding slowly, through the dark-blue deep,", "Beheld by eyes that mourn, yet cannot weep.", "", " Dorset, farewell! I will not ask one part", "Of sad remembrance in so young a heart;", "The coming morrow from thy youthful mind", "Will sweep my name, nor leave a trace behind.", "And, yet, perhaps, in some maturer year,", "Since chance has thrown us in the self-same sphere,", "Since the same senate, nay, the same debate,", "May one day claim our suffrage for the state,", "We hence may meet, and pass each other by", "With faint regard, or cold and distant eye.", "For me, in future, neither friend nor foe,", "A stranger to thyself, thy weal or woe--", "With thee no more again I hope to trace", "The recollection of our early race;", "No more, as once, in social hours rejoice,", "Or hear, unless in crowds, thy well-known voice;", "Still, if the wishes of a heart untaught", "To veil those feelings, which, perchance, it ought,", "If these,--but let me cease the lengthen'd strain,--", "Oh! if these wishes are not breath'd in vain,", "The Guardian Seraph who directs thy fate", "Will leave thee glorious, as he found thee great." ], "linecount": "112" }, { "title": "To a Lady Who Presented the Author With the Velvet Band Which Bound Her Tresses", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "This Band, which bound thy yellow hair", " Is mine, sweet girl! thy pledge of love;", "It claims my warmest, dearest care,", " Like relics left of saints above.", "", "Oh! I will wear it next my heart;", " 'Twill bind my soul in bonds to thee:", "From me again 'twill ne'er depart,", " But mingle in the grave with me.", "", "The dew I gather from thy lip", " Is not so dear to me as this;", "_That_ I but for a moment sip,", " And banquet on a transient bliss:", "", "_This_ will recall each youthful scene,", " E'en when our lives are on the wane;", "The leaves of Love will still be green", " When Memory bids them bud again." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "To a Knot of Ungenerous Critics", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Rail on, Rail on, ye heartless crew!", "My strains were never meant for you;", "Remorseless Rancour still reveal,", "And damn the verse you cannot feel.", "Invoke those kindred passions' aid,", "Whose baleful stings your breasts pervade;", "Crush, if you can, the hopes of youth,", "Trampling regardless on the Truth:", "Truth's Records you consult in vain,", "She will not blast her native strain;", "She will assist her votary's cause,", "His will at least be her applause,", "Your prayer the gentle Power will spurn;", "To Fiction's motley altar turn,", "Who joyful in the fond address", "Her favoured worshippers will bless:", "And lo! she holds a magic glass,", "Where Images reflected pass,", "Bent on your knees the Boon receive--", "This will assist you to deceive--", "The glittering gift was made for you,", "Now hold it up to public view;", "Lest evil unforeseen betide,", "A Mask each canker'd brow shall hide,", "(Whilst Truth my sole desire is nigh,", "Prepared the danger to defy,)", "\"There is the Maid's perverted name,", "And there the Poet's guilty Flame,", "Gloaming a deep phosphoric fire,", "Threatening--but ere it spreads, retire.", "Says Truth Up Virgins, do not fear!", "The Comet rolls its Influence here;", "'Tis Scandal's Mirror you perceive,", "These dazzling Meteors but deceive--", "Approach and touch--Nay do not turn", "It blazes there, but will not burn.\"--", "At once the shivering Mirror flies,", "Teeming no more with varnished Lies;", "The baffled friends of Fiction start,", "Too late desiring to depart--", "Truth poising high Ithuriel's spear", "Bids every Fiend unmask'd appear,", "The vizard tears from every face,", "And dooms them to a dire disgrace.", "For e'er they compass their escape,", "Each takes perforce a native shape--", "The Leader of the wrathful Band,", "Behold a portly Female stand!", "She raves, impelled by private pique,", "This mean unjust revenge to seek;", "From vice to save this virtuous Age,", "Thus does she vent indecent rage!", "What child has she of promise fair,", "Who claims a fostering Mother's care?", "Whose Innocence requires defence,", "Or forms at least a smooth pretence,", "Thus to disturb a harmless Boy,", "His humble hope, and peace annoy?", "She need not fear the amorous rhyme,", "Love will not tempt her future time,", "For her his wings have ceased to spread,", "No more he flutters round her head;", "Her day's Meridian now is past,", "The clouds of Age her Sun o'ercast;", "To her the strain was never sent,", "For feeling Souls alone 'twas meant--", "The verse she seized, unask'd, unbade,", "And damn'd, ere yet the whole was read!", "Yes! for one single erring verse,", "Pronounced an unrelenting Curse;", "Yes! at a first and transient view,", "Condemned a heart she never knew.--", "Can such a verdict then decide,", "Which springs from disappointed pride?", "Without a wondrous share of Wit,", "To judge is such a Matron fit?", "The rest of the censorious throng", "Who to this zealous Band belong,", "To her a general homage pay,", "And right or wrong her wish obey:", "Why should I point my pen of steel", "To break \"such flies upon the wheel?\"", "With minds to Truth and Sense unknown,", "Who dare not call their words their own.", "Rail on, Rail on, ye heartless Crew!", "Your Leader's grand design pursue:", "Secure behind her ample shield,", "Yours is the harvest of the field.--", "My path with thorns you cannot strew,", "Nay more, my warmest thanks are due;", "When such as you revile my Name,", "Bright beams the rising Sun of Fame,", "Chasing the shades of envious night,", "Outshining every critic Light.--", "Such, such as you will serve to show", "Each radiant tint with higher glow.", "Vain is the feeble cheerless toil,", "Your efforts on yourselves recoil;", "Then Glory still for me you raise,", "Yours is the Censure, mine the Praise." ], "linecount": "100" }, { "title": "Ossian's Address to the Sun in \"Carthon.\"", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Oh! thou that roll'st above thy glorious Fire,", "Round as the shield which grac'd my godlike Sire,", "Whence are the beams, O Sun! thy endless blaze,", "Which far eclipse each minor Glory's rays?", "Forth in thy Beauty here thou deign'st to shine!", "Night quits her car, the twinkling stars decline;", "Pallid and cold the Moon descends to cave", "Her sinking beams beneath the Western wave;", "But thou still mov'st alone, of light the Source--", "Who can o'ertake thee in thy fiery course?", "Oaks of the mountains fall, the rocks decay,", "Weighed down with years the hills dissolve away.", "A certain space to yonder Moon is given,", "She rises, smiles, and then is lost in Heaven.", "Ocean in sullen murmurs ebbs and flows,", "But thy bright beam unchanged for ever glows!", "When Earth is darkened with tempestuous skies,", "When Thunder shakes the sphere and Lightning flies,", "Thy face, O Sun, no rolling blasts deform,", "Thou look'st from clouds and laughest at the Storm.", "To Ossian, Orb of Light! thou look'st in vain,", "Nor cans't thou glad his agèd eyes again,", "Whether thy locks in Orient Beauty stream,", "Or glimmer through the West with fainter gleam--", "But thou, perhaps, like me with age must bend;", "Thy season o'er, thy days will find their end,", "No more yon azure vault with rays adorn,", "Lull'd in the clouds, nor hear the voice of Morn.", "Exult, O Sun, in all thy youthful strength!", "Age, dark unlovely Age, appears at length,", "As gleams the moonbeam through the broken cloud", "While mountain vapours spread their misty shroud--", "The Northern tempest howls along at last,", "And wayworn strangers shrink amid the blast.", "Thou rolling Sun who gild'st those rising towers,", "Fair didst thou shine upon my earlier hours!", "I hail'd with smiles the cheering rays of Morn,", "My breast by no tumultuous Passion torn--", "Now hateful are thy beams which wake no more", "The sense of joy which thrill'd my breast before;", "Welcome thou cloudy veil of nightly skies,", "To thy bright canopy the mourner flies:", "Once bright, thy Silence lull'd my frame to rest,", "And Sleep my soul with gentle visions blest;", "Now wakeful Grief disdains her mild controul,", "Dark is the night, but darker is my Soul.", "Ye warring Winds of Heav'n your fury urge,", "To me congenial sounds your wintry Dirge:", "Swift as your wings my happier days have past,", "Keen as your storms is Sorrow's chilling blast;", "To Tempests thus expos'd my Fate has been,", "Piercing like yours, like yours, alas! unseen." ], "linecount": "52" }, { "title": "Stanzas to Jessy", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "There is a mystic thread of life", " So dearly wreath'd with mine alone,", "That Destiny's relentless knife", " At once must sever both, or none.", "", "There is a Form on which these eyes", " Have fondly gazed with such delight--", "By day, that Form their joy supplies,", " And Dreams restore it, through the night.", "", "There is a Voice whose tones inspire", " Such softened feelings in my breast, -", "I would not hear a Seraph Choir,", " Unless that voice could join the rest.", "", "There is a Face whose Blushes tell", " Affection's tale upon the cheek,", "But pallid at our fond farewell,", " Proclaims more love than words can speak.", "", "There is a Lip, which mine has prest,", " But none had ever prest before;", "It vowed to make me sweetly blest,", " That mine alone should press it more.", "", "There is a Bosom all my own,", " Has pillow'd oft this aching head,", "A Mouth which smiles on me alone,", " An Eye, whose tears with mine are shed.", "", "There are two Hearts whose movements thrill,", " In unison so closely sweet,", "That Pulse to Pulse responsive still", " They Both must heave, or cease to beat.", "", "There are two Souls, whose equal flow", " In gentle stream so calmly run,", "That when they part--they part?--ah no!", " They cannot part--those Souls are One." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "To---", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Oh! well I know your subtle Sex,", " Frail daughters of the wanton Eve,--", "While jealous pangs our Souls perplex,", "No passion prompts you to relieve.", "", "From Love, or Pity ne'er you fall,", "By _you_, no mutual Flame is felt,", "\"Tis Vanity, which rules you all,", "Desire alone which makes you melt.", "", "I will not say no _souls_ are yours,", "Aye, ye have Souls, and dark ones too,", "Souls to contrive those smiling lures,", "To snare our simple hearts for you.", "", "Yet shall you never bind me fast,", "Long to adore such brittle toys,", "I'll rove along, from first to last,", "And change whene'er my fancy cloys.", "", "Oh! I should be a _baby_ fool,", "To sigh the dupe of female art--", "Woman! perhaps thou hast a _Soul_,", "But where have _Demons_ hid thy _Heart_?" ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "To a Vain Lady", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Ah, heedless girl! why thus disclose", " What ne'er was meant for other ears;", "Why thus destroy thine own repose,", " And dig the source of future tears?", "", "Oh, thou wilt weep, imprudent maid,", "While lurking envious foes will smile,", "For all the follies thou hast said", "Of those who spoke but to beguile.", "", "Vain girl! thy lingering woes are nigh,", "If thou believ'st what striplings say:", "Oh, from the deep temptation fly,", "Nor fall the specious spoiler's prey.", "", "Dost thou repeat, in childish boast,", "The words man utters to deceive?", "Thy peace, thy hope, thy all is lost,", "If thou canst venture to believe.", "", "While now amongst thy female peers", "Thou tell'st again the soothing tale,", "Canst thou not mark the rising sneers", "Duplicity in vain would veil?", "", "These tales in secret silence hush,", "Nor make thyself the public gaze:", "What modest maid without a blush", "Recounts a flattering coxcomb's praise?", "", "Will not the laughing boy despise", "Her who relates each fond conceit--", "Who, thinking Heaven is in her eyes,", "Yet cannot see the slight deceit?", "", "For she who takes a soft delight", "These amorous nothings in revealing,", "Must credit all we say or write,", "While vanity prevents concealing.", "", "Cease, if you prize your Beauty's reign!", "No jealousy bids me reprove:", "One, who is thus from nature vain,", "I pity, but I cannot love." ], "linecount": "36" }, { "title": "To Anne", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Oh, Anne, your offences to me have been grievous:", "I thought from my wrath no atonement could save you;", "But Woman is made to command and deceive us--", "I look'd in your face, and I almost forgave you.", "", "I vow'd I could ne'er for a moment respect you,", " Yet thought that a day's separation was long;", "When we met, I determined again to suspect you--", " Your smile soon convinced me _suspicion_ was wrong.", "", "I swore, in a transport of young indignation,", " With fervent contempt evermore to disdain you:", "I saw you--my _anger_ became _admiration_;", " And now, all my wish, all my hope's to regain you.", "", "With beauty like yours, oh, how vain the contention!", " Thus lowly I sue for forgiveness before you;--", "At once to conclude such a fruitless dissension,", " Be false, my sweet Anne, when I cease to adore you!" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Egotism. a Letter to J. T. Becher", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "If Fate should seal my Death to-morrow,", " (Though much _I_ hope she will _postpone_ it,)", "I've held a share _Joy_ and _Sorrow_,", " Enough for _Ten_; and _here_ I _own_ it.", "", "I've lived, as many others live,", "And yet, I think, with more enjoyment;", "For could I through my days again live,", "I'd pass them in the 'same' employment.", "", "That 'is' to say, with 'some exception',", "For though I will not make confession,", "I've seen too much of man's deception", "Ever again to trust profession.", "", "Some sage 'Mammas' with gesture haughty,", "Pronounce me quite a youthful Sinner--", "But 'Daughters' say, \"although he's naughty,", "You must not check a 'Young Beginner'!\"", "", "I've loved, and many damsels know it--", "But whom I don't intend to mention,", "As 'certain stanzas' also show it,", "'Some' say 'deserving Reprehension'.", "", "Some ancient Dames, of virtue fiery,", "(Unless Report does much belie them,)", "Have lately made a sharp Enquiry,", "And much it 'grieves' me to 'deny' them.", "", "Two whom I lov'd had 'eyes' of 'Blue',", "To which I hope you've no objection;", "The 'Rest' had eyes of 'darker Hue'--", "Each Nymph, of course, was 'all perfection'.", "", "But here I'll close my 'chaste' Description,", "Nor say the deeds of animosity;", "For 'silence' is the best prescription,", "To 'physic' idle curiosity.", "", "Of 'Friends' I've known a 'goodly Hundred'--", "For finding 'one' in each acquaintance,", "By 'some deceived', by others plunder'd,", "'Friendship', to me, was not 'Repentance'.", "", "At 'School' I thought like other 'Children';", "Instead of 'Brains', a fine Ingredient,", "'Romance', my 'youthful Head bewildering',", "To 'Sense' had made me disobedient.", "", "A victim, 'nearly' from affection,", "To certain 'very precious scheming',", "The still remaining recollection", "Has 'cured' my 'boyish soul' of 'Dreaming'.", "", "By Heaven! I rather would forswear", "The Earth, and all the joys reserved me,", "Than dare again the 'specious Snare',", "From which 'my Fate' and 'Heaven preserved' me.", "", "Still I possess some Friends who love me--", "In each a much esteemed and true one;", "The Wealth of Worlds shall never move me", "To quit their Friendship, for a new one.", "", "But Becher! you're a 'reverend pastor',", "Now take it in consideration,", "Whether for penance I should fast, or", "Pray for my 'sins' in expiation.", "", "I own myself the child of 'Folly',", "But not so wicked as they make me--", "I soon must die of melancholy,", "If 'Female' smiles should e'er forsake me.", "", "'Philosophers' have 'never doubted',", "That 'Ladies' Lips' were made for 'kisses!'", "For 'Love!' I could not live without it,", "For such a 'cursed' place as 'This is'.", "", "Say, Becher, I shall be forgiven!", "If you don't warrant my salvation,", "I must resign all 'Hopes' of 'Heaven'!", "For, 'Faith', I can't withstand Temptation." ], "linecount": "68" }, { "title": "To Anne", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Oh say not, sweet Anne, that the Fates have decreed", "The heart which adores you should wish to dissever;", "Such Fates were to me most unkind ones indeed,--", "To bear me from Love and from Beauty for ever.", "", "Your frowns, lovely girl, are the Fates which alone", "Could bid me from fond admiration refrain;", "By these, every hope, every wish were o'erthrown,", "Till smiles should restore me to rapture again.", "", "As the ivy and oak, in the forest entwin'd,", "The rage of the tempest united must weather;", "My love and my life were by nature design'd", "To flourish alike, or to perish together.", "", "Then say not, sweet Anne, that the Fates have decreed", " Your lover should bid you a lasting adieu:", "Till Fate can ordain that his bosom shall bleed,", " His Soul, his Existence, are centred in you." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "To the Author of a Sonnet", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Thy verse is \"sad\" enough, no doubt:", " A devilish deal more sad than witty!", "Why we should weep I can't find out,", " Unless for _thee_ we weep in pity.", "", "Yet there is one I pity more;", " And much, alas! I think he needs it:", "For he, I'm sure, will suffer sore,", " Who, to his own misfortune, reads it.", "", "Thy rhymes, without the aid of magic,", " May _once_ be read--but never after:", "Yet their effect's by no means tragic,", " Although by far too dull for laughter.", "", "But would you make our bosoms bleed,", "And of no common pang complain--", "If you would make us weep indeed,", "Tell us, you'll read them o'er again." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "To My Son", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Those flaxen locks, those eyes of blue", "Bright as thy mother's in their hue;", "Those rosy lips, whose dimples play", "And smile to steal the heart away,", "Recall a scene of former joy,", "And touch thy father's heart, my Boy!", "", "And thou canst lisp a father's name--", "Ah, William, were thine own the same,--", "No self-reproach--but, let me cease--", "My care for thee shall purchase peace;", "Thy mother's shade shall smile in joy,", "And pardon all the past, my Boy!", "", "Her lowly grave the turf has prest,", "And thou hast known a stranger's breast;", "Derision sneers upon thy birth,", "And yields thee scarce a name on earth;", "Yet shall not these one hope destroy,--", "A Father's heart is thine, my Boy!", "", "Why, let the world unfeeling frown,", "Must I fond Nature's claims disown?", "Ah, no--though moralists reprove,", "I hail thee, dearest child of Love,", "Fair cherub, pledge of youth and joy--", "A Father guards thy birth, my Boy!", "", "Oh,'twill be sweet in thee to trace,", "Ere Age has wrinkled o'er my face,", "Ere half my glass of life is run,", "At once a brother and a son;", "And all my wane of years employ", "In justice done to thee, my Boy!", "", "Although so young thy heedless sire,", "Youth will not damp parental fire;", "And, wert thou still less dear to me,", "While Helen's form revives in thee,", "The breast, which beat to former joy,", "Will ne'er desert its pledge, my Boy!" ], "linecount": "36" }, { "title": "Queries to Casuists", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "The Moralists tell us that Loving is Sinning,", " And always are prating about and about it,", "But as Love of Existence itself's the beginning,", " Say, what would Existence itself be without it?", "", "They argue the point with much furious Invective,", " Though perhaps 'twere no difficult task to confute it;", "But if Venus and Hymen should once prove defective,", " Pray who would there be to defend or dispute it?" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "To Harriet", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Harriet! to see such Circumspection,", "In Ladies I have no objection", " Concerning what they read;", "An ancient Maid's a sage adviser,", "Like _her_, you will be much the wiser,", " In word, as well as Deed.", "", "But Harriet, I don't wish to flatter,", "And really think 't would make the matter", " More perfect if not quite,", "If other Ladies when they preach,", "Would certain Damsels also teach", " More cautiously to write." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "To a Lady, on Being Asked My Reason for Quitting England in the Spring", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "When Man, expell'd from Eden's bowers,", " A moment linger'd near the gate,", "Each scene recall'd the vanish'd hours,", " And bade him curse his future fate.", "", "But, wandering on through distant climes,", " He learnt to bear his load of grief;", "Just gave a sigh to other times,", " And found in busier scenes relief.", "", "Thus, Lady! will it be with me,", " And I must view thy charms no more;", "For, while I linger near to thee,", " I sigh for all I knew before.", "", "In flight I shall be surely wise,", " Escaping from temptation's snare:", "I cannot view my Paradise", " Without the wish of dwelling there." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Written After Swimming From Sestos to Abydos", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "If, in the month of dark December,", " Leander, who was nightly wont", "(What maid will not the tale remember?)", " To cross thy stream, broad Hellespont!", "", "If, when the wintry tempest roared,", " He sped to Hero, nothing loth,", "And thus of old thy current poured,", " Fair Venus! how I pity both!", "", "For _me_, degenerate modern wretch,", " Though in the genial month of May,", "My dripping limbs I faintly stretch,", " And think I've done a feat to-day.", "", "But since he crossed the rapid tide,", " According to the doubtful story,", "To woo,--and--Lord knows what beside,", " And swam for Love, as I for Glory;", "", "'Twere hard to say who fared the best:", " Sad mortals! thus the Gods still plague you!", "He lost his labour, I my jest:", " For he was drowned, and I've the ague." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "Lines to a Lady Weeping", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Weep, daughter of a royal line,", " A Sire's disgrace, a realm's decay;", "Ah! happy if each tear of thine", " Could wash a Father's fault away!", "Weep--for thy tears are Virtue's tears--", " Auspicious to these suffering Isles;", "And be each drop in future years", " Repaid thee by thy People's smiles!" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Impromptu, in Reply to a Friend", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "When, from the heart where Sorrow sits,", " Her dusky shadow mounts too high,", "And o'er the changing aspect flits,", " And clouds the brow, or fills the eye;", "Heed not that gloom, which soon shall sink:", " My Thoughts their dungeon know too well;", "Back to my breast the Wanderers shrink,", " And _droop_ within their silent cell." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Sonnet. to Genevra", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Thine eyes' blue tenderness, thy long fair hair,", " And the warm lustre of thy features--caught", " From contemplation--where serenely wrought,", "Seems Sorrow's softness charmed from its despair--", "Have thrown such speaking sadness in thine air,", " That--but I know thy blessed bosom fraught", " With mines of unalloyed and stainless thought--", "I should have deemed thee doomed to earthly care.", "With such an aspect, by his colours blent,", " When from his beauty-breathing pencil born,", "(Except that _thou_ hast nothing to repent)", " The Magdalen of Guido saw the morn--", "Such seem'st thou--but how much more excellent!", " With nought Remorse can claim--nor Virtue scorn." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet. to Genevra", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Thy cheek is pale with thought, but not from woe,", " And yet so lovely, that if Mirth could flush", " Its rose of whiteness with the brightest blush,", "My heart would wish away that ruder glow:", "And dazzle not thy deep-blue eyes--but, oh!", " While gazing on them sterner eyes will gush,", " And into mine my mother's weakness rush,", "Soft as the last drops round Heaven's airy bow.", "For, through thy long dark lashes low depending,", " The soul of melancholy Gentleness", "Gleams like a Seraph from the sky descending,", " Above all pain, yet pitying all distress;", "At once such majesty with sweetness blending,", " I worship more, but cannot love thee less." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Were My Bosom As False As Thou Deem'st It to Be", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Were my bosom as false as thou deem'st it to be,", "I need not have wandered from far Galilee;", "It was but abjuring my creed to efface", "The curse which, thou say'st, is the crime of my race.", "", "If the bad never triumph, then God is with thee!", "If the slave only sin--thou art spotless and free!", "If the Exile on earth is an Outcast on high,", "Live on in thy faith--but in mine I will die.", "", "I have lost for that faith more than thou canst bestow,", "As the God who permits thee to prosper doth know;", "In his hand is my heart and my hope--and in thine", "The land and the life which for him I resign." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Sonnet to Lake Leman", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Rousseau--Voltaire--our Gibbon--and De Staël--", " Leman! these names are worthy of thy shore,", " Thy shore of names like these! wert thou no more,", "Their memory thy remembrance would recall:", "To them thy banks were lovely as to all,", " But they have made them lovelier, for the lore", " Of mighty minds doth hallow in the core", "Of human hearts the ruin of a wall", " Where dwelt the wise and wondrous; but by _thee_", "How much more, Lake of Beauty! do we feel,", " In sweetly gliding o'er thy crystal sea,", "The wild glow of that not ungentle zeal,", " Which of the Heirs of Immortality", "Is proud, and makes the breath of Glory real!" ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Epistle to Augusta", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ " My Sister! my sweet Sister! if a name", " Dearer and purer were, it should be thine.", " Mountains and seas divide us, but I claim", " No tears, but tenderness to answer mine:", " Go where I will, to me thou art the same--", " A loved regret which I would not resign.", " There yet are two things in my destiny,--", "A world to roam through, and a home with thee.", "", " The first were nothing--had I still the last,", " It were the haven of my happiness;", " But other claims and other ties thou hast,", " And mine is not the wish to make them less.", " A strange doom is thy father's son's, and past", " Recalling, as it lies beyond redress;", " Reversed for him our grandsire's fate of yore,--", "He had no rest at sea, nor I on shore.", "", " If my inheritance of storms hath been", " In other elements, and on the rocks", " Of perils, overlooked or unforeseen,", " I have sustained my share of worldly shocks,", " The fault was mine; nor do I seek to screen", " My errors with defensive paradox;", " I have been cunning in mine overthrow,", "The careful pilot of my proper woe.", "", " Mine were my faults, and mine be their reward.", " My whole life was a contest, since the day", " That gave me being, gave me that which marred", " The gift,--a fate, or will, that walked astray;", " And I at times have found the struggle hard,", " And thought of shaking off my bonds of clay:", " But now I fain would for a time survive,", "If but to see what next can well arrive.", "", " Kingdoms and Empires in my little day", " I have outlived, and yet I am not old;", " And when I look on this, the petty spray", " Of my own years of trouble, which have rolled", " Like a wild bay of breakers, melts away:", " Something--I know not what--does still uphold", " A spirit of slight patience;--not in vain,", "Even for its own sake, do we purchase Pain.", "", " Perhaps the workings of defiance stir", " Within me--or, perhaps, a cold despair", " Brought on when ills habitually recur,--", " Perhaps a kinder clime, or purer air,", " (For even to this may change of soul refer,", " And with light armour we may learn to bear,)", " Have taught me a strange quiet, which was not", "The chief companion of a calmer lot.", "", " I feel almost at times as I have felt", " In happy childhood; trees, and flowers, and brooks,", " Which do remember me of where I dwelt,", " Ere my young mind was sacrificed to books,", " Come as of yore upon me, and can melt", " My heart with recognition of their looks;", " And even at moments I could think I see", "Some living thing to love--but none like thee.", "", " Here are the Alpine landscapes which create", " A fund for contemplation;--to admire", " Is a brief feeling of a trivial date;", " But something worthier do such scenes inspire:", " Here to be lonely is not desolate,", " For much I view which I could most desire,", " And, above all, a Lake I can behold", "Lovelier, not dearer, than our own of old.", "", " Oh that thou wert but with me!--but I grow", " The fool of my own wishes, and forget", " The solitude which I have vaunted so", " Has lost its praise in this but one regret;", " There may be others which I less may show;--", " I am not of the plaintive mood, and yet", " I feel an ebb in my philosophy,", "And the tide rising in my altered eye.", "", " I did remind thee of our own dear Lake,", " By the old Hall which may be mine no more.", " _Leman's_ is fair; but think not I forsake", " The sweet remembrance of a dearer shore:", " Sad havoc Time must with my memory make,", " Ere that or thou can fade these eyes before;", " Though, like all things which I have loved, they are", "Resigned for ever, or divided far.", "", " The world is all before me; I but ask", " Of Nature that with which she will comply--", " It is but in her Summer's sun to bask,", " To mingle with the quiet of her sky,", " To see her gentle face without a mask,", " And never gaze on it with apathy.", " She was my early friend, and now shall be", "My sister--till I look again on thee.", "", " I can reduce all feelings but this one;", " And that I would not;--for at length I see", " Such scenes as those wherein my life begun--", " The earliest--even the only paths for me--", " Had I but sooner learnt the crowd to shun,", " I had been better than I now can be;", " The Passions which have torn me would have slept;", "_I_ had not suffered, and _thou_ hadst not wept.", "", " With false Ambition what had I to do?", " Little with Love, and least of all with Fame;", " And yet they came unsought, and with me grew,", " And made me all which they can make--a Name.", " Yet this was not the end I did pursue;", " Surely I once beheld a nobler aim.", " But all is over--I am one the more", "To baffled millions which have gone before.", "", " And for the future, this world's future may", " From me demand but little of my care;", " I have outlived myself by many a day;", " Having survived so many things that were;", " My years have been no slumber, but the prey", " Of ceaseless vigils; for I had the share", " Of life which might have filled a century,", "Before its fourth in time had passed me by.", "", " And for the remnant which may be to come", " I am content; and for the past I feel", " Not thankless,--for within the crowded sum", " Of struggles, Happiness at times would steal,", " And for the present, I would not benumb", " My feelings farther.--Nor shall I conceal", " That with all this I still can look around,", "And worship Nature with a thought profound.", "", " For thee, my own sweet sister, in thy heart", " I know myself secure, as thou in mine;", " We were and are--I am, even as thou art--", " Beings who ne'er each other can resign;", " It is the same, together or apart,", " From Life's commencement to its slow decline", " We are entwined--let Death come slow or fast,", "The tie which bound the first endures the last!" ], "linecount": "128" }, { "title": "Beppo: A Venetian Story", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "_Rosalind_. Farewell, Monsieur Traveller; Look, you lisp,", "and wear strange suits: disable all the benefits of your own", "country; be out of love with your Nativity, and almost chide", "God for making you that countenance you are; or I will", "scarce think you have swam in a _Gondola_.", "", " _As You Like It_, act iv, sc. I, lines 33-35.", "", " _Annotation of the Commentators_.", " That is, _been at Venice_, which was much visited by the young English", " gentlemen of those times, and was _then_ what _Paris_ is _now_--the seat", " of all dissoluteness.--S. A.", "", "'Tis known, at least it should be, that throughout", " All countries of the Catholic persuasion,", "Some weeks before Shrove Tuesday comes about,", " The People take their fill of recreation,", "And buy repentance, ere they grow devout,", " However high their rank, or low their station,", "With fiddling, feasting, dancing, drinking, masquing,", "And other things which may be had for asking.", "", "The moment night with dusky mantle covers", " The skies (and the more duskily the better),", "The Time less liked by husbands than by lovers", " Begins, and Prudery flings aside her fetter;", "And Gaiety on restless tiptoe hovers,", " Giggling with all the gallants who beset her;", "And there are songs and quavers, roaring, humming,", "Guitars, and every other sort of strumming.", "", "And there are dresses splendid, but fantastical,", " Masks of all times and nations, Turks and Jews,", "And harlequins and clowns, with feats gymnastical,", " Greeks, Romans, Yankee-doodles, and Hindoos;", "All kinds of dress, except the ecclesiastical,", " All people, as their fancies hit, may choose,", "But no one in these parts may quiz the Clergy,--", "Therefore take heed, ye Freethinkers! I charge ye.", "", "You'd better walk about begirt with briars,", " Instead of coat and smallclothes, than put on", "A single stitch reflecting upon friars,", " Although you swore it only was in fun;", "They'd haul you o'er the coals, and stir the fires", " Of Phlegethon with every mother's son,", "Nor say one mass to cool the cauldron's bubble", "That boiled your bones, unless you paid them double.", "", "But saving this, you may put on whate'er", " You like by way of doublet, cape, or cloak,", "Such as in Monmouth-street, or in Rag Fair,", " Would rig you out in seriousness or joke;", "And even in Italy such places are,", " With prettier name in softer accents spoke,", "For, bating Covent Garden, I can hit on", "No place that's called \"Piazza\" in Great Britain.", "", "This feast is named the Carnival, which being", " Interpreted, implies \"farewell to flesh:\"", "So called, because the name and thing agreeing,", " Through Lent they live on fish both salt and fresh.", "But why they usher Lent with so much glee in,", " Is more than I can tell, although I guess", "'Tis as we take a glass with friends at parting,", "In the Stage-Coach or Packet, just at starting.", "", "And thus they bid farewell to carnal dishes,", " And solid meats, and highly spiced ragouts,", "To live for forty days on ill-dressed fishes,", " Because they have no sauces to their stews;", "A thing which causes many \"poohs\" and \"pishes,\"", " And several oaths (which would not suit the Muse),", "From travellers accustomed from a boy", "To eat their salmon, at the least, with soy;", "", "And therefore humbly I would recommend", " \"The curious in fish-sauce,\" before they cross", "The sea, to bid their cook, or wife, or friend,", " Walk or ride to the Strand, and buy in gross", "(Or if set out beforehand, these may send", " By any means least liable to loss),", "Ketchup, Soy, Chili-vinegar, and Harvey,", "Or, by the Lord! a Lent will well nigh starve ye;", "", "That is to say, if your religion's Roman,", " And you at Rome would do as Romans do,", "According to the proverb,--although no man,", " If foreign, is obliged to fast; and you,", "If Protestant, or sickly, or a woman,", " Would rather dine in sin on a ragout--", "Dine and be d--d! I don't mean to be coarse,", "But that's the penalty, to say no worse.", "", "Of all the places where the Carnival", " Was most facetious in the days of yore,", "For dance, and song, and serenade, and ball,", " And Masque, and Mime, and Mystery, and more", "Than I have time to tell now, or at all,", " Venice the bell from every city bore,--", "And at the moment when I fix my story,", "That sea-born city was in all her glory.", "", "They've pretty faces yet, those same Venetians,", " Black eyes, arched brows, and sweet expressions still;", "Such as of old were copied from the Grecians,", " In ancient arts by moderns mimicked ill;", "And like so many Venuses of Titian's", " (The best's at Florence--see it, if ye will,)", "They look when leaning over the balcony,", "Or stepped from out a picture by Giorgione,", "", "Whose tints are Truth and Beauty at their best;", " And when you to Manfrini's palace go,", "That picture (howsoever fine the rest)", " Is loveliest to my mind of all the show;", "It may perhaps be also to _your_ zest,", " And that's the cause I rhyme upon it so:", "Tis but a portrait of his Son, and Wife,", "And self; but _such_ a Woman! Love in life!", "", "Love in full life and length, not love ideal,", " No, nor ideal beauty, that fine name,", "But something better still, so very real,", " That the sweet Model must have been the same;", "A thing that you would purchase, beg, or steal,", " Wer't not impossible, besides a shame:", "The face recalls some face, as 'twere with pain,", "You once have seen, but ne'er will see again;", "", "One of those forms which flit by us, when we", " Are young, and fix our eyes on every face;", "And, oh! the Loveliness at times we see", " In momentary gliding, the soft grace,", "The Youth, the Bloom, the Beauty which agree,", " In many a nameless being we retrace,", "Whose course and home we knew not, nor shall know,", "Like the lost Pleiad seen no more below.", "", "I said that like a picture by Giorgione", " Venetian women were, and so they _are_,", "Particularly seen from a balcony,", " (For beauty's sometimes best set off afar)", "And there, just like a heroine of Goldoni,", " They peep from out the blind, or o'er the bar;", "And truth to say, they're mostly very pretty,", "And rather like to show it, more's the pity!", "", "For glances beget ogles, ogles sighs,", " Sighs wishes, wishes words, and words a letter,", "Which flies on wings of light-heeled Mercuries,", " Who do such things because they know no better;", "And then, God knows what mischief may arise,", " When Love links two young people in one fetter,", "Vile assignations, and adulterous beds,", "Elopements, broken vows, and hearts, and heads.", "", "Shakspeare described the sex in Desdemona", " As very fair, but yet suspect in fame,", "And to this day from Venice to Verona", " Such matters may be probably the same,", "Except that since those times was never known a", " Husband whom mere suspicion could inflame", "To suffocate a wife no more than twenty,", "Because she had a \"Cavalier Servente.\"", "", "Their jealousy (if they are ever jealous)", " Is of a fair complexion altogether,", "Not like that sooty devil of Othello's,", " Which smothers women in a bed of feather,", "But worthier of these much more jolly fellows,", " When weary of the matrimonial tether", "His head for such a wife no mortal bothers,", "But takes at once another, or _another's_.", "", "Didst ever see a Gondola? For fear", " You should not, I'll describe it you exactly:", "'Tis a long covered boat that's common here,", " Carved at the prow, built lightly, but compactly,", "Rowed by two rowers, each call'd \"Gondolier,\"", " It glides along the water looking blackly,", "Just like a coffin clapt in a canoe,", "Where none can make out what you say or do.", "", "And up and down the long canals they go,", " And under the Rialto shoot along,", "By night and day, all paces, swift or slow,", " And round the theatres, a sable throng,", "They wait in their dusk livery of woe,--", " But not to them do woeful things belong,", "For sometimes they contain a deal of fun,", "Like mourning coaches when the funeral's done.", "", "But to my story.--'Twas some years ago,", " It may be thirty, forty, more or less,", "The Carnival was at its height, and so", " Were all kinds of buffoonery and dress;", "A certain lady went to see the show,", " Her real name I know not, nor can guess,", "And so we'll call her Laura, if you please,", "Because it slips into my verse with ease.", "", "She was not old, nor young, nor at the years", " Which certain people call a \"_certain age_,\"", "Which yet the most uncertain age appears,", " Because I never heard, nor could engage", "A person yet by prayers, or bribes, or tears,", " To name, define by speech, or write on page,", "The period meant precisely by that word,--", "Which surely is exceedingly absurd.", "", "Laura was blooming still, had made the best", " Of Time, and Time returned the compliment,", "And treated her genteelly, so that, dressed,", " She looked extremely well where'er she went;", "A pretty woman is a welcome guest,", " And Laura's brow a frown had rarely bent;", "Indeed, she shone all smiles, and seemed to flatter", "Mankind with her black eyes for looking at her.", "", "She was a married woman; 'tis convenient,", " Because in Christian countries 'tis a rule", "To view their little slips with eyes more lenient;", " Whereas if single ladies play the fool,", "(Unless within the period intervenient", " A well-timed wedding makes the scandal cool)", "I don't know how they ever can get over it,", "Except they manage never to discover it.", "", "Her husband sailed upon the Adriatic,", " And made some voyages, too, in other seas,", "And when he lay in Quarantine for pratique", " (A forty days' precaution 'gainst disease),", "His wife would mount, at times, her highest attic,", " For thence she could discern the ship with ease:", "He was a merchant trading to Aleppo,", "His name Giuseppe, called more briefly, Beppo.", "", "He was a man as dusky as a Spaniard,", " Sunburnt with travel, yet a portly figure;", "Though coloured, as it were, within a tanyard,", " He was a person both of sense and vigour--", "A better seaman never yet did man yard;", " And she, although her manners showed no rigour,", "Was deemed a woman of the strictest principle,", "So much as to be thought almost invincible.", "", "But several years elapsed since they had met;", " Some people thought the ship was lost, and some", "That he had somehow blundered into debt,", " And did not like the thought of steering home;", "And there were several offered any bet,", " Or that he would, or that he would not come;", "For most men (till by losing rendered sager)", "Will back their own opinions with a wager.", "", "'Tis said that their last parting was pathetic,", " As partings often are, or ought to be,", "And their presentiment was quite prophetic,", " That they should never more each other see,", "(A sort of morbid feeling, half poetic,", " Which I have known occur in two or three,)", "When kneeling on the shore upon her sad knee", "He left this Adriatic Ariadne.", "", "And Laura waited long, and wept a little,", " And thought of wearing weeds, as well she might;", "She almost lost all appetite for victual,", " And could not sleep with ease alone at night;", "She deemed the window-frames and shutters brittle", " Against a daring housebreaker or sprite,", "And so she thought it prudent to connect her", "With a vice-husband, _chiefly_ to _protect her_.", "", "She chose, (and what is there they will not choose,", " If only you will but oppose their choice?)", "Till Beppo should return from his long cruise,", " And bid once more her faithful heart rejoice,", "A man some women like, and yet abuse--", " A Coxcomb was he by the public voice;", "A Count of wealth, they said as well as quality,", "And in his pleasures of great liberality.", "", "And then he was a Count, and then he knew", " Music, and dancing, fiddling, French and Tuscan;", "The last not easy, be it known to you,", " For few Italians speak the right Etruscan.", "He was a critic upon operas, too,", " And knew all niceties of sock and buskin;", "And no Venetian audience could endure a", "Song, scene, or air, when he cried \"seccatura!\"", "", "His \"bravo\" was decisive, for that sound", " Hushed \"Academie\" sighed in silent awe;", "The fiddlers trembled as he looked around,", " For fear of some false note's detected flaw;", "The \"Prima Donna's\" tuneful heart would bound,", " Dreading the deep damnation of his \"Bah!\"", "Soprano, Basso, even the Contra-Alto,", "Wished him five fathom under the Rialto.", "", "He patronised the Improvisatori,", " Nay, could himself extemporise some stanzas,", "Wrote rhymes, sang songs, could also tell a story,", " Sold pictures, and was skilful in the dance as", "Italians can be, though in this their glory", " Must surely yield the palm to that which France has;", "In short, he was a perfect Cavaliero,", "And to his very valet seemed a hero.", "", "Then he was faithful too, as well as amorous;", " So that no sort of female could complain,", "Although they're now and then a little clamorous,", " He never put the pretty souls in pain;", "His heart was one of those which most enamour us,", " Wax to receive, and marble to retain:", "He was a lover of the good old school,", "Who still become more constant as they cool.", "", "No wonder such accomplishments should turn", " A female head, however sage and steady--", "With scarce a hope that Beppo could return,", " In law he was almost as good as dead, he", "Nor sent, nor wrote, nor showed the least concern,", " And she had waited several years already:", "And really if a man won't let us know", "That he's alive, he's _dead_--or should be so.", "", "Besides, within the Alps, to every woman,", " (Although, God knows, it is a grievous sin,)", "'Tis, I may say, permitted to have _two_ men;", " I can't tell who first brought the custom in,", "But \"Cavalier Serventes\" are quite common,", " And no one notices or cares a pin;", "An we may call this (not to say the worst)", "A _second_ marriage which corrupts the _first_.", "", "The word was formerly a \"Cicisbeo,\"", " But _that_ is now grown vulgar and indecent;", "The Spaniards call the person a \"_Cortejo_,\"", " For the same mode subsists in Spain, though recent;", "In short it reaches from the Po to Teio,", " And may perhaps at last be o'er the sea sent:", "But Heaven preserve Old England from such courses!", "Or what becomes of damage and divorces?", "", "However, I still think, with all due deference", " To the fair _single_ part of the creation,", "That married ladies should preserve the preference", " In _tête à tête_ or general conversation--", "And this I say without peculiar reference", " To England, France, or any other nation--", "Because they know the world, and are at ease,", "And being natural, naturally please.", "", "'Tis true, your budding Miss is very charming,", " But shy and awkward at first coming out,", "So much alarmed, that she is quite alarming,", " All Giggle, Blush; half Pertness, and half Pout;", "And glancing at _Mamma_, for fear there's harm in", " What you, she, it, or they, may be about:", "The Nursery still lisps out in all they utter--", "Besides, they always smell of bread and butter.", "", "But \"Cavalier Servente\" is the phrase", " Used in politest circles to express", "This supernumerary slave, who stays", " Close to the lady as a part of dress,", "Her word the only law which he obeys.", " His is no sinecure, as you may guess;", "Coach, servants, gondola, he goes to call,", "And carries fan and tippet, gloves and shawl.", "", "With all its sinful doings, I must say,", " That Italy's a pleasant place to me,", "Who love to see the Sun shine every day,", " And vines (not nailed to walls) from tree to tree", "Festooned, much like the back scene of a play,", " Or melodrame, which people flock to see,", "When the first act is ended by a dance", "In vineyards copied from the South of France.", "", "I like on Autumn evenings to ride out,", " Without being forced to bid my groom be sure", "My cloak is round his middle strapped about,", " Because the skies are not the most secure;", "I know too that, if stopped upon my route,", " Where the green alleys windingly allure,", "Reeling with _grapes_ red wagons choke the way,--", "In England 'twould be dung, dust, or a dray.", "", "I also like to dine on becaficas,", " To see the Sun set, sure he'll rise to-morrow,", "Not through a misty morning twinkling weak as", " A drunken man's dead eye in maudlin sorrow,", "But with all Heaven t'himself; the day will break as", " Beauteous as cloudless, nor be forced to borrow", "That sort of farthing candlelight which glimmers", "Where reeking London's smoky cauldron simmers.", "", "I love the language, that soft bastard Latin,", " Which melts like kisses from a female mouth,", "And sounds as if it should be writ on satin,", " With syllables which breathe of the sweet South,", "And gentle liquids gliding all so pat in,", " That not a single accent seems uncouth,", "Like our harsh northern whistling, grunting guttural,", "Which we're obliged to hiss, and spit, and sputter all.", "", "I like the women too (forgive my folly!),", " From the rich peasant cheek of ruddy bronze,", "And large black eyes that flash on you a volley", " Of rays that say a thousand things at once,", "To the high Dama's brow, more melancholy,", " But clear, and with a wild and liquid glance,", "Heart on her lips, and soul within her eyes,", "Soft as her clime, and sunny as her skies.", "", "Eve of the land which still is Paradise!", " Italian Beauty didst thou not inspire", "Raphael, who died in thy embrace, and vies", " With all we know of Heaven, or can desire,", "In what he hath bequeathed us?--in what guise,", " Though flashing from the fervour of the Lyre,", "Would _words_ describe thy past and present glow,", "While yet Canova can create below?", "", "\"England! with all thy faults I love thee still,\"", " I said at Calais, and have not forgot it;", "I like to speak and lucubrate my fill;", " I like the government (but that is not it);", "I like the freedom of the press and quill;", " I like the Habeas Corpus (when we've got it);", "I like a Parliamentary debate,", "Particularly when 'tis not too late;", "", "I like the taxes, when they're not too many;", " I like a seacoal fire, when not too dear;", "I like a beef-steak, too, as well as any;", " Have no objection to a pot of beer;", "I like the weather,--when it is not rainy,", " That is, I like two months of every year.", "And so God save the Regent, Church, and King!", "Which means that I like all and every thing.", "", "Our standing army, and disbanded seamen,", " Poor's rate, Reform, my own, the nation's debt,", "Our little riots just to show we're free men,", " Our trifling bankruptcies in the Gazette,", "Our cloudy climate, and our chilly women,", " All these I can forgive, and those forget,", "And greatly venerate our recent glories,", "And wish they were not owing to the Tories.", "", "But to my tale of Laura,--for I find", " Digression is a sin, that by degrees", "Becomes exceeding tedious to my mind,", " And, therefore, may the reader too displease--", "The gentle reader, who may wax unkind,", " And caring little for the Author's ease,", "Insist on knowing what he means--a hard", "And hapless situation for a Bard.", "", "Oh! that I had the art of easy writing", " What should be easy reading! could I scale", "Parnassus, where the Muses sit inditing", " Those pretty poems never known to fail,", "How quickly would I print (the world delighting)", " A Grecian, Syrian, or _Ass_yrian tale;", "And sell you, mixed with western Sentimentalism,", "Some samples of the _finest Orientalism._", "", "But I am but a nameless sort of person,", " (A broken Dandy lately on my travels)", "And take for rhyme, to hook my rambling verse on,", " The first that Walker's Lexicon unravels,", "And when I can't find that, I put a worse on,", " Not caring as I ought for critics' cavils;", "I've half a mind to tumble down to prose,", "But verse is more in fashion--so here goes!", "", "The Count and Laura made their new arrangement,", " Which lasted, as arrangements sometimes do,", "For half a dozen years without estrangement;", " They had their little differences, too;", "Those jealous whiffs, which never any change meant;", " In such affairs there probably are few", "Who have not had this pouting sort of squabble,", "From sinners of high station to the rabble.", "", "But, on the whole, they were a happy pair,", " As happy as unlawful love could make them;", "The gentleman was fond, the lady fair,", " Their chains so slight, 'twas not worth while to break them:", "The World beheld them with indulgent air;", " The pious only wished \"the Devil take them!\"", "He took them not; he very often waits,", "And leaves old sinners to be young ones' baits.", "", "But they were young: Oh! what without our Youth", " Would Love be! What would Youth be without Love!", "Youth lends its joy, and sweetness, vigour, truth,", " Heart, soul, and all that seems as from above;", "But, languishing with years, it grows uncouth--", " One of few things Experience don't improve;", "Which is, perhaps, the reason why old fellows", "Are always so preposterously jealous.", "", "It was the Carnival, as I have said", " Some six and thirty stanzas back, and so", "Laura the usual preparations made,", " Which you do when your mind's made up to go", "To-night to Mrs. Boehm's masquerade,", " Spectator, or Partaker in the show;", "The only difference known between the cases", "Is--_here_, we have six weeks of \"varnished faces.\"", "", "Laura, when dressed, was (as I sang before)", " A pretty woman as was ever seen,", "Fresh as the Angel o'er a new inn door,", " Or frontispiece of a new Magazine,", "With all the fashions which the last month wore,", " Coloured, and silver paper leaved between", "That and the title-page, for fear the Press", "Should soil with parts of speech the parts of dress.", "", "They went to the Ridotto; 'tis a hall", " Where People dance, and sup, and dance again;", "Its proper name, perhaps, were a masqued ball,", " But that's of no importance to my strain;", "'Tis (on a smaller scale) like our Vauxhall,", " Excepting that it can't be spoilt by rain;", "The company is \"mixed\" (the phrase I quote is", "As much as saying, they're below your notice);", "", "For a \"mixed company\" implies that, save", " Yourself and friends, and half a hundred more,", "Whom you may bow to without looking grave,", " The rest are but a vulgar set, the Bore", "Of public places, where they basely brave", " The fashionable stare of twenty score", "Of well-bred persons, called \"_The World_;\" but I,", "Although I know them, really don't know why.", "", "This is the case in England; at least was", " During the dynasty of Dandies, now", "Perchance succeeded by some other class", " Of imitated Imitators:--how", "Irreparably soon decline, alas!", " The Demagogues of fashion: all below", "Is frail; how easily the world is lost", "By Love, or War, and, now and then,--by Frost!", "", "Crushed was Napoleon by the northern Thor,", " Who knocked his army down with icy hammer,", "Stopped by the _Elements_--like a Whaler--or", " A blundering novice in his new French grammar;", "Good cause had he to doubt the chance of war,", " And as for Fortune--but I dare not d--n her,", "Because, were I to ponder to Infinity,", "The more I should believe in her Divinity.", "", "She rules the present, past, and all to be yet,", " She gives us luck in lotteries, love, and marriage;", "I cannot say that she's done much for me yet;", " Not that I mean her bounties to disparage,", "We've not yet closed accounts, and we shall see yet", " How much she'll make amends for past miscarriage;", "Meantime the Goddess I'll no more importune,", "Unless to thank her when she's made my fortune.", "", "To turn,--and to return;--the Devil take it!", " This story slips for ever through my fingers,", "Because, just as the stanza likes to make it,", " It needs must be--and so it rather lingers;", "This form of verse began, I can't well break it,", " But must keep time and tune like public singers;", "But if I once get through my present measure,", "I'll take another when I'm next at leisure.", "", "They went to the Ridotto ('tis a place", " To which I mean to go myself to-morrow,", "Just to divert my thoughts a little space", " Because I'm rather hippish, and may borrow", "Some spirits, guessing at what kind of face", " May lurk beneath each mask; and as my sorrow", "Slackens its pace sometimes, I'll make, or find,", "Something shall leave it half an hour behind.)", "", "Now Laura moves along the joyous crowd,", " Smiles in her eyes, and simpers on her lips;", "To some she whispers, others speaks aloud;", " To some she curtsies, and to some she dips,", "Complains of warmth, and this complaint avowed,", " Her lover brings the lemonade, she sips;", "She then surveys, condemns, but pities still", "Her dearest friends for being dressed so ill.", "", "One has false curls, another too much paint,", " A third--where did she buy that frightful turban?", "A fourth's so pale she fears she's going to faint,", " A fifth's look's vulgar, dowdyish, and suburban,", "A sixth's white silk has got a yellow taint,", " A seventh's thin muslin surely will be her bane,", "And lo! an eighth appears,--\"I'll see no more!\"", "For fear, like Banquo's kings, they reach a score.", "", "Meantime, while she was thus at others gazing,", " Others were levelling their looks at her;", "She heard the men's half-whispered mode of praising", " And, till 'twas done, determined not to stir;", "The women only thought it quite amazing", " That, at her time of life, so many were", "Admirers still,--but \"Men are so debased,", "Those brazen Creatures always suit their taste.\"", "", "For my part, now, I ne'er could understand", " Why naughty women--but I won't discuss", "A thing which is a scandal to the land,", " I only don't see why it should be thus;", "And if I were but in a gown and band,", " Just to entitle me to make a fuss,", "I'd preach on this till Wilberforce and Romilly", "Should quote in their next speeches from my homily.", "", "While Laura thus was seen, and seeing, smiling,", " Talking, she knew not why, and cared not what,", "So that her female friends, with envy broiling,", " Beheld her airs, and triumph, and all that;", "And well-dressed males still kept before her filing,", " And passing bowed and mingled with her chat;", "More than the rest one person seemed to stare", "With pertinacity that's rather rare.", "", "He was a Turk, the colour of mahogany;", " And Laura saw him, and at first was glad,", "Because the Turks so much admire philogyny,", " Although their usage of their wives is sad;", "'Tis said they use no better than a dog any", " Poor woman, whom they purchase like a pad:", "They have a number, though they ne'er exhibit 'em,", "Four wives by law, and concubines \"ad libitum.\"", "", "They lock them up, and veil, and guard them daily,", " They scarcely can behold their male relations,", "So that their moments do not pass so gaily", " As is supposed the case with northern nations;", "Confinement, too, must make them look quite palely;", " And as the Turks abhor long conversations,", "Their days are either passed in doing nothing,", "Or bathing, nursing, making love, and clothing.", "", "They cannot read, and so don't lisp in criticism;", " Nor write, and so they don't affect the Muse;", "Were never caught in epigram or witticism,", " Have no romances, sermons, plays, reviews,--", "In Harams learning soon would make a pretty schism,", " But luckily these Beauties are no \"Blues;\"", "No bustling _Botherby_ have they to show 'em", "\"That charming passage in the last new poem:\"", "", "No solemn, antique gentleman of rhyme,", " Who having angled all his life for Fame,", "And getting but a nibble at a time,", " Still fussily keeps fishing on, the same", "Small \"Triton of the minnows,\" the sublime", " Of Mediocrity, the furious tame,", "The Echo's echo, usher of the school", "Of female wits, boy bards--in short, a fool!", "", "A stalking oracle of awful phrase,", " The approving _\"Good!\"_ (by no means good in law)", "Humming like flies around the newest blaze,", " The bluest of bluebottles you e'er saw,", "Teasing with blame, excruciating with praise,", " Gorging the little fame he gets all raw,", "Translating tongues he knows not even by letter,", "And sweating plays so middling, bad were better.", "", "One hates an author that's _all author_--fellows", " In foolscap uniforms turned up with ink,", "So very anxious, clever, fine, and jealous,", " One don't know what to say to them, or think,", "Unless to puff them with a pair of bellows;", " Of Coxcombry's worst coxcombs e'en the pink", "Are preferable to these shreds of paper,", "These unquenched snuffings of the midnight taper.", "", "Of these same we see several, and of others.", " Men of the world, who know the World like Men,", "Scott, Rogers, Moore, and all the better brothers,", " Who think of something else besides the pen;", "But for the children of the \"Mighty Mother's,\"", " The would-be wits, and can't-be gentlemen,", "I leave them to their daily \"tea is ready,\"", "Smug coterie, and literary lady.", "", "The poor dear Mussul_women_ whom I mention", " Have none of these instructive pleasant people,", "And _one_ would seem to them a new invention,", " Unknown as bells within a Turkish steeple;", "I think 'twould almost be worth while to pension", " (Though best-sown projects very often reap ill)", "A missionary author--just to preach", "Our Christian usage of the parts of speech.", "", "No Chemistry for them unfolds her gases,", " No Metaphysics are let loose in lectures,", "No Circulating Library amasses", " Religious novels, moral tales, and strictures", "Upon the living manners, as they pass us;", " No Exhibition glares with annual pictures;", "They stare not on the stars from out their attics,", "Nor deal (thank God for that!) in Mathematics.", "", "Why I thank God for that is no great matter,", " I have my reasons, you no doubt suppose,", "And as, perhaps, they would not highly flatter,", " I'll keep them for my life (to come) in prose;", "I fear I have a little turn for Satire,", " And yet methinks the older that one grows", "Inclines us more to laugh than scold, though Laughter", "Leaves us so doubly serious shortly after.", "", "Oh, Mirth and Innocence! Oh, Milk and Water!", " Ye happy mixtures of more happy days!", "In these sad centuries of sin and slaughter,", " Abominable Man no more allays", "His thirst with such pure beverage. No matter,", " I love you both, and both shall have my praise:", "Oh, for old Saturn's reign of sugar-candy!---", "Meantime I drink to your return in brandy.", "", "Our Laura's Turk still kept his eyes upon her,", " Less in the Mussulman than Christian way,", "Which seems to say, \"Madam, I do you honour,", " And while I please to stare, you'll please to stay.\"", "Could staring win a woman, this had won her,", " But Laura could not thus be led astray;", "She had stood fire too long and well, to boggle", "Even at this Stranger's most outlandish ogle.", "", "The morning now was on the point of breaking,", " A turn of time at which I would advise", "Ladies who have been dancing, or partaking", " In any other kind of exercise,", "To make their preparations for forsaking", " The ball-room ere the Sun begins to rise,", "Because when once the lamps and candles fail,", "His blushes make them look a little pale.", "", "I've seen some balls and revels in my time,", " And stayed them over for some silly reason,", "And then I looked (I hope it was no crime)", " To see what lady best stood out the season;", "And though I've seen some thousands in their prime", " Lovely and pleasing, and who still may please on,", "I never saw but one (the stars withdrawn)", "Whose bloom could after dancing dare the Dawn.", "", "The name of this Aurora I'll not mention,", " Although I might, for she was nought to me", "More than that patent work of God's invention,", " A charming woman, whom we like to see;", "But writing names would merit reprehension,", " Yet if you like to find out this fair _She,_", "At the next London or Parisian ball", "You still may mark her cheek, out-blooming all.", "", "Laura, who knew it would not do at all", " To meet the daylight after seven hours' sitting", "Among three thousand people at a ball,", " To make her curtsey thought it right and fitting;", "The Count was at her elbow with her shawl,", " And they the room were on the point of quitting,", "When lo! those curséd Gondoliers had got", "Just in the very place where they _should not._", "", "In this they're like our coachmen, and the cause", " Is much the same--the crowd, and pulling, hauling,", "With blasphemies enough to break their jaws,", " They make a never intermitted bawling.", "At home, our Bow-street gem'men keep the laws,", " And here a sentry stands within your calling;", "But for all that, there is a deal of swearing,", "And nauseous words past mentioning or bearing.", "", "The Count and Laura found their boat at last,", " And homeward floated o'er the silent tide,", "Discussing all the dances gone and past;", " The dancers and their dresses, too, beside;", "Some little scandals eke; but all aghast", " (As to their palace-stairs the rowers glide)", "Sate Laura by the side of her adorer,", "When lo! the Mussulman was there before her!", "", "\"Sir,\" said the Count, with brow exceeding grave,", " \"Your unexpected presence here will make", "It necessary for myself to crave", " Its import? But perhaps 'tis a mistake;", "I hope it is so; and, at once to waive", " All compliment, I hope so for _your_ sake;", "You understand my meaning, or you _shall._\"", "\"Sir,\" (quoth the Turk) \"'tis no mistake at all:", "", "\"That Lady is _my wife!_\" Much wonder paints", " The lady's changing cheek, as well it might;", "But where an Englishwoman sometimes faints,", " Italian females don't do so outright;", "They only call a little on their Saints,", " And then come to themselves, almost, or quite;", "Which saves much hartshorn, salts, and sprinkling faces,", "And cutting stays, as usual in such cases.", "", "She said,--what could she say? Why, not a word;", " But the Count courteously invited in", "The Stranger, much appeased by what he heard:", " \"Such things, perhaps, we'd best discuss within,\"", "Said he; \"don't let us make ourselves absurd", " In public, by a scene, nor raise a din,", "For then the chief and only satisfaction", "Will be much quizzing on the whole transaction.\"", "", "They entered, and for Coffee called--it came,", " A beverage for Turks and Christians both,", "Although the way they make it's not the same.", " Now Laura, much recovered, or less loth", "To speak, cries \"Beppo! what's your pagan name?", " Bless me! your beard is of amazing growth!", "And how came you to keep away so long?", "Are you not sensible 'twas very wrong?", "", "\"And are you _really, truly,_ now a Turk?", " With any other women did you wive?", "Is't true they use their fingers for a fork?", " Well, that's the prettiest Shawl--as I'm alive!", "You'll give it me? They say you eat no pork.", " And how so many years did you contrive", "To--Bless me! did I ever? No, I never", "Saw a man grown so yellow! How's your liver?", "", "\"Beppo! that beard of yours becomes you not;", " It shall be shaved before you're a day older:", "Why do you wear it? Oh! I had forgot--", " Pray don't you think the weather here is colder?", "How do I look? You shan't stir from this spot", " In that queer dress, for fear that some beholder", "Should find you out, and make the story known.", "How short your hair is! Lord! how grey it's grown!\"", "", "What answer Beppo made to these demands", " Is more than I know. He was cast away", "About where Troy stood once, and nothing stands;", " Became a slave of course, and for his pay", "Had bread and bastinadoes, till some bands", " Of pirates landing in a neighbouring bay,", "He joined the rogues and prospered, and became", "A renegade of indifferent fame.", "", "But he grew rich, and with his riches grew so", " Keen the desire to see his home again,", "He thought himself in duty bound to do so,", " And not be always thieving on the main;", "Lonely he felt, at times, as Robin Crusoe,", " And so he hired a vessel come from Spain,", "Bound for Corfu: she was a fine polacca,", "Manned with twelve hands, and laden with tobacco.", "", "Himself, and much (heaven knows how gotten!) cash,", " He then embarked, with risk of life and limb,", "And got clear off, although the attempt was rash;", " _He_ said that _Providence_ protected him--", "For my part, I say nothing--lest we clash", " In our opinions:--well--the ship was trim,", "Set sail, and kept her reckoning fairly on,", "Except three days of calm when off Cape Bonn.", "", "They reached the Island, he transferred his lading,", " And self and live stock to another bottom,", "And passed for a true Turkey-merchant, trading", " With goods of various names--but I've forgot 'em.", "However, he got off by this evading,", " Or else the people would perhaps have shot him;", "And thus at Venice landed to reclaim", "His wife, religion, house, and Christian name.", "", "His wife received, the Patriarch re-baptised him,", " (He made the Church a present, by the way;)", "He then threw off the garments which disguised him,", " And borrowed the Count's smallclothes for a day:", "His friends the more for his long absence prized him,", " Finding he'd wherewithal to make them gay,", "With dinners, where he oft became the laugh of them,", "For stories--but _I_ don't believe the half of them.", "", "Whate'er his youth had suffered, his old age", " With wealth and talking made him some amends;", "Though Laura sometimes put him in a rage,", " I've heard the Count and he were always friends.", "My pen is at the bottom of a page,", " Which being finished, here the story ends:", "'Tis to be wished it had been sooner done,", "But stories somehow lengthen when begun." ], "linecount": "802" }, { "title": "Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice; an Historical Tragedy, in Five Acts", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ " \"_Dux_ inquieti turbidus Adria.\"", " Horace,", "", "\"The young man's wrath is like straw on fire,", "_But like red hot steel is the old man's ire._\"", "", "\"Young men soon give and soon forget affronts,", "Old age is slow at both.\"", "", " Scene Venice--in the year 1355.", "", "ACT I.", "", "SCENE I.--_An Antechamber in the Ducal Palace_.", "", " PIETRO _speaks, in entering, to_ BATTISTA.", "", "_Pie_. Is not the messenger returned?", "", "_Bat_. Not yet;", "I have sent frequently, as you commanded,", "But still the Signory is deep in council,", "And long debate on Steno's accusation.", "", "_Pie_. Too long--at least so thinks the Doge.", "", "_Bat_. How bears he", "These moments of suspense?", "", "_Pie_. With struggling patience.", "Placed at the Ducal table, covered o'er", "With all the apparel of the state--petitions,", "Despatches, judgments, acts, reprieves, reports,--", "He sits as rapt in duty; but whene'er", "He hears the jarring of a distant door,", "Or aught that intimates a coming step,", "Or murmur of a voice, his quick eye wanders,", "And he will start up from his chair, then pause,", "And seat himself again, and fix his gaze", "Upon some edict; but I have observed", "For the last hour he has not turned a leaf.", "", "_Bat_. 'Tis said he is much moved,--and doubtless 'twas", "Foul scorn in Steno to offend so grossly.", "", "_Pie_. Aye, if a poor man: Steno's a patrician,", "Young, galliard, gay, and haughty.", "", "_Bat_. Then you think", "He will not be judged hardly?", "", "_Pie_. 'Twere enough", "He be judged justly; but 'tis not for us", "To anticipate the sentence of the Forty.", "", "_Bat_. And here it comes.--What news, Vincenzo?", "", " _Enter_ VINCENZO.", "", "_Vin_. 'Tis", "Decided; but as yet his doom's unknown:", "I saw the President in act to seal", "The parchment which will bear the Forty's judgment", "Unto the Doge, and hasten to inform him.", "[_Exeunt_.", "", "SCENE II.--The Ducal Chamber.", "", " MARINO FALIERO, _Doge; and his Nephew_, BERTUCCIO FALIERO.", "", "_Ber. F._ It cannot be but they will do you justice.", "", "_Doge_. Aye, such as the Avogadori did,", "Who sent up my appeal unto the Forty", "To try him by his peers, his own tribunal.", "", "_Ber. F._ His peers will scarce protect him; such an act", "Would bring contempt on all authority.", "", "_Doge_. Know you not Venice? Know you not the Forty?", "But we shall see anon.", "", "_Ber. F._ (_addressing_ VINCENZO, _then entering_.)", " How now--what tidings?", "", "_Vin_. I am charged to tell his Highness that the court", "Has passed its resolution, and that, soon", "As the due forms of judgment are gone through,", "The sentence will be sent up to the Doge;", "In the mean time the Forty doth salute", "The Prince of the Republic, and entreat", "His acceptation of their duty.", "", "_Doge_. Yes--", "They are wond'rous dutiful, and ever humble.", "Sentence is passed, you say?", "", "_Vin_. It is, your Highness:", "The President was sealing it, when I", "Was called in, that no moment might be lost", "In forwarding the intimation due", "Not only to the Chief of the Republic,", "But the complainant, both in one united.", "", "_Ber. F._ Are you aware, from aught you have perceived,", "Of their decision?", "", "_Vin_. No, my Lord; you know", "The secret custom of the courts in Venice.", "", "_Ber. F._ True; but there still is something given to guess,", "Which a shrewd gleaner and quick eye would catch at;", "A whisper, or a murmur, or an air", "More or less solemn spread o'er the tribunal.", "The Forty are but men--most worthy men,", "And wise, and just, and cautious--this I grant--", "And secret as the grave to which they doom", "The guilty: but with all this, in their aspects--", "At least in some, the juniors of the number--", "A searching eye, an eye like yours, Vincenzo,", "Would read the sentence ere it was pronounced.", "", "_Vin_. My Lord, I came away upon the moment,", "And had no leisure to take note of that", "Which passed among the judges, even in seeming;", "My station near the accused too, Michel Steno,", "Made me--", "", "_Doge_ (_abruptly_). And how looked _he_? deliver that.", "", "_Vin_. Calm, but not overcast, he stood resigned", "To the decree, whate'er it were;--but lo!", "It comes, for the perusal of his Highness.", "", " _Enter the_ SECRETARY _of the Forty_.", "", "_Sec_. The high tribunal of the Forty sends", "Health and respect to the Doge Faliero,", "Chief magistrate of Venice, and requests", "His Highness to peruse and to approve", "The sentence passed on Michel Steno, born", "Patrician, and arraigned upon the charge", "Contained, together with its penalty,", "Within the rescript which I now present.", "", "_Doge_. Retire, and wait without.", "", " Take thou this paper:", "The misty letters vanish from my eyes;", "I cannot fix them.", "", "_Ber. F._ Patience, my dear Uncle:", "Why do you tremble thus?--nay, doubt not, all", "Will be as could be wished.", "", "_Doge_. Say on.", "", "_Ber. F._ (_reading_). \"Decreed", "In council, without one dissenting voice,", "That Michel Steno, by his own confession,", "Guilty on the last night of Carnival", "Of having graven on the ducal throne", "The following words--\"", "", "_Doge_. Would'st thou repeat them?", "Would'st _thou_ repeat them--_thou_, a Faliero,", "Harp on the deep dishonour of our house,", "Dishonoured in its Chief--that Chief the Prince", "Of Venice, first of cities?--To the sentence.", "", "_Ber. F._ Forgive me, my good Lord; I will obey--", "(_Reads_) \"That Michel Steno be detained a month", "In close arrest.\"", "", "_Doge_. Proceed.", "", "_Ber. F._ My Lord, 'tis finished.", "", "_Doge_. How say you?--finished! Do I dream?--'tis false--", "Give me the paper--(_snatches the paper and reads_)--", " \"'Tis decreed in council", "That Michel Steno\"--Nephew, thine arm!", "", "_Ber. F._ Nay,", "Cheer up, be calm; this transport is uncalled for--", "Let me seek some assistance.", "", "_Doge_. Stop, sir--Stir not--", "'Tis past.", "", "_Ber. F._ I cannot but agree with you", "The sentence is too slight for the offence;", "It is not honourable in the Forty", "To affix so slight a penalty to that", "Which was a foul affront to you, and even", "To them, as being your subjects; but 'tis not", "Yet without remedy: you can appeal", "To them once more, or to the Avogadori,", "Who, seeing that true justice is withheld,", "Will now take up the cause they once declined,", "And do you right upon the bold delinquent.", "Think you not thus, good Uncle? why do you stand", "So fixed? You heed me not:--I pray you, hear me!", "", "_Doge_ (_dashing down the ducal bonnet, and offering to", "trample upon it, exclaims, as he is withheld by his nephew_).", "Oh! that the Saracen were in St. Mark's!", "Thus would I do him homage.", "", "_Ber. F._ For the sake", "Of Heaven and all its saints, my Lord--", "", "_Doge_. Away!", "Oh, that the Genoese were in the port!", "Oh, that the Huns whom I o'erthrew at Zara", "Were ranged around the palace!", "", "_Ber. F._ 'Tis not well", "In Venice' Duke to say so.", "", "_Doge_. Venice' Duke!", "Who now is Duke in Venice? let me see him,", "That he may do me right.", "", "_Ber. F._ If you forget", "Your office, and its dignity and duty.", "Remember that of man, and curb this passion.", "The Duke of Venice----", "", "_Doge_ (_interrupting him_). There is no such thing--", "It is a word--nay, worse--a worthless by-word:", "The most despised, wronged, outraged, helpless wretch,", "Who begs his bread, if 'tis refused by one,", "May win it from another kinder heart;", "But he, who is denied his right by those", "Whose place it is to do no wrong, is poorer", "Than the rejected beggar--he's a slave--", "And that am I--and thou--and all our house,", "Even from this hour; the meanest artisan", "Will point the finger, and the haughty noble", "May spit upon us:--where is our redress?", "", "_Ber. F._ The law, my Prince--", "", "_Doge_ (_interrupting him_). You see what it has done;", "I asked no remedy but from the law--", "I sought no vengeance but redress by law--", "I called no judges but those named by law--", "As Sovereign, I appealed unto my subjects,", "The very subjects who had made me Sovereign,", "And gave me thus a double right to be so.", "The rights of place and choice, of birth and service,", "Honours and years, these scars, these hoary hairs,", "The travel--toil--the perils--the fatigues--", "The blood and sweat of almost eighty years,", "Were weighed i' the balance, 'gainst the foulest stain,", "The grossest insult, most contemptuous crime", "Of a rank, rash patrician--and found wanting!", "And this is to be borne!", "", "_Ber. F._ I say not that:--", "In case your fresh appeal should be rejected,", "We will find other means to make all even.", "", "_Doge_. Appeal again! art thou my brother's son?", "A scion of the house of Faliero?", "The nephew of a Doge? and of that blood", "Which hath already given three dukes to Venice?", "But thou say'st well--we must be humble now.", "", "_Ber. F._ My princely Uncle! you are too much moved;--", "I grant it was a gross offence, and grossly", "Left without fitting punishment: but still", "This fury doth exceed the provocation,", "Or any provocation: if we are wronged,", "We will ask justice; if it be denied,", "We'll take it; but may do all this in calmness--", "Deep Vengeance is the daughter of deep Silence.", "I have yet scarce a third part of your years,", "I love our house, I honour you, its Chief,", "The guardian of my youth, and its instructor--", "But though I understand your grief, and enter", "In part of your disdain, it doth appal me", "To see your anger, like our Adrian waves,", "O'ersweep all bounds, and foam itself to air.", "", "_Doge_. I tell thee--_must_ I tell thee--what thy father", "Would have required no words to comprehend?", "Hast thou no feeling save the external sense", "Of torture from the touch? hast thou no soul--", "No pride--no passion--no deep sense of honour?", "", "_Ber. F._ 'Tis the first time that honour has been doubted,", "And were the last, from any other sceptic.", "", "_Doge_. You know the full offence of this born villain,", "This creeping, coward, rank, acquitted felon,", "Who threw his sting into a poisonous libel,", "And on the honour of--Oh God! my wife,", "The nearest, dearest part of all men's honour,", "Left a base slur to pass from mouth to mouth", "Of loose mechanics, with all coarse foul comments,", "And villainous jests, and blasphemies obscene;", "While sneering nobles, in more polished guise,", "Whispered the tale, and smiled upon the lie", "Which made me look like them--a courteous wittol,", "Patient--aye--proud, it may be, of dishonour.", "", "_Ber. F._ But still it was a lie--you knew it false,", "And so did all men.", "", "_Doge_. Nephew, the high Roman", "Said, \"Cæsar's wife must not even be suspected,\"", "And put her from him.", "", "_Ber. F._ True--but in those days----", "", "_Doge_. What is it that a Roman would not suffer,", "That a Venetian Prince must bear? old Dandolo", "Refused the diadem of all the Cæsars,", "And wore the ducal cap _I_ trample on--", "Because 'tis now degraded.", "", "_Ber. F._ 'Tis even so.", "", "_Doge_. It is--it is;--I did not visit on", "The innocent creature thus most vilely slandered", "Because she took an old man for her lord,", "For that he had been long her father's friend", "And patron of her house, as if there were", "No love in woman's heart but lust of youth", "And beardless faces;--I did not for this", "Visit the villain's infamy on her,", "But craved my country's justice on his head,", "The justice due unto the humblest being", "Who hath a wife whose faith is sweet to him,", "Who hath a home whose hearth is dear to him--", "Who hath a name whose honour's all to him,", "When these are tainted by the accursing breath", "Of Calumny and Scorn.", "", "_Ber. F._ And what redress", "Did you expect as his fit punishment?", "", "_Doge_. Death! Was I not the Sovereign of the state--", "Insulted on his very throne, and made", "A mockery to the men who should obey me?", "Was I not injured as a husband? scorned", "As man? reviled, degraded, as a Prince?", "Was not offence like his a complication", "Of insult and of treason?--and he lives!", "Had he instead of on the Doge's throne", "Stamped the same brand upon a peasant's stool,", "His blood had gilt the threshold; for the carle", "Had stabbed him on the instant.", "", "_Ber. F._ Do not doubt it,", "He shall not live till sunset--leave to me", "The means, and calm yourself.", "", "_Doge_. Hold, nephew: this", "Would have sufficed but yesterday; at present", "I have no further wrath against this man.", "", "_Ber. F._ What mean you? is not the offence redoubled", "By this most rank--I will not say--acquittal;", "For it is worse, being full acknowledgment", "Of the offence, and leaving it unpunished?", "", "_Doge_. It is _redoubled_, but not now by him:", "The Forty hath decreed a month's arrest--", "We must obey the Forty.", "", "_Ber. F._ Obey _them_!", "Who have forgot their duty to the Sovereign?", "", "_Doge_. Why, yes;--boy, you perceive it then at last;", "Whether as fellow citizen who sues", "For justice, or as Sovereign who commands it,", "They have defrauded me of both my rights", "(For here the Sovereign is a citizen);", "But, notwithstanding, harm not thou a hair", "Of Steno's head--he shall not wear it long.", "", "_Ber. F._ Not twelve hours longer, had you left to me", "The mode and means; if you had calmly heard me,", "I never meant this miscreant should escape,", "But wished you to suppress such gusts of passion,", "That we more surely might devise together", "His taking off.", "", "_Doge_. No, nephew, he must live;", "At least, just now--a life so vile as his", "Were nothing at this hour; in th' olden time", "Some sacrifices asked a single victim,", "Great expiations had a hecatomb.", "", "_Ber. F._ Your wishes are my law: and yet I fain", "Would prove to you how near unto my heart", "The honour of our house must ever be.", "", "_Doge_. Fear not; you shall have time and place of proof:", "But be not thou too rash, as I have been.", "I am ashamed of my own anger now;", "I pray you, pardon me.", "", "_Ber. F._ Why, that's my uncle!", "The leader, and the statesman, and the chief", "Of commonwealths, and sovereign of himself!", "I wondered to perceive you so forget", "All prudence in your fury at these years,", "Although the cause--", "", "_Doge_. Aye--think upon the cause--", "Forget it not:--When you lie down to rest,", "Let it be black among your dreams; and when", "The morn returns, so let it stand between", "The Sun and you, as an ill-omened cloud", "Upon a summer-day of festival:", "So will it stand to me;--but speak not, stir not,--", "Leave all to me; we shall have much to do,", "And you shall have a part.--But now retire,", "'Tis fit I were alone.", "", "_Ber. F._ (_taking up and placing the ducal bonnet on the table_).", " Ere I depart,", "I pray you to resume what you have spurned,", "Till you can change it--haply, for a crown!", "And now I take my leave, imploring you", "In all things to rely upon my duty,", "As doth become your near and faithful kinsman,", "And not less loyal citizen and subject.", " [Exit BERTUCCIO FALIERO.", "", "_Doge_ (_solus_). Adieu, my worthy nephew.--Hollow bauble!", " [_Taking up the ducal cap_.", "Beset with all the thorns that line a crown,", "Without investing the insulted brow", "With the all-swaying majesty of Kings;", "Thou idle, gilded, and degraded toy,", "Let me resume thee as I would a vizor. [_Puts it on_.", "How my brain aches beneath thee! and my temples", "Throb feverish under thy dishonest weight.", "Could I not turn thee to a diadem?", "Could I not shatter the Briarean sceptre", "Which in this hundred-handed Senate rules,", "Making the people nothing, and the Prince", "A pageant? In my life I have achieved", "Tasks not less difficult--achieved for them,", "Who thus repay me! Can I not requite them?", "Oh for one year! Oh! but for even a day", "Of my full youth, while yet my body served", "My soul as serves the generous steed his lord,", "I would have dashed amongst them, asking few", "In aid to overthrow these swoln patricians;", "But now I must look round for other hands", "To serve this hoary head; but it shall plan", "In such a sort as will not leave the task", "Herculean, though as yet 'tis but a chaos", "Of darkly brooding thoughts: my fancy is", "In her first work, more nearly to the light", "Holding the sleeping images of things", "For the selection of the pausing judgment.--", "The troops are few in----", "", " _Enter_ VINCENZO.", "", "_Vin_. There is one without", "Craves audience of your Highness.", "", "_Doge_. I'm unwell--", "I can see no one, not even a patrician--", "Let him refer his business to the Council.", "", "_Vin_. My Lord, I will deliver your reply;", "It cannot much import--he's a plebeian,", "The master of a galley, I believe.", "", "_Doge_. How! did you say the patron of a galley?", "That is--I mean--a servant of the state:", "Admit him, he may be on public service.", " [_Exit_ VINCENZO.", "", "_Doge_ (_solus_). This patron may be sounded; I will try him.", "I know the people to be discontented:", "They have cause, since Sapienza's adverse day,", "When Genoa conquered: they have further cause,", "Since they are nothing in the state, and in", "The city worse than nothing--mere machines,", "To serve the nobles' most patrician pleasure.", "The troops have long arrears of pay, oft promised,", "And murmur deeply--any hope of change", "Will draw them forward: they shall pay themselves", "With plunder:--but the priests--I doubt the priesthood", "Will not be with us; they have hated me", "Since that rash hour, when, maddened with the drone,", "I smote the tardy Bishop at Treviso,", "Quickening his holy march; yet, ne'ertheless,", "They may be won, at least their Chief at Rome,", "By some well-timed concessions; but, above", "All things, I must be speedy: at my hour", "Of twilight little light of life remains.", "Could I free Venice, and avenge my wrongs,", "I had lived too long, and willingly would sleep", "Next moment with my sires; and, wanting this,", "Better that sixty of my fourscore years", "Had been already where--how soon, I care not--", "The whole must be extinguished;--better that", "They ne'er had been, than drag me on to be", "The thing these arch-oppressors fain would make me.", "Let me consider--of efficient troops", "There are three thousand posted at----", "", " _Enter_ VINCENZO _and_ ISRAEL BERTUCCIO.", "", "_Vin_. May it please", "Your Highness, the same patron whom I spake of", "Is here to crave your patience.", "", "_Doge_. Leave the chamber,", "Vincenzo.--", " [_Exit_ VINCENZO.", " Sir, you may advance--what would you?", "", "_I. Ber_. Redress.", "", "_Doge_. Of whom?", "", "_I. Ber_. Of God and of the Doge.", "", "_Doge_. Alas! my friend, you seek it of the twain", "Of least respect and interest in Venice.", "You must address the Council.", "", "_I. Ber_. 'Twere in vain;", "For he who injured me is one of them.", "", "_Doge_. There's blood upon thy face--how came it there?", "", "_I. Ber_. 'Tis mine, and not the first I've shed for Venice,", "But the first shed by a Venetian hand:", "A noble smote me.", "", "_Doge_. Doth he live?", "", "_I. Ber_. Not long--", "But for the hope I had and have, that you,", "My Prince, yourself a soldier, will redress", "Him, whom the laws of discipline and Venice", "Permit not to protect himself:--if not--", "I say no more.", "", "_Doge_. But something you would do--", "Is it not so?", "", "_I. Ber_. I am a man, my Lord.", "", "_Doge_. Why so is he who smote you.", "", "_I. Ber_. He is called so;", "Nay, more, a noble one--at least, in Venice:", "But since he hath forgotten that I am one,", "And treats me like a brute, the brute may turn--", "'Tis said the worm will.", "", "_Doge_. Say--his name and lineage?", "", "_I. Ber_. Barbaro.", "", "_Doge_. What was the cause? or the pretext?", "", "_I. Ber_. I am the chief of the arsenal, employed", "At present in repairing certain galleys", "But roughly used by the Genoese last year.", "This morning comes the noble Barbaro", "Full of reproof, because our artisans", "Had left some frivolous order of his house,", "To execute the state's decree: I dared", "To justify the men--he raised his hand;--", "Behold my blood! the first time it e'er flowed", "Dishonourably.", "", "_Doge_. Have you long time served?", "", "_I. Ber_. So long as to remember Zara's siege,", "And fight beneath the Chief who beat the Huns there,", "Sometime my general, now the Doge Faliero.--", "", "_Doge_. How! are we comrades?--the State's ducal robes", "Sit newly on me, and you were appointed", "Chief of the arsenal ere I came from Rome;", "So that I recognised you not. Who placed you?", "", "_I. Ber_. The late Doge; keeping still my old command", "As patron of a galley: my new office", "Was given as the reward of certain scars", "(So was your predecessor pleased to say):", "I little thought his bounty would conduct me", "To his successor as a helpless plaintiff;", "At least, in such a cause.", "", "_Doge_. Are you much hurt?", "", "_I. Ber_. Irreparably in my self-esteem.", "", "_Doge_. Speak out; fear nothing: being stung at heart,", "What would you do to be revenged on this man?", "", "_I. Ber_. That which I dare not name, and yet will do.", "", "_Doge_. Then wherefore came you here?", "", "_I. Ber_. I come for justice,", "Because my general is Doge, and will not", "See his old soldier trampled on. Had any,", "Save Faliero, filled the ducal throne,", "This blood had been washed out in other blood.", "", "_Doge_. You come to me for justice--unto _me!_", "The Doge of Venice, and I cannot give it;", "I cannot even obtain it--'twas denied", "To me most solemnly an hour ago!", "", "_I. Ber_. How says your Highness?", "", "_Doge_. Steno is condemned", "To a month's confinement.", "", "_I. Ber_. What! the same who dared", "To stain the ducal throne with those foul words,", "That have cried shame to every ear in Venice?", "", "_Doge_. Aye, doubtless they have echoed o'er the arsenal,", "Keeping due time with every hammer's clink,", "As a good jest to jolly artisans;", "Or making chorus to the creaking oar,", "In the vile tune of every galley-slave,", "Who, as he sung the merry stave, exulted", "_He_ was not a shamed dotard like the Doge.", "", "_I. Ber_. Is't possible? a month's imprisonment!", "No more for Steno?", "", "_Doge_. You have heard the offence,", "And now you know his punishment; and then", "You ask redress of _me_! Go to the Forty,", "Who passed the sentence upon Michel Steno;", "They'll do as much by Barbaro, no doubt.", "", "_I. Ber_. Ah! dared I speak my feelings!", "", "_Doge_. Give them breath.", "Mine have no further outrage to endure.", "", "_I. Ber_. Then, in a word, it rests but on your word", "To punish and avenge--I will not say", "_My_ petty wrong, for what is a mere blow,", "However vile, to such a thing as I am?--", "But the base insult done your state and person.", "", "_Doge_. You overrate my power, which is a pageant.", "This Cap is not the Monarch's crown; these robes", "Might move compassion, like a beggar's rags;", "Nay, more, a beggar's are his own, and these", "But lent to the poor puppet, who must play", "Its part with all its empire in this ermine.", "", "_I. Ber_. Wouldst thou be King?", "", "_Doge_. Yes--of a happy people.", "", "_I. Ber_. Wouldst thou be sovereign lord of Venice?", "", "_Doge_. Aye,", "If that the people shared that sovereignty,", "So that nor they nor I were further slaves", "To this o'ergrown aristocratic Hydra,", "The poisonous heads of whose envenomed body", "Have breathed a pestilence upon us all.", "", "_I. Ber_. Yet, thou wast born, and still hast lived, patrician.", "", "_Doge_. In evil hour was I so born; my birth", "Hath made me Doge to be insulted: but", "I lived and toiled a soldier and a servant", "Of Venice and her people, not the Senate;", "Their good and my own honour were my guerdon.", "I have fought and bled; commanded, aye, and conquered;", "Have made and marred peace oft in embassies,", "As it might chance to be our country's 'vantage;", "Have traversed land and sea in constant duty,", "Through almost sixty years, and still for Venice,", "My fathers' and my birthplace, whose dear spires,", "Rising at distance o'er the blue Lagoon,", "It was reward enough for me to view", "Once more; but not for any knot of men,", "Nor sect, nor faction, did I bleed or sweat!", "But would you know why I have done all this?", "Ask of the bleeding pelican why she", "Hath ripped her bosom? Had the bird a voice,", "She'd tell thee 'twas for _all_ her little ones.", "", "_I. Ber_. And yet they made thee Duke.", "", "_Doge_. _They made_ me so;", "I sought it not, the flattering fetters met me", "Returning from my Roman embassy,", "And never having hitherto refused", "Toil, charge, or duty for the state, I did not,", "At these late years, decline what was the highest", "Of all in seeming, but of all most base", "In what we have to do and to endure:", "Bear witness for me thou, my injured subject,", "When I can neither right myself nor thee.", "", "_I. Ber_. You shall do both, if you possess the will;", "And many thousands more not less oppressed,", "Who wait but for a signal--will you give it?", "", "_Doge_. You speak in riddles.", "", "_I. Ber_. Which shall soon be read", "At peril of my life--if you disdain not", "To lend a patient ear.", "", "_Doge_. Say on.", "", "_I. Ber_. Not thou,", "Nor I alone, are injured and abused,", "Contemned and trampled on; but the whole people", "Groan with the strong conception of their wrongs:", "The foreign soldiers in the Senate's pay", "Are discontented for their long arrears;", "The native mariners, and civic troops,", "Feel with their friends; for who is he amongst them", "Whose brethren, parents, children, wives, or sisters,", "Have not partook oppression, or pollution,", "From the patricians? And the hopeless war", "Against the Genoese, which is still maintained", "With the plebeian blood, and treasure wrung", "From their hard earnings, has inflamed them further:", "Even now--but, I forget that speaking thus,", "Perhaps I pass the sentence of my death!", "", "_Doge_. And suffering what thou hast done--fear'st thou death?", "Be silent then, and live on, to be beaten", "By those for whom thou hast bled.", "", "_I. Ber_. No, I will speak", "At every hazard; and if Venice' Doge", "Should turn delator, be the shame on him,", "And sorrow too; for he will lose far more", "Than I.", "", "_Doge_. From me fear nothing; out with it!", "", "_I. Ber_. Know then, that there are met and sworn in secret", "A band of brethren, valiant hearts and true;", "Men who have proved all fortunes, and have long", "Grieved over that of Venice, and have right", "To do so; having served her in all climes,", "And having rescued her from foreign foes,", "Would do the same from those within her walls.", "They are not numerous, nor yet too few", "For their great purpose; they have arms, and means,", "And hearts, and hopes, and faith, and patient courage.", "", "_Doge_. For what then do they pause?", "", "_I. Ber_. An hour to strike.", "", "_Doge_ (_aside_). Saint Mark's shall strike that hour!", "", "_I. Ber_. I now have placed", "My life, my honour, all my earthly hopes", "Within thy power, but in the firm belief", "That injuries like ours, sprung from one cause,", "Will generate one vengeance: should it be so,", "Be our Chief now--our Sovereign hereafter.", "", "_Doge_. How many are ye?", "", "_I. Ber_. I'll not answer that", "Till I am answered.", "", "_Doge_. How, sir! do you menace?", "", "_I. Ber_. No; I affirm. I have betrayed myself;", "But there's no torture in the mystic wells", "Which undermine your palace, nor in those", "Not less appalling cells, the \"leaden roofs,\"", "To force a single name from me of others.", "The Pozzi and the Piombi were in vain;", "They might wring blood from me, but treachery never.", "And I would pass the fearful \"Bridge of Sighs,\"", "Joyous that mine must be the last that e'er", "Would echo o'er the Stygian wave which flows", "Between the murderers and the murdered, washing", "The prison and the palace walls: there are", "Those who would live to think on't, and avenge me.", "", "_Doge_. If such your power and purpose, why come here", "To sue for justice, being in the course", "To do yourself due right?", "", "_I. Ber_. Because the man,", "Who claims protection from authority,", "Showing his confidence and his submission", "To that authority, can hardly be", "Suspected of combining to destroy it.", "Had I sate down too humbly with this blow,", "A moody brow and muttered threats had made me", "A marked man to the Forty's inquisition;", "But loud complaint, however angrily", "It shapes its phrase, is little to be feared,", "And less distrusted. But, besides all this,", "I had another reason.", "", "_Doge_. What was that?", "", "_I. Ber_. Some rumours that the Doge was greatly moved", "By the reference of the Avogadori", "Of Michel Steno's sentence to the Forty", "Had reached me. I had served you, honoured you,", "And felt that you were dangerously insulted,", "Being of an order of such spirits, as", "Requite tenfold both good and evil: 'twas", "My wish to prove and urge you to redress.", "Now you know all; and that I speak the truth,", "My peril be the proof.", "", "_Doge_. You have deeply ventured;", "But all must do so who would greatly win:", "Thus far I'll answer you--your secret's safe.", "", "_I. Ber_. And is this all?", "", "_Doge_. Unless with all intrusted,", "What would you have me answer?", "", "_I. Ber_. I would have you", "Trust him who leaves his life in trust with you.", "", "_Doge_. But I must know your plan, your names, and numbers;", "The last may then be doubled, and the former", "Matured and strengthened.", "", "_I. Ber_. We're enough already;", "You are the sole ally we covet now.", "", "_Doge_. But bring me to the knowledge of your chiefs.", "", "_I. Ber_. That shall be done upon your formal pledge", "To keep the faith that we will pledge to you.", "", "_Doge_. When? where?", "", "_I. Ber_. This night I'll bring to your apartment", "Two of the principals: a greater number", "Were hazardous.", "", "_Doge_. Stay, I must think of this.--", "What if I were to trust myself amongst you,", "And leave the palace?", "", "_I. Ber_. You must come alone.", "", "_Doge_. With but my nephew.", "", "_I. Ber_. Not were he your son!", "", "_Doge_. Wretch! darest thou name my son? He died in arms", "At Sapienza for this faithless state.", "Oh! that he were alive, and I in ashes!", "Or that he were alive ere I be ashes!", "I should not need the dubious aid of strangers.", "", "_I. Ber_. Not one of all those strangers whom thou doubtest,", "But will regard thee with a filial feeling,", "So that thou keep'st a father's faith with them.", "", "_Doge_. The die is cast. Where is the place of meeting?", "", "_I. Ber_. At midnight I will be alone and masked", "Where'er your Highness pleases to direct me,", "To wait your coming, and conduct you where", "You shall receive our homage, and pronounce", "Upon our project.", "", "_Doge_. At what hour arises", "The moon?", "", "_I. Ber_. Late, but the atmosphere is thick and dusky,", "'Tis a sirocco.", "", "_Doge_. At the midnight hour, then,", "Near to the church where sleep my sires; the same,", "Twin-named from the apostles John and Paul;", "A gondola, with one oar only, will", "Lurk in the narrow channel which glides by.", "Be there.", "", "_I. Ber_. I will not fail.", "", "_Doge_. And now retire----", "", "_I. Ber_. In the full hope your Highness will not falter", "In your great purpose. Prince, I take my leave.", " [_Exit_ Isreal Bertuccio.", "", "_Doge_ (_solus_). At midnight, by the church Saints John and Paul,", "Where sleep my noble fathers, I repair--", "To what? to hold a council in the dark", "With common ruffians leagued to ruin states!", "And will not my great sires leap from the vault,", "Where lie two Doges who preceded me,", "And pluck me down amongst them? Would they could!", "For I should rest in honour with the honoured.", "Alas! I must not think of them, but those", "Who have made me thus unworthy of a name", "Noble and brave as aught of consular", "On Roman marbles; but I will redeem it", "Back to its antique lustre in our annals,", "By sweet revenge on all that's base in Venice,", "And freedom to the rest, or leave it black", "To all the growing calumnies of Time,", "Which never spare the fame of him who fails,", "But try the Cæsar, or the Catiline,", "By the true touchstone of desert--Success.", "", "ACT II.", "", "SCENE I.--_An Apartment in the Ducal Palace_.", "", " ANGIOLINA (_wife of the_ DOGE) _and_ MARIANNA.", "", "_Ang_. What was the Doge's answer?", "", "_Mar_. That he was", "That moment summoned to a conference;", "But 'tis by this time ended. I perceived", "Not long ago the Senators embarking;", "And the last gondola may now be seen", "Gliding into the throng of barks which stud", "The glittering waters.", "", "_Ang_. Would he were returned!", "He has been much disquieted of late;", "And Time, which has not tamed his fiery spirit,", "Nor yet enfeebled even his mortal frame,", "Which seems to be more nourished by a soul", "So quick and restless that it would consume", "Less hardy clay--Time has but little power", "On his resentments or his griefs. Unlike", "To other spirits of his order, who,", "In the first burst of passion, pour away", "Their wrath or sorrow, all things wear in him", "An aspect of Eternity: his thoughts,", "His feelings, passions, good or evil, all", "Have nothing of old age; and his bold brow", "Bears but the scars of mind, the thoughts of years,", "Not their decrepitude: and he of late", "Has been more agitated than his wont.", "Would he were come! for I alone have power", "Upon his troubled spirit.", "", "_Mar_. It is true,", "His Highness has of late been greatly moved", "By the affront of Steno, and with cause:", "But the offender doubtless even now", "Is doomed to expiate his rash insult with", "Such chastisement as will enforce respect", "To female virtue, and to noble blood.", "", "_Ang_. 'Twas a gross insult; but I heed it not", "For the rash scorner's falsehood in itself,", "But for the effect, the deadly deep impression", "Which it has made upon Faliero's soul,", "The proud, the fiery, the austere--austere", "To all save me: I tremble when I think", "To what it may conduct.", "", "_Mar_. Assuredly", "The Doge can not suspect you?", "", "_Ang_. Suspect _me!_", "Why Steno dared not: when he scrawled his lie,", "Grovelling by stealth in the moon's glimmering light,", "His own still conscience smote him for the act,", "And every shadow on the walls frowned shame", "Upon his coward calumny.", "", "_Mar_. 'Twere fit", "He should be punished grievously.", "", "_Ang_. He is so.", "", "_Mar_. What! is the sentence passed? is he condemned?", "", "_Ang_. I know not that, but he has been detected.", "", "_Mar_. And deem you this enough for such foul scorn?", "", "_Ang_. I would not be a judge in my own cause,", "Nor do I know what sense of punishment", "May reach the soul of ribalds such as Steno;", "But if his insults sink no deeper in", "The minds of the inquisitors than they", "Have ruffled mine, he will, for all acquittance,", "Be left to his own shamelessness or shame.", "", "_Mar_. Some sacrifice is due to slandered virtue.", "", "_Ang_. Why, what is virtue if it needs a victim?", "Or if it must depend upon men's words?", "The dying Roman said, \"'twas but a name:\"", "It were indeed no more, if human breath", "Could make or mar it.", "", "_Mar_. Yet full many a dame,", "Stainless and faithful, would feel all the wrong", "Of such a slander; and less rigid ladies,", "Such as abound in Venice, would be loud", "And all-inexorable in their cry", "For justice.", "", "_Ang_. This but proves it is the name", "And not the quality they prize: the first", "Have found it a hard task to hold their honour,", "If they require it to be blazoned forth;", "And those who have not kept it, seek its seeming", "As they would look out for an ornament", "Of which they feel the want, but not because", "They think it so; they live in others' thoughts,", "And would seem honest as they must seem fair.", "", "_Mar_. You have strange thoughts for a patrician dame.", "", "_Ang_. And yet they were my father's; with his name,", "The sole inheritance he left.", "", "_Mar_. You want none;", "Wife to a Prince, the Chief of the Republic.", "", "_Ang_. I should have sought none though a peasant's bride,", "But feel not less the love and gratitude", "Due to my father, who bestowed my hand", "Upon his early, tried, and trusted friend,", "The Count Val di Marino, now our Doge.", "", "_Mar_. And with that hand did he bestow your heart?", "", "_Ang_. He did so, or it had not been bestowed.", "", "_Mar_. Yet this strange disproportion in your years,", "And, let me add, disparity of tempers,", "Might make the world doubt whether such an union", "Could make you wisely, permanently happy.", "", "_Ang_. The world will think with worldlings; but my heart", "Has still been in my duties, which are many,", "But never difficult.", "", "_Mar_. And do you love him?", "", "_Ang_. I love all noble qualities which merit", "Love, and I loved my father, who first taught me", "To single out what we should love in others,", "And to subdue all tendency to lend", "The best and purest feelings of our nature", "To baser passions. He bestowed my hand", "Upon Faliero: he had known him noble,", "Brave, generous; rich in all the qualities", "Of soldier, citizen, and friend; in all", "Such have I found him as my father said.", "His faults are those that dwell in the high bosoms", "Of men who have commanded; too much pride,", "And the deep passions fiercely fostered by", "The uses of patricians, and a life", "Spent in the storms of state and war; and also", "From the quick sense of honour, which becomes", "A duty to a certain sign, a vice", "When overstrained, and this I fear in him.", "And then he has been rash from his youth upwards,", "Yet tempered by redeeming nobleness", "In such sort, that the wariest of republics", "Has lavished all its chief employs upon him,", "From his first fight to his last embassy,", "From which on his return the Dukedom met him.", "", "_Mar_. But previous to this marriage, had your heart", "Ne'er beat for any of the noble youth,", "Such as in years had been more meet to match", "Beauty like yours? or, since, have you ne'er seen", "One, who, if your fair hand were still to give,", "Might now pretend to Loredano's daughter?", "", "_Ang_. I answered your first question when I said", "I married.", "", "_Mar_. And the second?", "", "_Ang_. Needs no answer.", "", "_Mar_. I pray you pardon, if I have offended.", "", "_Ang_. I feel no wrath, but some surprise: I knew not", "That wedded bosoms could permit themselves", "To ponder upon what they _now_ might choose,", "Or aught save their past choice.", "", "_Mar_. 'Tis their past choice", "That far too often makes them deem they would", "Now choose more wisely, could they cancel it.", "", "_Ang_. It may be so. I knew not of such thoughts.", "", "_Mar_. Here comes the Doge--shall I retire?", "", "_Ang_. It may", "Be better you should quit me; he seems rapt", "In thought.--How pensively he takes his way!", " [_Exit_ MARIANNA.", "", " _Enter the_ DOGE _and_ PIETRO.", "", "_Doge_ (_musing_). There is a certain Philip Calendaro", "Now in the Arsenal, who holds command", "Of eighty men, and has great influence", "Besides on all the spirits of his comrades:", "This man, I hear, is bold and popular,", "Sudden and daring, and yet secret; 'twould", "Be well that he were won: I needs must hope", "That Israel Bertuccio has secured him,", "But fain would be----", "", "_Pie_. My Lord, pray pardon me", "For breaking in upon your meditation;", "The Senator Bertuccio, your kinsman,", "Charged me to follow and enquire your pleasure", "To fix an hour when he may speak with you.", "", "_Doge_. At sunset.--Stay a moment--let me see--", "Say in the second hour of night. [_Exit_ PIETRO.", "", "_Ang_. My Lord!", "", "_Doge_. My dearest child, forgive me--why delay", "So long approaching me?--I saw you not.", "", "_Ang_. You were absorbed in thought, and he who now", "Has parted from you might have words of weight", "To bear you from the Senate.", "", "_Doge_. From the Senate?", "", "_Ang_. I would not interrupt him in his duty", "And theirs.", "", "_Doge_. The Senate's duty! you mistake;", "'Tis we who owe all service to the Senate.", "", "_Ang_. I thought the Duke had held command in Venice.", "", "_Doge_. He shall.--But let that pass.--We will be jocund.", "How fares it with you? have you been abroad?", "The day is overcast, but the calm wave", "Favours the gondolier's light skimming oar;", "Or have you held a levee of your friends?", "Or has your music made you solitary?", "Say--is there aught that you would will within", "The little sway now left the Duke? or aught", "Of fitting splendour, or of honest pleasure,", "Social or lonely, that would glad your heart,", "To compensate for many a dull hour, wasted", "On an old man oft moved with many cares?", "Speak, and 'tis done.", "", "_Ang_. You're ever kind to me.", "I have nothing to desire, or to request,", "Except to see you oftener and calmer.", "", "_Doge_. Calmer?", "", "_Ang_. Aye, calmer, my good Lord.--Ah, why", "Do you still keep apart, and walk alone,", "And let such strong emotions stamp your brow,", "As not betraying their full import, yet", "Disclose too much?", "", "_Doge_. Disclose too much!--of what?", "What is there to disclose?", "", "_Ang_. A heart so ill", "At ease.", "", "_Doge_. 'Tis nothing, child.--But in the state", "You know what daily cares oppress all those", "Who govern this precarious commonwealth;", "Now suffering from the Genoese without,", "And malcontents within--'tis this which makes me", "More pensive and less tranquil than my wont.", "", "_Ang_. Yet this existed long before, and never", "Till in these late days did I see you thus.", "Forgive me; there is something at your heart", "More than the mere discharge of public duties,", "Which long use and a talent like to yours", "Have rendered light, nay, a necessity,", "To keep your mind from stagnating. 'Tis not", "In hostile states, nor perils, thus to shake you,--", "You, who have stood all storms and never sunk,", "And climbed up to the pinnacle of power", "And never fainted by the way, and stand", "Upon it, and can look down steadily", "Along the depth beneath, and ne'er feel dizzy.", "Were Genoa's galleys riding in the port,", "Were civil fury raging in Saint Mark's,", "You are not to be wrought on, but would fall,", "As you have risen, with an unaltered brow:", "Your feelings now are of a different kind;", "Something has stung your pride, not patriotism.", "", "_Doge_. Pride! Angiolina? Alas! none is left me.", "", "_Ang_. Yes--the same sin that overthrew the angels,", "And of all sins most easily besets", "Mortals the nearest to the angelic nature:", "The vile are only vain; the great are proud.", "", "_Doge_. I _had_ the pride of honour, of _your_ honour,", "Deep at my heart--But let us change the theme.", "", "_Ang_. Ah no!--As I have ever shared your kindness", "In all things else, let me not be shut out", "From your distress: were it of public import,", "You know I never sought, would never seek", "To win a word from you; but feeling now", "Your grief is private, it belongs to me", "To lighten or divide it. Since the day", "When foolish Steno's ribaldry detected", "Unfixed your quiet, you are greatly changed,", "And I would soothe you back to what you were.", "", "_Doge_. To what I was!--have you heard Steno's sentence?", "", "_Ang_. No.", "", "_Doge_. A month's arrest.", "", "_Ang_. Is it not enough?", "", "_Doge_. Enough!--yes, for a drunken galley slave,", "Who, stung by stripes, may murmur at his master;", "But not for a deliberate, false, cool villain,", "Who stains a Lady's and a Prince's honour", "Even on the throne of his authority.", "", "_Ang_. There seems to be enough in the conviction", "Of a patrician guilty of a falsehood:", "All other punishment were light unto", "His loss of honour.", "", "_Doge_. Such men have no honour;", "They have but their vile lives--and these are spared.", "", "_Ang_. You would not have him die for this offence?", "", "_Doge_. Not _now_:--being still alive, I'd have him live", "Long as _he_ can; he has ceased to merit death;", "The guilty saved hath damned his hundred judges,", "And he is pure, for now his crime is theirs.", "", "_Ang_. Oh! had this false and flippant libeller", "Shed his young blood for his absurd lampoon,", "Ne'er from that moment could this breast have known", "A joyous hour, or dreamless slumber more.", "", "_Doge_. Does not the law of Heaven say blood for blood?", "And he who _taints_ kills more than he who sheds it.", "Is it the _pain_ of blows, or _shame_ of blows,", "That makes such deadly to the sense of man?", "Do not the laws of man say blood for honour,--", "And, less than honour, for a little gold?", "Say not the laws of nations blood for treason?", "Is't nothing to have filled these veins with poison", "For their once healthful current? is it nothing", "To have stained your name and mine--the noblest names?", "Is't nothing to have brought into contempt", "A Prince before his people? to have failed", "In the respect accorded by Mankind", "To youth in woman, and old age in man?", "To virtue in your sex, and dignity", "In ours?--But let them look to it who have saved him.", "", "_Ang_. Heaven bids us to forgive our enemies.", "", "_Doge_. Doth Heaven forgive her own? Is there not Hell", "For wrath eternal?", "", "_Ang_. Do not speak thus wildly--", "Heaven will alike forgive you and your foes.", "", "_Doge_. Amen! May Heaven forgive them!", "", "_Ang_. And will you?", "", "_Doge_. Yes, when they are in Heaven!", "", "_Ang_. And not till then?", "", "_Doge_. What matters my forgiveness? an old man's,", "Worn out, scorned, spurned, abused; what matters then", "My pardon more than my resentment, both", "Being weak and worthless? I have lived too long;", "But let us change the argument.--My child!", "My injured wife, the child of Loredano,", "The brave, the chivalrous, how little deemed", "Thy father, wedding thee unto his friend,", "That he was linking thee to shame!--Alas!", "Shame without sin, for thou art faultless. Hadst thou", "But had a different husband, _any_ husband", "In Venice save the Doge, this blight, this brand,", "This blasphemy had never fallen upon thee.", "So young, so beautiful, so good, so pure,", "To suffer this, and yet be unavenged!", "", "_Ang_. I am too well avenged, for you still love me,", "And trust, and honour me; and all men know", "That you are just, and I am true: what more", "Could I require, or you command?", "", "_Doge_. 'Tis well,", "And may be better; but whate'er betide,", "Be thou at least kind to my memory.", "", "_Ang_. Why speak you thus?", "", "_Doge_. It is no matter why;", "But I would still, whatever others think,", "Have your respect both now and in my grave.", "", "_Ang_. Why should you doubt it? has it ever failed?", "", "_Doge_. Come hither, child! I would a word with you.", "Your father was my friend; unequal Fortune", "Made him my debtor for some courtesies", "Which bind the good more firmly: when, oppressed", "With his last malady, he willed our union,", "It was not to repay me, long repaid", "Before by his great loyalty in friendship;", "His object was to place your orphan beauty", "In honourable safety from the perils,", "Which, in this scorpion nest of vice, assail", "A lonely and undowered maid. I did not", "Think with him, but would not oppose the thought", "Which soothed his death-bed.", "", "_Ang_. I have not forgotten", "The nobleness with which you bade me speak", "If my young heart held any preference", "Which would have made me happier; nor your offer", "To make my dowry equal to the rank", "Of aught in Venice, and forego all claim", "My father's last injunction gave you.", "", "_Doge_. Thus,", "'Twas not a foolish dotard's vile caprice,", "Nor the false edge of agéd appetite,", "Which made me covetous of girlish beauty,", "And a young bride: for in my fieriest youth", "I swayed such passions; nor was this my age", "Infected with that leprosy of lust", "Which taints the hoariest years of vicious men,", "Making them ransack to the very last", "The dregs of pleasure for their vanished joys;", "Or buy in selfish marriage some young victim,", "Too helpless to refuse a state that's honest,", "Too feeling not to know herself a wretch.", "Our wedlock was not of this sort; you had", "Freedom from me to choose, and urged in answer", "Your father's choice.", "", "_Ang_. I did so; I would do so", "In face of earth and Heaven; for I have never", "Repented for my sake; sometimes for yours,", "In pondering o'er your late disquietudes.", "", "_Doge_. I knew my heart would never treat you harshly:", "I knew my days could not disturb you long;", "And then the daughter of my earliest friend,", "His worthy daughter, free to choose again.", "Wealthier and wiser, in the ripest bloom", "Of womanhood, more skilful to select", "By passing these probationary years,", "Inheriting a Prince's name and riches,", "Secured, by the short penance of enduring", "An old man for some summers, against all", "That law's chicane or envious kinsmen might", "Have urged against her right; my best friend's child", "Would choose more fitly in respect of years,", "And not less truly in a faithful heart.", "", "_Ang_. My Lord, I looked but to my father's wishes,", "Hallowed by his last words, and to my heart", "For doing all its duties, and replying", "With faith to him with whom I was affianced.", "Ambitious hopes ne'er crossed my dreams; and should", "The hour you speak of come, it will be seen so.", "", "_Doge_. I do believe you; and I know you true:", "For Love--romantic Love--which in my youth", "I knew to be illusion, and ne'er saw", "Lasting, but often fatal, it had been", "No lure for me, in my most passionate days,", "And could not be so now, did such exist.", "But such respect, and mildly paid regard", "As a true feeling for your welfare, and", "A free compliance with all honest wishes,--", "A kindness to your virtues, watchfulness", "Not shown, but shadowing o'er such little failings", "As Youth is apt in, so as not to check", "Rashly, but win you from them ere you knew", "You had been won, but thought the change your choice;", "A pride not in your beauty, but your conduct;", "A trust in you; a patriarchal love,", "And not a doting homage; friendship, faith,--", "Such estimation in your eyes as these", "Might claim, I hoped for.", "", "_Ang_. And have ever had.", "", "_Doge_. I think so. For the difference in our years", "You knew it choosing me, and chose; I trusted", "Not to my qualities, nor would have faith", "In such, nor outward ornaments of nature,", "Were I still in my five and twentieth spring;", "I trusted to the blood of Loredano", "Pure in your veins; I trusted to the soul", "God gave you--to the truths your father taught you--", "To your belief in Heaven--to your mild virtues--", "To your own faith and honour, for my own.", "", "_Ang_. You have done well.--I thank you for that trust,", "Which I have never for one moment ceased", "To honour you the more for.", "", "_Doge_. Where is Honour,", "Innate and precept-strengthened, 'tis the rock", "Of faith connubial: where it is not--where", "Light thoughts are lurking, or the vanities", "Of worldly pleasure rankle in the heart,", "Or sensual throbs convulse it, well I know", "'Twere hopeless for humanity to dream", "Of honesty in such infected blood,", "Although 'twere wed to him it covets most:", "An incarnation of the poet's God", "In all his marble-chiselled beauty, or", "The demi-deity, Alcides, in", "His majesty of superhuman Manhood,", "Would not suffice to bind where virtue is not;", "It is consistency which forms and proves it:", "Vice cannot fix, and Virtue cannot change.", "The once fall'n woman must for ever fall;", "For Vice must have variety, while Virtue", "Stands like the Sun, and all which rolls around", "Drinks life, and light, and glory from her aspect.", "", "_Ang_. And seeing, feeling thus this truth in others,", "(I pray you pardon me;) but wherefore yield you", "To the most fierce of fatal passions, and", "Disquiet your great thoughts with restless hate", "Of such a thing as Steno?", "", "_Doge_. You mistake me.", "It is not Steno who could move me thus;", "Had it been so, he should--but let that pass.", "", "_Ang_. What is't you feel so deeply, then, even now?", "", "_Doge_. The violated majesty of Venice,", "At once insulted in her Lord and laws.", "", "_Ang_. Alas! why will you thus consider it?", "", "_Doge_. I have thought on't till--but let me lead you back", "To what I urged; all these things being noted,", "I wedded you; the world then did me justice", "Upon the motive, and my conduct proved", "They did me right, while yours was all to praise:", "You had all freedom--all respect--all trust", "From me and mine; and, born of those who made", "Princes at home, and swept Kings from their thrones", "On foreign shores, in all things you appeared", "Worthy to be our first of native dames.", "", "_Ang_. To what does this conduct?", "", "_Doge_. To thus much--that", "A miscreant's angry breath may blast it all--", "A villain, whom for his unbridled bearing,", "Even in the midst of our great festival,", "I caused to be conducted forth, and taught", "How to demean himself in ducal chambers;", "A wretch like this may leave upon the wall", "The blighting venom of his sweltering heart,", "And this shall spread itself in general poison;", "And woman's innocence, man's honour, pass", "Into a by-word; and the doubly felon", "(Who first insulted virgin modesty", "By a gross affront to your attendant damsels", "Amidst the noblest of our dames in public)", "Requite himself for his most just expulsion", "By blackening publicly his Sovereign's consort,", "And be absolved by his upright compeers.", "", "_Ang_. But he has been condemned into captivity.", "", "_Doge_. For such as him a dungeon were acquittal;", "And his brief term of mock-arrest will pass", "Within a palace. But I've done with him;", "The rest must be with you.", "", "_Ang_. With me, my Lord?", "", "_Doge_. Yes, Angiolina. Do not marvel; I", "Have let this prey upon me till I feel", "My life cannot be long; and fain would have you", "Regard the injunctions you will find within", "This scroll (_giving her a paper_)", " ----Fear not; they are for your advantage:", "Read them hereafter at the fitting hour.", "", "_Ang_. My Lord, in life, and after life, you shall", "Be honoured still by me: but may your days", "Be many yet--and happier than the present!", "This passion will give way, and you will be", "Serene, and what you should be--what you were.", "", "_Doge_. I will be what I should be, or be nothing;", "But never more--oh! never, never more,", "O'er the few days or hours which yet await", "The blighted old age of Faliero, shall", "Sweet Quiet shed her sunset! Never more", "Those summer shadows rising from the past", "Of a not ill-spent nor inglorious life,", "Mellowing the last hours as the night approaches,", "Shall soothe me to my moment of long rest.", "I had but little more to ask, or hope,", "Save the regards due to the blood and sweat,", "And the soul's labour through which I had toiled", "To make my country honoured. As her servant--", "Her servant, though her chief--I would have gone", "Down to my fathers with a name serene", "And pure as theirs; but this has been denied me.", "Would I had died at Zara!", "", "_Ang_. There you saved", "The state; then live to save her still. A day,", "Another day like that would be the best", "Reproof to them, and sole revenge for you.", "", "_Doge_. But one such day occurs within an age;", "My life is little less than one, and 'tis", "Enough for Fortune to have granted _once_,", "That which scarce one more favoured citizen", "May win in many states and years. But why", "Thus speak I? Venice has forgot that day--", "Then why should I remember it?--Farewell,", "Sweet Angiolina! I must to my cabinet;", "There's much for me to do--and the hour hastens.", "", "_Ang_. Remember what you were.", "", "_Doge_. It were in vain!", "Joy's recollection is no longer joy,", "While Sorrow's memory is a sorrow still.", "", "_Ang_. At least, whate'er may urge, let me implore", "That you will take some little pause of rest:", "Your sleep for many nights has been so turbid,", "That it had been relief to have awaked you,", "Had I not hoped that Nature would o'erpower", "At length the thoughts which shook your slumbers thus.", "An hour of rest will give you to your toils", "With fitter thoughts and freshened strength.", "", "_Doge_. I cannot--", "I must not, if I could; for never was", "Such reason to be watchful: yet a few--", "Yet a few days and dream-perturbéd nights,", "And I shall slumber well--but where?--no matter.", "Adieu, my Angiolina.", "", "_Ang_. Let me be", "An instant--yet an instant your companion!", "I cannot bear to leave you thus.", "", "_Doge_. Come then,", "My gentle child--forgive me: thou wert made", "For better fortunes than to share in mine,", "Now darkling in their close toward the deep vale", "Where Death sits robed in his all-sweeping shadow.", "When I am gone--it may be sooner than", "Even these years warrant, for there is that stirring", "Within--above--around, that in this city", "Will make the cemeteries populous", "As e'er they were by pestilence or war,--", "When I _am_ nothing, let that which I _was_", "Be still sometimes a name on thy sweet lips,", "A shadow in thy fancy, of a thing", "Which would not have thee mourn it, but remember.", "Let us begone, my child--the time is pressing.", "", "SCENE II.--_A retired spot near the Arsenal_.", "", " ISRAEL BERTUCCIO _and_ PHILIP CALENDARO.", "", "_Cal_. How sped you, Israel, in your late complaint?", "", "_I. Ber_. Why, well.", "", "_Cal_. Is't possible! will he be punished?", "", "_I. Ber_. Yes.", "", "_Cal_. With what? a mulct or an arrest?", "", "_I. Ber_. With death!", "", "_Cal_. Now you rave, or must intend revenge,", "Such as I counselled you, with your own hand.", "", "_I. Ber_. Yes; and for one sole draught of hate, forego", "The great redress we meditate for Venice,", "And change a life of hope for one of exile;", "Leaving one scorpion crushed, and thousands stinging", "My friends, my family, my countrymen!", "No, Calendaro; these same drops of blood,", "Shed shamefully, shall have the whole of his", "For their requital----But not only his;", "We will not strike for private wrongs alone:", "Such are for selfish passions and rash men,", "But are unworthy a Tyrannicide.", "", "_Cal_. You have more patience than I care to boast.", "Had I been present when you bore this insult,", "I must have slain him, or expired myself", "In the vain effort to repress my wrath.", "", "_I. Ber_. Thank Heaven you were not--all had else been marred:", "As 'tis, our cause looks prosperous still.", "", "_Cal_. You saw", "The Doge--what answer gave he?", "", "_I. Ber_. That there was", "No punishment for such as Barbaro.", "", "_Cal_. I told you so before, and that 'twas idle", "To think of justice from such hands.", "", "_I. Ber_. At least,", "It lulled suspicion, showing confidence.", "Had I been silent, not a Sbirro but", "Had kept me in his eye, as meditating", "A silent, solitary, deep revenge.", "", "_Cal_. But wherefore not address you to the Council?", "The Doge is a mere puppet, who can scarce", "Obtain right for himself. Why speak to _him_?", "", "_I. Ber_. You shall know that hereafter.", "", "_Cal_. Why not now?", "", "_I. Ber_. Be patient but till midnight. Get your musters,", "And bid our friends prepare their companies:", "Set all in readiness to strike the blow,", "Perhaps in a few hours: we have long waited", "For a fit time--that hour is on the dial,", "It may be, of to-morrow's sun: delay", "Beyond may breed us double danger. See", "That all be punctual at our place of meeting,", "And armed, excepting those of the Sixteen,", "Who will remain among the troops to wait", "The signal.", "", "_Cal_. These brave words have breathed new life", "Into my veins; I am sick of these protracted", "And hesitating councils: day on day", "Crawled on, and added but another link", "To our long fetters, and some fresher wrong", "Inflicted on our brethren or ourselves,", "Helping to swell our tyrants' bloated strength.", "Let us but deal upon them, and I care not", "For the result, which must be Death or Freedom!", "I'm weary to the heart of finding neither.", "", "_I. Ber_. We will be free in Life or Death! the grave", "Is chainless. Have you all the musters ready?", "And are the sixteen companies completed", "To sixty?", "", "_Cal_. All save two, in which there are", "Twenty-five wanting to make up the number.", "", "_I. Ber_. No matter; we can do without. Whose are they?", "", "_Cal_. Bertram's and old Soranzo's, both of whom", "Appear less forward in the cause than we are.", "", "_I. Ber_. Your fiery nature makes you deem all those", "Who are not restless cold; but there exists", "Oft in concentred spirits not less daring", "Than in more loud avengers. Do not doubt them.", "", "_Cat_. I do not doubt the elder; but in Bertram", "There is a hesitating softness, fatal", "To enterprise like ours: I've seen that man", "Weep like an infant o'er the misery", "Of others, heedless of his own, though greater;", "And in a recent quarrel I beheld him", "Turn sick at sight of blood, although a villain's.", "", "_I. Ber_. The truly brave are soft of heart and eyes,", "And feel for what their duty bids them do.", "I have known Bertram long; there doth not breathe", "A soul more full of honour.", "", "_Cal_. It may be so:", "I apprehend less treachery than weakness;", "Yet as he has no mistress, and no wife", "To work upon his milkiness of spirit,", "He may go through the ordeal; it is well", "He is an orphan, friendless save in us:", "A woman or a child had made him less", "Than either in resolve.", "", "_I. Ber_. Such ties are not", "For those who are called to the high destinies", "Which purify corrupted commonwealths;", "We must forget all feelings save the _one_,", "We must resign all passions save our purpose,", "We must behold no object save our country,", "And only look on Death as beautiful,", "So that the sacrifice ascend to Heaven,", "And draw down Freedom on her evermore.", "", "_Cal_. But if we fail----", "", "_I. Ber_. They never fail who die", "In a great cause: the block may soak their gore:", "Their heads may sodden in the sun; their limbs", "Be strung to city gates and castle walls--", "But still their Spirit walks abroad. Though years", "Elapse, and others share as dark a doom,", "They but augment the deep and sweeping thoughts", "Which overpower all others, and conduct", "The world at last to Freedom. What were we,", "If Brutus had not lived? He died in giving", "Rome liberty, but left a deathless lesson--", "A name which is a virtue, and a Soul", "Which multiplies itself throughout all time,", "When wicked men wax mighty, and a state", "Turns servile. He and his high friend were styled", "\"The last of Romans!\" Let us be the first", "Of true Venetians, sprung from Roman sires.", "", "_Cal_. Our fathers did not fly from Attila", "Into these isles, where palaces have sprung", "On banks redeemed from the rude ocean's ooze,", "To own a thousand despots in his place.", "Better bow down before the Hun, and call", "A Tartar lord, than these swoln silkworms masters!", "The first at least was man, and used his sword", "As sceptre: these unmanly creeping things", "Command our swords, and rule us with a word", "As with a spell.", "", "_I. Ber_. It shall be broken soon.", "You say that all things are in readiness;", "To-day I have not been the usual round,", "And why thou knowest; but thy vigilance", "Will better have supplied my care: these orders", "In recent council to redouble now", "Our efforts to repair the galleys, have", "Lent a fair colour to the introduction", "Of many of our cause into the arsenal,", "As new artificers for their equipment,", "Or fresh recruits obtained in haste to man", "The hoped-for fleet.--Are all supplied with arms?", "", "_Cal_. All who were deemed trust-worthy: there are some", "Whom it were well to keep in ignorance", "Till it be time to strike, and then supply them;", "When in the heat and hurry of the hour", "They have no opportunity to pause,", "But needs must on with those who will surround them.", "", "_I. Ber_. You have said well. Have you remarked all such?", "", "_Cal_. I've noted most; and caused the other chiefs", "To use like caution in their companies.", "As far as I have seen, we are enough", "To make the enterprise secure, if 'tis", "Commenced to-morrow; but, till 'tis begun,", "Each hour is pregnant with a thousand perils.", "", "_I. Ber_. Let the Sixteen meet at the wonted hour,", "Except Soranzo, Nicoletto Blondo,", "And Marco Giuda, who will keep their watch", "Within the arsenal, and hold all ready,", "Expectant of the signal we will fix on.", "", "_Cal_. We will not fail.", "", "_I. Ber_. Let all the rest be there;", "I have a stranger to present to them.", "", "_Cal_. A stranger! doth he know the secret?", "", "_I. Ber_. Yes.", "", "_Cal_. And have you dared to peril your friends' lives", "On a rash confidence in one we know not?", "", "_I. Ber_. I have risked no man's life except my own--", "Of that be certain: he is one who may", "Make our assurance doubly sure, according", "His aid; and if reluctant, he no less", "Is in our power: he comes alone with me,", "And cannot 'scape us; but he will not swerve.", "", "_Cal_. I cannot judge of this until I know him:", "Is he one of our order?", "", "_I. Ber_. Aye, in spirit,", "Although a child of Greatness; he is one", "Who would become a throne, or overthrow one--", "One who has done great deeds, and seen great changes;", "No tyrant, though bred up to tyranny;", "Valiant in war, and sage in council; noble", "In nature, although haughty; quick, yet wary:", "Yet for all this, so full of certain passions,", "That if once stirred and baffled, as he has been", "Upon the tenderest points, there is no Fury", "In Grecian story like to that which wrings", "His vitals with her burning hands, till he", "Grows capable of all things for revenge;", "And add too, that his mind is liberal,", "He sees and feels the people are oppressed,", "And shares their sufferings. Take him all in all,", "We have need of such, and such have need of us.", "", "_Cal_. And what part would you have him take with us?", "", "_I. Ber_. It may be, that of Chief.", "", "_Cal_. What! and resign", "Your own command as leader?", "", "_I. Ber_. Even so.", "My object is to make your cause end well,", "And not to push myself to power. Experience,", "Some skill, and your own choice, had marked me out", "To act in trust as your commander, till", "Some worthier should appear: if I have found such", "As you yourselves shall own more worthy, think you", "That I would hesitate from selfishness,", "And, covetous of brief authority,", "Stake our deep interest on my single thoughts,", "Rather than yield to one above me in", "All leading qualities? No, Calendaro,", "Know your friend better; but you all shall judge.", "Away! and let us meet at the fixed hour.", "Be vigilant, and all will yet go well.", "", "_Cal_. Worthy Bertuccio, I have known you ever", "Trusty and brave, with head and heart to plan", "What I have still been prompt to execute.", "For my own part, I seek no other Chief;", "What the rest will decide, I know not, but", "I am with YOU, as I have ever been,", "In all our undertakings. Now farewell,", "Until the hour of midnight sees us meet. [_Exeunt_.", "", "ACT III.", "", "SCENE I.--_Scene, the Space between the Canal and the", " Church of San Giovanni e San Paolo. An equestrian Statue", " before it.--A Gondola lies in the Canal at some distance._", "", " _Enter the_ DOGE _alone, disguised_.", "", "_Doge_ (_solus_). I am before the hour, the hour whose voice,", "Pealing into the arch of night, might strike", "These palaces with ominous tottering,", "And rock their marbles to the corner-stone,", "Waking the sleepers from some hideous dream", "Of indistinct but awful augury", "Of that which will befall them. Yes, proud city!", "Thou must be cleansed of the black blood which makes thee", "A lazar-house of tyranny: the task", "Is forced upon me, I have sought it not;", "And therefore was I punished, seeing this", "Patrician pestilence spread on and on,", "Until at length it smote me in my slumbers,", "And I am tainted, and must wash away", "The plague spots in the healing wave. Tall fane!", "Where sleep my fathers, whose dim statues shadow", "The floor which doth divide us from the dead,", "Where all the pregnant hearts of our bold blood,", "Mouldered into a mite of ashes, hold", "In one shrunk heap what once made many heroes,", "When what is now a handful shook the earth--", "Fane of the tutelar saints who guard our house!", "Vault where two Doges rest--my sires! who died", "The one of toil, the other in the field,", "With a long race of other lineal chiefs", "And sages, whose great labours, wounds, and state", "I have inherited,--let the graves gape,", "Till all thine aisles be peopled with the dead,", "And pour them from thy portals to gaze on me!", "I call them up, and them and thee to witness", "What it hath been which put me to this task--", "Their pure high blood, their blazon-roll of glories,", "Their mighty name dishonoured all _in_ me,", "Not _by_ me, but by the ungrateful nobles", "We fought to make our equals, not our lords:", "And chiefly thou, Ordelafo the brave,", "Who perished in the field, where I since conquered,", "Battling at Zara, did the hecatombs", "Of thine and Venice' foes, there offered up", "By thy descendant, merit such acquittance?", "Spirits! smile down upon me! for my cause", "Is yours, in all life now can be of yours,--", "Your fame, your name, all mingled up in mine,", "And in the future fortunes of our race!", "Let me but prosper, and I make this city", "Free and immortal, and our House's name", "Worthier of what you were--now and hereafter!", "", " _Enter_ ISRAEL BERTUCCIO.", "", "_I. Ber_. Who goes there?", "", "_Doge_. A friend to Venice.", "", "_I. Ber_. 'Tis he.", "Welcome, my Lord,--you are before the time.", "", "_Doge_. I am ready to proceed to your assembly.", "", "_I. Ber_. Have with you.--I am proud and pleased to see", "Such confident alacrity. Your doubts", "Since our last meeting, then, are all dispelled?", "", "_Doge_. Not so--but I have set my little left", "Of life upon this cast: the die was thrown", "When I first listened to your treason.--Start not!", "_That_ is the word; I cannot shape my tongue", "To syllable black deeds into smooth names,", "Though I be wrought on to commit them. When", "I heard you tempt your Sovereign, and forbore", "To have you dragged to prison, I became", "Your guiltiest accomplice: now you may,", "If it so please you, do as much by me.", "", "_I. Ber_. Strange words, my Lord, and most unmerited;", "I am no spy, and neither are we traitors.", "", "_Doge_. _We--We!_--no matter--you have earned the right", "To talk of _us_.--But to the point.--If this", "Attempt succeeds, and Venice, rendered free", "And flourishing, when we are in our graves,", "Conducts her generations to our tombs,", "And makes her children with their little hands", "Strew flowers o'er her deliverers' ashes, then", "The consequence will sanctify the deed,", "And we shall be like the two Bruti in", "The annals of hereafter; but if not,", "If we should fail, employing bloody means", "And secret plot, although to a good end,", "Still we are traitors, honest Israel;--thou", "No less than he who was thy Sovereign", "Six hours ago, and now thy brother rebel.", "", "_I. Ber_. 'Tis not the moment to consider thus,", "Else I could answer.--Let us to the meeting,", "Or we may be observed in lingering here.", "", "_Doge_. We _are_ observed, and have been.", "", "_I. Ber_. We observed!", "Let me discover--and this steel-----", "", "_Doge_. Put up;", "Here are no human witnesses: look there--", "What see you?", "", "_I. Ber_. Only a tall warrior's statue", "Bestriding a proud steed, in the dim light", "Of the dull moon.", "", "_Doge_. That Warrior was the sire", "Of my sire's fathers, and that statue was", "Decreed to him by the twice rescued city:--", "Think you that he looks down on us or no?", "", "_I. Ber_. My Lord, these are mere fantasies; there are", "No eyes in marble.", "", "_Doge_. But there are in Death.", "I tell thee, man, there is a spirit in", "Such things that acts and sees, unseen, though felt;", "And, if there be a spell to stir the dead,", "'Tis in such deeds as we are now upon.", "Deem'st thou the souls of such a race as mine", "Can rest, when he, their last descendant Chief,", "Stands plotting on the brink of their pure graves", "With stung plebeians?", "", "_I. Ber_. It had been as well", "To have pondered this before,--ere you embarked", "In our great enterprise.--Do you repent?", "", "_Doge_. No--but I _feel_, and shall do to the last.", "I cannot quench a glorious life at once,", "Nor dwindle to the thing I now must be,", "And take men's lives by stealth, without some pause:", "Yet doubt me not; it is this very feeling,", "And knowing _what_ has wrung me to be thus,", "Which is your best security. There's not", "A roused mechanic in your busy plot", "So wronged as I, so fall'n, so loudly called", "To his redress: the very means I am forced", "By these fell tyrants to adopt is such,", "That I abhor them doubly for the deeds", "Which I must do to pay them back for theirs.", "", "_I. Ber_. Let us away--hark--the Hour strikes.", "", "_Doge_. On--on--", "It is our knell, or that of Venice.--On.", "", "_I. Ber_. Say rather, 'tis her Freedom's rising peal", "Of Triumph. This way--we are near the place.", " [_Exeunt_.", "", "SCENE II.--_The House where the Conspirators meet._", "", " DAGOLINO, DORO, BERTRAM, FEDELE TREVISANO, CALENDARO,", " ANTONIO DELLE BENDE, ETC., ETC.", "", "_Cal_. (_entering_). Are all here?", "", "_Dag_. All with you; except the three", "On duty, and our leader Israel,", "Who is expected momently.", "", "_Cal_. Where's Bertram?", "", "_Ber_. Here!", "", "_Cal_. Have you not been able to complete", "The number wanting in your company?", "", "_Ber_. I had marked out some: but I have not dared", "To trust them with the secret, till assured", "That they were worthy faith.", "", "_Cal_. There is no need", "Of trusting to their faith; _who_, save ourselves", "And our more chosen comrades, is aware", "Fully of our intent? they think themselves", "Engaged in secret to the Signory,", "To punish some more dissolute young nobles", "Who have defied the law in their excesses;", "But once drawn up, and their new swords well fleshed", "In the rank hearts of the more odious Senators,", "They will not hesitate to follow up", "Their blow upon the others, when they see", "The example of their chiefs, and I for one", "Will set them such, that they for very shame", "And safety will not pause till all have perished.", "", "_Ber_. How say you? _all!_", "", "_Cal_. Whom wouldst thou spare?", "", "_Ber_. _I spare?_", "I have no power to spare. I only questioned,", "Thinking that even amongst these wicked men", "There might be some, whose age and qualities", "Might mark them out for pity.", "", "_Cal_. Yes, such pity", "As when the viper hath been cut to pieces,", "The separate fragments quivering in the sun,", "In the last energy of venomous life,", "Deserve and have. Why, I should think as soon", "Of pitying some particular fang which made", "One in the jaw of the swoln serpent, as", "Of saving one of these: they form but links", "Of one long chain; one mass, one breath, one body;", "They eat, and drink, and live, and breed together,", "Revel, and lie, oppress, and kill in concert,--", "So let them die as _one!_", "", "_Dag_. Should _one_ survive,", "He would be dangerous as the whole; it is not", "Their number, be it tens or thousands, but", "The spirit of this Aristocracy", "Which must be rooted out; and if there were", "A single shoot of the old tree in life,", "'Twould fasten in the soil, and spring again", "To gloomy verdure and to bitter fruit.", "Bertram, we must be firm!", "", "_Cal_. Look to it well", "Bertram! I have an eye upon thee.", "", "_Ber_. Who", "Distrusts me?", "", "_Cal_. Not I; for if I did so,", "Thou wouldst not now be there to talk of trust:", "It is thy softness, not thy want of faith,", "Which makes thee to be doubted.", "", "_Ber_. You should know", "Who hear me, who and what I am; a man", "Roused like yourselves to overthrow oppression;", "A kind man, I am apt to think, as some", "Of you have found me; and if brave or no,", "You, Calendaro, can pronounce, who have seen me", "Put to the proof; or, if you should have doubts,", "I'll clear them on your person!", "", "_Cal_. You are welcome,", "When once our enterprise is o'er, which must not", "Be interrupted by a private brawl.", "", "_Ber_. I am no brawler; but can bear myself", "As far among the foe as any he", "Who hears me; else why have I been selected", "To be of your chief comrades? but no less", "I own my natural weakness; I have not", "Yet learned to think of indiscriminate murder", "Without some sense of shuddering; and the sight", "Of blood which spouts through hoary scalps is not", "To me a thing of triumph, nor the death", "Of man surprised a glory. Well--too well", "I know that we must do such things on those", "Whose acts have raised up such avengers; but", "If there were some of these who could be saved", "From out this sweeping fate, for our own sakes", "And for our honour, to take off some stain", "Of massacre, which else pollutes it wholly,", "I had been glad; and see no cause in this", "For sneer, nor for suspicion!", "", "_Dag_. Calm thee, Bertram,", "For we suspect thee not, and take good heart.", "It is the cause, and not our will, which asks", "Such actions from our hands: we'll wash away", "All stains in Freedom's fountain!", "", " _Enter_ ISRAEL BERTUCCIO, _and the_ DOGE, _disguised_.", "", "_Dag_. Welcome, Israel.", "", "_Consp_. Most welcome.--Brave Bertuccio, thou art late--", "Who is this stranger?", "", "_Cal_. It is time to name him.", "Our comrades are even now prepared to greet him", "In brotherhood, as I have made it known", "That thou wouldst add a brother to our cause,", "Approved by thee, and thus approved by all,", "Such is our trust in all thine actions. Now", "Let him unfold himself.", "", "_I. Ber_. Stranger, step forth!", " [_The Doge discovers himself_.", "", "_Consp_. To arms!--we are betrayed--it is the Doge!", "Down with them both! our traitorous captain, and", "The tyrant he hath sold us to.", "", "_Cal_. (_drawing his sword_). Hold! hold!", "Who moves a step against them dies. Hold! hear", "Bertuccio--What! are you appalled to see", "A lone, unguarded, weaponless old man", "Amongst you?--Israel, speak! what means this mystery?", "", "_I. Ber_. Let them advance and strike at their own bosoms,", "Ungrateful suicides! for on our lives", "Depend their own, their fortunes, and their hopes.", "", "_Doge_. Strike!--If I dreaded death, a death more fearful", "Than any your rash weapons can inflict,", "I should not now be here: Oh, noble Courage!", "The eldest born of Fear, which makes you brave", "Against this solitary hoary head!", "See the bold chiefs, who would reform a state", "And shake down senates, mad with wrath and dread", "At sight of one patrician! Butcher me!", "You can, I care not.--Israel, are these men", "The mighty hearts you spoke of? look upon them!", "", "_Cal_. Faith! he hath shamed us, and deservedly,", "Was this your trust in your true Chief Bertuccio,", "To turn your swords against him and his guest?", "Sheathe them, and hear him.", "", "_I. Ber_. I disdain to speak.", "They might and must have known a heart like mine", "Incapable of treachery; and the power", "They gave me to adopt all fitting means", "To further their design was ne'er abused.", "They might be certain that who e'er was brought", "By me into this Council had been led", "To take his choice--as brother, or as victim.", "", "_Doge_. And which am I to be? your actions leave", "Some cause to doubt the freedom of the choice.", "", "_I. Ber_. My Lord, we would have perished here together,", "Had these rash men proceeded; but, behold,", "They are ashamed of that mad moment's impulse,", "And droop their heads; believe me, they are such", "As I described them.--Speak to them.", "", "_Cal_. Aye, speak;", "We are all listening in wonder.", "", "_I. Ber_. (_addressing the conspirators_). You are safe,", "Nay, more, almost triumphant--listen then,", "And know my words for truth.", "", "_Doge_. You see me here,", "As one of you hath said, an old, unarmed,", "Defenceless man; and yesterday you saw me", "Presiding in the hall of ducal state,", "Apparent Sovereign of our hundred isles,", "Robed in official purple, dealing out", "The edicts of a power which is not mine,", "Nor yours, but of our masters--the patricians.", "Why I was there you know, or think you know;", "Why I am _here_, he who hath been most wronged,", "He who among you hath been most insulted,", "Outraged and trodden on, until he doubt", "If he be worm or no, may answer for me,", "Asking of his own heart what brought him here?", "You know my recent story, all men know it,", "And judge of it far differently from those", "Who sate in judgement to heap scorn on scorn.", "But spare me the recital--it is here,", "Here at my heart the outrage--but my words,", "Already spent in unavailing plaints,", "Would only show my feebleness the more,", "And I come here to strengthen even the strong,", "And urge them on to deeds, and not to war", "With woman's weapons; but I need not urge you.", "Our private wrongs have sprung from public vices,", "In this--I cannot call it commonwealth,", "Nor kingdom, which hath neither prince nor people,", "But all the sins of the old Spartan state", "Without its virtues--temperance and valour.", "The Lords of Lacedæmon were true soldiers,", "But ours are Sybarites, while we are Helots,", "Of whom I am the lowest, most enslaved;", "Although dressed out to head a pageant, as", "The Greeks of yore made drunk their slaves to form", "A pastime for their children. You are met", "To overthrow this Monster of a state,", "This mockery of a Government, this spectre,", "Which must be exorcised with blood,--and then", "We will renew the times of Truth and Justice,", "Condensing in a fair free commonwealth", "Not rash equality but equal rights,", "Proportioned like the columns to the temple,", "Giving and taking strength reciprocal,", "And making firm the whole with grace and beauty,", "So that no part could be removed without", "Infringement of the general symmetry.", "In operating this great change, I claim", "To be one of you--if you trust in me;", "If not, strike home,--my life is compromised,", "And I would rather fall by freemen's hands", "Than live another day to act the tyrant", "As delegate of tyrants: such I am not,", "And never have been--read it in our annals;", "I can appeal to my past government", "In many lands and cities; they can tell you", "If I were an oppressor, or a man", "Feeling and thinking for my fellow men.", "Haply had I been what the Senate sought,", "A thing of robes and trinkets, dizened out", "To sit in state as for a Sovereign's picture;", "A popular scourge, a ready sentence-signer,", "A stickler for the Senate and \"the Forty,\"", "A sceptic of all measures which had not", "The sanction of \"the Ten,\" a council-fawner,", "A tool--a fool--a puppet,--they had ne'er", "Fostered the wretch who stung me. What I suffer", "Has reached me through my pity for the people;", "That many know, and they who know not yet", "Will one day learn: meantime I do devote,", "Whate'er the issue, my last days of life--", "My present power such as it is, not that", "Of Doge, but of a man who has been great", "Before he was degraded to a Doge,", "And still has individual means and mind;", "I stake my fame (and I had fame)--my breath--", "(The least of all, for its last hours are nigh)", "My heart--my hope--my soul--upon this cast!", "Such as I am, I offer me to you", "And to your chiefs; accept me or reject me,--", "A Prince who fain would be a Citizen", "Or nothing, and who has left his throne to be so.", "", "_Cal_. Long live Faliero!--Venice shall be free!", "", "_Consp_. Long live Faliero!", "", "_I. Ber_. Comrades! did I well?", "Is not this man a host in such a cause?", "", "_Doge_. This is no time for eulogies, nor place", "For exultation. Am I one of you?", "", "_Cal_. Aye, and the first among us, as thou hast been", "Of Venice--be our General and Chief.", "", "_Doge_. Chief!--General!--I was General at Zara,", "And Chief in Rhodes and Cyprus, Prince in Venice:", "I cannot stoop--that is, I am not fit", "To lead a band of--patriots: when I lay", "Aside the dignities which I have borne,", "'Tis not to put on others, but to be", "Mate to my fellows--but now to the point:", "Israel has stated to me your whole plan--", "'Tis bold, but feasible if I assist it,", "And must be set in motion instantly.", "", "_Cal_. E'en when thou wilt. Is it not so, my friends?", "I have disposed all for a sudden blow;", "When shall it be then?", "", "_Doge_. At sunrise.", "", "_Ber_. So soon?", "", "_Doge_. So soon?--so late--each hour accumulates", "Peril on peril, and the more so now", "Since I have mingled with you;--know you not", "The Council, and \"the Ten?\" the spies, the eyes", "Of the patricians dubious of their slaves,", "And now more dubious of the Prince they have made one?", "I tell you, you must strike, and suddenly,", "Full to the Hydra's heart--its heads will follow.", "", "_Cal_. With all my soul and sword, I yield assent;", "Our companies are ready, sixty each,", "And all now under arms by Israel's order;", "Each at their different place of rendezvous,", "And vigilant, expectant of some blow;", "Let each repair for action to his post!", "And now, my Lord, the signal?", "", "_Doge_. When you hear", "The great bell of Saint Mark's, which may not be", "Struck without special order of the Doge", "(The last poor privilege they leave their Prince),", "March on Saint Mark's!", "", "_I. Ber_. And there?--", "", "_Doge_. By different routes", "Let your march be directed, every sixty", "Entering a separate avenue, and still", "Upon the way let your cry be of War", "And of the Genoese Fleet, by the first dawn", "Discerned before the port; form round the palace,", "Within whose court will be drawn out in arms", "My nephew and the clients of our house,", "Many and martial; while the bell tolls on,", "Shout ye, \"Saint Mark!--the foe is on our waters!\"", "", "_Cal_. I see it now--but on, my noble Lord.", "", "_Doge_. All the patricians flocking to the Council,", "(Which they dare not refuse, at the dread signal", "Pealing from out their Patron Saint's proud tower,)", "Will then be gathered in unto the harvest,", "And we will reap them with the sword for sickle.", "If some few should be tardy or absent, them,", "'Twill be but to be taken faint and single,", "When the majority are put to rest.", "", "_Cal_. Would that the hour were come! we will not scotch,", "But kill.", "", "_Ber_. Once more, sir, with your pardon, I", "Would now repeat the question which I asked", "Before Bertuccio added to our cause", "This great ally who renders it more sure,", "And therefore safer, and as such admits", "Some dawn of mercy to a portion of", "Our victims--must all perish in this slaughter?", "", "_Cal_. All who encounter me and mine--be sure,", "The mercy they have shown, I show.", "", "_Consp_. All! all!", "Is this a time to talk of pity? when", "Have they e'er shown, or felt, or feigned it?", "", "_I. Ber_. Bertram,", "This false compassion is a folly, and", "Injustice to thy comrades and thy cause!", "Dost thou not see, that if we single out", "Some for escape, they live but to avenge", "The fallen? and how distinguish now the innocent", "From out the guilty? all their acts are one--", "A single emanation from one body,", "Together knit for our oppression! 'Tis", "Much that we let their children live; I doubt", "If all of these even should be set apart:", "The hunter may reserve some single cub", "From out the tiger's litter, but who e'er", "Would seek to save the spotted sire or dam,", "Unless to perish by their fangs? however,", "I will abide by Doge Faliero's counsel:", "Let him decide if any should be saved.", "", "_Doge_. Ask me not--tempt me not with such a question--", "Decide yourselves.", "", "_I. Ber_. You know their private virtues", "Far better than we can, to whom alone", "Their public vices, and most foul oppression,", "Have made them deadly; if there be amongst them", "One who deserves to be repealed, pronounce.", "", "_Doge_. Dolfino's father was my friend, and Lando", "Fought by my side, and Marc Cornaro shared", "My Genoese embassy: I saved the life", "Of Veniero--shall I save it twice?", "Would that I could save them and Venice also!", "All these men, or their fathers, were my friends", "Till they became my subjects; then fell from me", "As faithless leaves drop from the o'erblown flower,", "And left me a lone blighted thorny stalk,", "Which, in its solitude, can shelter nothing;", "So, as they let me wither, let them perish!", "", "_Cal_. They cannot co-exist with Venice' freedom!", "", "_Doge_. Ye, though you know and feel our mutual mass", "Of many wrongs, even ye are ignorant", "What fatal poison to the springs of Life,", "To human ties, and all that's good and dear,", "Lurks in the present institutes of Venice:", "All these men were my friends; I loved them, they", "Requited honourably my regards;", "We served and fought; we smiled and wept in concert;", "We revelled or we sorrowed side by side;", "We made alliances of blood and marriage;", "We grew in years and honours fairly,--till", "Their own desire, not my ambition, made", "Them choose me for their Prince, and then farewell!", "Farewell all social memory! all thoughts", "In common! and sweet bonds which link old friendships,", "When the survivors of long years and actions,", "Which now belong to history, soothe the days", "Which yet remain by treasuring each other,", "And never meet, but each beholds the mirror", "Of half a century on his brother's brow,", "And sees a hundred beings, now in earth,", "Flit round them whispering of the days gone by,", "And seeming not all dead, as long as two", "Of the brave, joyous, reckless, glorious band,", "Which once were one and many, still retain", "A breath to sigh for them, a tongue to speak", "Of deeds that else were silent, save on marble----", "_Oimé Oimé!_--and must I do this deed?", "", "_I. Ber_. My Lord, you are much moved: it is not now", "That such things must be dwelt upon.", "", "_Doge_. Your patience", "A moment--I recede not: mark with me", "The gloomy vices of this government.", "From the hour they made me Doge, the _Doge_ they _made_ me--", "Farewell the past! I died to all that had been,", "Or rather they to me: no friends, no kindness,", "No privacy of life--all were cut off:", "They came not near me--such approach gave umbrage;", "They could not love me--such was not the law;", "They thwarted me--'twas the state's policy;", "They baffled me--'twas a patrician's duty;", "They wronged me, for such was to right the state;", "They could not right me--that would give suspicion;", "So that I was a slave to my own subjects;", "So that I was a foe to my own friends;", "Begirt with spies for guards, with robes for power,", "With pomp for freedom, gaolers for a council,", "Inquisitors for friends, and Hell for life!", "I had only one fount of quiet left,", "And _that_ they poisoned! My pure household gods", "Were shivered on my hearth, and o'er their shrine", "Sate grinning Ribaldry, and sneering Scorn.", "", "_I. Ber_. You have been deeply wronged, and now shall be", "Nobly avenged before another night.", "", "_Doge_. I had borne all--it hurt me, but I bore it--", "Till this last running over of the cup", "Of bitterness--until this last loud insult,", "Not only unredressed, but sanctioned; then,", "And thus, I cast all further feelings from me--", "The feelings which they crushed for me, long, long", "Before, even in their oath of false allegiance!", "Even in that very hour and vow, they abjured", "Their friend and made a Sovereign, as boys make", "_Playthings_, to do their pleasure--and be broken!", "I from that hour have seen but Senators", "In dark suspicious conflict with the Doge,", "Brooding with him in mutual hate and fear;", "They dreading he should snatch the tyranny", "From out their grasp, and he abhorring tyrants.", "To me, then, these men have no _private_ life,", "Nor claim to ties they have cut off from others;", "As Senators for arbitrary acts", "Amenable, I look on them--as such", "Let them be dealt upon.", "", "_Cal_. And now to action!", "Hence, brethren, to our posts, and may this be", "The last night of mere words: I'd fain be doing!", "Saint Mark's great bell at dawn shall find me wakeful!", "", "_I. Ber_. Disperse then to your posts: be firm and vigilant;", "Think on the wrongs we bear, the rights we claim.", "This day and night shall be the last of peril!", "Watch for the signal, and then march. I go", "To join my band; let each be prompt to marshal", "His separate charge: the Doge will now return", "To the palace to prepare all for the blow.", "We part to meet in Freedom and in Glory!", "", "_Cal_. Doge, when I greet you next, my homage to you", "Shall be the head of Steno on this sword!", "", "_Doge_. No; let him be reserved unto the last,", "Nor turn aside to strike at such a prey,", "Till nobler game is quarried: his offence", "Was a mere ebullition of the vice,", "The general corruption generated", "By the foul Aristocracy: he could not--", "He dared not in more honourable days", "Have risked it. I have merged all private wrath", "Against him in the thought of our great purpose.", "A slave insults me--I require his punishment", "From his proud master's hands; if he refuse it,", "The offence grows his, and let him answer it.", "", "_Cal_. Yet, as the immediate cause of the alliance", "Which consecrates our undertaking more,", "I owe him such deep gratitude, that fain", "I would repay him as he merits; may I?", "", "_Doge_. You would but lop the hand, and I the head;", "You would but smite the scholar, I the master;", "You would but punish Steno, I the Senate.", "I cannot pause on individual hate,", "In the absorbing, sweeping, whole revenge,", "Which, like the sheeted fire from Heaven, must blast", "Without distinction, as it fell of yore,", "Where the Dead Sea hath quenched two Cities' ashes.", "", "_I. Ber_. Away, then, to your posts! I but remain", "A moment to accompany the Doge", "To our late place of tryst, to see no spies", "Have been upon the scout, and thence I hasten", "To where my allotted band is under arms.", "", "_Cal_. Farewell, then,--until dawn!", "", "_I. Ber_. Success go with you!", "", "_Consp_. We will not fail--Away! My Lord, farewell!", "", " [_The Conspirators salute the_ DOGE _and_ ISRAEL BERTUCCIO,", " _and retire, headed by_ PHILIP CALENDARO. _The_ DOGE _and_", " ISRAEL BERTUCCIO _remain_.", "", "_I. Ber_. We have them in the toil--it cannot fail!", "Now thou'rt indeed a Sovereign, and wilt make", "A name immortal greater than the greatest:", "Free citizens have struck at Kings ere now;", "Cæsars have fallen, and even patrician hands", "Have crushed dictators, as the popular steel", "Has reached patricians: but, until this hour,", "What Prince has plotted for his people's freedom?", "Or risked a life to liberate his subjects?", "For ever, and for ever, they conspire", "Against the people, to abuse their hands", "To chains, but laid aside to carry weapons", "Against the fellow nations, so that yoke", "On yoke, and slavery and death may whet,", "_Not glut_, the never-gorged Leviathan!", "Now, my Lord, to our enterprise;--'tis great,", "And greater the reward; why stand you rapt?", "A moment back, and you were all impatience!", "", "_Doge_. And is it then decided! must they die?", "", "_I. Ber_. Who?", "", "_Doge_. My own friends by blood and courtesy,", "And many deeds and days--the Senators?", "", "_I. Ber_. You passed their sentence, and it is a just one.", "", "_Doge_. Aye, so it seems, and so it is to _you_;", "You are a patriot, a plebeian Gracchus--", "The rebel's oracle, the people's tribune--", "I blame you not--you act in your vocation;", "They smote you, and oppressed you, and despised you;", "So they have _me_: but _you_ ne'er spake with them;", "You never broke their bread, nor shared their salt;", "You never had their wine-cup at your lips:", "You grew not up with them, nor laughed, nor wept,", "Nor held a revel in their company;", "Ne'er smiled to see them smile, nor claimed their smile", "In social interchange for yours, nor trusted", "Nor wore them in your heart of hearts, as I have:", "These hairs of mine are grey, and so are theirs,", "The elders of the Council: I remember", "When all our locks were like the raven's wing,", "As we went forth to take our prey around", "The isles wrung from the false Mahometan;", "And can I see them dabbled o'er with blood?", "Each stab to them will seem my suicide.", "", "_I. Ber_. Doge! Doge! this vacillation is unworthy", "A child; if you are not in second childhood,", "Call back your nerves to your own purpose, nor", "Thus shame yourself and me. By Heavens! I'd rather", "Forego even now, or fail in our intent,", "Than see the man I venerate subside", "From high resolves into such shallow weakness!", "You have seen blood in battle, shed it, both", "Your own and that of others; can you shrink then", "From a few drops from veins of hoary vampires,", "Who but give back what they have drained from millions?", "", "_Doge_. Bear with me! Step by step, and blow on blow,", "I will divide with you; think not I waver:", "Ah! no; it is the _certainty_ of all", "Which I must do doth make me tremble thus.", "But let these last and lingering thoughts have way,", "To which you only and the night are conscious,", "And both regardless; when the Hour arrives,", "'Tis mine to sound the knell, and strike the blow,", "Which shall unpeople many palaces,", "And hew the highest genealogic trees", "Down to the earth, strewed with their bleeding fruit,", "And crush their blossoms into barrenness:", "_This will_ I--must I--have I sworn to do,", "Nor aught can turn me from my destiny;", "But still I quiver to behold what I", "Must be, and think what I have been! Bear with me.", "", "_I. Ber_. Re-man your breast; I feel no such remorse,", "I understand it not: why should you change?", "You acted, and you act, on your free will.", "", "_Doge_. Aye, there it is--_you_ feel not, nor do I,", "Else I should stab thee on the spot, to save", "A thousand lives--and killing, do no murder;", "You _feel_ not--you go to this butcher-work", "As if these high-born men were steers for shambles:", "When all is over, you'll be free and merry,", "And calmly wash those hands incarnadine;", "But I, outgoing thee and all thy fellows", "In this surpassing massacre, shall be,", "Shall see and feel--oh God! oh God! 'tis true,", "And thou dost well to answer that it was", "\"My own free will and act,\" and yet you err,", "For I will do this! Doubt not--fear not; I", "Will be your most unmerciful accomplice!", "And yet I act no more on my free will,", "Nor my own feelings--both compel me back;", "But there is _Hell_ within me and around,", "And like the Demon who believes and trembles", "Must I abhor and do. Away! away!", "Get thee unto thy fellows, I will hie me", "To gather the retainers of our house.", "Doubt not, St. Mark's great bell shall wake all Venice,", "Except her slaughtered Senate: ere the Sun", "Be broad upon the Adriatic there", "Shall be a voice of weeping, which shall drown", "The roar of waters in the cry of blood!", "I am resolved--come on.", "", "_I. Ber_. With all my soul!", "Keep a firm rein upon these bursts of passion;", "Remember what these men have dealt to thee,", "And that this sacrifice will be succeeded", "By ages of prosperity and freedom", "To this unshackled city: a true tyrant", "Would have depopulated empires, nor", "Have felt the strange compunction which hath wrung you", "To punish a few traitors to the people.", "Trust me, such were a pity more misplaced", "Than the late mercy of the state to Steno.", "", "_Doge_. Man, thou hast struck upon the chord which jars", "All nature from my heart. Hence to our task!", " [_Exeunt_.", "", "ACT IV.", "", "SCENE I.--_Palazzo of the Patrician_ LIONI. LIONI _laying", " aside the mask and cloak which the Venetian Nobles wore in", " public, attended by a Domestic_.", "", "_Lioni_. I will to rest, right weary of this revel,", "The gayest we have held for many moons,", "And yet--I know not why--it cheered me not;", "There came a heaviness across my heart,", "Which, in the lightest movement of the dance,", "Though eye to eye, and hand in hand united", "Even with the Lady of my Love, oppressed me,", "And through my spirit chilled my blood, until", "A damp like Death rose o'er my brow; I strove", "To laugh the thought away, but 'twould not be;", "Through all the music ringing in my ears", "A knell was sounding as distinct and clear,", "Though low and far, as e'er the Adrian wave", "Rose o'er the City's murmur in the night,", "Dashing against the outward Lido's bulwark:", "So that I left the festival before", "It reached its zenith, and will woo my pillow", "For thoughts more tranquil, or forgetfulness.", "Antonio, take my mask and cloak, and light", "The lamp within my chamber.", "", "_Ant_. Yes, my Lord:", "Command you no refreshment?", "", "_Lioni_. Nought, save sleep,", "Which will not be commanded. Let me hope it,", " [_Exit_ ANTONIO.", "Though my breast feels too anxious; I will try", "Whether the air will calm my spirits: 'tis", "A goodly night; the cloudy wind which blew", "From the Levant hath crept into its cave,", "And the broad Moon hath brightened. What a stillness!", " [_Goes to an open lattice_.", "And what a contrast with the scene I left,", "Where the tall torches' glare, and silver lamps'", "More pallid gleam along the tapestried walls,", "Spread over the reluctant gloom which haunts", "Those vast and dimly-latticed galleries", "A dazzling mass of artificial light,", "Which showed all things, but nothing as they were.", "There Age essaying to recall the past,", "After long striving for the hues of Youth", "At the sad labour of the toilet, and", "Full many a glance at the too faithful mirror,", "Pranked forth in all the pride of ornament,", "Forgot itself, and trusting to the falsehood", "Of the indulgent beams, which show, yet hide,", "Believed itself forgotten, and was fooled.", "There Youth, which needed not, nor thought of such", "Vain adjuncts, lavished its true bloom, and health,", "And bridal beauty, in the unwholesome press", "Of flushed and crowded wassailers, and wasted", "Its hours of rest in dreaming this was pleasure,", "And so shall waste them till the sunrise streams", "On sallow cheeks and sunken eyes, which should not", "Have worn this aspect yet for many a year.", "The music, and the banquet, and the wine,", "The garlands, the rose odours, and the flowers,", "The sparkling eyes, and flashing ornaments,", "The white arms and the raven hair, the braids", "And bracelets; swanlike bosoms, and the necklace,", "An India in itself, yet dazzling not", "The eye like what it circled; the thin robes,", "Floating like light clouds 'twixt our gaze and heaven;", "The many-twinkling feet so small and sylphlike,", "Suggesting the more secret symmetry", "Of the fair forms which terminate so well--", "All the delusion of the dizzy scene,", "Its false and true enchantments--Art and Nature,", "Which swam before my giddy eyes, that drank", "The sight of beauty as the parched pilgrim's", "On Arab sands the false mirage, which offers", "A lucid lake to his eluded thirst,", "Are gone. Around me are the stars and waters--", "Worlds mirrored in the Ocean, goodlier sight", "Than torches glared back by a gaudy glass;", "And the great Element, which is to space", "What Ocean is to Earth, spreads its blue depths,", "Softened with the first breathings of the spring;", "The high Moon sails upon her beauteous way,", "Serenely smoothing o'er the lofty walls", "Of those tall piles and sea-girt palaces,", "Whose porphyry pillars, and whose costly fronts,", "Fraught with the Orient spoil of many marbles,", "Like altars ranged along the broad canal,", "Seem each a trophy of some mighty deed", "Reared up from out the waters, scarce less strangely", "Than those more massy and mysterious giants", "Of architecture, those Titanian fabrics,", "Which point in Egypt's plains to times that have", "No other record. All is gentle: nought", "Stirs rudely; but, congenial with the night,", "Whatever walks is gliding like a spirit.", "The tinklings of some vigilant guitars", "Of sleepless lovers to a wakeful mistress,", "And cautious opening of the casement, showing", "That he is not unheard; while her young hand,", "Fair as the moonlight of which it seems part,", "So delicately white, it trembles in", "The act of opening the forbidden lattice,", "To let in love through music, makes his heart", "Thrill like his lyre-strings at the sight; the dash", "Phosphoric of the oar, or rapid twinkle", "Of the far lights of skimming gondolas,", "And the responsive voices of the choir", "Of boatmen answering back with verse for verse;", "Some dusky shadow checkering the Rialto;", "Some glimmering palace roof, or tapering spire,", "Are all the sights and sounds which here pervade", "The ocean-born and earth-commanding City--", "How sweet and soothing is this hour of calm!", "I thank thee, Night! for thou hast chased away", "Those horrid bodements which, amidst the throng,", "I could not dissipate: and with the blessing", "Of thy benign and quiet influence,", "Now will I to my couch, although to rest", "Is almost wronging such a night as this,----", " [_A knocking is heard from without_.", "Hark! what is that? or who at such a moment?", "", " _Enter_ ANTONIO.", "", "_Ant_. My Lord, a man without, on urgent business,", "Implores to be admitted.", "", "_Lioni_. Is he a stranger?", "", "_Ant_. His face is muffled in his cloak, but both", "His voice and gestures seem familiar to me;", "I craved his name, but this he seemed reluctant", "To trust, save to yourself; most earnestly", "He sues to be permitted to approach you.", "", "_Lioni_. 'Tis a strange hour, and a suspicious bearing!", "And yet there is slight peril: 'tis not in", "Their houses noble men are struck at; still,", "Although I know not that I have a foe", "In Venice, 'twill be wise to use some caution.", "Admit him, and retire; but call up quickly", "Some of thy fellows, who may wait without.--", "Who can this man be?--", " [_Exit_ ANTONIO, _and returns with_ BERTRAM _muffled_.", "", "_Ber_. My good Lord Lioni,", "I have no time to lose, nor thou,--dismiss", "This menial hence; I would be private with you.", "", "_Lioni_. It seems the voice of Bertram--Go, Antonio.", " [_Exit_ ANTONIO.", "Now, stranger, what would you at such an hour?", "", "_Ber_. (_discovering himself_).", "A boon, my noble patron; you have granted", "Many to your poor client, Bertram; add", "This one, and make him happy.", "", "_Lioni_. Thou hast known me", "From boyhood, ever ready to assist thee", "In all fair objects of advancement, which", "Beseem one of thy station; I would promise", "Ere thy request was heard, but that the hour,", "Thy bearing, and this strange and hurried mode", "Of suing, gives me to suspect this visit", "Hath some mysterious import--but say on--", "What has occurred, some rash and sudden broil?--", "A cup too much, a scuffle, and a stab?", "Mere things of every day; so that thou hast not", "Spilt noble blood, I guarantee thy safety;", "But then thou must withdraw, for angry friends", "And relatives, in the first burst of vengeance,", "Are things in Venice deadlier than the laws.", "", "_Ber_. My Lord, I thank you; but----", "", "_Lioni_. But what? You have not", "Raised a rash hand against one of our order?", "If so--withdraw and fly--and own it not;", "I would not slay--but then I must not save thee!", "He who has shed patrician blood----", "", "_Ber_. I come", "To save patrician blood, and not to shed it!", "And thereunto I must be speedy, for", "Each minute lost may lose a life; since Time", "Has changed his slow scythe for the two-edged sword,", "And is about to take, instead of sand,", "The dust from sepulchres to fill his hour-glass!--", "Go not _thou_ forth to-morrow!", "", "_Lioni_. Wherefore not?--", "What means this menace?", "", "_Ber_. Do not seek its meaning,", "But do as I implore thee;--stir not forth,", "Whate'er be stirring; though the roar of crowds--", "The cry of women, and the shrieks of babes--", "The groans of men--the clash of arms--the sound", "Of rolling drum, shrill trump, and hollow bell,", "Peal in one wide alarum l--Go not forth,", "Until the Tocsin's silent, nor even then", "Till I return!", "", "_Lioni_. Again, what does this mean?", "", "_Ber_. Again, I tell thee, ask not; but by all", "Thou holdest dear on earth or Heaven--by all", "The Souls of thy great fathers, and thy hope", "To emulate them, and to leave behind", "Descendants worthy both of them and thee--", "By all thou hast of blessed in hope or memory--", "By all thou hast to fear here or hereafter--", "By all the good deeds thou hast done to me,", "Good I would now repay with greater good,", "Remain within--trust to thy household gods,", "And to my word for safety, if thou dost,", "As I now counsel--but if not, thou art lost!", "", "_Lioni_. I am indeed already lost in wonder;", "Surely thou ravest! what have _I_ to dread?", "Who are my foes? or if there be such, _why_", "Art _thou_ leagued with them?--_thou!_ or, if so leagued,", "Why comest thou to tell me at this hour,", "And not before?", "", "_Ber_. I cannot answer this.", "Wilt thou go forth despite of this true warning?", "", "_Lioni_. I was not born to shrink from idle threats,", "The cause of which I know not: at the hour", "Of council, be it soon or late, I shall not", "Be found among the absent.", "", "_Ber_. Say not so!", "Once more, art thou determined to go forth?", "", "_Lioni_. I am. Nor is there aught which shall impede me!", "", "_Ber_. Then, Heaven have mercy on thy soul!--Farewell!", " [_Going_.", "", "_Lioni_. Stay--there is more in this than my own safety", "Which makes me call thee back; we must not part thus:", "Bertram, I have known thee long.", "", "_Ber_. From childhood, Signor,", "You have been my protector: in the days", "Of reckless infancy, when rank forgets,", "Or, rather, is not yet taught to remember", "Its cold prerogative, we played together;", "Our sports, our smiles, our tears, were mingled oft;", "My father was your father's client, I", "His son's scarce less than foster-brother; years", "Saw us together--happy, heart-full hours!", "Oh God! the difference 'twixt those hours and this!", "", "_Lioni_. Bertram, 'tis thou who hast forgotten them.", "", "_Ber_. Nor now, nor ever; whatsoe'er betide,", "I would have saved you: when to Manhood's growth", "We sprung, and you, devoted to the state,", "As suits your station, the more humble Bertram", "Was left unto the labours of the humble,", "Still you forsook me not; and if my fortunes", "Have not been towering, 'twas no fault of him", "Who ofttimes rescued and supported me,", "When struggling with the tides of Circumstance,", "Which bear away the weaker: noble blood", "Ne'er mantled in a nobler heart than thine", "Has proved to me, the poor plebeian Bertram.", "Would that thy fellow Senators were like thee!", "", "_Lioni_. Why, what hast thou to say against the Senate?", "", "_Ber_. Nothing.", "", "_Lioni_. I know that there are angry spirits", "And turbulent mutterers of stifled treason,", "Who lurk in narrow places, and walk out", "Muffled to whisper curses to the night;", "Disbanded soldiers, discontented ruffians,", "And desperate libertines who brawl in taverns;", "_Thou_ herdest not with such: 'tis true, of late", "I have lost sight of thee, but thou wert wont", "To lead a temperate life, and break thy bread", "With honest mates, and bear a cheerful aspect.", "What hath come to thee? in thy hollow eye", "And hueless cheek, and thine unquiet motions,", "Sorrow and Shame and Conscience seem at war", "To waste thee.", "", "_Ber_. Rather Shame and Sorrow light", "On the accurséd tyranny which rides", "The very air in Venice, and makes men", "Madden as in the last hours of the plague", "Which sweeps the soul deliriously from life!", "", "_Lioni_. Some villains have been tampering with thee, Bertram;", "This is not thy old language, nor own thoughts;", "Some wretch has made thee drunk with disaffection:", "But thou must not be lost so; thou _wert_ good", "And kind, and art not fit for such base acts", "As Vice and Villany would put thee to:", "Confess--confide in me--thou know'st my nature.", "What is it thou and thine are bound to do,", "Which should prevent thy friend, the only son", "Of him who was a friend unto thy father,", "So that our good-will is a heritage", "We should bequeath to our posterity", "Such as ourselves received it, or augmented;", "I say, what is it thou must do, that I", "Should deem thee dangerous, and keep the house", "Like a sick girl?", "", "_Ber_. Nay, question me no further:", "I must be gone.----", "", "_Lioni_. And I be murdered!--say,", "Was it not thus thou said'st, my gentle Bertram?", "", "_Ber_. Who talks of murder? what said I of murder?", "Tis false! I did not utter such a word.", "", "_Lioni_. Thou didst not; but from out thy wolfish eye,", "So changed from what I knew it, there glares forth", "The gladiator. If _my_ life's thine object,", "Take it--I am unarmed,--and then away!", "I would not hold my breath on such a tenure", "As the capricious mercy of such things", "As thou and those who have set thee to thy task-work.", "", "_Ber_. Sooner than spill thy blood, I peril mine;", "Sooner than harm a hair of thine, I place", "In jeopardy a thousand heads, and some", "As noble, nay, even nobler than thine own.", "", "_Lioni_. Aye, is it even so? Excuse me, Bertram;", "I am not worthy to be singled out", "From such exalted hecatombs--who are they", "That _are_ in danger, and that _make_ the danger?", "", "_Ber_. Venice, and all that she inherits, are", "Divided like a house against itself,", "And so will perish ere to-morrow's twilight!", "", "_Lioni_. More mysteries, and awful ones! But now,", "Or thou, or I, or both, it may be, are", "Upon the verge of ruin; speak once out,", "And thou art safe and glorious: for 'tis more", "Glorious to save than slay, and slay i' the dark too--", "Fie, Bertram! that was not a craft for thee!", "How would it look to see upon a spear", "The head of him whose heart was open to thee!", "Borne by thy hand before the shuddering people?", "And such may be my doom; for here I swear,", "Whate'er the peril or the penalty", "Of thy denunciation, I go forth,", "Unless thou dost detail the cause, and show", "The consequence of all which led thee here!", "", "_Ber_. Is there no way to save thee? minutes fly,", "And thou art lost!--_thou_! my sole benefactor,", "The only being who was constant to me", "Through every change. Yet, make me not a traitor!", "Let me save thee--but spare my honour!", "", "_Lioni_. Where", "Can lie the honour in a league of murder?", "And who are traitors save unto the State?", "", "_Ber_. A league is still a compact, and more binding", "In honest hearts when words must stand for law;", "And in my mind, there is no traitor like", "He whose domestic treason plants the poniard", "Within the breast which trusted to his truth.", "Lioni. And who will strike the steel to mine?", "", "_Ber_. Not I;", "I could have wound my soul up to all things", "Save this. _Thou_ must not die! and think how dear", "Thy life is, when I risk so many lives,", "Nay, more, the Life of lives, the liberty", "Of future generations, _not_ to be", "The assassin thou miscall'st me:--once, once more", "I do adjure thee, pass not o'er thy threshold!", "", "_Lioni_. It is in vain--this moment I go forth.", "", "_Ber_. Then perish Venice rather than my friend!", "I will disclose--ensnare--betray--destroy--", "Oh, what a villain I become for thee!", "", "_Lioni_. Say, rather thy friend's saviour and the State's!--", "Speak--pause not--all rewards, all pledges for", "Thy safety and thy welfare; wealth such as", "The State accords her worthiest servants; nay,", "Nobility itself I guarantee thee,", "So that thou art sincere and penitent.", "", "_Ber_. I have thought again: it must not be--I love thee--", "Thou knowest it--that I stand here is the proof,", "Not least though last; but having done my duty", "By thee, I now must do it by my country!", "Farewell--we meet no more in life!--farewell!", "", "_Lioni_. What, ho!--Antonio--Pedro--to the door!", "See that none pass--arrest this man!----", "", " _Enter_ ANTONIO _and other armed Domestics, who seize_ BERTRAM.", "", "_Lioni_ (_continues_). Take care", "He hath no harm; bring me my sword and cloak,", "And man the gondola with four oars--quick--", " [_Exit_ ANTONIO.", "We will unto Giovanni Gradenigo's,", "And send for Marc Cornaro:--fear not, Bertram;", "This needful violence is for thy safety,", "No less than for the general weal.", "", "_Ber_. Where wouldst thou", "Bear me a prisoner?", "", "_Lioni_. Firstly to \"the Ten;\"", "Next to the Doge.", "", "_Ber_. To the Doge?", "", "_Lioni_. Assuredly:", "Is he not Chief of the State?", "", "_Ber_. Perhaps at sunrise--", "", "_Lioni_. What mean you?--but we'll know anon.", "", "_Ber_. Art sure?", "", "_Lioni_. Sure as all gentle means can make; and if", "They fail, you know \"the Ten\" and their tribunal,", "And that St. Mark's has dungeons, and the dungeons", "A rack.", "", "_Ber_. Apply it then before the dawn", "Now hastening into heaven.--One more such word,", "And you shall perish piecemeal, by the death", "You think to doom to me.", "", " _Re-enter_ ANTONIO.", "", "_Ant_. The bark is ready,", "My Lord, and all prepared.", "", "_Lioni_. Look to the prisoner.", "Bertram, I'll reason with thee as we go", "To the Magnifico's, sage Gradenigo. [_Exeunt_.", "", "SCENE II.--_The Ducal Palace_--_The Doge's Apartment_.", "", " _The_ DOGE _and his Nephew_ BERTUCCIO FALIERO.", "", "_Doge_. Are all the people of our house in muster?", "", "_Ber. F._ They are arrayed, and eager for the signal,", "Within our palace precincts at San Polo:", "I come for your last orders.", "", "_Doge_. It had been", "As well had there been time to have got together,", "From my own fief, Val di Marino, more", "Of our retainers--but it is too late.", "", "_Ber. F._ Methinks, my Lord,'tis better as it is:", "A sudden swelling of our retinue", "Had waked suspicion; and, though fierce and trusty,", "The vassals of that district are too rude", "And quick in quarrel to have long maintained", "The secret discipline we need for such", "A service, till our foes are dealt upon.", "", "_Doge_. True; but when once the signal has been given,", "_These_ are the men for such an enterprise;", "These city slaves have all their private bias,", "Their prejudice _against_ or _for_ this noble,", "Which may induce them to o'erdo or spare", "Where mercy may be madness; the fierce peasants,", "Serfs of my county of Val di Marino,", "Would do the bidding of their lord without", "Distinguishing for love or hate his foes;", "Alike to them Marcello or Cornaro,", "A Gradenigo or a Foscari;", "They are not used to start at those vain names,", "Nor bow the knee before a civic Senate;", "A chief in armour is their Suzerain,", "And not a thing in robes.", "", "_Ber. F._ We are enough;", "And for the dispositions of our clients", "Against the Senate I will answer.", "", "_Doge_. Well,", "The die is thrown; but for a warlike service,", "Done in the field, commend me to my peasants:", "They made the sun shine through the host of Huns", "When sallow burghers slunk back to their tents,", "And cowered to hear their own victorious trumpet.", "If there be small resistance, you will find", "These Citizens all Lions, like their Standard;", "But if there's much to do, you'll wish, with me,", "A band of iron rustics at our backs.", "", "_Ber_. Thus thinking, I must marvel you resolve", "To strike the blow so suddenly.", "", "_Doge_. Such blows", "Must be struck suddenly or never. When", "I had o'ermastered the weak false remorse", "Which yearned about my heart, too fondly yielding", "A moment to the feelings of old days,", "I was most fain to strike; and, firstly, that", "I might not yield again to such emotions;", "And, secondly, because of all these men,", "Save Israel and Philip Calendaro,", "I know not well the courage or the faith:", "To-day might find 'mongst them a traitor to us,", "As yesterday a thousand to the Senate;", "But once in, with their hilts hot in their hands,", "They must _on_ for their own sakes; one stroke struck,", "And the mere instinct of the first-born Cain,", "Which ever lurks somewhere in human hearts,", "Though Circumstance may keep it in abeyance,", "Will urge the rest on like to wolves; the sight", "Of blood to crowds begets the thirst of more,", "As the first wine-cup leads to the long revel;", "And you will find a harder task to quell", "Than urge them when they _have_ commenced, but _till_", "That moment, a mere voice, a straw, a shadow,", "Are capable of turning them aside.--", "How goes the night?", "", "_Ber. F._ Almost upon the dawn.", "", "_Doge_. Then it is time to strike upon the bell.", "Are the men posted?", "", "_Ber. F._ By this time they are;", "But they have orders not to strike, until", "They have command from you through me in person.", "", "_Doge_. 'Tis well.--Will the morn never put to rest", "These stars which twinkle yet o'er all the heavens?", "I am settled and bound up, and being so,", "The very effort which it cost me to", "Resolve to cleanse this Commonwealth with fire,", "Now leaves my mind more steady. I have wept,", "And trembled at the thought of this dread duty;", "But now I have put down all idle passion,", "And look the growing tempest in the face,", "As doth the pilot of an Admiral Galley:", "Yet (wouldst thou think it, kinsman?) it hath been", "A greater struggle to me, than when nations", "Beheld their fate merged in the approaching fight,", "Where I was leader of a phalanx, where", "Thousands were sure to perish--Yes, to spill", "The rank polluted current from the veins", "Of a few bloated despots needed more", "To steel me to a purpose such as made", "Timoleon immortal, than to face", "The toils and dangers of a life of war.", "", "_Ber. F._ It gladdens me to see your former wisdom", "Subdue the furies which so wrung you ere", "You were decided.", "", "_Doge_. It was ever thus", "With me; the hour of agitation came", "In the first glimmerings of a purpose, when", "Passion had too much room to sway; but in", "The hour of action I have stood as calm", "As were the dead who lay around me: this", "They knew who made me what I am, and trusted", "To the subduing power which I preserved", "Over my mood, when its first burst was spent.", "But they were not aware that there are things", "Which make revenge a virtue by reflection,", "And not an impulse of mere anger; though", "The laws sleep, Justice wakes, and injured souls", "Oft do a public right with private wrong,", "And justify their deeds unto themselves.--", "Methinks the day breaks--is it not so? look,", "Thine eyes are clear with youth;--the air puts on", "A morning freshness, and, at least to me,", "The sea looks greyer through the lattice.", "", "_Ber. F._ True,", "The morn is dappling in the sky.", "", "_Doge_. Away then!", "See that they strike without delay, and with", "The first toll from St. Mark's, march on the palace", "With all our House's strength; here I will meet you;", "The Sixteen and their companies will move", "In separate columns at the self-same moment:", "Be sure you post yourself at the great Gate:", "I would not trust \"the Ten\" except to us--", "The rest, the rabble of patricians, may", "Glut the more careless swords of those leagued with us.", "Remember that the cry is still \"Saint Mark!", "The Genoese are come--ho! to the rescue!", "Saint Mark and Liberty!\"--Now--now to action!", "", "_Ber. F._ Farewell then, noble Uncle! we will meet", "In freedom and true sovereignty, or never!", "", "_Doge_. Come hither, my Bertuccio--one embrace;", "Speed, for the day grows broader; send me soon", "A messenger to tell me how all goes", "When you rejoin our troops, and then sound--sound", "The storm-bell from St. Mark's!", " [_Exit_ BERTUCCIO FALIERO.", "", "_Doge_ (_solus_). He is gone,", "And on each footstep moves a life. 'Tis done.", "Now the destroying Angel hovers o'er", "Venice, and pauses ere he pours the vial,", "Even as the eagle overlooks his prey,", "And for a moment, poised in middle air,", "Suspends the motion of his mighty wings,", "Then swoops with his unerring beak. Thou Day!", "That slowly walk'st the waters! march--march on--", "I would not smite i' the dark, but rather see", "That no stroke errs. And you, ye blue sea waves!", "I have seen you dyed ere now, and deeply too,", "With Genoese, Saracen, and Hunnish gore,", "While that of Venice flowed too, but victorious:", "Now thou must wear an unmixed crimson; no", "Barbaric blood can reconcile us now", "Unto that horrible incarnadine,", "But friend or foe will roll in civic slaughter.", "And have I lived to fourscore years for this?", "I, who was named Preserver of the City?", "I, at whose name the million's caps were flung", "Into the air, and cries from tens of thousands", "Rose up, imploring Heaven to send me blessings,", "And fame, and length of days--to see this day?", "But this day, black within the calendar,", "Shall be succeeded by a bright millennium.", "Doge Dandolo survived to ninety summers", "To vanquish empires, and refuse their crown;", "I will resign a crown, and make the State", "Renew its freedom--but oh! by what means?", "The noble end must justify them. What", "Are a few drops of human blood? 'tis false,", "The blood of tyrants is not human; they,", "Like to incarnate Molochs, feed on ours,", "Until 'tis time to give them to the tombs", "Which they have made so populous.--Oh World!", "Oh Men! what are ye, and our best designs,", "That we must work by crime to punish crime?", "And slay as if Death had but this one gate,", "When a few years would make the sword superfluous?", "And I, upon the verge of th' unknown realm,", "Yet send so many heralds on before me?--", "I must not ponder this. [_A pause._", " Hark! was there not", "A murmur as of distant voices, and", "The tramp of feet in martial unison?", "What phantoms even of sound our wishes raise!", "It cannot be--the signal hath not rung--", "Why pauses it? My nephew's messenger", "Should be upon his way to me, and he", "Himself perhaps even now draws grating back", "Upon its ponderous hinge the steep tower portal,", "Where swings the sullen huge oracular bell,", "Which never knells but for a princely death,", "Or for a state in peril, pealing forth", "Tremendous bodements; let it do its office,", "And be this peal its awfullest and last", "Sound till the strong tower rock!--What! silent still?", "I would go forth, but that my post is here,", "To be the centre of re-union to", "The oft discordant elements which form", "Leagues of this nature, and to keep compact", "The wavering of the weak, in case of conflict;", "For if they should do battle,'twill be here,", "Within the palace, that the strife will thicken:", "Then here must be my station, as becomes", "The master-mover.--Hark! he comes--he comes,", "My nephew, brave Bertuccio's messenger.--", "What tidings? Is he marching? hath he sped?", "_They_ here!-all's lost-yet will I make an effort.", "", " _Enter a_ SIGNOR OF THE NIGHT, _with Guards, etc., etc._", "", "_Sig_. Doge, I arrest thee of high treason!", "", "_Doge_. Me!", "Thy Prince, of treason?--Who are they that dare", "Cloak their own treason under such an order?", "", "_Sig_. (_showing his order_).", "Behold my order from the assembled Ten.", "", "_Doge_. And _where_ are they, and _why_ assembled? no", "Such Council can be lawful, till the Prince", "Preside there, and that duty's mine: on thine", "I charge thee, give me way, or marshal me", "To the Council chamber.", "", "_Sig_. Duke! it may not be:", "Nor are they in the wonted Hall of Council,", "But sitting in the convent of Saint Saviour's.", "", "_Doge_. You dare to disobey me, then?", "", "_Sig_. I serve", "The State, and needs must serve it faithfully;", "My warrant is the will of those who rule it.", "", "_Doge_. And till that warrant has my signature", "It is illegal, and, as _now_ applied,", "Rebellious. Hast thou weighed well thy life's worth,", "That thus you dare assume a lawless function?", "", "_Sig_. 'Tis not my office to reply, but act--", "I am placed here as guard upon thy person,", "And not as judge to hear or to decide.", "", "_Doge_ (_aside_).", "I must gain time. So that the storm-bell sound,", "All may be well yet. Kinsman, speed--speed--speed!--", "Our fate is trembling in the balance, and", "Woe to the vanquished! be they Prince and people,", "Or slaves and Senate--", " [_The great bell of St. Mark's tolls._", " Lo! it sounds--it tolls!", "", "_Doge_ (_aloud_).", "Hark, Signor of the Night! and you, ye hirelings,", "Who wield your mercenary staves in fear,", "It is your knell.--Swell on, thou lusty peal!", "Now, knaves, what ransom for your lives?", "", "_Sig_. Confusion!", "Stand to your arms, and guard the door--all's lost", "Unless that fearful bell be silenced soon.", "The officer hath missed his path or purpose,", "Or met some unforeseen and hideous obstacle,", "Anselmo, with thy company proceed", "Straight to the tower; the rest remain with me.", " [_Exit part of the Guard._", "", "_Doge_. Wretch! if thou wouldst have thy vile life, implore it;", "It is not now a lease of sixty seconds.", "Aye, send thy miserable ruffians forth;", "They never shall return.", "", "_Sig_. So let it be!", "They die then in their duty, as will I.", "", "_Doge_. Fool! the high eagle flies at nobler game", "Than thou and thy base myrmidons,--live on,", "So thou provok'st not peril by resistance,", "And learn (if souls so much obscured can bear", "To gaze upon the sunbeams) to be free.", "", "_Sig_. And learn thou to be captive. It hath ceased,", " [_The bell ceases to toll_.", "The traitorous signal, which was to have set", "The bloodhound mob on their patrician prey--", "The knell hath rung, but it is not the Senate's!", "", "_Doge_ (_after a pause_).", "All's silent, and all's lost!", "", "_Sig_. Now, Doge, denounce me", "As rebel slave of a revolted Council!", "Have I not done my duty?", "", "_Doge_. Peace, thou thing!", "Thou hast done a worthy deed, and earned the price", "Of blood, and they who use thee will reward thee.", "But thou wert sent to watch, and not to prate,", "As thou said'st even now--then do thine office,", "But let it be in silence, as behoves thee,", "Since, though thy prisoner, I am thy Prince.", "", "_Sig_. I did not mean to fail in the respect", "Due to your rank: in this I shall obey you.", "", "_Doge_ (_aside_). There now is nothing left me save to die;", "And yet how near success! I would have fallen,", "And proudly, in the hour of triumph, but", "To miss it thus!----", "", " _Enter other_ SIGNORS OF THE NIGHT, _with_", " BERTUCCIO FALIERO _prisoner_.", "", "_2nd Sig_. We took him in the act", "Of issuing from the tower, where, at his order,", "As delegated from the Doge, the signal", "Had thus begun to sound.", "", "_1st Sig_. Are all the passes", "Which lead up to the palace well secured?", "", "_2nd Sig_. They are--besides, it matters not; the Chiefs", "Are all in chains, and some even now on trial--", "Their followers are dispersed, and many taken.", "", "_Ber. F._ Uncle!", "", "_Doge_. It is in vain to war with Fortune;", "The glory hath departed from our house.", "", "_Ber. F._ Who would have deemed it?--Ah! one moment sooner!", "", "_Doge_. That moment would have changed the face of ages;", "_This_ gives us to Eternity--We'll meet it", "As men whose triumph is not in success,", "But who can make their own minds all in all,", "Equal to every fortune. Droop not,'tis", "But a brief passage--I would go alone,", "Yet if they send us, as 'tis like, together,", "Let us go worthy of our sires and selves.", "", "_Ber. F._ I shall not shame you, Uncle.", "", "_1st Sig_. Lords, our orders", "Are to keep guard on both in separate chambers,", "Until the Council call ye to your trial.", "", "_Doge_. Our trial! will they keep their mockery up", "Even to the last? but let them deal upon us,", "As we had dealt on them, but with less pomp.", "'Tis but a game of mutual homicides,", "Who have cast lots for the first death, and they", "Have won with false dice.--Who hath been our Judas?", "", "_1st Sig_. I am not warranted to answer that.", "", "_Ber. F._ I'll answer for thee--'tis a certain Bertram,", "Even now deposing to the secret Giunta.", "", "_Doge_. Bertram, the Bergamask! With what vile tools", "We operate to slay or save! This creature,", "Black with a double treason, now will earn", "Rewards and honours, and be stamped in story", "With the geese in the Capitol, which gabbled", "Till Rome awoke, and had an annual triumph,", "While Manlius, who hurled down the Gauls, was cast", "From the Tarpeian.", "", "_1st Sig_. He aspired to treason,", "And sought to rule the State.", "", "_Doge_. He saved the State,", "And sought but to reform what he revived--", "But this is idle--Come, sirs, do your work.", "", "_1st Sig_. Noble Bertuccio, we must now remove you", "Into an inner chamber.", "", "_Ber. F._ Farewell, Uncle!", "If we shall meet again in life I know not,", "But they perhaps will let our ashes mingle.", "", "_Doge_. Yes, and our spirits, which shall yet go forth,", "And do what our frail clay, thus clogged, hath failed in!", "They cannot quench the memory of those", "Who would have hurled them from their guilty thrones,", "And such examples will find heirs, though distant.", "", "ACT V.", "", "SCENE 1.--_The Hall of the Council of Ten assembled with the additional", " Senators, who, on the Trials of the Conspirators for the Treason of_", " MARINO FALIERO, _composed what was called the Giunta,--Guards, Officers,", " etc., etc._ ISRAEL BERTUCCIO _and_ PHILIP CALENDARO _as Prisoners_.", " BERTRAM, LIONI, _and Witnesses, etc._", "", " _The Chief of the Ten_, BENINTENDE.", "", "_Ben_. There now rests, after such conviction of", "Their manifold and manifest offences,", "But to pronounce on these obdurate men", "The sentence of the Law:--a grievous task", "To those who hear, and those who speak. Alas!", "That it should fall to me! and that my days", "Of office should be stigmatised through all", "The years of coming time, as bearing record", "To this most foul and complicated treason", "Against a just and free state, known to all", "The earth as being the Christian bulwark 'gainst", "The Saracen and the schismatic Greek,", "The savage Hun, and not less barbarous Frank;", "A City which has opened India's wealth", "To Europe; the last Roman refuge from", "O'erwhelming Attila; the Ocean's Queen;", "Proud Genoa's prouder rival! 'Tis to sap", "The throne of such a City, these lost men", "Have risked and forfeited their worthless lives--", "So let them die the death.", "", "_I. Ber_. We are prepared;", "Your racks have done that for us. Let us die.", "", "_Ben_. If ye have that to say which would obtain", "Abatement of your punishment, the Giunta", "Will hear you; if you have aught to confess,", "Now is your time,--perhaps it may avail ye.", "", "_I. Ber_. We stand to hear, and not to speak.", "", "_Ben_. Your crimes", "Are fully proved by your accomplices,", "And all which Circumstance can add to aid them;", "Yet we would hear from your own lips complete", "Avowal of your treason: on the verge", "Of that dread gulf which none repass, the truth", "Alone can profit you on earth or Heaven--", "Say, then, what was your motive?", "", "_I. Ber_. Justice!", "", "_Ben_. What", "Your object?", "", "_I. Ber_. Freedom!", "", "_Ben_. You are brief, sir.", "", "_I. Ber_. So my life grows: I", "Was bred a soldier, not a senator.", "", "_Ben_. Perhaps you think by this blunt brevity", "To brave your judges to postpone the sentence?", "", "_I. Ber_. Do you be brief as I am, and believe me,", "I shall prefer that mercy to your pardon.", "", "_Ben_. Is this your sole reply to the Tribunal?", "", "_I. Ber_. Go, ask your racks what they have wrung from us,", "Or place us there again; we have still some blood left,", "And some slight sense of pain in these wrenched limbs:", "But this ye dare not do; for if we die there--", "And you have left us little life to spend", "Upon your engines, gorged with pangs already--", "Ye lose the public spectacle, with which", "You would appal your slaves to further slavery!", "Groans are not words, nor agony assent,", "Nor affirmation Truth, if Nature's sense", "Should overcome the soul into a lie,", "For a short respite--must we bear or die?", "", "_Ben_. Say, who were your accomplices?", "", "_I. Ber_. The Senate.", "", "_Ben_. What do you mean?", "", "_I. Ber_. Ask of the suffering people,", "Whom your patrician crimes have driven to crime.", "", "_Ben_. You know the Doge?", "", "_I. Ber_. I served with him at Zara", "In the field, when _you_ were pleading here your way", "To present office; we exposed our lives,", "While you but hazarded the lives of others,", "Alike by accusation or defence;", "And for the rest, all Venice knows her Doge,", "Through his great actions, and the Senate's insults.", "", "_Ben_. You have held conference with him?", "", "_I. Ber_. I am weary--", "Even wearier of your questions than your tortures:", "I pray you pass to judgment.", "", "_Ben_. It is coming.", "And you, too, Philip Calendaro, what", "Have you to say why you should not be doomed?", "", "_Cal_. I never was a man of many words,", "And now have few left worth the utterance.", "", "_Ben_. A further application of yon engine", "May change your tone.", "", "_Cal_. Most true, it _will_ do so;", "A former application did so; but", "It will not change my words, or, if it did--", "", "_Ben_. What then?", "", "_Cal_. Will my avowal on yon rack", "Stand good in law?", "", "_Ben_. Assuredly.", "", "_Cal_. Whoe'er", "The culprit be whom I accuse of treason?", "", "_Ben_. Without doubt, he will be brought up to trial.", "", "_Cal_. And on this testimony would he perish?", "", "_Ben_. So your confession be detailed and full,", "He will stand here in peril of his life.", "", "_Cal_. Then look well to thy proud self, President!", "For by the Eternity which yawns before me,", "I swear that _thou_, and only thou, shall be", "The traitor I denounce upon that rack,", "If I be stretched there for the second time.", "", "_One of the Giunta_. Lord President,'twere best proceed to judgment;", "There is no more to be drawn from these men.", "", "_Ben_. Unhappy men! prepare for instant death.", "The nature of your crime--our law--and peril", "The State now stands in, leave not an hour's respite.", "Guards! lead them forth, and upon the balcony", "Of the red columns, where, on festal Thursday,", "The Doge stands to behold the chase of bulls,", "Let them be justified: and leave exposed", "Their wavering relics, in the place of judgment,", "To the full view of the assembled people!", "And Heaven have mercy on their souls!", "", "_The Giunta_. Amen!", "", "_I. Ber_. Signors, farewell! we shall not all again", "Meet in one place.", "", "_Ben_. And lest they should essay", "To stir up the distracted multitude--", "Guards! let their mouths be gagged even in the act", "Of execution. Lead them hence!", "", "_Cal_. What! must we", "Not even say farewell to some fond friend,", "Nor leave a last word with our confessor?", "", "_Ben_. A priest is waiting in the antechamber;", "But, for your friends, such interviews would be", "Painful to them, and useless all to you.", "", "_Cal_. I knew that we were gagged in life; at least", "All those who had not heart to risk their lives", "Upon their open thoughts; but still I deemed", "That in the last few moments, the same idle", "Freedom of speech accorded to the dying,", "Would not now be denied to us; but since----", "", "_I. Ber_. Even let them have their way, brave Calendaro!", "What matter a few syllables? let's die", "Without the slightest show of favour from them;", "So shall our blood more readily arise", "To Heaven against them, and more testify", "To their atrocities, than could a volume", "Spoken or written of our dying words!", "They tremble at our voices--nay, they dread", "Our very silence--let them live in fear!", "Leave them unto their thoughts, and let us now", "Address our own above!--Lead on; we are ready.", "", "_Cal_. Israel, hadst thou but hearkened unto me", "It had not now been thus; and yon pale villain,", "The coward Bertram, would----", "", "_I. Ber_. Peace, Calendaro!", "What brooks it now to ponder upon this?", "", "_Bert_. Alas! I fain you died in peace with me:", "I did not seek this task; 'twas forced upon me:", "Say, you forgive me, though I never can", "Retrieve my own forgiveness--frown not thus!", "", "_I. Ber_. I die and pardon thee!", "", "_Cal_. (_spitting at him_). I die and scorn thee!", " [_Exeunt_ ISRAEL BERTUCCIO _and_ PHILIP CALENDARO, _Guards, etc_.", "", "_Ben_. Now that these criminals have been disposed of,", "'Tis time that we proceed to pass our sentence", "Upon the greatest traitor upon record", "In any annals, the Doge Faliero!", "The proofs and process are complete; the time", "And crime require a quick procedure: shall", "He now be called in to receive the award?", "", "_The Giunta_. Aye, aye.", "", "_Ben_. Avogadori, order that the Doge", "Be brought before the Council.", "", "_One of the Giunta_. And the rest,", "When shall they be brought up?", "", "_Ben_. When all the Chiefs", "Have been disposed of. Some have fled to Chiozza;", "But there are thousands in pursuit of them,", "And such precaution ta'en on terra firma,", "As well as in the islands, that we hope", "None will escape to utter in strange lands", "His libellous tale of treasons 'gainst the Senate.", "", " _Enter the_ DOGE _as Prisoner, with Guards, etc., etc._", "", "_Ben_. Doge--for such still you are, and by the law", "Must be considered, till the hour shall come", "When you must doff the Ducal Bonnet from", "That head, which could not wear a crown more noble", "Than Empires can confer, in quiet honour,", "But it must plot to overthrow your peers,", "Who made you what you are, and quench in blood", "A City's glory--we have laid already", "Before you in your chamber at full length,", "By the Avogadori, all the proofs", "Which have appeared against you; and more ample", "Ne'er reared their sanguinary shadows to", "Confront a traitor. What have you to say", "In your defence?", "", "_Doge_. What shall I say to ye,", "Since my defence must be your condemnation?", "You are at once offenders and accusers,", "Judges and Executioners!--Proceed", "Upon your power.", "", "_Ben_. Your chief accomplices", "Having confessed, there is no hope for you.", "", "_Doge_. And who be they?", "", "_Ben_. In number many; but", "The first now stands before you in the court,", "Bertram of Bergamo,--would you question him?", "", "_Doge_ (_looking at him contemptuously_). No.", "", "_Ben_. And two others, Israel Bertuccio,", "And Philip Calendaro, have admitted", "Their fellowship in treason with the Doge!", "", "_Doge_. And where are they?", "", "_Ben_. Gone to their place, and now", "Answering to Heaven for what they did on earth.", "", "_Doge_. Ah! the plebeian Brutus, is he gone?", "And the quick Cassius of the arsenal?--", "How did they meet their doom?", "", "_Ben_. Think of your own:", "It is approaching. You decline to plead, then?", "", "_Doge_. I cannot plead to my inferiors, nor", "Can recognise your legal power to try me.", "Show me the law!", "", "_Ben_. On great emergencies,", "The law must be remodelled or amended:", "Our fathers had not fixed the punishment", "Of such a crime, as on the old Roman tables", "The sentence against parricide was left", "In pure forgetfulness; they could not render", "That penal, which had neither name nor thought", "In their great bosoms; who would have foreseen", "That Nature could be filed to such a crime", "As sons 'gainst sires, and princes 'gainst their realms?", "Your sin hath made us make a law which will", "Become a precedent 'gainst such haught traitors,", "As would with treason mount to tyranny;", "Not even contented with a sceptre, till", "They can convert it to a two-edged sword!", "Was not the place of Doge sufficient for ye?", "What's nobler than the signory of Venice?", "", "_Doge_. The signory of Venice! You betrayed me--", "_You--you_, who sit there, traitors as ye are!", "From my equality with you in birth,", "And my superiority in action,", "You drew me from my honourable toils", "In distant lands--on flood, in field, in cities--", "_You_ singled me out like a victim to", "Stand crowned, but bound and helpless, at the altar", "Where you alone could minister. I knew not,", "I sought not, wished not, dreamed not the election,", "Which reached me first at Rome, and I obeyed;", "But found on my arrival, that, besides", "The jealous vigilance which always led you", "To mock and mar your Sovereign's best intents,", "You had, even in the interregnum of", "My journey to the capital, curtailed", "And mutilated the few privileges", "Yet left the Duke: all this I bore, and would", "Have borne, until my very hearth was stained", "By the pollution of your ribaldry,", "And he, the ribald, whom I see amongst you--", "Fit judge in such tribunal!----", "", "_Ben_. (_interrupting him_). Michel Steno", "Is here in virtue of his office, as", "One of the Forty; \"the Ten\" having craved", "A Giunta of patricians from the Senate", "To aid our judgment in a trial arduous", "And novel as the present: he was set", "Free from the penalty pronounced upon him,", "Because the Doge, who should protect the law,", "Seeking to abrogate all law, can claim", "No punishment of others by the statutes", "Which he himself denies and violates!", "", "_Doge_. _His_ punishment! I rather see him _there_,", "Where he now sits, to glut him with my death,", "Than in the mockery of castigation,", "Which your foul, outward, juggling show of justice", "Decreed as sentence! Base as was his crime,", "'Twas purity compared with your protection.", "", "_Ben_. And can it be, that the great Doge of Venice,", "With three parts of a century of years", "And honours on his head, could thus allow", "His fury, like an angry boy's, to master", "All Feeling, Wisdom, Faith and Fear, on such", "A provocation as a young man's petulance?", "", "_Doge_. A spark creates the flame--'tis the last drop", "Which makes the cup run o'er, and mine was full", "Already: you oppressed the Prince and people;", "I would have freed both, and have failed in both:", "The price of such success would have been glory,", "Vengeance, and victory, and such a name", "As would have made Venetian history", "Rival to that of Greece and Syracuse", "When they were freed, and flourished ages after,", "And mine to Gelon and to Thrasybulus:", "Failing, I know the penalty of failure", "Is present infamy and death--the future", "Will judge, when Venice is no more, or free;", "Till then, the truth is in abeyance. Pause not;", "I would have shown no mercy, and I seek none;", "My life was staked upon a mighty hazard,", "And being lost, take what I would have taken!", "I would have stood alone amidst your tombs:", "Now you may flock round mine, and trample on it,", "As you have done upon my heart while living.", "", "_Ben_. You do confess then, and admit the justice", "Of our Tribunal?", "", "_Doge_. I confess to have failed;", "Fortune is female: from my youth her favours", "Were not withheld, the fault was mine to hope", "Her former smiles again at this late hour.", "", "_Ben_. You do not then in aught arraign our equity?", "", "_Doge_. Noble Venetians! stir me not with questions.", "I am resigned to the worst; but in me still", "Have something of the blood of brighter days,", "And am not over-patient. Pray you, spare me", "Further interrogation, which boots nothing,", "Except to turn a trial to debate.", "I shall but answer that which will offend you,", "And please your enemies--a host already;", "'Tis true, these sullen walls should yield no echo:", "But walls have ears--nay, more, they have tongues; and if", "There were no other way for Truth to o'erleap them,", "You who condemn me, you who fear and slay me,", "Yet could not bear in silence to your graves", "What you would hear from me of Good or Evil;", "The secret were too mighty for your souls:", "Then let it sleep in mine, unless you court", "A danger which would double that you escape.", "Such my defence would be, had I full scope", "To make it famous; for true _words_ are _things_,", "And dying men's are things which long outlive,", "And oftentimes avenge them; bury mine,", "If ye would fain survive me: take this counsel,", "And though too oft ye make me live in wrath,", "Let me die calmly; you may grant me this;", "I deny nothing--defend nothing--nothing", "I ask of you, but silence for myself,", "And sentence from the Court!", "", "_Ben_. This full admission", "Spares us the harsh necessity of ordering", "The torture to elicit the whole truth.", "", "_Doge_. The torture! you have put me there already,", "Daily since I was Doge; but if you will", "Add the corporeal rack, you may: these limbs", "Will yield with age to crushing iron; but", "There's that within my heart shall strain your engines.", "", " _Enter an_ OFFICER.", "", "_Officer_. Noble Venetians! Duchess Faliero", "Requests admission to the Giunta's presence.", "", "_Ben_. Say, Conscript Fathers, shall she be admitted?", "", "_One of the Giunta_. She may have revelations of importance", "Unto the state, to justify compliance", "With her request.", "", "_Ben_. Is this the general will?", "", "_All_. It is.", "", "_Doge_. Oh, admirable laws of Venice!", "Which would admit the wife, in the full hope", "That she might testify against the husband.", "What glory to the chaste Venetian dames!", "But such blasphemers 'gainst all Honour, as", "Sit here, do well to act in their vocation.", "Now, villain Steno! if this woman fail,", "I'll pardon thee thy lie, and thy escape,", "And my own violent death, and thy vile life.", "", " _The_ DUCHESS _enters_.", "", "_Ben_. Lady! this just Tribunal has resolved,", "Though the request be strange, to grant it, and", "Whatever be its purport, to accord", "A patient hearing with the due respect", "Which fits your ancestry, your rank, and virtues:", "But you turn pale--ho! there, look to the Lady!", "Place a chair instantly.", "", "_Ang_. A moment's faintness--", "'Tis past; I pray you pardon me,--I sit not", "In presence of my Prince and of my husband,", "While he is on his feet.", "", "_Ben_. Your pleasure, Lady?", "", "_Ang_. Strange rumours, but most true, if all I hear", "And see be sooth, have reached me, and I come", "To know the worst, even at the worst; forgive", "The abruptness of my entrance and my bearing.", "Is it--I cannot speak--I cannot shape", "The question--but you answer it ere spoken,", "With eyes averted, and with gloomy brows--", "Oh God! this is the silence of the grave!", "", "_Ben_. (_after a pause_). Spare us, and spare thyself the repetition", "Of our most awful, but inexorable", "Duty to Heaven and man!", "", "_Ang_. Yet speak; I cannot--", "I cannot--no--even now believe these things.", "Is _he_ condemned?", "", "_Ben_. Alas!", "", "_Ang_. And was he guilty?", "", "_Ben_. Lady! the natural distraction of", "Thy thoughts at such a moment makes the question", "Merit forgiveness; else a doubt like this", "Against a just and paramount tribunal", "Were deep offence. But question even the Doge,", "And if he can deny the proofs, believe him", "Guiltless as thy own bosom.", "", "_Ang_. Is it so?", "My Lord, my Sovereign, my poor father's friend,", "The mighty in the field, the sage in Council,", "Unsay the words of this man!--thou art silent!", "", "_Ben_. He hath already owned to his own guilt,", "Nor, as thou see'st, doth he deny it now.", "", "_Ang_. Aye, but he must not die! Spare his few years,", "Which Grief and Shame will soon cut down to days!", "One day of baffled crime must not efface", "Near sixteen lustres crowned with brave acts.", "", "_Ben_. His doom must be fulfilled without remission", "Of time or penalty--'tis a decree.", "", "_Ang_. He hath been guilty, but there may be mercy.", "", "_Ben_. Not in this case with justice.", "", "_Ang_. Alas! Signor,", "He who is only just is cruel; who", "Upon the earth would live were all judged justly?", "", "_Ben_. His punishment is safety to the State.", "", "_Ang_. He was a subject, and hath served the State;", "He was your General, and hath saved the State;", "He is your Sovereign, and hath ruled the State.", "", "_One of the Council_. He is a traitor, and betrayed the State.", "", "_Ang_. And, but for him, there now had been no State", "To save or to destroy; and you, who sit", "There to pronounce the death of your deliverer,", "Had now been groaning at a Moslem oar,", "Or digging in the Hunnish mines in fetters!", "", "_One of the Council_. No, Lady, there are others who would die", "Rather than breathe in slavery!", "", "_Ang_. If there are so", "Within _these_ walls, _thou_ art not of the number:", "The truly brave are generous to the fallen!--", "Is there no hope?", "", "_Ben_. Lady, it cannot be.", "", "_Ang_. (_turning to the Doge_).", "Then die, Faliero! since it must be so;", "But with the spirit of my father's friend.", "Thou hast been guilty of a great offence,", "Half cancelled by the harshness of these men.", "I would have sued to them, have prayed to them.", "Have begged as famished mendicants for bread,", "Have wept as they will cry unto their God", "For mercy, and be answered as they answer,--", "Had it been fitting for thy name or mine,", "And if the cruelty in their cold eyes", "Had not announced the heartless wrath within.", "Then, as a Prince, address thee to thy doom!", "", "_Doge_. I have lived too long not to know how to die!", "Thy suing to these men were but the bleating", "Of the lamb to the butcher, or the cry", "Of seamen to the surge: I would not take", "A life eternal, granted at the hands", "Of wretches, from whose monstrous villanies", "I sought to free the groaning nations!", "", "_Michel Steno_. Doge,", "A word with thee, and with this noble lady,", "Whom I have grievously offended. Would", "Sorrow, or shame, or penance on my part,", "Could cancel the inexorable past!", "But since that cannot be, as Christians let us", "Say farewell, and in peace: with full contrition", "I crave, not pardon, but compassion from you,", "And give, however weak, my prayers for both.", "", "_Ang_. Sage Benintende, now chief Judge of Venice,", "I speak to thee in answer to yon Signor.", "Inform the ribald Steno, that his words", "Ne'er weighed in mind with Loredano's daughter,", "Further than to create a moment's pity", "For such as he is: would that others had", "Despised him as I pity! I prefer", "My honour to a thousand lives, could such", "Be multiplied in mine, but would not have", "A single life of others lost for that", "Which nothing human can impugn--the sense", "Of Virtue, looking not to what is called", "A good name for reward, but to itself.", "To me the scorner's words were as the wind", "Unto the rock: but as there are--alas!", "Spirits more sensitive, on which such things", "Light as the Whirlwind on the waters; souls", "To whom Dishonour's shadow is a substance", "More terrible than Death, here and hereafter;", "Men whose vice is to start at Vice's scoffing,", "And who, though proof against all blandishments", "Of pleasure, and all pangs of Pain, are feeble", "When the proud name on which they pinnacled", "Their hopes is breathed on, jealous as the eagle", "Of her high aiery; let what we now", "Behold, and feel, and suffer, be a lesson", "To wretches how they tamper in their spleen", "With beings of a higher order. Insects", "Have made the lion mad ere now; a shaft", "I' the heel o'erthrew the bravest of the brave;", "A wife's Dishonour was the bane of Troy;", "A wife's Dishonour unkinged Rome for ever;", "An injured husband brought the Gauls to Clusium,", "And thence to Rome, which perished for a time;", "An obscene gesture cost Caligula", "His life, while Earth yet bore his cruelties;", "A virgin's wrong made Spain a Moorish province;", "And Steno's lie, couched in two worthless lines,", "Hath decimated Venice, put in peril", "A Senate which hath stood eight hundred years,", "Discrowned a Prince, cut off his crownless head,", "And forged new fetters for a groaning people!", "Let the poor wretch, like to the courtesan", "Who fired Persepolis, be proud of this,", "If it so please him--'twere a pride fit for him!", "But let him not insult the last hours of", "Him, who, whate'er he now is, _was_ a Hero,", "By the intrusion of his very prayers;", "Nothing of good can come from such a source,", "Nor would we aught with him, nor now, nor ever:", "We leave him to himself, that lowest depth", "Of human baseness. Pardon is for men,", "And not for reptiles--we have none for Steno,", "And no resentment: things like him must sting,", "And higher beings suffer; 'tis the charter", "Of Life. The man who dies by the adder's fang", "May have the crawler crushed, but feels no anger:", "'Twas the worm's nature; and some men are worms", "In soul, more than the living things of tombs.", "", "_Doge_ (_to Ben._).", "Signor! complete that which you deem your duty.", "", "_Ben_. Before we can proceed upon that duty,", "We would request the Princess to withdraw;", "'Twill move her too much to be witness to it.", "", "_Ang_. I know it will, and yet I must endure it,", "For 'tis a part of mine--I will not quit,", "Except by force, my husband's side--Proceed!", "Nay, fear not either shriek, or sigh, or tear;", "Though my heart burst, it shall be silent.--Speak!", "I have that within which shall o'ermaster all.", "", "_Ben_. Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice,", "Count of Val di Marino, Senator,", "And some time General of the Fleet and Army,", "Noble Venetian, many times and oft", "Intrusted by the state with high employments,", "Even to the highest, listen to the sentence.", "Convict by many witnesses and proofs,", "And by thine own confession, of the guilt", "Of Treachery and Treason, yet unheard of", "Until this trial--the decree is Death--", "Thy goods are confiscate unto the State,", "Thy name is razed from out her records, save", "Upon a public day of thanksgiving", "For this our most miraculous deliverance,", "When thou art noted in our calendars", "With earthquakes, pestilence, and foreign foes,", "And the great Enemy of man, as subject", "Of grateful masses for Heaven's grace in snatching", "Our lives and country from thy wickedness.", "The place wherein as Doge thou shouldst be painted", "With thine illustrious predecessors, is", "To be left vacant, with a death-black veil", "Flung over these dim words engraved beneath,--", "\"This place is of Marino Faliero,", "Decapitated for his crimes.\"", "", "_Doge_. \"His _crimes_!\"", "But let it be so:--it will be in vain.", "The veil which blackens o'er this blighted name,", "And hides, or seems to hide, these lineaments,", "Shall draw more gazers than the thousand portraits", "Which glitter round it in their pictured trappings--", "_Your_ delegated slaves--the people's tyrants!", "\"Decapitated for his crimes!\"--_What_ crimes?", "Were it not better to record the facts,", "So that the contemplator might approve,", "Or at the least learn _whence_ the crimes arose?", "When the beholder knows a Doge conspired,", "Let him be told the cause--it is your history.", "", "_Ben_. Time must reply to that; our sons will judge", "Their fathers' judgment, which I now pronounce.", "As Doge, clad in the ducal robes and Cap,", "Thou shalt be led hence to the Giants' Staircase,", "Where thou and all our Princes are invested;", "And there, the Ducal Crown being first resumed", "Upon the spot where it was first assumed,", "Thy head shall be struck off; and Heaven have mercy", "Upon thy soul!", "", "_Doge_. Is this the Giunta's sentence?", "", "_Ben_. It is.", "", "_Doge_. I can endure it.--And the time?", "", "_Ben_. Must be immediate.--Make thy peace with God:", "Within an hour thou must be in His presence.", "", "_Doge_. I am _already_; and my blood will rise", "To Heaven before the souls of those who shed it.", "Are all my lands confiscated?", "", "_Ben_. They are;", "And goods, and jewels, and all kind of treasure,", "Except two thousand ducats--these dispose of.", "", "_Doge_. That's harsh.--I would have fain reserved the lands", "Near to Treviso, which I hold by investment", "From Laurence the Count-bishop of Ceneda,", "In fief perpetual to myself and heirs,", "To portion them (leaving my city spoil,", "My palace and my treasures, to your forfeit)", "Between my consort and my kinsmen.", "", "_Ben_. These", "Lie under the state's ban--their Chief, thy nephew,", "In peril of his own life; but the Council", "Postpones his trial for the present. If", "Thou will'st a state unto thy widowed Princess,", "Fear not, for we will do her justice.", "", "_Ang_. Signors,", "I share not in your spoil! From henceforth, know", "I am devoted unto God alone,", "And take my refuge in the cloister.", "", "_Doge_. Come!", "The hour may be a hard one, but 'twill end.", "Have I aught else to undergo save Death?", "", "_Ben_. You have nought to do, except confess and die.", "The priest is robed, the scimitar is bare,", "And both await without.--But, above all,", "Think not to speak unto the people; they", "Are now by thousands swarming at the gates,", "But these are closed: the Ten, the Avogadori,", "The Giunta, and the chief men of the Forty,", "Alone will be beholders of thy doom,", "And they are ready to attend the Doge.", "", "_Doge_. The Doge!", "", "_Ben_. Yes, Doge, thou hast lived and thou shalt die", "A Sovereign; till the moment which precedes", "The separation of that head and trunk,", "That ducal crown and head shall be united.", "Thou hast forgot thy dignity in deigning", "To plot with petty traitors; not so we,", "Who in the very punishment acknowledge", "The Prince. Thy vile accomplices have died", "The dog's death, and the wolf's; but them shall fall", "As falls the lion by the hunters, girt", "By those who feel a proud compassion for thee,", "And mourn even the inevitable death", "Provoked by thy wild wrath, and regal fierceness.", "Now we remit thee to thy preparation:", "Let it be brief, and we ourselves will be", "Thy guides unto the place where first we were", "United to thee as thy subjects, and", "Thy Senate; and must now be parted from thee", "As such for ever, on the self-same spot.", "Guards! form the Doge's escort to his chamber.", " [_Exeunt_.", "", "SCENE II.--_The Doge's Apartment_.", "", " _The_ DOGE _as Prisoner, and the_ DUCHESS _attending him_.", "", "_Doge_. Now, that the priest is gone, 'twere useless all", "To linger out the miserable minutes;", "But one pang more, the pang of parting from thee,", "And I will leave the few last grains of sand,", "Which yet remain of the accorded hour,", "Still falling--I have done with Time.", "", "_Ang_. Alas!", "And I have been the cause, the unconscious cause;", "And for this funeral marriage, this black union,", "Which thou, compliant with my father's wish,", "Didst promise at _his_ death, thou hast sealed thine own.", "", "_Doge_. Not so: there was that in my spirit ever", "Which shaped out for itself some great reverse;", "The marvel is, it came not until now--", "And yet it was foretold me.", "", "_Ang_. How foretold you?", "", "_Doge_. Long years ago--so long, they are a doubt", "In memory, and yet they live in annals:", "When I was in my youth, and served the Senate", "And Signory as Podesta and Captain", "Of the town of Treviso, on a day", "Of festival, the sluggish Bishop who", "Conveyed the Host aroused my rash young anger,", "By strange delay, and arrogant reply", "To my reproof: I raised my hand and smote him,", "Until he reeled beneath his holy burthen;", "And as he rose from earth again, he raised", "His tremulous hands in pious wrath towards Heaven.", "Thence pointing to the Host, which had fallen from him,", "He turned to me, and said, \"The Hour will come", "When he thou hast o'erthrown shall overthrow thee:", "The Glory shall depart from out thy house,", "The Wisdom shall be shaken from thy soul,", "And in thy best maturity of Mind", "A madness of the heart shall seize upon thee;", "Passion shall tear thee when all passions cease", "In other men, or mellow into virtues;", "And Majesty which decks all other heads,", "Shall crown to leave thee headless; honours shall", "But prove to thee the heralds of Destruction,", "And hoary hairs of Shame, and both of Death,", "But not such death as fits an agéd man.\"", "Thus saying, he passed on.--That Hour is come.", "", "_Ang_. And with this warning couldst thou not have striven", "To avert the fatal moment, and atone,", "By penitence, for that which thou hadst done?", "", "_Doge_. I own the words went to my heart, so much", "That I remembered them amid the maze", "Of Life, as if they formed a spectral voice,", "Which shook me in a supernatural dream;", "And I repented; but 'twas not for me", "To pull in resolution: what must be", "I could not change, and would not fear.--Nay more,", "Thou can'st not have forgot, what all remember,", "That on my day of landing here as Doge,", "On my return from Rome, a mist of such", "Unwonted density went on before", "The Bucentaur, like the columnar cloud", "Which ushered Israel out of Egypt, till", "The pilot was misled, and disembarked us", "Between the Pillars of Saint Mark's, where 'tis", "The custom of the state to put to death", "Its criminals, instead of touching at", "The Riva della Paglia, as the wont is,--", "So that all Venice shuddered at the omen.", "", "_Ang_. Ah! little boots it now to recollect", "Such things.", "", "_Doge_. And yet I find a comfort in", "The thought, that these things are the work of Fate;", "For I would rather yield to Gods than men,", "Or cling to any creed of destiny,", "Rather than deem these mortals, most of whom", "I know to be as worthless as the dust,", "And weak as worthless, more than instruments", "Of an o'er-ruling Power; they in themselves", "Were all incapable--they could not be", "Vistors of him who oft had conquered for them.", "", "_Ang_. Employ the minutes left in aspirations", "Of a more healing nature, and in peace", "Even with these wretches take thy flight to Heaven.", "", "_Doge_. I _am_ at peace: the peace of certainty", "That a sure Hour will come, when their sons' sons,", "And this proud city, and these azure waters,", "And all which makes them eminent and bright,", "Shall be a desolation and a curse,", "A hissing and a scoff unto the nations,", "A Carthage, and a Tyre, an Ocean Babel.", "", "_Ang_. Speak not thus now: the surge of Passion still", "Sweeps o'er thee to the last; thou dost deceive", "Thyself, and canst not injure them--be calmer.", "", "_Doge_. I stand within Eternity, and see", "Into Eternity, and I behold--", "Aye, palpable as I see thy sweet face", "For the last time--the days which I denounce", "Unto all time against these wave-girt walls,", "And they who are indwellers.", "", "_Guard_ (_coming forward_). Doge of Venice,", "The Ten are in attendance on your Highness.", "", "_Doge_. Then farewell, Angiolina!--one embrace--", "Forgive the old man who hath been to thee", "A fond but fatal husband--love my memory--", "I would not ask so much for me still living,", "But thou canst judge of me more kindly now,", "Seeing my evil feelings are at rest.", "Besides, of all the fruit of these long years,", "Glory, and Wealth, and Power, and Fame, and Name,", "Which generally leave some flowers to bloom", "Even o'er the grave, I have nothing left, not even", "A little love, or friendship, or esteem,", "No, not enough to extract an epitaph", "From ostentatious kinsmen; in one hour", "I have uprooted all my former life,", "And outlived everything, except thy heart,", "The pure, the good, the gentle, which will oft", "With unimpaired but not a clamorous grief", "Still keep----Thou turn'st so pale!--Alas! she faints,", "She has no breath, no pulse!--Guards! lend your aid--", "I cannot leave her thus, and yet 'tis better,", "Since every lifeless moment spares a pang.", "When she shakes off this temporary death,", "I shall be with the Eternal.--Call her women--", "One look!--how cold her hand!--as cold as mine", "Shall be ere she recovers.--Gently tend her,", "And take my last thanks--I am ready now.", "", " [_The Attendants of_ ANGIOLINA _enter, and surround", " their Mistress, who has fainted.--Exeunt the_ DOGE,", " _Guards, etc., etc._", "", "SCENE III.--_The Court of the Ducal Palace; the outer gates", " are shut against the people.--The_ DOGE _enters in his ducal", " robes, in procession with the_ COUNCIL OF TEN _and other Patricians,", " attended by the Guards, till they arrive at the top of the", " \"Giants' Staircase (where the Doges took the oaths); the", " the Executioner is stationed there with his sword.--On arriving, a_", " CHIEF OF THE TEN _takes off the ducal cap from the Doge's head_.", "", "_Doge_. So now the Doge is nothing, and at last", "I am again Marino Faliero:", "'Tis well to be so, though but for a moment,", "Here was I crowned, and here, bear witness, Heaven!", "With how much more contentment I resign", "That shining mockery, the ducal bauble,", "Than I received the fatal ornament.", "", "_One of the Ten_. Thou tremblest, Faliero!", "", "_Doge_. 'Tis with age, then.", "", "_Ben_. Faliero! hast thou aught further to commend,", "Compatible with justice, to the Senate?", "", "_Doge_. I would commend my nephew to their mercy,", "My consort to their justice; for methinks", "My death, and such a death, might settle all", "Between the State and me.", "", "_Ben_. They shall be cared for;", "Even notwithstanding thine unheard-of crime.", "", "_Doge_. Unheard of! aye, there's not a history", "But shows a thousand crowned conspirators", "_Against_ the people; but to set them free,", "One Sovereign only died, and one is dying.", "", "_Ben_. And who were they who fell in such a cause?", "", "_Doge_. The King of Sparta, and the Doge of Venice--", "Agis and Faliero!", "", "_Ben_. Hast thou more", "To utter or to do?", "", "_Doge_. May I speak?", "", "_Ben_. Thou may'st;", "But recollect the people are without,", "Beyond the compass of the human voice.", "", "_Doge_. I speak to Time and to Eternity,", "Of which I grow a portion, not to man.", "Ye Elements! in which to be resolved", "I hasten, let my voice be as a Spirit", "Upon you! Ye blue waves! which bore my banner.", "Ye winds! which fluttered o'er as if you loved it,", "And filled my swelling sails as they were wafted", "To many a triumph! Thou, my native earth,", "Which I have bled for! and thou, foreign earth,", "Which drank this willing blood from many a wound!", "Ye stones, in which my gore will not sink, but", "Reek up to Heaven! Ye skies, which will receive it!", "Thou Sun! which shinest on these things, and Thou!", "Who kindlest and who quenchest suns!--Attest!", "I am not innocent--but are these guiltless?", "I perish, but not unavenged; far ages", "Float up from the abyss of Time to be,", "And show these eyes, before they close, the doom", "Of this proud City, and I leave my curse", "On her and hers for ever!----Yes, the hours", "Are silently engendering of the day,", "When she, who built 'gainst Attila a bulwark,", "Shall yield, and bloodlessly and basely yield,", "Unto a bastard Attila, without", "Shedding so much blood in her last defence,", "As these old veins, oft drained in shielding her,", "Shall pour in sacrifice.--She shall be bought", "And sold, and be an appanage to those", "Who shall despise her!--She shall stoop to be", "A province for an Empire, petty town", "In lieu of Capital, with slaves for senates,", "Beggars for nobles, panders for a people!", "Then when the Hebrew's in thy palaces,", "The Hun in thy high places, and the Greek", "Walks o'er thy mart, and smiles on it for his;", "When thy patricians beg their bitter bread", "In narrow streets, and in their shameful need", "Make their nobility a plea for pity;", "Then, when the few who still retain a wreck", "Of their great fathers' heritage shall fawn", "Round a barbarian Vice of Kings' Vice-gerent,", "Even in the Palace where they swayed as Sovereigns,", "Even in the Palace where they slew their Sovereign,", "Proud of some name they have disgraced, or sprung", "From an adulteress boastful of her guilt", "With some large gondolier or foreign soldier,", "Shall bear about their bastardy in triumph", "To the third spurious generation;--when", "Thy sons are in the lowest scale of being,", "Slaves turned o'er to the vanquished by the victors,", "Despised by cowards for greater cowardice,", "And scorned even by the vicious for such vices", "As in the monstrous grasp of their conception", "Defy all codes to image or to name them;", "Then, when of Cyprus, now thy subject kingdom,", "All thine inheritance shall be her shame", "Entailed on thy less virtuous daughters, grown", "A wider proverb for worse prostitution;--", "When all the ills of conquered states shall cling thee,", "Vice without splendour, Sin without relief", "Even from the gloss of Love to smooth it o'er,", "But in its stead, coarse lusts of habitude,", "Prurient yet passionless, cold studied lewdness,", "Depraving Nature's frailty to an art;--", "When these and more are heavy on thee, when", "Smiles without mirth, and pastimes without Pleasure,", "Youth without Honour, Age without respect,", "Meanness and Weakness, and a sense of woe", "'Gainst which thou wilt not strive, and dar'st not murmur,", "Have made thee last and worst of peopled deserts,", "Then, in the last gasp of thine agony,", "Amidst thy many murders, think of _mine!_", "Thou den of drunkards with the blood of Princes!", "Gehenna of the waters! thou Sea-Sodom!", "Thus I devote thee to the Infernal Gods!", "Thee and thy serpent seed!", " [_Here the_ DOGE _turns and addresses the Executioner._", " Slave, do thine office!", "Strike as I struck the foe! Strike as I would", "Have struck those tyrants! Strike deep as my curse!", "Strike--and but once!", "", " [_The_ DOGE _throws himself upon his knees, and as", " the Executioner raises his sword the scene closes._", "", "SCENE IV.--_The Piazza and Piazzetta of St. Mark's.--", " The people in crowds gathered round the grated gates", " of the Ducal Palace, which are shut._", "", "_First Citizen_. I have gained the Gate, and can discern the Ten,", "Robed in their gowns of state, ranged round the Doge.", "", "_Second Cit_. I cannot reach thee with mine utmost effort.", "How is it? let us hear at least, since sight", "Is thus prohibited unto the people,", "Except the occupiers of those bars.", "", "_First Cit_. One has approached the Doge, and now they strip", "The ducal bonnet from his head--and now", "He raises his keen eyes to Heaven; I see", "Them glitter, and his lips move--Hush! hush!--no,", "'Twas but a murmur--Curse upon the distance!", "His words are inarticulate, but the voice", "Swells up like muttered thunder; would we could", "But gather a sole sentence!", "", "_Second Cit_. Hush! we perhaps may catch the sound.", "", "_First Cit_. 'Tis vain.", "I cannot hear him.--How his hoary hair", "Streams on the wind like foam upon the wave!", "Now--now--he kneels--and now they form a circle", "Round him, and all is hidden--but I see", "The lifted sword in air----Ah! hark! it falls!", "", " [_The people murmur._", "", "_Third Cit_. Then they have murdered him who would have freed us.", "", "_Fourth Cit_. He was a kind man to the commons ever.", "", "_Fifth Cit_. Wisely they did to keep their portals barred.", "Would we had known the work they were preparing", "Ere we were summoned here--we would have brought", "Weapons, and forced them!", "", "_Sixth Cit_. Are you sure he's dead?", "", "_First Cit_. I saw the sword fall--Lo! what have we here?", "", " _Enter on the Balcony of the Palace which fronts St. Mark's", " Place a_ CHIEF OF THE TEN, _with a bloody sword.", " He waves it thrice before the People, and exclaims,_", "", "\"Justice hath dealt upon the mighty Traitor!\"", "", " [_The gates are opened; the populace rush in towards the", " \"Giants' Staircase,\" where the execution has taken place", " The foremost of them exclaims to those behind,_", "", "\"The gory head rolls down the Giants' Steps!\"", "[_The curtain falls_." ], "linecount": "3931" }, { "title": "Ode to a Lady Whose Lover Was Killed by a Ball, Which at the Same Time Shivered a Portrait Next His Heart", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ " _On peut trouver des femmes qui n'ont jamais eu de galanterie, mais", " il est rare d'en trouver qui n'en aient jamais eu", " qu'une_.--[_Réflexions_ ... du Duc de la Rochefoucauld, No.", " lxxiii.", "", " Lady! in whose heroic port", "And Beauty, Victor even of Time,", " And haughty lineaments, appear", " Much that is awful, more that's dear--", " Wherever human hearts resort", " _There_ must have been for thee a Court,", " And Thou by acclamation Queen,", " Where never Sovereign yet had been.", "That eye so soft, and yet severe,", " Perchance might look on Love as Crime;", "And yet--regarding thee more near--", "The traces of an unshed tear", " Compressed back to the heart,", "And mellowed Sadness in thine air,", "Which shows that Love hath once been there,", "To those who watch thee will disclose", "More than ten thousand tomes of woes", " Wrung from the vain Romancer's art.", "With thee how proudly Love hath dwelt!", "His full Divinity was felt,", "Maddening the heart he could not melt,", " Till Guilt became Sublime;", "But never yet did Beauty's Zone", "For him surround a lovelier throne,", "Than in that bosom once his own:", " And he the Sun and Thou the Clime", "Together must have made a Heaven", "For which the Future would be given.", "", "And thou hast loved--Oh! not in vain!", " And not as common Mortals love.", " The Fruit of Fire is Ashes,", " The Ocean's tempest dashes", "Wrecks and the dead upon the rocky shore:", "True Passion must the all-searching changes prove,", " The Agony of Pleasure and of Pain,", " Till Nothing but the Bitterness remain;", " And the Heart's Spectre flitting through the brain", "Scoffs at the Exorcism which would remove.", "", "And where is He thou lovedst? in the tomb,", " Where should the happy Lover be!", "For him could Time unfold a brighter doom,", " Or offer aught like thee?", "He in the thickest battle died,", " Where Death is Pride;", "And _Thou_ his widow--not his bride,", " Wer't not more free--", "_Here_ where all love, till Love is made", " A bondage or a trade,", "_Here_--thou so redolent of Beauty,", "In whom Caprice had seemed a duty,", "_Thou_, who could'st trample and despise", "The holiest chain of human ties", "For him, the dear One in thine eyes,", " Broke it no more.", "Thy heart was withered to it's Core,", "It's hopes, it's fears, it's feelings o'er:", "Thy Blood grew Ice when _his_ was shed,", "And Thou the Vestal of the Dead.", "", "Thy Lover died, as All", " Who truly love should die;", "For such are worthy in the fight to fall", " Triumphantly.", "No Cuirass o'er that glowing heart", "The deadly bullet turned apart:", "Love had bestowed a richer Mail,", " Like Thetis on her Son;", "But hers at last was vain, and thine could fail--", " The hero's and the lover's race was run.", "Thy worshipped portrait, thy sweet face,", "_Without_ that bosom kept it's place", " As Thou _within_.", "Oh! enviously destined Ball!", "Shivering thine imaged charms and all", " Those Charms would win:", "Together pierced, the fatal Stroke hath gored", "Votary and Shrine, the adoring and the adored.", " That Heart's last throb was thine, that blood", " Baptized thine Image in it's flood,", " And gushing from the fount of Faith", " O'erflowed with Passion even in Death,", "Constant to thee as in it's hour", "Of rapture in the secret bower.", "Thou too hast kept thy plight full well,", "As many a baffled Heart can tell." ], "linecount": "88" }, { "title": "To----", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "But once I dared to lift my eyes--", " To lift my eyes to thee;", "And since that day, beneath the skies,", " No other sight they see.", "", "In vain sleep shuts them in the night--", " The night grows day to me;", "Presenting idly to my sight", " What still a dream must be.", "", "A fatal dream--for many a bar", " Divides thy fate from mine;", "And still my passions wake and war,", " But peace be still with thine." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Aristomenes", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ " Canto First.", "", "The Gods of old are silent on the shore.", "Since the great Pan expired, and through the roar", "Of the Ionian waters broke a dread", "Voice which proclaimed \"the Mighty Pan is dead.\"", "How much died with him! false or true--the dream", "Was beautiful which peopled every stream", "With more than finny tenants, and adorned", "The woods and waters with coy nymphs that scorned", "Pursuing Deities, or in the embrace", "Of gods brought forth the high heroic race", "Whose names are on the hills and o'er the seas." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "A Version of Ossian's Address to the Sun. From the Poem \"Carthon.\"", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "O THOU! who rollest in yon azure field,", "Round as the orb of my forefather's shield,", "Whence are thy beams? From what eternal store", "Dost thou, O Sun! thy vast effulgence pour?", "In awful grandeur, when thou movest on high,", "The stars start back and hide them in the sky;", "The pale Moon sickens in thy brightening blaze,", "And in the western wave avoids thy gaze.", "Alone thou shinest forth--for who can rise", "Companion of thy splendour in the skies!", "The mountain oaks are seen to fall away--", "Mountains themselves by length of years decay--", "With ebbs and flows is the rough Ocean tost;", "In heaven the Moon is for a season lost,", "But thou, amidst the fullness of thy joy,", "The same art ever, blazing in the sky!", "When tempests wrap the world from pole to pole,", "When vivid lightnings flash and thunders roll,", "Thou far above their utmost fury borne,", "Look'st forth in beauty, laughing them to scorn.", "But vainly now on me thy beauties blaze--", "Ossian no longer can enraptured gaze!", "Whether at morn, in lucid lustre gay,", "On eastern clouds thy yellow tresses play,", "Or else at eve, in radiant glory drest,", "Thou tremblest at the portals of the west,", "I see no more! But thou mayest fail at length,", "Like Ossian lose thy beauty and thy strength,", "Like him--but for a season--in thy sphere", "To shine with splendour, then to disappear!", "Thy years shall have an end, and thou no more", "Bright through the world enlivening radiance pour,", "But sleep within thy clouds, and fail to rise,", "Heedless when Morning calls thee to the skies!", "Then now exult, O Sun! and gaily shine,", "While Youth and Strength and Beauty all are thine.", "For Age is dark, unlovely, as the light", "Shed by the Moon when clouds deform the night,", "Glimmering uncertain as they hurry past.", "Loud o'er the plain is heard the northern blast,", "Mists shroud the hills, and 'neath the growing gloom,", "The weary traveller shrinks and sighs for home." ], "linecount": "42" }, { "title": "Lines to Mr. Hodgson. Written on Board the Lisbon Packet", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "HUZZA! Hodgson, we are going,", " Our embargo's off at last;", "Favourable breezes blowing", " Bend the canvas o'er the mast.", "From aloft the signal's streaming,", " Hark! the farewell gun is fired;", "Women screeching, tars blaspheming,", " Tell us that our time's expired.", " Here's a rascal", " Come to task all,", " Prying from the Custom-house;", " Trunks unpacking", " Cases cracking,", " Not a corner for a mouse", "Scapes unsearched amid the racket,", "Ere we sail on board the Packet.", "", "Now our boatmen quit their mooring,", " And all hands must ply the oar;", "Baggage from the quay is lowering,", " We're impatient, push from shore.", "\"Have a care! that case holds liquor--", " Stop the boat--I'm sick--oh Lord!\"", "\"Sick, Ma'am, damme, you'll be sicker,", " Ere you've been an hour on board.\"", " Thus are screaming", " Men and women,", " Gemmen, ladies, servants, Jacks;", " Here entangling,", " All are wrangling,", " Stuck together close as wax.--", "Such the general noise and racket,", "Ere we reach the Lisbon Packet.", "", "Now we've reached her, lo! the Captain,", " Gallant Kidd, commands the crew;", "Passengers their berths are clapt in,", " Some to grumble, some to spew.", "\"Hey day! call you that a cabin?", " Why't is hardly three feet square!", "Not enough to stow Queen Mab in--", " Who the deuce can harbour there?\"", " \"Who, sir? plenty--", " Nobles twenty", " Did at once my vessel fill.\"--", " \"Did they? Jesus,", " How you squeeze us!", " Would to God they did so still!", "Then I'd 'scape the heat and racket", "Of the good ship, Lisbon Packet.\"", "", "Fletcher! Murray! Bob! where are you?", " Stretched along the deck like logs--", "Bear a hand, you jolly tar, you!", " Here's a rope's end for the dogs.", "Hobhouse muttering fearful curses,", " As the hatchway down he rolls,", "Now his breakfast, now his verses,", " Vomits forth--and damns our souls.", " \"Here's a stanza", " On Braganza--", " Help!\"--\"A couplet?\"--\"No, a cup", " Of warm water--\"", " \"What's the matter?\"", " \"Zounds! my liver's coming up;", "I shall not survive the racket", "Of this brutal Lisbon Packet.\"", "", "Now at length we're off for Turkey,", " Lord knows when we shall come back!", "Breezes foul and tempests murky", " May unship us in a crack.", "But, since Life at most a jest is,", " As philosophers allow,", "Still to laugh by far the best is,", " Then laugh on--as I do now.", " Laugh at all things,", " Great and small things,", " Sick or well, at sea or shore;", " While we're quaffing,", " Let's have laughing--", " Who the devil cares for more?--", "Some good wine! and who would lack it,", "Ev'n on board the Lisbon Packet?" ], "linecount": "80" }, { "title": "To Dives. a Fragment", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "UNHAPPY Dives! in an evil hour", " 'Gainst Nature's voice seduced to deeds accurst!", " Once Fortune's minion now thou feel'st her power;", " Wrath's vial on thy lofty head hath burst.", " In Wit, in Genius, as in Wealth the first,", " How wondrous bright thy blooming morn arose!", " But thou wert smitten with th' unhallowed thirst", " Of Crime unnamed, and thy sad noon must close", "In scorn and solitude unsought the worst of woes." ], "linecount": "9" }, { "title": "Farewell Petition to J.C.H., Esq^Re^", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "O THOU yclep'd by vulgar sons of Men", "Cam Hobhouse! but by wags Byzantian Ben!", "Twin sacred titles, which combined appear", "To grace thy volume's front, and gild its rear,", "Since now thou put'st thyself and work to Sea", "And leav'st all Greece to _Fletcher_ and to me,", "Oh, hear my single muse our sorrows tell,", "_One_ song for _self_ and Fletcher quite as well--", "", "First to the _Castle_ of that man of woes", "Dispatch the letter which _I must_ enclose,", "And when his lone Penelope shall say", "_Why, where_, and _wherefore_ doth my William stay?", "Spare not to move her pity, or her pride--", "By all that Hero suffered, or defied;", "The _chicken's toughness_, and the _lack_ of _ale_", "The _stoney mountain_ and the _miry vale_", "The _Garlick_ steams, which _half_ his meals enrich,", "The _impending vermin_, and the threatened _Itch_,", "That _ever breaking_ Bed, beyond repair!", "The hat too _old_, the coat too _cold_ to wear,", "The Hunger, _which repulsed from Sally's door_", "Pursues her grumbling half from shore to shore,", "Be these the themes to greet his faithful Rib", "So may thy pen be smooth, thy tongue be glib!", "", "This duty done, let me in turn demand", "Some friendly office in my native land,", "Yet let me ponder well, before I ask,", "And set thee swearing at the tedious task.", "", "First the Miscellany!--to Southwell town", "_Per coach_ for Mrs. _Pigot_ frank it down,", "So may'st them prosper in the paths of Sale,", "And Longman smirk and critics cease to rail.", "", "All hail to Matthews! wash his reverend feet,", "And in my name the man of Method greet,--", "Tell him, my Guide, Philosopher, and Friend,", "Who cannot love me, and who will not mend,", "Tell him, that not in vain I shall assay", "To tread and trace our \"old Horatian way,\"", "And be (with prose supply my dearth of rhymes)", "What better men have been in better times.", "", "Here let me cease, for why should I prolong", "My notes, and vex a _Singer_ with a _Song_?", "Oh thou with pen perpetual in thy fist!", "Dubbed for thy sins a stark Miscellanist,", "So pleased the printer's orders to perform", "For Messrs. _Longman_, _Hurst_ and _Rees_ and _Orme_.", "Go--Get thee hence to Paternoster Row,", "Thy patrons wave a duodecimo!", "(Best form for _letters_ from a distant land,", "It fits the pocket, nor fatigues the hand.)", "Then go, once more the joyous work commence", "With stores of anecdote, and grains of sense,", "Oh may Mammas relent, and Sires forgive!", "And scribbling Sons grow dutiful and live!" ], "linecount": "54" }, { "title": "To the Hon^Ble^ M^Rs^ George Lamb", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "The sacred song that on mine ear", " Yet vibrates from that voice of thine,", "I heard, before, from one so dear--", " 'T is strange it still appears divine.", "", "But, oh! so sweet that _look_ and _tone_", " To her and thee alike is given;", "It seemed as if for me alone", " That _both_ had been recalled from Heaven!", "", "And though I never can redeem", " The vision thus endeared to me;", "I scarcely can regret my dream,", " When realised again by thee." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "On a Royal Visit to the Vaults. or Caesar's Discovery of C.I. and H. 8. in Ye Same Vault", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "FAMED for their civil and domestic quarrels", "See heartless Henry lies by headless Charles;", "Between them stands another sceptred thing,", "It lives, it reigns--\"aye, every inch a king.\"", "Charles to his people, Henry to his wife,", "In him the double tyrant starts to life:", "Justice and Death have mixed their dust in vain.", "The royal Vampires join and rise again.", "What now can tombs avail, since these disgorge", "The blood and dirt of both to mould a George!" ], "linecount": "10" }, { "title": "Condolatory Address to Sarah Countess of Jersey, on the Prince Regent's Returning Her Picture to Mrs. Mee", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "WHEN the vain triumph of the imperial lord,", "Whom servile Rome obeyed, and yet abhorred,", "Gave to the vulgar gaze each glorious bust,", "That left a likeness of the brave, or just;", "What most admired each scrutinising eye", "Of all that decked that passing pageantry?", "What spread from face to face that wondering air?", "The thought of Brutus--for his was not there!", "That absence proved his worth,--that absence fixed", "His memory on the longing mind, unmixed;", "And more decreed his glory to endure,", "Than all a gold Colossus could secure.", "", "If thus, fair Jersey, our desiring gaze", "Search for thy form, in vain and mute amaze,", "Amidst those pictured charms, whose loveliness,", "Bright though they be, thine own had rendered less:", "If he, that VAIN OLD MAN, whom truth admits", "Heir of his father's crown, and of his wits,", "If his corrupted eye, and withered heart,", "Could with thy gentle image bear to part;", "That tasteless shame be _his_, and ours the grief,", "To gaze on Beauty's band without its chief:", "Yet Comfort still one selfish thought imparts,", "We lose the portrait, but preserve our hearts.", "", "What can his vaulted gallery now disclose?", "A _garden_ with all flowers--except the rose;--", "A _fount_ that only wants its living stream;", "A _night_, with every star, save Dian's beam.", "Lost to our eyes the present forms shall be,", "That turn from tracing them to dream of thee;", "And more on that recalled resemblance pause,", "Than all he _shall_ not force on our applause.", "", "Long may thy yet meridian lustre shine,", "With all that Virtue asks of Homage thine:", "The symmetry of youth--the grace of mien--", "The eye that gladdens--and the brow serene;", "The glossy darkness of that clustering hair,", "Which shades, yet shows that forehead more than fair!", "Each glance that wins us, and the life that throws", "A spell which will not let our looks repose,", "But turn to gaze again, and find anew", "Some charm that well rewards another view.", "These are not lessened, these are still as bright,", "Albeit too dazzling _for a dotard's sight_;", "And those must wait till ev'ry charm is gone,", "To please the paltry heart that pleases none;--", "That dull cold sensualist, whose sickly eye", "In envious dimness passed thy portrait by;", "Who racked his little spirit to combine", "Its hate of _Freedom's_ loveliness, and _thine_." ], "linecount": "50" }, { "title": "Answer to----'s Professions of Affection", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "IN hearts like thine ne'er may I hold a place", "Till I renounce all sense, all shame, all grace--", "That seat,--like seats, the bane of Freedom's realm,", "But dear to those presiding at the helm--", "Is basely purchased, not with gold alone;", "Add Conscience, too, this bargain is your own--", "'T is thine to offer with corrupting art", "The _rotten borough_ of the human heart." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Endorsement to the Deed of Separation, in the April of 18 16", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "A YEAR ago you swore, fond she!", " \"To love, to honour,\" and so forth:", "Such was the vow you pledged to me,", " And here's exactly what 't is worth." ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "To Thomas Moore", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "What are you doing now,", " Oh Thomas Moore?", "What are you doing now,", " Oh Thomas Moore?", "Sighing or suing now,", "Rhyming or wooing now,", "Billing or cooing now,", " Which, Thomas Moore?", "", "But the Carnival's coming,", " Oh Thomas Moore!", "The Carnival's coming,", " Oh Thomas Moore!", "Masking and humming,", "Fifing and drumming,", "Guitarring and strumming,", " Oh Thomas Moore!" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Epistle From Mr. Murray to Dr. Polidori", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "DEAR Doctor, I have read your play,", "Which is a good one in its way,--", "Purges the eyes, and moves the bowels,", "And drenches handkerchiefs like towels", "With tears, that, in a flux of grief,", "Afford hysterical relief", "To shattered nerves and quickened pulses,", "Which your catastrophe convulses.", "", " I like your moral and machinery;", "Your plot, too, has such scope for Scenery!", "Your dialogue is apt and smart;", "The play's concoction full of art;", "Your hero raves, your heroine cries,", "All stab, and every body dies.", "In short, your tragedy would be", "The very thing to hear and see:", "And for a piece of publication,", "If I decline on this occasion,", "It is not that I am not sensible", "To merits in themselves ostensible,", "But--and I grieve to speak it--plays", "Are drugs--mere drugs, Sir--now-a-days.", "I had a heavy loss by _Manuel_--", "Too lucky if it prove not annual,--", "And Sotheby, with his _Orestes_,", "(Which, by the way, the old Bore's best is),", "Has lain so very long on hand,", "That I despair of all demand;", "I've advertised, but see my books,", "Or only watch my Shopman's looks;--", "Still _Ivan_, _Ina_, and such lumber,", "My back-shop glut, my shelves encumber.", "", "There's Byron too, who once did better,", "Has sent me, folded in a letter,", "A sort of--it's no more a drama", "Than _Darnley_, _Ivan_, or _Kehama_;", "So altered since last year his pen is,", "I think he's lost his wits at Venice.", "", "In short, Sir, what with one and t' other,", "I dare not venture on another.", "I write in haste; excuse each blunder;", "The Coaches through the street so thunder!", "My room's so full--we've Gifford here", "Reading MS., with Hookham Frere,", "Pronouncing on the nouns and particles,", "Of some of our forthcoming Articles.", "", " The _Quarterly_--Ah, Sir, if you", "Had but the Genius to review!--", "A smart Critique upon St. Helena,", "Or if you only would but tell in a", "Short compass what--but to resume;", "As I was saying, Sir, the Room--", "The Room's so full of wits and bards,", "Crabbes, Campbells, Crokers, Freres, and Wards", "And others, neither bards nor wits:", "My humble tenement admits", "All persons in the dress of Gent.,", "From Mr. Hammond to Dog Dent.", "", " A party dines with me to-day,", "All clever men, who make their way:", "Crabbe, Malcolm, Hamilton, and Chantrey,", "Are all partakers of my pantry.", "They're at this moment in discussion", "On poor De Staël's late dissolution.", "Her book, they say, was in advance--", "Pray Heaven, she tell the truth of France!", "'T is said she certainly was married", "To Rocca, and had twice miscarried,", "No--not miscarried, I opine,--", "But brought to bed at forty-nine.", "Some say she died a Papist; some", "Are of opinion that's a Hum;", "I don't know that--the fellows Schlegel,", "Are very likely to inveigle", "A dying person in compunction", "To try th' extremity of Unction.", "But peace be with her! for a woman", "Her talents surely were uncommon,", "Her Publisher (and Public too)", "The hour of her demise may rue--", "For never more within his shop he--", "Pray--was not she interred at Coppet?", "Thus run our time and tongues away;--", "But, to return, Sir, to your play:", "Sorry, Sir, but I cannot deal,", "Unless 't were acted by O'Neill.", "My hands are full--my head so busy,", "I'm almost dead--and always dizzy;", "And so, with endless truth and hurry,", "Dear Doctor, I am yours,", " JOHN MURRAY." ], "linecount": "91" }, { "title": "The Revolt of Islam. a Poem in Twelve Cantos", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Osais de Broton ethnos aglaiais aptomestha", "perainei pros eschaton", "ploon nausi d oute pezos ion an eurois", "es Uperboreon agona thaumatan odon.", "", "Pind. Pyth. x.", "", "DEDICATION.", "", "There is no danger to a man that knows", "What life and death is: there's not any law", "Exceeds his knowledge; neither is it lawful", "That he should stoop to any other law.--CHAPMAN.", "", "TO MARY -- --.", "", "So now my summer-task is ended, Mary,", "And I return to thee, mine own heart's home;", "As to his Queen some victor Knight of Faery,", "Earning bright spoils for her enchanted dome;", "Nor thou disdain, that ere my fame become", "A star among the stars of mortal night,", "If it indeed may cleave its natal gloom,", "Its doubtful promise thus I would unite", "With thy beloved name, thou Child of love and light.", "", "The toil which stole from thee so many an hour,", "Is ended,--and the fruit is at thy feet!", "No longer where the woods to frame a bower", "With interlaced branches mix and meet,", "Or where with sound like many voices sweet,", "Waterfalls leap among wild islands green,", "Which framed for my lone boat a lone retreat", "Of moss-grown trees and weeds, shall I be seen;", "But beside thee, where still my heart has ever been.", "", "Thoughts of great deeds were mine, dear Friend, when first", "The clouds which wrap this world from youth did pass.", "I do remember well the hour which burst", "My spirit's sleep. A fresh May-dawn it was,", "When I walked forth upon the glittering grass,", "And wept, I knew not why; until there rose", "From the near schoolroom, voices that, alas!", "Were but one echo from a world of woes--", "The harsh and grating strife of tyrants and of foes.", "", "And then I clasped my hands and looked around--", "--But none was near to mock my streaming eyes,", "Which poured their warm drops on the sunny ground--", "So without shame I spake:--'I will be wise,", "And just, and free, and mild, if in me lies", "Such power, for I grow weary to behold", "The selfish and the strong still tyrannise", "Without reproach or check.' I then controlled", "My tears, my heart grew calm, and I was meek and bold.", "", "And from that hour did I with earnest thought", "Heap knowledge from forbidden mines of lore;", "Yet nothing that my tyrants knew or taught", "I cared to learn, but from that secret store", "Wrought linked armour for my soul, before", "It might walk forth to war among mankind;", "Thus power and hope were strengthened more and more", "Within me, till there came upon my mind", "A sense of loneliness, a thirst with which I pined.", "", "Alas, that love should be a blight and snare", "To those who seek all sympathies in one!--", "Such once I sought in vain; then black despair,", "The shadow of a starless night, was thrown", "Over the world in which I moved alone:--", "Yet never found I one not false to me,", "Hard hearts, and cold, like weights of icy stone", "Which crushed and withered mine, that could not be", "Aught but a lifeless clod, until revived by thee.", "", "Thou Friend, whose presence on my wintry heart", "Fell, like bright Spring upon some herbless plain;", "How beautiful and calm and free thou wert", "In thy young wisdom, when the mortal chain", "Of Custom thou didst burst and rend in twain,", "And walked as free as light the clouds among,", "Which many an envious slave then breathed in vain", "From his dim dungeon, and my spirit sprung", "To meet thee from the woes which had begirt it long!", "", "No more alone through the world's wilderness,", "Although I trod the paths of high intent,", "I journeyed now: no more companionless,", "Where solitude is like despair, I went.--", "There is the wisdom of a stern content", "When Poverty can blight the just and good,", "When Infamy dares mock the innocent,", "And cherished friends turn with the multitude", "To trample: this was ours, and we unshaken stood!", "", "Now has descended a serener hour,", "And with inconstant fortune, friends return;", "Though suffering leaves the knowledge and the power", "Which says:--Let scorn be not repaid with scorn.", "And from thy side two gentle babes are born", "To fill our home with smiles, and thus are we", "Most fortunate beneath life's beaming morn;", "And these delights, and thou, have been to me", "The parents of the Song I consecrate to thee.", "", "Is it that now my inexperienced fingers", "But strike the prelude of a loftier strain?", "Or, must the lyre on which my spirit lingers", "Soon pause in silence, ne'er to sound again,", "Though it might shake the Anarch Custom's reign,", "And charm the minds of men to Truth's own sway", "Holier than was Amphion's? I would fain", "Reply in hope--but I am worn away,", "And Death and Love are yet contending for their prey.", "", "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,", "And in thy gentle speech, a prophecy", "Is whispered, to subdue my fondest fears:", "And through thine eyes, even in thy soul I see", "A lamp of vestal fire burning internally.", "", "They say that thou wert lovely from thy birth,", "Of glorious parents thou aspiring Child.", "I wonder not--for One then left this earth", "Whose life was like a setting planet mild,", "Which clothed thee in the radiance undefiled", "Of its departing glory; still her fame", "Shines on thee, through the tempests dark and wild", "Which shake these latter days; and thou canst claim", "The shelter, from thy Sire, of an immortal name.", "", "One voice came forth from many a mighty spirit,", "Which was the echo of three thousand years;", "And the tumultuous world stood mute to hear it,", "As some lone man who in a desert hears", "The music of his home:--unwonted fears", "Fell on the pale oppressors of our race,", "And Faith, and Custom, and low-thoughted cares,", "Like thunder-stricken dragons, for a space", "Left the torn human heart, their food and dwelling-place.", "", "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", "On his pure name who loves them,--thou and I,", "Sweet friend! can look from our tranquillity", "Like lamps into the world's tempestuous night,--", "Two tranquil stars, while clouds are passing by", "Which wrap them from the foundering seaman's sight,", "That burn from year to year with unextinguished light.", "", "CANTO 1.", "", "When the last hope of trampled France had failed", "Like a brief dream of unremaining glory,", "From visions of despair I rose, and scaled", "The peak of an aerial promontory,", "Whose caverned base with the vexed surge was hoary;", "And saw the golden dawn break forth, and waken", "Each cloud, and every wave:--but transitory", "The calm; for sudden, the firm earth was shaken,", "As if by the last wreck its frame were overtaken.", "", "So as I stood, one blast of muttering thunder", "Burst 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", "The orient sun in shadow:--not a sound", "Was heard; one horrible repose did keep", "The forests and the floods, and all around", "Darkness more dread than night was poured upon the ground.", "", "Hark! 'tis the rushing of a wind that sweeps", "Earth and the ocean. See! the lightnings yawn", "Deluging Heaven with fire, and the lashed deeps", "Glitter and boil beneath: it rages on,", "One mighty stream, whirlwind and waves upthrown,", "Lightning, and hail, and darkness eddying by.", "There is a pause--the sea-birds, that were gone", "Into their caves to shriek, come forth, to spy", "What calm has fall'n on earth, what light is in the sky.", "", "For, where the irresistible storm had cloven", "That fearful darkness, the blue sky was seen", "Fretted with many a fair cloud interwoven", "Most delicately, and the ocean green,", "Beneath that opening spot of blue serene,", "Quivered like burning emerald; calm was spread", "On all below; but far on high, between", "Earth and the upper air, the vast clouds fled,", "Countless and swift as leaves on autumn's tempest shed.", "", "For ever, as the war became more fierce", "Between the whirlwinds and the rack on high,", "That spot grew more serene; blue light did pierce", "The woof of those white clouds, which seem to lie", "Far, deep, and motionless; while through the sky", "The pallid semicircle of the moon", "Passed on, in slow and moving majesty;", "Its upper horn arrayed in mists, which soon", "But slowly fled, like dew beneath the beams of noon.", "", "I could not choose but gaze; a fascination", "Dwelt in that moon, and sky, and clouds, which drew", "My fancy thither, and in expectation", "Of what I knew not, I remained:--the hue", "Of 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 sphere", "Beheld afar at sea, and swift it came anear.", "", "Even like a bark, which from a chasm of mountains,", "Dark, vast and overhanging, on a river", "Which 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;", "So, from that chasm of light a winged Form", "On all the winds of heaven approaching ever", "Floated, dilating as it came; the storm", "Pursued it with fierce blasts, and lightnings swift and warm.", "", "A course precipitous, of dizzy speed,", "Suspending thought and breath; a monstrous sight!", "For in the air do I behold indeed", "An Eagle and a Serpent wreathed in fight:--", "And now, relaxing its impetuous flight,", "Before the aerial rock on which I stood,", "The 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.", "", "A shaft of light upon its wings descended,", "And every golden feather gleamed therein--", "Feather and scale, inextricably blended.", "The Serpent's mailed and many-coloured skin", "Shone through the plumes its coils were twined within", "By many a swoln and knotted fold, and high", "And far, the neck, receding lithe and thin,", "Sustained a crested head, which warily", "Shifted and glanced before the Eagle's steadfast eye.", "", "Around, around, in ceaseless circles wheeling", "With clang of wings and scream, the Eagle sailed", "Incessantly--sometimes on high concealing", "Its lessening orbs, sometimes as if it failed,", "Drooped through the air; and still it shrieked and wailed,", "And casting back its eager head, with beak", "And talon unremittingly assailed", "The wreathed Serpent, who did ever seek", "Upon his enemy's heart a mortal wound to wreak.", "", "What life, what power, was kindled and arose", "Within the sphere of that appalling fray!", "For, from the encounter of those wondrous foes,", "A vapour like the sea's suspended spray", "Hung 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.", "", "Swift chances in that combat--many a check,", "And many a change, a dark and wild turmoil;", "Sometimes the Snake around his enemy's neck", "Locked in stiff rings his adamantine coil,", "Until the Eagle, faint with pain and toil,", "Remitted his strong flight, and near the sea", "Languidly fluttered, hopeless so to foil", "His adversary, who then reared on high", "His red and burning crest, radiant with victory.", "", "Then on the white edge of the bursting surge,", "Where they had sunk together, would the Snake", "Relax his suffocating grasp, and scourge", "The wind with his wild writhings; for to break", "That chain of torment, the vast bird would shake", "The strength of his unconquerable wings", "As in despair, and with his sinewy neck,", "Dissolve in sudden shock those linked rings--", "Then soar, as swift as smoke from a volcano springs.", "", "Wile baffled wile, and strength encountered strength,", "Thus long, but unprevailing:--the event", "Of that portentous fight appeared at length:", "Until the lamp of day was almost spent", "It had endured, when lifeless, stark, and rent,", "Hung high that mighty Serpent, and at last", "Fell to the sea, while o'er the continent", "With clang of wings and scream the Eagle passed,", "Heavily borne away on the exhausted blast.", "", "And with it fled the tempest, so that ocean", "And earth and sky shone through the atmosphere--", "Only, 'twas strange to see the red commotion", "Of waves like mountains o'er the sinking sphere", "Of sunset sweep, and their fierce roar to hear", "Amid the calm: down the steep path I wound", "To the sea-shore--the evening was most clear", "And beautiful, and there the sea I found", "Calm as a cradled child in dreamless slumber bound.", "", "There was a Woman, beautiful as morning,", "Sitting beneath the rocks, upon the sand", "Of the waste sea--fair as one flower adorning", "An icy wilderness; each delicate hand", "Lay crossed upon her bosom, and the band", "Of her dark hair had fall'n, and so she sate", "Looking upon the waves; on the bare strand", "Upon the sea-mark a small boat did wait,", "Fair as herself, like Love by Hope left desolate.", "", "It seemed that this fair Shape had looked upon", "That unimaginable fight, and now", "That her sweet eyes were weary of the sun,", "As brightly it illustrated her woe;", "For in the tears which silently to flow", "Paused not, its lustre hung: she watching aye", "The foam-wreaths which the faint tide wove below", "Upon the spangled sands, groaned heavily,", "And after every groan looked up over the sea.", "", "And when she saw the wounded Serpent make", "His path between the waves, her lips grew pale,", "Parted, and quivered; the tears ceased to break", "From her immovable eyes; no voice of wail", "Escaped her; but she rose, and on the gale", "Loosening her star-bright robe and shadowy hair", "Poured forth her voice; the caverns of the vale", "That opened to the ocean, caught it there,", "And filled with silver sounds the overflowing air.", "", "She spake in language whose strange melody", "Might not belong to earth. I heard alone,", "What made its music more melodious be,", "The pity and the love of every tone;", "But to the Snake those accents sweet were known", "His native tongue and hers; nor did he beat", "The hoar spray idly then, but winding on", "Through the green shadows of the waves that meet", "Near to the shore, did pause beside her snowy feet.", "", "Then on the sands the Woman sate again,", "And wept and clasped her hands, and all between,", "Renewed the unintelligible strain", "Of her melodious voice and eloquent mien;", "And she unveiled her bosom, and the green", "And glancing shadows of the sea did play", "O'er its marmoreal depth:--one moment seen,", "For ere the next, the Serpent did obey", "Her voice, and, coiled in rest in her embrace it lay.", "", "Then she arose, and smiled on me with eyes", "Serene yet sorrowing, like that planet fair,", "While yet the daylight lingereth in the skies", "Which cleaves with arrowy beams the dark-red air,", "And said: 'To grieve is wise, but the despair", "Was weak and vain which led thee here from sleep:", "This shalt thou know, and more, if thou dost dare", "With me and with this Serpent, o'er the deep,", "A voyage divine and strange, companionship to keep.'", "", "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", "How 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 sway", "Amid reflected stars that in the waters lay:--", "", "A boat of rare device, which had no sail", "But its own curved prow of thin moonstone,", "Wrought like a web of texture fine and frail,", "To catch those gentlest winds which are not known", "To breathe, but by the steady speed alone", "With which it cleaves the sparkling sea; and now", "We are embarked--the mountains hang and frown", "Over the starry deep that gleams below,", "A vast and dim expanse, as o'er the waves we go.", "", "And as we sailed, a strange and awful tale", "That Woman told, like such mysterious dream", "As makes the slumberer's cheek with wonder pale!", "'Twas midnight, and around, a shoreless stream,", "Wide ocean rolled, when that majestic theme", "Shrined in her heart found utterance, and she bent", "Her looks on mine; those eyes a kindling beam", "Of love divine into my spirit sent,", "And ere her lips could move, made the air eloquent.", "", "'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:", "Know then, that from the depth of ages old", "Two 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", "Sprang forth, they burst the womb of inessential Nought.", "", "'The earliest dweller of the world, alone,", "Stood on the verge of chaos. Lo! afar", "O'er the wide wild abyss two meteors shone,", "Sprung from the depth of its tempestuous jar:", "A blood-red Comet and the Morning Star", "Mingling their beams in combat--as he stood,", "All thoughts within his mind waged mutual war,", "In dreadful sympathy--when to the flood", "That fair Star fell, he turned and shed his brother's blood.", "", "'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 revel", "In victory, reigning o'er a world of woe,", "For the new race of man went to and fro,", "Famished 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.", "", "'The darkness lingering o'er the dawn of things,", "Was Evil's breath and life; this made him strong", "To soar aloft with overshadowing wings;", "And the great Spirit of Good did creep among", "The nations of mankind, and every tongue", "Cursed and blasphemed him as he passed; for none", "Knew good from evil, though their names were hung", "In mockery o'er the fane where many a groan,", "As King, and Lord, and God, the conquering Fiend did own,--", "", "'The Fiend, whose name was Legion: Death, Decay,", "Earthquake and Blight, and Want, and Madness pale,", "Winged and wan diseases, an array", "Numerous as leaves that strew the autumnal gale;", "Poison, a snake in flowers, beneath the veil", "Of food and mirth, hiding his mortal head;", "And, without whom all these might nought avail,", "Fear, Hatred, Faith, and Tyranny, who spread", "Those subtle nets which snare the living and the dead.", "", "'His spirit is their power, and they his slaves", "In air, and light, and thought, and language, dwell;", "And keep their state from palaces to graves,", "In all resorts of men--invisible,", "But when, in ebon mirror, Nightmare fell", "To tyrant or impostor bids them rise,", "Black winged demon forms--whom, from the hell,", "His reign and dwelling beneath nether skies,", "He loosens to their dark and blasting ministries.", "", "'In the world's youth his empire was as firm", "As its foundations...Soon the Spirit of Good,", "Though in the likeness of a loathsome worm,", "Sprang from the billows of the formless flood,", "Which shrank and fled; and with that Fiend of blood", "Renewed the doubtful war...Thrones then first shook,", "And earth's immense and trampled multitude", "In hope on their own powers began to look,", "And Fear, the demon pale, his sanguine shrine forsook.", "", "'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 flame", "Which thy breath kindled, Power of holiest name!", "And oft in cycles since, when darkness gave", "New weapons to thy foe, their sunlike fame", "Upon the combat shone--a light to save,", "Like Paradise spread forth beyond the shadowy grave.", "", "'Such is this conflict--when mankind doth strive", "With its oppressors in a strife of blood,", "Or when free thoughts, like lightnings, are alive,", "And in each bosom of the multitude", "Justice and truth with Custom's hydra brood", "Wage silent war; when Priests and Kings dissemble", "In 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!", "", "'Thou hast beheld that fight--when to thy home", "Thou dost return, steep not its hearth in tears;", "Though thou may'st hear that earth is now become", "The 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", "His triumph dearly won, which soon will lend", "An impulse swift and sure to his approaching end.", "", "'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", "With human blood.--'Twas many years ago,", "Since first my thirsting soul aspired to know", "The secrets of this wondrous world, when deep", "My heart was pierced with sympathy, for woe", "Which could not be mine own, and thought did keep,", "In dream, unnatural watch beside an infant's sleep.", "", "'Woe could not be mine own, since far from men", "I 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,", "I 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 tumultuously", "For peace, and clasped my hands aloft in ecstasy.", "", "'These were forebodings of my fate--before", "A woman's heart beat in my virgin breast,", "It had been nurtured in divinest lore:", "A dying poet gave me books, and blessed", "With wild but holy talk the sweet unrest", "In which I watched him as he died away--", "A youth with hoary hair--a fleeting guest", "Of our lone mountains: and this lore did sway", "My spirit like a storm, contending there alway.", "", "'Thus the dark tale which history doth unfold", "I knew, but not, methinks, as others know,", "For they weep not; and Wisdom had unrolled", "The clouds which hide the gulf of mortal woe,--", "To few can she that warning vision show--", "For I loved all things with intense devotion;", "So that when Hope's deep source in fullest flow,", "Like earthquake did uplift the stagnant ocean", "Of human thoughts--mine shook beneath the wide emotion.", "", "'When first the living blood through all these veins", "Kindled a thought in sense, great France sprang forth,", "And seized, as if to break, the ponderous chains", "Which bind in woe the nations of the earth.", "I saw, and started from my cottage-hearth;", "And to the clouds and waves in tameless gladness", "Shrieked, till they caught immeasurable mirth--", "And laughed in light and music: soon, sweet madness", "Was poured upon my heart, a soft and thrilling sadness.", "", "'Deep slumber fell on me:--my dreams were fire--", "Soft and delightful thoughts did rest and hover", "Like shadows o'er my brain; and strange desire,", "The tempest of a passion, raging over", "My 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", "Shone through the woodbine-wreaths which round my casement were.", "", "''Twas like an eye which seemed to smile on me.", "I watched, till by the sun made pale, it sank", "Under the billows of the heaving sea;", "But from its beams deep love my spirit drank,", "And to my brain the boundless world now shrank", "Into one thought--one image--yes, for ever!", "Even like the dayspring, poured on vapours dank,", "The beams of that one Star did shoot and quiver", "Through my benighted mind--and were extinguished never.", "", "'The day passed thus: at night, methought, in dream", "A shape of speechless beauty did appear:", "It stood like light on a careering stream", "Of golden clouds which shook the atmosphere;", "A winged youth, his radiant brow did wear", "The Morning Star: a wild dissolving bliss", "Over my frame he breathed, approaching near,", "And bent his eyes of kindling tenderness", "Near mine, and on my lips impressed a lingering kiss,--", "", "'And said: \"A Spirit loves thee, mortal maiden,", "How wilt thou prove thy worth?\" Then joy and sleep", "Together fled; my soul was deeply laden,", "And to the shore I went to muse and weep;", "But as I moved, over my heart did creep", "A joy less soft, but more profound and strong", "Than my sweet dream; and it forbade to keep", "The path of the sea-shore: that Spirit's tongue", "Seemed whispering in my heart, and bore my steps along.", "", "'How, to that vast and peopled city led,", "Which was a field of holy warfare then,", "I 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", "Those hopes had lost the glory of their youth,", "How sadly I returned--might move the hearer's ruth:", "", "'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;", "The Spirit whom I loved, in solitude", "Sustained his child: the tempest-shaken wood,", "The waves, the fountains, and the hush of night--", "These were his voice, and well I understood", "His smile divine, when the calm sea was bright", "With silent stars, and Heaven was breathless with delight.", "", "'In lonely glens, amid the roar of rivers,", "When the dim nights were moonless, have I known", "Joys which no tongue can tell; my pale lip quivers", "When thought revisits them:--know thou alone,", "That 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 glow", "Before my steps--the Snake then met his mortal foe.'", "", "'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;", "Beneath the rising moon seen far away,", "Mountains of ice, like sapphire, piled on high,", "Hemming the horizon round, in silence lay", "On the still waters--these we did approach alway.", "", "And swift and swifter grew the vessel's motion,", "So that a dizzy trance fell on my brain--", "Wild music woke me; we had passed the ocean", "Which girds the pole, Nature's remotest reign--", "And we glode fast o'er a pellucid plain", "Of waters, azure with the noontide day.", "Ethereal mountains shone around--a Fane", "Stood in the midst, girt by green isles which lay", "On the blue sunny deep, resplendent far away.", "", "It was a Temple, such as mortal hand", "Has never built, nor ecstasy, nor dream", "Reared in the cities of enchanted land:", "'Twas likest Heaven, ere yet day's purple stream", "Ebbs o'er the western forest, while the gleam", "Of the unrisen moon among the clouds", "Is gathering--when with many a golden beam", "The thronging constellations rush in crowds,", "Paving with fire the sky and the marmoreal floods.", "", "Like what may be conceived of this vast dome,", "When from the depths which thought can seldom pierce", "Genius beholds it rise, his native home,", "Girt by the deserts of the Universe;", "Yet, nor in painting's light, or mightier verse,", "Or sculpture's marble language, can invest", "That shape to mortal sense--such glooms immerse", "That incommunicable sight, and rest", "Upon the labouring brain and overburdened breast.", "", "Winding among the lawny islands fair,", "Whose blosmy forests starred the shadowy deep,", "The wingless boat paused where an ivory stair", "Its fretwork in the crystal sea did steep,", "Encircling that vast Fane's aerial heap:", "We disembarked, and through a portal wide", "We passed--whose roof of moonstone carved, did keep", "A glimmering o'er the forms on every side,", "Sculptures like life and thought, immovable, deep-eyed.", "", "We came to a vast hall, whose glorious roof", "Was diamond, which had drunk the lightning's sheen", "In darkness, and now poured it through the woof", "Of spell-inwoven clouds hung there to screen", "Its blinding splendour--through such veil was seen", "That 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!", "", "Ten thousand columns in that quivering light", "Distinct--between whose shafts wound far away", "The long and labyrinthine aisles--more bright", "With their own radiance than the Heaven of Day;", "And on the jasper walls around, there lay", "Paintings, the poesy of mightiest thought,", "Which did the Spirit's history display;", "A tale of passionate change, divinely taught,", "Which, in their winged dance, unconscious Genii wrought.", "", "Beneath, there sate on many a sapphire throne,", "The Great, who had departed from mankind,", "A mighty Senate;--some, whose white hair shone", "Like 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", "With pale and clinging flames, which ever there", "Waked faint yet thrilling sounds that pierced the crystal air.", "", "One seat was vacant in the midst, a throne,", "Reared on a pyramid like sculptured flame,", "Distinct with circling steps which rested on", "Their own deep fire--soon as the Woman came", "Into that hall, she shrieked the Spirit's name", "And fell; and vanished slowly from the sight.", "Darkness arose from her dissolving frame,", "Which gathering, filled that dome of woven light,", "Blotting its sphered stars with supernatural night.", "", "Then first, two glittering lights were seen to glide", "In circles on the amethystine floor,", "Small serpent eyes trailing from side to side,", "Like meteors on a river's grassy shore,", "They round each other rolled, dilating more", "And more--then rose, commingling into one,", "One clear and mighty planet hanging o'er", "A cloud of deepest shadow, which was thrown", "Athwart the glowing steps and the crystalline throne.", "", "The cloud which rested on that cone of flame", "Was cloven; beneath the planet sate a Form,", "Fairer than tongue can speak or thought may frame,", "The radiance of whose limbs rose-like and warm", "Flowed forth, and did with softest light inform", "The shadowy dome, the sculptures, and the state", "Of those assembled shapes--with clinging charm", "Sinking upon their hearts and mine. He sate", "Majestic, yet most mild--calm, yet compassionate.", "", "Wonder and joy a passing faintness threw", "Over my brow--a hand supported me,", "Whose touch was magic strength; an eye of blue", "Looked into mine, like moonlight, soothingly;", "And a voice said:--'Thou must a listener be", "This day--two mighty Spirits now return,", "Like 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!", "", "I looked, and lo! one stood forth eloquently.", "His eyes were dark and deep, and the clear brow", "Which shadowed them was like the morning sky,", "The cloudless Heaven of Spring, when in their flow", "Through the bright air, the soft winds as they blow", "Wake the green world--his gestures did obey", "The oracular mind that made his features glow,", "And where his curved lips half-open lay,", "Passion's divinest stream had made impetuous way.", "", "Beneath the darkness of his outspread hair", "He stood thus beautiful; but there was One", "Who sate beside him like his shadow there,", "And held his hand--far lovelier; she was known", "To be thus fair, by the few lines alone", "Which through her floating locks and gathered cloak,", "Glances of soul-dissolving glory, shone:--", "None else beheld her eyes--in him they woke", "Memories which found a tongue as thus he silence broke.", "", "CANTO 2.", "", "The starlight smile of children, the sweet looks", "Of women, the fair breast from which I fed,", "The murmur of the unreposing brooks,", "And the green light which, shifting overhead,", "Some 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 hours", "These sights and sounds did nurse my spirit's folded powers.", "", "In Argolis, beside the echoing sea,", "Such impulses within my mortal frame", "Arose, and they were dear to memory,", "Like tokens of the dead:--but others came", "Soon, in another shape: the wondrous fame", "Of the past world, the vital words and deeds", "Of minds whom neither time nor change can tame,", "Traditions dark and old, whence evil creeds", "Start forth, and whose dim shade a stream of poison feeds.", "", "I heard, as all have heard, the various story", "Of 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, chroniclers", "Of daily scorn, and slaves who loathed their state", "Yet, flattering power, had given its ministers", "A throne of judgement in the grave:--'twas fate,", "That among such as these my youth should seek its mate.", "", "The land in which I lived, by a fell bane", "Was withered up. Tyrants dwelt side by side,", "And stabled in our homes,--until the chain", "Stifled the captive's cry, and to abide", "That blasting curse men had no shame--all vied", "In evil, slave and despot; fear with lust", "Strange fellowship through mutual hate had tied,", "Like two dark serpents tangled in the dust,", "Which on the paths of men their mingling poison thrust.", "", "Earth, our bright home, its mountains and its waters,", "And the ethereal shapes which are suspended", "Over its green expanse, and those fair daughters,", "The clouds, of Sun and Ocean, who have blended", "The colours of the air since first extended", "It cradled the young world, none wandered forth", "To see or feel; a darkness had descended", "On every heart; the light which shows its worth,", "Must among gentle thoughts and fearless take its birth.", "", "This vital world, this home of happy spirits,", "Was as a dungeon to my blasted kind;", "All that despair from murdered hope inherits", "They sought, and in their helpless misery blind,", "A 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 bore", "On their tempestuous flood the shrieking wretch from shore.", "", "Out of that Ocean's wrecks had Guilt and Woe", "Framed a dark dwelling for their homeless thought,", "And, starting at the ghosts which to and fro", "Glide o'er its dim and gloomy strand, had brought", "The worship thence which they each other taught.", "Well might men loathe their life, well might they turn", "Even to the ills again from which they sought", "Such refuge after death!--well might they learn", "To gaze on this fair world with hopeless unconcern!", "", "For they all pined in bondage; body and soul,", "Tyrant and slave, victim and torturer, bent", "Before one Power, to which supreme control", "Over their will by their own weakness lent,", "Made all its many names omnipotent;", "All symbols of things evil, all divine;", "And hymns of blood or mockery, which rent", "The air from all its fanes, did intertwine", "Imposture's impious toils round each discordant shrine.", "", "I heard, as all have heard, life's various story,", "And in no careless heart transcribed the tale;", "But, from the sneers of men who had grown hoary", "In shame and scorn, from groans of crowds made pale", "By famine, from a mother's desolate wail", "O'er her polluted child, from innocent blood", "Poured on the earth, and brows anxious and pale", "With the heart's warfare, did I gather food", "To feed my many thoughts--a tameless multitude!", "", "I wandered through the wrecks of days departed", "Far by the desolated shore, when even", "O'er the still sea and jagged islets darted", "The 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 riven", "Looked vast in twilight, and the sorrowing gale", "Waked in those ruins gray its everlasting wail!", "", "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", "Tell their own tale to him who wisely heeds", "The language which they speak; and now, to me", "The moonlight making pale the blooming weeds,", "The bright stars shining in the breathless sea,", "Interpreted those scrolls of mortal mystery.", "", "Such man has been, and such may yet become!", "Ay, wiser, greater, gentler even than they", "Who on the fragments of yon shattered dome", "Have stamped the sign of power--I felt the sway", "Of the vast stream of ages bear away", "My floating thoughts--my heart beat loud and fast--", "Even as a storm let loose beneath the ray", "Of the still moon, my spirit onward passed", "Beneath truth's steady beams upon its tumult cast.", "", "It shall be thus no more! too long, too long,", "Sons of the glorious dead, have ye lain bound", "In darkness and in ruin!--Hope is strong,", "Justice and Truth their winged child have found--", "Awake! arise! until the mighty sound", "Of your career shall scatter in its gust", "The thrones of the oppressor, and the ground", "Hide the last altar's unregarded dust,", "Whose Idol has so long betrayed your impious trust!", "", "It must be so--I will arise and waken", "The multitude, and like a sulphurous hill,", "Which on a sudden from its snows has shaken", "The swoon of ages, it shall burst and fill", "The world with cleansing fire; it must, it will--", "It may not be restrained!--and who shall stand", "Amid the rocking earthquake steadfast still,", "But Laon? on high Freedom's desert land", "A tower whose marble walls the leagued storms withstand!", "", "One summer night, in commune with the hope", "Thus deeply fed, amid those ruins gray", "I watched, beneath the dark sky's starry cope;", "And ever from that hour upon me lay", "The burden of this hope, and night or day,", "In vision or in dream, clove to my breast:", "Among mankind, or when gone far away", "To the lone shores and mountains, 'twas a guest", "Which followed where I fled, and watched when I did rest.", "", "These hopes found words through which my spirit sought", "To weave a bondage of such sympathy,", "As might create some response to the thought", "Which ruled me now--and as the vapours lie", "Bright in the outspread morning's radiancy,", "So were these thoughts invested with the light", "Of language: and all bosoms made reply", "On which its lustre streamed, whene'er it might", "Through darkness wide and deep those tranced spirits smite.", "", "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 smother", "Even as my words evoked them--and another,", "And yet another, I did fondly deem,", "Felt that we all were sons of one great mother;", "And the cold truth such sad reverse did seem", "As to awake in grief from some delightful dream.", "", "Yes, oft beside the ruined labyrinth", "Which 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", "Calmly--that he like other men could weep", "Tears which are lies, and could betray and spread", "Snares for that guileless heart which for his own had bled.", "", "Then, had no great aim recompensed my sorrow,", "I must have sought dark respite from its stress", "In dreamless rest, in sleep that sees no morrow--", "For to tread life's dismaying wilderness", "Without 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", "With love that scorned return sought to unbind", "The interwoven clouds which make its wisdom blind.", "", "With deathless minds which leave where they have passed", "A path of light, my soul communion knew;", "Till from that glorious intercourse, at last,", "As from a mine of magic store, I drew", "Words which were weapons;--round my heart there grew", "The adamantine armour of their power;", "And from my fancy wings of golden hue", "Sprang forth--yet not alone from wisdom's tower,", "A minister of truth, these plumes young Laon bore.", "", "An orphan with my parents lived, whose eyes", "Were lodestars of delight, which drew me home", "When I might wander forth; nor did I prize", "Aught human thing beneath Heaven's mighty dome", "Beyond 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 become", "Heartless and false, I turned from all, to be,", "Cythna, the only source of tears and smiles to thee.", "", "What wert thou then? A child most infantine,", "Yet wandering far beyond that innocent age", "In all but its sweet looks and mien divine;", "Even then, methought, with the world's tyrant rage", "A patient warfare thy young heart did wage,", "When those soft eyes of scarcely conscious thought", "Some tale, or thine own fancies, would engage", "To overflow with tears, or converse fraught", "With passion, o'er their depths its fleeting light had wrought.", "", "She moved upon this earth a shape of brightness,", "A power, that from its objects scarcely drew", "One impulse of her being--in her lightness", "Most like some radiant cloud of morning dew,", "Which wanders through the waste air's pathless blue,", "To nourish some far desert; she did seem", "Beside me, gathering beauty as she grew,", "Like the bright shade of some immortal dream", "Which walks, when tempest sleeps, the wave of life's dark stream.", "", "As mine own shadow was this child to me,", "A second self, far dearer and more fair;", "Which clothed in undissolving radiancy", "All those steep paths which languor and despair", "Of human things, had made so dark and bare,", "But which I trod alone--nor, till bereft", "Of friends, and overcome by lonely care,", "Knew I what solace for that loss was left,", "Though by a bitter wound my trusting heart was cleft.", "", "Once she was dear, now she was all I had", "To love in human life--this playmate sweet,", "This child of twelve years old--so she was made", "My sole associate, and her willing feet", "Wandered with mine where earth and ocean meet,", "Beyond the aereal mountains whose vast cells", "The unreposing billows ever beat,", "Through forests wild and old, and lawny dells", "Where boughs of incense droop over the emerald wells.", "", "And warm and light I felt her clasping hand", "When twined in mine; she followed where I went,", "Through the lone paths of our immortal land.", "It had no waste but some memorial lent", "Which strung me to my toil--some monument", "Vital 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.", "", "And soon I could not have refused her--thus", "For ever, day and night, we two were ne'er", "Parted, but when brief sleep divided us:", "And when the pauses of the lulling air", "Of noon beside the sea had made a lair", "For 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.", "", "And, in the murmur of her dreams was heard", "Sometimes the name of Laon:--suddenly", "She would arise, and, like the secret bird", "Whom sunset wakens, fill the shore and sky", "With her sweet accents, a wild melody!", "Hymns which my soul had woven to Freedom, strong", "The 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--", "", "Her white arms lifted through the shadowy stream", "Of her loose hair. Oh, excellently great", "Seemed to me then my purpose, the vast theme", "Of those impassioned songs, when Cythna sate", "Amid the calm which rapture doth create", "After its tumult, her heart vibrating,", "Her spirit o'er the Ocean's floating state", "From her deep eyes far wandering, on the wing", "Of visions that were mine, beyond its utmost spring!", "", "For, before Cythna loved it, had my song", "Peopled with thoughts the boundless universe,", "A mighty congregation, which were strong", "Where'er they trod the darkness to disperse", "The cloud of that unutterable curse", "Which clings upon mankind:--all things became", "Slaves to my holy and heroic verse,", "Earth, sea and sky, the planets, life and fame", "And fate, or whate'er else binds the world's wondrous frame.", "", "And this beloved child thus felt the sway", "Of my conceptions, gathering like a cloud", "The very wind on which it rolls away:", "Hers too were all my thoughts, ere yet, endowed", "With music and with light, their fountains flowed", "In poesy; and her still and earnest face,", "Pallid with feelings which intensely glowed", "Within, was turned on mine with speechless grace,", "Watching the hopes which there her heart had learned to trace.", "", "In me, communion with this purest being", "Kindled intenser zeal, and made me wise", "In knowledge, which, in hers mine own mind seeing,", "Left in the human world few mysteries:", "How without fear of evil or disguise", "Was Cythna!--what a spirit strong and mild,", "Which death, or pain or peril could despise,", "Yet melt in tenderness! what genius wild", "Yet mighty, was enclosed within one simple child!", "", "New lore was this--old age with its gray hair,", "And wrinkled legends of unworthy things,", "And icy sneers, is nought: it cannot dare", "To burst the chains which life for ever flings", "On the entangled soul's aspiring wings,", "So is it cold and cruel, and is made", "The careless slave of that dark power which brings", "Evil, like blight, on man, who, still betrayed,", "Laughs o'er the grave in which his living hopes are laid.", "", "Nor are the strong and the severe to keep", "The empire of the world: thus Cythna taught", "Even in the visions of her eloquent sleep,", "Unconscious of the power through which she wrought", "The woof of such intelligible thought,", "As from the tranquil strength which cradled lay", "In her smile-peopled rest, my spirit sought", "Why the deceiver and the slave has sway", "O'er heralds so divine of truth's arising day.", "", "Within that fairest form, the female mind,", "Untainted by the poison clouds which rest", "On the dark world, a sacred home did find:", "But else, from the wide earth's maternal breast,", "Victorious Evil, which had dispossessed", "All native power, had those fair children torn,", "And made them slaves to soothe his vile unrest,", "And minister to lust its joys forlorn,", "Till they had learned to breathe the atmosphere of scorn.", "", "This misery was but coldly felt, till she", "Became my only friend, who had endued", "My purpose with a wider sympathy;", "Thus, Cythna mourned with me the servitude", "In which the half of humankind were mewed", "Victims of lust and hate, the slaves of slaves,", "She mourned that grace and power were thrown as food", "To the hyena lust, who, among graves,", "Over his loathed meal, laughing in agony, raves.", "", "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 meet", "Till free and equal man and woman greet", "Domestic peace; and ere this power can make", "In human hearts its calm and holy seat,", "This slavery must be broken'--as I spake,", "From Cythna's eyes a light of exultation brake.", "", "She replied earnestly:--'It shall be mine,", "This task,--mine, Laon!--thou hast much to gain;", "Nor wilt thou at poor Cythna's pride repine,", "If she should lead a happy female train", "To meet thee over the rejoicing plain,", "When myriads at thy call shall throng around", "The Golden City.'--Then the child did strain", "My arm upon her tremulous heart, and wound", "Her own about my neck, till some reply she found.", "", "I smiled, and spake not.--'Wherefore dost thou smile", "At what I say? Laon, I am not weak,", "And, though my cheek might become pale the while,", "With thee, if thou desirest, will I seek", "Through their array of banded slaves to wreak", "Ruin upon the tyrants. I had thought", "It was more hard to turn my unpractised cheek", "To scorn and shame, and this beloved spot", "And thee, O dearest friend, to leave and murmur not.", "", "'Whence came I what I am? Thou, Laon, knowest", "How a young child should thus undaunted be;", "Methinks, it is a power which thou bestowest,", "Through 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", "As I have learnt from them, like me would fear no more.", "", "'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", "He sung a song his Judge loved long ago,", "As he was led to death.--All shall relent", "Who hear me--tears, as mine have flowed, shall flow,", "Hearts beat as mine now beats, with such intent", "As renovates the world; a will omnipotent!", "", "'Yes, I will tread Pride's golden palaces,", "Through Penury's roofless huts and squalid cells", "Will I descend, where'er in abjectness", "Woman with some vile slave her tyrant dwells,", "There with the music of thine own sweet spells", "Will disenchant the captives, and will pour", "For the despairing, from the crystal wells", "Of thy deep spirit, reason's mighty lore,", "And power shall then abound, and hope arise once more.", "", "'Can man be free if woman be a slave?", "Chain one who lives, and breathes this boundless air,", "To the corruption of a closed grave!", "Can they whose mates are beasts, condemned to bear", "Scorn, heavier far than toil or anguish, dare", "To trample their oppressors? in their home", "Among their babes, thou knowest a curse would wear", "The shape of woman--hoary Crime would come", "Behind, and Fraud rebuild religion's tottering dome.", "", "'I am a child:--I would not yet depart.", "When I go forth alone, bearing the lamp", "Aloft which thou hast kindled in my heart,", "Millions of slaves from many a dungeon damp", "Shall leap in joy, as the benumbing cramp", "Of ages leaves their limbs--no ill may harm", "Thy Cythna ever--truth its radiant stamp", "Has fixed, as an invulnerable charm,", "Upon her children's brow, dark Falsehood to disarm.", "", "'Wait yet awhile for the appointed day--", "Thou wilt depart, and I with tears shall stand", "Watching thy dim sail skirt the ocean gray;", "Amid the dwellers of this lonely land", "I shall remain alone--and thy command", "Shall then dissolve the world's unquiet trance,", "And, multitudinous as the desert sand", "Borne on the storm, its millions shall advance,", "Thronging round thee, the light of their deliverance.", "", "'Then, like the forests of some pathless mountain,", "Which from remotest glens two warring winds", "Involve in fire which not the loosened fountain", "Of broadest floods might quench, shall all the kinds", "Of evil, catch from our uniting minds", "The spark which must consume them;--Cythna then", "Will have cast off the impotence that binds", "Her childhood now, and through the paths of men", "Will pass, as the charmed bird that haunts the serpent's den.", "", "'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 dissemble", "The agony of this thought?'--As thus she spoke", "The gathered sobs her quivering accents broke,", "And in my arms she hid her beating breast.", "I remained still for tears--sudden she woke", "As one awakes from sleep, and wildly pressed", "My bosom, her whole frame impetuously possessed.", "", "'We part to meet again--but yon blue waste,", "Yon desert wide and deep, holds no recess,", "Within whose happy silence, thus embraced", "We might survive all ills in one caress:", "Nor doth the grave--I fear 'tis passionless--", "Nor yon cold vacant Heaven:--we meet again", "Within the minds of men, whose lips shall bless", "Our memory, and whose hopes its light retain", "When these dissevered bones are trodden in the plain.'", "", "I could not speak, though she had ceased, for now", "The fountains of her feeling, swift and deep,", "Seemed to suspend the tumult of their flow;", "So we arose, and by the starlight steep", "Went homeward--neither did we speak nor weep,", "But, pale, were calm with passion--thus subdued", "Like evening shades that o'er the mountains creep,", "We moved towards our home; where, in this mood,", "Each from the other sought refuge in solitude.", "", "CANTO 3.", "", "What thoughts had sway o'er Cythna's lonely slumber", "That night, I know not; but my own did seem", "As if they might ten thousand years outnumber", "Of waking life, the visions of a dream", "Which hid in one dim gulf the troubled stream", "Of mind; a boundless chaos wild and vast,", "Whose limits yet were never memory's theme:", "And I lay struggling as its whirlwinds passed,", "Sometimes for rapture sick, sometimes for pain aghast.", "", "Two hours, whose mighty circle did embrace", "More time than might make gray the infant world,", "Rolled thus, a weary and tumultuous space:", "When the third came, like mist on breezes curled,", "From my dim sleep a shadow was unfurled:", "Methought, upon the threshold of a cave", "I sate with Cythna; drooping briony, pearled", "With dew from the wild streamlet's shattered wave,", "Hung, where we sate to taste the joys which Nature gave.", "", "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 weave", "Intenser hues, so that the herbless stone,", "The leafless bough among the leaves alone,", "Had 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.", "", "Morn fled, noon came, evening, then night descended,", "And we prolonged calm talk beneath the sphere", "Of the calm moon--when suddenly was blended", "With our repose a nameless sense of fear;", "And from the cave behind I seemed to hear", "Sounds gathering upwards!--accents incomplete,", "And stifled shrieks,--and now, more near and near,", "A tumult and a rush of thronging feet", "The cavern's secret depths beneath the earth did beat.", "", "The scene was changed, and away, away, away!", "Through the air and over the sea we sped,", "And Cythna in my sheltering bosom lay,", "And the winds bore me--through the darkness spread", "Around, the gaping earth then vomited", "Legions of foul and ghastly shapes, which hung", "Upon my flight; and ever, as we fled,", "They plucked at Cythna--soon to me then clung", "A sense of actual things those monstrous dreams among.", "", "And I lay struggling in the impotence", "Of sleep, while outward life had burst its bound,", "Though, still deluded, strove the tortured sense", "To its dire wanderings to adapt the sound", "Which in the light of morn was poured around", "Our dwelling; breathless, pale and unaware", "I rose, and all the cottage crowded found", "With armed men, whose glittering swords were bare,", "And whose degraded limbs the tyrant's garb did wear.", "", "And, ere with rapid lips and gathered brow", "I could demand the cause--a feeble shriek--", "It was a feeble shriek, faint, far and low,", "Arrested me--my mien grew calm and meek,", "And grasping a small knife, I went to seek", "That voice among the crowd--'twas Cythna's cry!", "Beneath most calm resolve did agony wreak", "Its whirlwind rage:--so I passed quietly", "Till I beheld, where bound, that dearest child did lie.", "", "I started to behold her, for delight", "And exultation, and a joyance free,", "Solemn, serene and lofty, filled the light", "Of the calm smile with which she looked on me:", "So that I feared some brainless ecstasy,", "Wrought 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.", "", "'Look not so, Laon--say farewell in hope,", "These bloody men are but the slaves who bear", "Their mistress to her task--it was my scope", "The slavery where they drag me now, to share,", "And among captives willing chains to wear", "Awhile--the rest thou knowest--return, dear friend!", "Let our first triumph trample the despair", "Which would ensnare us now, for in the end,", "In victory or in death our hopes and fears must blend.'", "", "These words had fallen on my unheeding ear,", "Whilst I had watched the motions of the crew", "With seeming-careless glance; not many were", "Around her, for their comrades just withdrew", "To guard some other victim--so I drew", "My knife, and with one impulse, suddenly", "All unaware three of their number slew,", "And grasped a fourth by the throat, and with loud cry", "My countrymen invoked to death or liberty!", "", "What followed then, I know not--for a stroke", "On my raised arm and naked head, came down,", "Filling my eyes with blood.--When I awoke,", "I 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,--overthrown", "The vineyards and the harvests, and the glow", "Of blazing roofs shone far o'er the white Ocean's flow.", "", "Upon that rock a mighty column stood,", "Whose capital seemed sculptured in the sky,", "Which to the wanderers o'er the solitude", "Of distant seas, from ages long gone by,", "Had made a landmark; o'er its height to fly", "Scarcely the cloud, the vulture, or the blast,", "Has power--and when the shades of evening lie", "On Earth and Ocean, its carved summits cast", "The sunken daylight far through the aerial waste.", "", "They bore me to a cavern in the hill", "Beneath that column, and unbound me there;", "And one did strip me stark; and one did fill", "A vessel from the putrid pool; one bare", "A lighted torch, and four with friendless care", "Guided my steps the cavern-paths along,", "Then up a steep and dark and narrow stair", "We wound, until the torch's fiery tongue", "Amid the gushing day beamless and pallid hung.", "", "They raised me to the platform of the pile,", "That column's dizzy height:--the grate of brass", "Through 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:", "The grate, as they departed to repass,", "With horrid clangour fell, and the far sound", "Of their retiring steps in the dense gloom was drowned.", "", "The noon was calm and bright:--around that column", "The overhanging sky and circling sea", "Spread forth in silentness profound and solemn", "The darkness of brief frenzy cast on me,", "So that I knew not my own misery:", "The islands and the mountains in the day", "Like clouds reposed afar; and I could see", "The town among the woods below that lay,", "And the dark rocks which bound the bright and glassy bay.", "", "It was so calm, that scarce the feathery weed", "Sown by some eagle on the topmost stone", "Swayed in the air:--so bright, that noon did breed", "No shadow in the sky beside mine own--", "Mine, and the shadow of my chain alone.", "Below, the smoke of roofs involved in flame", "Rested like night, all else was clearly shown", "In that broad glare; yet sound to me none came,", "But of the living blood that ran within my frame.", "", "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", "Waked, with its presence, in my tranced brain", "The stings of a known sorrow, keen and cold:", "I knew that ship bore Cythna o'er the plain", "Of waters, to her blighting slavery sold,", "And watched it with such thoughts as must remain untold.", "", "I watched until the shades of evening wrapped", "Earth like an exhalation--then the bark", "Moved, 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", "Its 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.", "", "I gnawed my brazen chain, and sought to sever", "Its 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", "Tameless resolve which laughed at misery", "Into my soul--linked remembrance lent", "To that such power, to me such a severe content.", "", "To breathe, to be, to hope, or to despair", "And die, I questioned not; nor, though the Sun", "Its shafts of agony kindling through the air", "Moved over me, nor though in evening dun,", "Or when the stars their visible courses run,", "Or morning, the wide universe was spread", "In dreary calmness round me, did I shun", "Its presence, nor seek refuge with the dead", "From one faint hope whose flower a dropping poison shed.", "", "Two days thus passed--I neither raved nor died--", "Thirst raged within me, like a scorpion's nest", "Built in mine entrails; I had spurned aside", "The water-vessel, while despair possessed", "My thoughts, and now no drop remained! The uprest", "Of the third sun brought hunger--but the crust", "Which had been left, was to my craving breast", "Fuel, not food. I chewed the bitter dust,", "And bit my bloodless arm, and licked the brazen rust.", "", "My brain began to fail when the fourth morn", "Burst o'er the golden isles--a fearful sleep,", "Which through the caverns dreary and forlorn", "Of the riven soul, sent its foul dreams to sweep", "With whirlwind swiftness--a fall far and deep,--", "A gulf, a void, a sense of senselessness--", "These things dwelt in me, even as shadows keep", "Their watch in some dim charnel's loneliness,", "A shoreless sea, a sky sunless and planetless!", "", "The forms which peopled this terrific trance", "I well remember--like a choir of devils,", "Around me they involved a giddy dance;", "Legions seemed gathering from the misty levels", "Of Ocean, to supply those ceaseless revels,", "Foul, ceaseless shadows:--thought could not divide", "The actual world from these entangling evils,", "Which so bemocked themselves, that I descried", "All shapes like mine own self, hideously multiplied.", "", "The sense of day and night, of false and true,", "Was dead within me. Yet two visions burst", "That darkness--one, as since that hour I knew,", "Was not a phantom of the realms accursed,", "Where then my spirit dwelt--but of the first", "I know not yet, was it a dream or no.", "But both, though not distincter, were immersed", "In hues which, when through memory's waste they flow,", "Make their divided streams more bright and rapid now.", "", "Methought that grate was lifted, and the seven", "Who brought me thither four stiff corpses bare,", "And from the frieze to the four winds of Heaven", "Hung 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,", "Leaning that I might eat, I stretched and clung", "Over the shapeless depth in which those corpses hung.", "", "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", "To my dry lips--what radiance did inform", "Those horny eyes? whose was that withered form?", "Alas, alas! it seemed that Cythna's ghost", "Laughed in those looks, and that the flesh was warm", "Within my teeth!--a whirlwind keen as frost", "Then in its sinking gulfs my sickening spirit tossed.", "", "Then seemed it that a tameless hurricane", "Arose, and bore me in its dark career", "Beyond the sun, beyond the stars that wane", "On the verge of formless space--it languished there,", "And dying, left a silence lone and drear,", "More horrible than famine:--in the deep", "The shape of an old man did then appear,", "Stately and beautiful; that dreadful sleep", "His heavenly smiles dispersed, and I could wake and weep.", "", "And, when the blinding tears had fallen, I saw", "That column, and those corpses, and the moon,", "And felt the poisonous tooth of hunger gnaw", "My vitals, I rejoiced, as if the boon", "Of senseless death would be accorded soon;--", "When from that stony gloom a voice arose,", "Solemn and sweet as when low winds attune", "The midnight pines; the grate did then unclose,", "And on that reverend form the moonlight did repose.", "", "He struck my chains, and gently spake and smiled;", "As they were loosened by that Hermit old,", "Mine eyes were of their madness half beguiled,", "To answer those kind looks; he did enfold", "His giant arms around me, to uphold", "My wretched frame; my scorched limbs he wound", "In linen moist and balmy, and as cold", "As dew to drooping leaves;--the chain, with sound", "Like earthquake, through the chasm of that steep stair did bound,", "", "As, lifting me, it fell!--What next I heard,", "Were billows leaping on the harbour-bar,", "And the shrill sea-wind, whose breath idly stirred", "My hair;--I looked abroad, and saw a star", "Shining beside a sail, and distant far", "That mountain and its column, the known mark", "Of those who in the wide deep wandering are,", "So that I feared some Spirit, fell and dark,", "In trance had lain me thus within a fiendish bark.", "", "For now indeed, over the salt sea-billow", "I sailed: yet dared not look upon the shape", "Of him who ruled the helm, although the pillow", "For my light head was hollowed in his lap,", "And my bare limbs his mantle did enwrap,", "Fearing it was a fiend: at last, he bent", "O'er me his aged face; as if to snap", "Those dreadful thoughts the gentle grandsire bent,", "And to my inmost soul his soothing looks he sent.", "", "A soft and healing potion to my lips", "At intervals he raised--now looked on high,", "To mark if yet the starry giant dips", "His zone in the dim sea--now cheeringly,", "Though 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.", "", "A dim and feeble joy, whose glimpses oft", "Were quenched in a relapse of wildering dreams;", "Yet still methought we sailed, until aloft", "The stars of night grew pallid, and the beams", "Of morn descended on the ocean-streams,", "And still that aged man, so grand and mild,", "Tended me, even as some sick mother seems", "To hang in hope over a dying child,", "Till in the azure East darkness again was piled.", "", "And then the night-wind steaming from the shore,", "Sent 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 see", "The myrtle-blossoms starring the dim grove,", "As past the pebbly beach the boat did flee", "On sidelong wing, into a silent cove,", "Where ebon pines a shade under the starlight wove.", "", "CANTO 4.", "", "The old man took the oars, and soon the bark", "Smote on the beach beside a tower of stone;", "It was a crumbling heap, whose portal dark", "With 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", "Within the walls of that gray tower, which stood", "A changeling of man's art nursed amid Nature's brood.", "", "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,", "And bore me through the tower adown a stair,", "Whose smooth descent some ceaseless step to wear", "For many a year had fallen.--We came at last", "To a small chamber, which with mosses rare", "Was tapestried, where me his soft hands placed", "Upon a couch of grass and oak-leaves interlaced.", "", "The moon was darting through the lattices", "Its yellow light, warm as the beams of day--", "So warm, that to admit the dewy breeze,", "The old man opened them; the moonlight lay", "Upon a lake whose waters wove their play", "Even to the threshold of that lonely home:", "Within was seen in the dim wavering ray", "The antique sculptured roof, and many a tome", "Whose lore had made that sage all that he had become.", "", "The rock-built barrier of the sea was past,--", "And I was on the margin of a lake,", "A lonely lake, amid the forests vast", "And snowy mountains:--did my spirit wake", "From sleep as many-coloured as the snake", "That 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?", "", "Thus madness came again,--a milder madness,", "Which darkened nought but time's unquiet flow", "With 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:", "When I was healed, he led me forth to show", "The wonders of his sylvan solitude,", "And we together sate by that isle-fretted flood.", "", "He knew his soothing words to weave with skill", "From all my madness told; like mine own heart,", "Of Cythna would he question me, until", "That 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", "A glance as keen as is the lightning's stroke", "When it doth rive the knots of some ancestral oak.", "", "Thus slowly from my brain the darkness rolled,", "My thoughts their due array did re-assume", "Through the enchantments of that Hermit old;", "Then I bethought me of the glorious doom", "Of those who sternly struggle to relume", "The lamp of Hope o'er man's bewildered lot,", "And, sitting by the waters, in the gloom", "Of eve, to that friend's heart I told my thought--", "That heart which had grown old, but had corrupted not.", "", "That hoary man had spent his livelong age", "In converse with the dead, who leave the stamp", "Of ever-burning thoughts on many a page,", "When they are gone into the senseless damp", "Of graves;--his spirit thus became a lamp", "Of 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.", "", "But custom maketh blind and obdurate", "The loftiest hearts;--he had beheld the woe", "In which mankind was bound, but deemed that fate", "Which made them abject, would preserve them so;", "And in such faith, some steadfast joy to know,", "He sought this cell: but when fame went abroad", "That one in Argolis did undergo", "Torture for liberty, and that the crowd", "High truths from gifted lips had heard and understood;", "", "And that the multitude was gathering wide,--", "His spirit leaped within his aged frame;", "In lonely peace he could no more abide,", "But to the land on which the victor's flame", "Had fed, my native land, the Hermit came:", "Each heart was there a shield, and every tongue", "Was as a sword of truth--young Laon's name", "Rallied their secret hopes, though tyrants sung", "Hymns of triumphant joy our scattered tribes among.", "", "He came to the lone column on the rock,", "And with his sweet and mighty eloquence", "The 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", "Has crept; the hope which wildered it has lent", "Meanwhile, to me the power of a sublime intent.", "", "'Yes, from the records of my youthful state,", "And from the lore of bards and sages old,", "From whatsoe'er my wakened thoughts create", "Out of the hopes of thine aspirings bold,", "Have I collected language to unfold", "Truth to my countrymen; from shore to shore", "Doctrines of human power my words have told,", "They have been heard, and men aspire to more", "Than they have ever gained or ever lost of yore.", "", "'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;", "And marriageable maidens, who have pined", "With 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.", "", "'The tyrants of the Golden City tremble", "At voices which are heard about the streets;", "The ministers of fraud can scarce dissemble", "The lies of their own heart, but when one meets", "Another at the shrine, he inly weets,", "Though 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.", "", "'Kind thoughts, and mighty hopes, and gentle deeds", "Abound, for fearless love, and the pure law", "Of mild equality and peace, succeeds", "To faiths which long have held the world in awe,", "Bloody and false, and cold:--as whirlpools draw", "All wrecks of Ocean to their chasm, the sway", "Of thy strong genius, Laon, which foresaw", "This hope, compels all spirits to obey,", "Which round thy secret strength now throng in wide array.", "", "'For I have been thy passive instrument'--", "(As thus the old man spake, his countenance", "Gleamed on me like a spirit's)--'thou hast lent", "To me, to all, the power to advance", "Towards this unforeseen deliverance", "From our ancestral chains--ay, thou didst rear", "That lamp of hope on high, which time nor chance", "Nor change may not extinguish, and my share", "Of good, was o'er the world its gathered beams to bear.", "", "'But I, alas! am both unknown and old,", "And though the woof of wisdom I know well", "To dye in hues of language, I am cold", "In seeming, and the hopes which inly dwell,", "My manners note that I did long repel;", "But Laon's name to the tumultuous throng", "Were like the star whose beams the waves compel", "And tempests, and his soul-subduing tongue", "Were as a lance to quell the mailed crest of wrong.", "", "'Perchance blood need not flow, if thou at length", "Wouldst rise, perchance the very slaves would spare", "Their brethren and themselves; great is the strength", "Of words--for lately did a maiden fair,", "Who from her childhood has been taught to bear", "The Tyrant's heaviest yoke, arise, and make", "Her sex the law of truth and freedom hear,", "And with these quiet words--\"for thine own sake", "I prithee spare me;\"--did with ruth so take", "", "'All hearts, that even the torturer who had bound", "Her meek calm frame, ere it was yet impaled,", "Loosened her, weeping then; nor could be found", "One human hand to harm her--unassailed", "Therefore she walks through the great City, veiled", "In 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.", "", "'The wild-eyed women throng around her path:", "From their luxurious dungeons, from the dust", "Of meaner thralls, from the oppressor's wrath,", "Or the caresses of his sated lust", "They congregate:--in her they put their trust;", "The tyrants send their armed slaves to quell", "Her power;--they, even like a thunder-gust", "Caught by some forest, bend beneath the spell", "Of that young maiden's speech, and to their chiefs rebel.", "", "'Thus she doth equal laws and justice teach", "To woman, outraged and polluted long;", "Gathering the sweetest fruit in human reach", "For those fair hands now free, while armed wrong", "Trembles before her look, though it be strong;", "Thousands thus dwell beside her, virgins bright,", "And matrons with their babes, a stately throng!", "Lovers renew the vows which they did plight", "In early faith, and hearts long parted now unite,", "", "'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,", "Thrusts the redemption of its wickedness:--", "In squalid huts, and in its palaces", "Sits Lust alone, while o'er the land is borne", "Her voice, whose awful sweetness doth repress", "All evil, and her foes relenting turn,", "And cast the vote of love in hope's abandoned urn.", "", "'So in the populous City, a young maiden", "Has baffled Havoc of the prey which he", "Marks as his own, whene'er with chains o'erladen", "Men make them arms to hurl down tyranny,--", "False arbiter between the bound and free;", "And o'er the land, in hamlets and in towns", "The multitudes collect tumultuously,", "And throng in arms; but tyranny disowns", "Their claim, and gathers strength around its trembling thrones.", "", "'Blood soon, although unwillingly, to shed", "The free cannot forbear--the Queen of Slaves,", "The hoodwinked Angel of the blind and dead,", "Custom, with iron mace points to the graves", "Where her own standard desolately waves", "Over the dust of Prophets and of Kings.", "Many yet stand in her array--\"she paves", "Her path with human hearts,\" and o'er it flings", "The wildering gloom of her immeasurable wings.", "", "'There is a plain beneath the City's wall,", "Bounded by misty mountains, wide and vast,", "Millions there lift at Freedom's thrilling call", "Ten thousand standards wide, they load the blast", "Which bears one sound of many voices past,", "And startles on his throne their sceptred foe:", "He sits amid his idle pomp aghast,", "And that his power hath passed away, doth know--", "Why pause the victor swords to seal his overthrow?", "", "'The tyrant's guards resistance yet maintain:", "Fearless, and fierce, and hard as beasts of blood,", "They stand a speck amid the peopled plain;", "Carnage and ruin have been made their food", "From infancy--ill has become their good,", "And for its hateful sake their will has wove", "The chains which eat their hearts. The multitude", "Surrounding them, with words of human love,", "Seek from their own decay their stubborn minds to move.", "", "'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", "The thoughts of men with hope; as when the sound", "Of whirlwind, whose fierce blasts the waves and clouds confound,", "Dies suddenly, the mariner in fear", "Feels silence sink upon his heart--thus bound,", "The conquerors pause, and oh! may freemen ne'er", "Clasp the relentless knees of Dread, the murderer!", "", "'If blood be shed, 'tis but a change and choice", "Of bonds,--from slavery to cowardice", "A wretched fall!--Uplift thy charmed voice!", "Pour on those evil men the love that lies", "Hovering 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.", "", "I saw my countenance reflected there;--", "And then my youth fell on me like a wind", "Descending on still waters--my thin hair", "Was prematurely gray, my face was lined", "With channels, such as suffering leaves behind,", "Not age; my brow was pale, but in my cheek", "And lips a flush of gnawing fire did find", "Their food and dwelling; though mine eyes might speak", "A subtle mind and strong within a frame thus weak.", "", "And though their lustre now was spent and faded,", "Yet in my hollow looks and withered mien", "The likeness of a shape for which was braided", "The 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--", "It might resemble her--it once had been", "The mirror of her thoughts, and still the grace", "Which her mind's shadow cast, left there a lingering trace.", "", "What then was I? She slumbered with the dead.", "Glory and joy and peace, had come and gone.", "Doth the cloud perish, when the beams are fled", "Which 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 upborne", "Pour rain upon the earth? The stars are shown,", "When the cold moon sharpens her silver horn", "Under the sea, and make the wide night not forlorn.", "", "Strengthened in heart, yet sad, that aged man", "I left, with interchange of looks and tears,", "And lingering speech, and to the Camp began", "My war. O'er many a mountain-chain which rears", "Its hundred crests aloft, my spirit bears", "My frame; o'er many a dale and many a moor,", "And gaily now meseems serene earth wears", "The blosmy spring's star-bright investiture,", "A vision which aught sad from sadness might allure.", "", "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", "Before my pillow;--my own Cythna was,", "Not like a child of death, among them ever;", "When I arose from rest, a woful mass", "That gentlest sleep seemed from my life to sever,", "As if the light of youth were not withdrawn for ever.", "", "Aye as I went, that maiden who had reared", "The torch of Truth afar, of whose high deeds", "The Hermit in his pilgrimage had heard,", "Haunted my thoughts.--Ah, Hope its sickness feeds", "With whatsoe'er it finds, or flowers or weeds!", "Could she be Cythna?--Was that corpse a shade", "Such as self-torturing thought from madness breeds?", "Why was this hope not torture? Yet it made", "A light around my steps which would not ever fade.", "", "CANTO 5.", "", "Over the utmost hill at length I sped,", "A snowy steep:--the moon was hanging low", "Over the Asian mountains, and outspread", "The plain, the City, and the Camp below,", "Skirted the midnight Ocean's glimmering flow;", "The City's moonlit spires and myriad lamps,", "Like 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.", "", "All slept but those in watchful arms who stood,", "And those who sate tending the beacon's light,", "And the few sounds from that vast multitude", "Made silence more profound.--Oh, what a might", "Of human thought was cradled in that night!", "How many hearts impenetrably veiled", "Beat underneath its shade, what secret fight", "Evil and good, in woven passions mailed,", "Waged through that silent throng--a war that never failed!", "", "And now the Power of Good held victory.", "So, through the labyrinth of many a tent,", "Among the silent millions who did lie", "In innocent sleep, exultingly I went;", "The moon had left Heaven desert now, but lent", "From eastern morn the first faint lustre showed", "An armed youth--over his spear he bent", "His downward face.--'A friend!' I cried aloud,", "And quickly common hopes made freemen understood.", "", "I sate beside him while the morning beam", "Crept slowly over Heaven, and talked with him", "Of those immortal hopes, a glorious theme!", "Which led us forth, until the stars grew dim:", "And all the while, methought, his voice did swim", "As if it drowned in remembrance were", "Of 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!'", "", "Then, suddenly, I knew it was the youth", "In 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,", "Whilst he was innocent, and I deluded;", "The truth now came upon me, on the ground", "Tears of repenting joy, which fast intruded,", "Fell fast, and o'er its peace our mingling spirits brooded.", "", "Thus, while with rapid lips and earnest eyes", "We talked, a sound of sweeping conflict spread", "As from the earth did suddenly arise;", "From every tent roused by that clamour dread,", "Our bands outsprung and seized their arms--we sped", "Towards the sound: our tribes were gathering far.", "Those sanguine slaves amid ten thousand dead", "Stabbed in their sleep, trampled in treacherous war", "The gentle hearts whose power their lives had sought to spare.", "", "Like rabid snakes, that sting some gentle child", "Who brings them food, when winter false and fair", "Allures them forth with its cold smiles, so wild", "They rage among the camp;--they overbear", "The patriot hosts--confusion, then despair,", "Descends like night--when 'Laon!' one did cry;", "Like a bright ghost from Heaven that shout did scare", "The slaves, and widening through the vaulted sky,", "Seemed sent from Earth to Heaven in sign of victory.", "", "In sudden panic those false murderers fled,", "Like insect tribes before the northern gale:", "But swifter still, our hosts encompassed", "Their shattered ranks, and in a craggy vale,", "Where even their fierce despair might nought avail,", "Hemmed them around!--and then revenge and fear", "Made the high virtue of the patriots fail:", "One pointed on his foe the mortal spear--", "I rushed before its point, and cried 'Forbear, forbear!'", "", "The spear transfixed my arm that was uplifted", "In swift expostulation, and the blood", "Gushed round its point: I smiled, and--'Oh! thou gifted", "With eloquence which shall not be withstood,", "Flow thus!' I cried in joy, 'thou vital flood,", "Until my heart be dry, ere thus the cause", "For 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.", "", "'Soldiers, our brethren and our friends are slain.", "Ye murdered them, I think, as they did sleep!", "Alas, what have ye done? the slightest pain", "Which ye might suffer, there were eyes to weep,", "But ye have quenched them--there were smiles to steep", "Your hearts in balm, but they are lost in woe;", "And those whom love did set his watch to keep", "Around your tents, truth's freedom to bestow,", "Ye stabbed as they did sleep--but they forgive ye now.", "", "'Oh wherefore should ill ever flow from ill,", "And pain still keener pain for ever breed?", "We all are brethren--even the slaves who kill", "For hire, are men; and to avenge misdeed", "On the misdoer, doth but Misery feed", "With her own broken heart! O Earth, O Heaven!", "And thou, dread Nature, which to every deed", "And all that lives, or is, to be hath given,", "Even as to thee have these done ill, and are forgiven!", "", "'Join then your hands and hearts, and let the past", "Be as a grave which gives not up its dead", "To evil thoughts.'--A film then overcast", "My sense with dimness, for the wound, which bled", "Freshly, swift shadows o'er mine eyes had shed.", "When I awoke, I lay mid friends and foes,", "And earnest countenances on me shed", "The light of questioning looks, whilst one did close", "My wound with balmiest herbs, and soothed me to repose;", "", "And one whose spear had pierced me, leaned beside", "With quivering lips and humid eyes;--and all", "Seemed like some brothers on a journey wide", "Gone forth, whom now strange meeting did befall", "In a strange land, round one whom they might call", "Their friend, their chief, their father, for assay", "Of peril, which had saved them from the thrall", "Of death, now suffering. Thus the vast array", "Of those fraternal bands were reconciled that day.", "", "Lifting the thunder of their acclamation,", "Towards the City then the multitude,", "And I among them, went in joy--a nation", "Made free by love;--a mighty brotherhood", "Linked by a jealous interchange of good;", "A glorious pageant, more magnificent", "Than kingly slaves arrayed in gold and blood,", "When they return from carnage, and are sent", "In triumph bright beneath the populous battlement.", "", "Afar, the city-walls were thronged on high,", "And myriads on each giddy turret clung,", "And to each spire far lessening in the sky", "Bright pennons on the idle winds were hung;", "As we approached, a shout of joyance sprung", "At once from all the crowd, as if the vast", "And peopled Earth its boundless skies among", "The sudden clamour of delight had cast,", "When from before its face some general wreck had passed.", "", "Our armies through the City's hundred gates", "Were poured, like brooks which to the rocky lair", "Of some deep lake, whose silence them awaits,", "Throng from the mountains when the storms are there", "And, as we passed through the calm sunny air", "A thousand flower-inwoven crowns were shed,", "The 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.", "", "I trod as one tranced in some rapturous vision:", "Those bloody bands so lately reconciled,", "Were, ever as they went, by the contrition", "Of anger turned to love, from ill beguiled,", "And every one on them more gently smiled,", "Because they had done evil:--the sweet awe", "Of such mild looks made their own hearts grow mild,", "And did with soft attraction ever draw", "Their spirits to the love of freedom's equal law.", "", "And they, and all, in one loud symphony", "My name with Liberty commingling, lifted,", "'The friend and the preserver of the free!", "The parent of this joy!' and fair eyes gifted", "With feelings, caught from one who had uplifted", "The light of a great spirit, round me shone;", "And all the shapes of this grand scenery shifted", "Like restless clouds before the steadfast sun,--", "Where was that Maid? I asked, but it was known of none.", "", "Laone was the name her love had chosen,", "For she was nameless, and her birth none knew:", "Where was Laone now?--The words were frozen", "Within my lips with fear; but to subdue", "Such dreadful hope, to my great task was due,", "And when at length one brought reply, that she", "To-morrow would appear, I then withdrew", "To judge what need for that great throng might be,", "For now the stars came thick over the twilight sea.", "", "Yet need was none for rest or food to care,", "Even though that multitude was passing great,", "Since each one for the other did prepare", "All kindly succour--Therefore to the gate", "Of the Imperial House, now desolate,", "I passed, and there was found aghast, alone,", "The fallen Tyrant!--Silently he sate", "Upon the footstool of his golden throne,", "Which, starred with sunny gems, in its own lustre shone.", "", "Alone, but for one child, who led before him", "A graceful dance: the only living thing", "Of all the crowd, which thither to adore him", "Flocked yesterday, who solace sought to bring", "In his abandonment!--She knew the King", "Had praised her dance of yore, and now she wove", "Its circles, aye weeping and murmuring", "Mid her sad task of unregarded love,", "That to no smiles it might his speechless sadness move.", "", "She fled to him, and wildly clasped his feet", "When human steps were heard:--he moved nor spoke,", "Nor changed his hue, nor raised his looks to meet", "The gaze of strangers--our loud entrance woke", "The echoes of the hall, which circling broke", "The calm of its recesses,--like a tomb", "Its sculptured walls vacantly to the stroke", "Of footfalls answered, and the twilight's gloom", "Lay like a charnel's mist within the radiant dome.", "", "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", "Lay beauty, which makes hearts that feed thereon", "Sick with excess of sweetness; on the throne", "She leaned;--the King, with gathered brow, and lips", "Wreathed by long scorn, did inly sneer and frown", "With hue like that when some great painter dips", "His pencil in the gloom of earthquake and eclipse.", "", "She stood beside him like a rainbow braided", "Within some storm, when scarce its shadows vast", "From the blue paths of the swift sun have faded;", "A sweet and solemn smile, like Cythna's, cast", "One 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 passed", "Which wrapped it, even as with a father's kiss", "I pressed those softest eyes in trembling tenderness.", "", "The sceptred wretch then from that solitude", "I 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", "Glared on me as a toothless snake might glare:", "Pity, not scorn I felt, though desolate", "The desolator now, and unaware", "The curses which he mocked had caught him by the hair.", "", "I led him forth from that which now might seem", "A gorgeous grave: through portals sculptured deep", "With imagery beautiful as dream", "We went, and left the shades which tend on sleep", "Over its unregarded gold to keep", "Their silent watch.--The child trod faintingly,", "And as she went, the tears which she did weep", "Glanced in the starlight; wildered seemed she,", "And, when I spake, for sobs she could not answer me.", "", "At last the tyrant cried, 'She hungers, slave!", "Stab her, or give her bread!'--It was a tone", "Such as sick fancies in a new-made grave", "Might 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 he", "In mingled pride and awe cowered near his throne,", "And she a nursling of captivity", "Knew nought beyond those walls, nor what such change might be.", "", "And he was troubled at a charm withdrawn", "Thus suddenly; that sceptres ruled no more--", "That even from gold the dreadful strength was gone,", "Which once made all things subject to its power--", "Such wonder seized him, as if hour by hour", "The past had come again; and the swift fall", "Of one so great and terrible of yore,", "To desolateness, in the hearts of all", "Like wonder stirred, who saw such awful change befall.", "", "A mighty crowd, such as the wide land pours", "Once in a thousand years, now gathered round", "The fallen tyrant;--like the rush of showers", "Of hail in spring, pattering along the ground,", "Their many footsteps fell, else came no sound", "From the wide multitude: that lonely man", "Then 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.", "", "And he was faint withal: I sate beside him", "Upon the earth, and took that child so fair", "From his weak arms, that ill might none betide him", "Or her;--when food was brought to them, her share", "To his averted lips the child did bear,", "But, when she saw he had enough, she ate", "And wept the while;--the lonely man's despair", "Hunger then overcame, and of his state", "Forgetful, on the dust as in a trance he sate.", "", "Slowly the silence of the multitudes", "Passed, as when far is heard in some lone dell", "The gathering of a wind among the woods--", "'And he is fallen!' they cry, 'he who did dwell", "Like famine or the plague, or aught more fell", "Among our homes, is fallen! the murderer", "Who slaked his thirsting soul as from a well", "Of blood and tears with ruin! he is here!", "Sunk in a gulf of scorn from which none may him rear!'", "", "Then was heard--'He who judged let him be brought", "To judgement! blood for blood cries from the soil", "On which his crimes have deep pollution wrought!", "Shall Othman only unavenged despoil?", "Shall they who by the stress of grinding toil", "Wrest from the unwilling earth his luxuries,", "Perish for crime, while his foul blood may boil,", "Or creep within his veins at will?--Arise!", "And to high justice make her chosen sacrifice!'", "", "'What do ye seek? what fear ye,' then I cried,", "Suddenly starting forth, 'that ye should shed", "The blood of Othman?--if your hearts are tried", "In the true love of freedom, cease to dread", "This one poor lonely man--beneath Heaven spread", "In purest light above us all, through earth--", "Maternal earth, who doth her sweet smiles shed", "For all, let him go free; until the worth", "Of human nature win from these a second birth.", "", "'What call ye \"justice\"? Is there one who ne'er", "In secret thought has wished another's ill?--", "Are ye all pure? Let those stand forth who hear", "And tremble not. Shall they insult and kill,", "If such they be? their mild eyes can they fill", "With the false anger of the hypocrite?", "Alas, such were not pure!--the chastened will", "Of virtue sees that justice is the light", "Of love, and not revenge, and terror and despite.'", "", "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 lying", "Shrouding his head, which now that infant fair", "Clasped on her lap in silence;--through the air", "Sobs were then heard, and many kissed my feet", "In pity's madness, and to the despair", "Of him whom late they cursed, a solace sweet", "His very victims brought--soft looks and speeches meet.", "", "Then to a home for his repose assigned,", "Accompanied by the still throng, he went", "In silence, where, to soothe his rankling mind,", "Some likeness of his ancient state was lent;", "And if his heart could have been innocent", "As those who pardoned him, he might have ended", "His 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.", "", "'Twas midnight now, the eve of that great day", "Whereon the many nations at whose call", "The chains of earth like mist melted away,", "Decreed to hold a sacred Festival,", "A rite to attest the equality of all", "Who live. So to their homes, to dream or wake", "All went. The sleepless silence did recall", "Laone to my thoughts, with hopes that make", "The flood recede from which their thirst they seek to slake.", "", "The dawn flowed forth, and from its purple fountains", "I drank those hopes which make the spirit quail,", "As to the plain between the misty mountains", "And the great City, with a countenance pale,", "I went:--it was a sight which might avail", "To make men weep exulting tears, for whom", "Now first from human power the reverend veil", "Was torn, to see Earth from her general womb", "Pour forth her swarming sons to a fraternal doom:", "", "To see, far glancing in the misty morning,", "The signs of that innumerable host;", "To hear one sound of many made, the warning", "Of Earth to Heaven from its free children tossed,", "While the eternal hills, and the sea lost", "In wavering light, and, starring the blue sky", "The city's myriad spires of gold, almost", "With human joy made mute society--", "Its witnesses with men who must hereafter be.", "", "To see, like some vast island from the Ocean,", "The Altar of the Federation rear", "Its pile i' the midst; a work, which the devotion", "Of millions in one night created there,", "Sudden as when the moonrise makes appear", "Strange clouds in the east; a marble pyramid", "Distinct with steps: that mighty shape did wear", "The light of genius; its still shadow hid", "Far ships: to know its height the morning mists forbid!", "", "To hear the restless multitudes for ever", "Around the base of that great Altar flow,", "As on some mountain-islet burst and shiver", "Atlantic waves; and solemnly and slow", "As the wind bore that tumult to and fro,", "To feel the dreamlike music, which did swim", "Like beams through floating clouds on waves below", "Falling in pauses, from that Altar dim,", "As silver-sounding tongues breathed an aerial hymn.", "", "To hear, to see, to live, was on that morn", "Lethean joy! so that all those assembled", "Cast 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;", "A lost and dear possession, which not won,", "He walks in lonely gloom beneath the noonday sun.", "", "To the great Pyramid I came: its stair", "With female choirs was thronged: the loveliest", "Among the free, grouped with its sculptures rare;", "As I approached, the morning's golden mist,", "Which now the wonder-stricken breezes kissed", "With their cold lips, fled, and the summit shone", "Like Athos seen from Samothracia, dressed", "In earliest light, by vintagers, and one", "Sate there, a female Shape upon an ivory throne:", "", "A Form most like the imagined habitant", "Of silver exhalations sprung from dawn,", "By winds which feed on sunrise woven, to enchant", "The faiths of men: all mortal eyes were drawn,", "As famished mariners through strange seas gone", "Gaze on a burning watch-tower, by the light", "Of those divinest lineaments--alone", "With thoughts which none could share, from that fair sight", "I turned in sickness, for a veil shrouded her countenance bright.", "", "And neither did I hear the acclamations,", "Which from brief silence bursting, filled the air", "With her strange name and mine, from all the nations", "Which we, they said, in strength had gathered there", "From the sleep of bondage; nor the vision fair", "Of that bright pageantry beheld,--but blind", "And silent, as a breathing corpse did fare,", "Leaning upon my friend, till like a wind", "To fevered cheeks, a voice flowed o'er my troubled mind.", "", "Like music of some minstrel heavenly gifted,", "To 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 see", "The platform where we stood, the statues three", "Which kept their marble watch on that high shrine,", "The multitudes, the mountains, and the sea;", "As when eclipse hath passed, things sudden shine", "To men's astonished eyes most clear and crystalline.", "", "At first Laone spoke most tremulously:", "But soon her voice the calmness which it shed", "Gathered, 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", "This veil between us two that thou beneath", "Shouldst image one who may have been long lost in death.", "", "'For this wilt thou not henceforth pardon me?", "Yes, but those joys which silence well requite", "Forbid reply;--why men have chosen me", "To be the Priestess of this holiest rite", "I scarcely know, but that the floods of light", "Which flow over the world, have borne me hither", "To meet thee, long most dear; and now unite", "Thine hand with mine, and may all comfort wither", "From both the hearts whose pulse in joy now beat together,", "", "'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", "Three shapes around her ivory throne appear;", "One was a Giant, like a child asleep", "On a loose rock, whose grasp crushed, as it were", "In dream, sceptres and crowns; and one did keep", "Its watchful eyes in doubt whether to smile or weep;", "", "A Woman sitting on the sculptured disk", "Of the broad earth, and feeding from one breast", "A human babe and a young basilisk;", "Her looks were sweet as Heaven's when loveliest", "In Autumn eves. The third Image was dressed", "In white wings swift as clouds in winter skies;", "Beneath his feet, 'mongst ghastliest forms, repressed", "Lay Faith, an obscene worm, who sought to rise,", "While calmly on the Sun he turned his diamond eyes.", "", "Beside that Image then I sate, while she", "Stood, mid the throngs which ever ebbed and flowed,", "Like light amid the shadows of the sea", "Cast from one cloudless star, and on the crowd", "That touch which none who feels forgets, bestowed;", "And whilst the sun returned the steadfast gaze", "Of the great Image, as o'er Heaven it glode,", "That rite had place; it ceased when sunset's blaze", "Burned o'er the isles. All stood in joy and deep amaze--", "--When in the silence of all spirits there", "Laone's voice was felt, and through the air", "Her thrilling gestures spoke, most eloquently fair:--", "", "51.1.", "'Calm art thou as yon sunset! swift and strong", "As new-fledged Eagles, beautiful and young,", "That float among the blinding beams of morning;", "And underneath thy feet writhe Faith, and Folly,", "Custom, and Hell, and mortal Melancholy--", "Hark! the Earth starts to hear the mighty warning", "Of thy voice sublime and holy;", "Its free spirits here assembled", "See thee, feel thee, know thee now,--", "To thy voice their hearts have trembled", "Like ten thousand clouds which flow", "With one wide wind as it flies!--", "Wisdom! thy irresistible children rise", "To hail thee, and the elements they chain", "And 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 given", "The light of life, the loveliness of being,", "Lo! thou dost re-ascend the human heart,", "Thy throne of power, almighty as thou wert", "In dreams of Poets old grown pale by seeing", "The shade of thee;--now, millions start", "To feel thy lightnings through them burning:", "Nature, or God, or Love, or Pleasure,", "Or Sympathy the sad tears turning", "To mutual smiles, a drainless treasure,", "Descends amidst us;--Scorn and Hate,", "Revenge and Selfishness are desolate--", "A hundred nations swear that there shall be", "Pity 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 thee", "Treasures from all the cells of human thought,", "And from the Stars, and from the Ocean brought,", "And the last living heart whose beatings bound thee:", "The powerful and the wise had sought", "Thy coming, thou in light descending", "O'er the wide land which is thine own", "Like the Spring whose breath is blending", "All 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", "To 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", "From 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", "Like infants without hopes or fears,", "And whose beams are joys that lie", "In blended hearts, now holds dominion;", "The dawn of mind, which upwards on a pinion", "Borne, swift as sunrise, far illumines space,", "And clasps this barren world in its own bright embrace!", "", "51.5", "'My brethren, we are free! The fruits are glowing", "Beneath the stars, and the night-winds are flowing", "O'er the ripe corn, the birds and beasts are dreaming--", "Never again may blood of bird or beast", "Stain with its venomous stream a human feast,", "To the pure skies in accusation steaming;", "Avenging poisons shall have ceased", "To feed disease and fear and madness,", "The dwellers of the earth and air", "Shall 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,", "Shall clothe in light the fields and cities of the free!", "", "51.6", "'Victory, Victory to the prostrate nations!", "Bear witness Night, and ye mute Constellations", "Who gaze on us from your crystalline cars!", "Thoughts have gone forth whose powers can sleep no more!", "Victory! Victory! Earth's remotest shore,", "Regions which groan beneath the Antarctic stars,", "The green lands cradled in the roar", "Of western waves, and wildernesses", "Peopled and vast, which skirt the oceans", "Where 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,", "While Truth with Joy enthroned o'er his lost empire reigns!'", "", "51.52.", "Ere she had ceased, the mists of night entwining", "Their dim woof, floated o'er the infinite throng;", "She, like a spirit through the darkness shining,", "In tones whose sweetness silence did prolong,", "As if to lingering winds they did belong,", "Poured forth her inmost soul: a passionate speech", "With wild and thrilling pauses woven among,", "Which whoso heard was mute, for it could teach", "To rapture like her own all listening hearts to reach.", "", "Her voice was as a mountain stream which sweeps", "The withered leaves of Autumn to the lake,", "And in some deep and narrow bay then sleeps", "In the shadow of the shores; as dead leaves wake,", "Under the wave, in flowers and herbs which make", "Those green depths beautiful when skies are blue,", "The multitude so moveless did partake", "Such living change, and kindling murmurs flew", "As o'er that speechless calm delight and wonder grew.", "", "Over the plain the throngs were scattered then", "In groups around the fires, which from the sea", "Even to the gorge of the first mountain-glen", "Blazed wide and far: the banquet of the free", "Was spread beneath many a dark cypress-tree,", "Beneath whose spires, which swayed in the red flame,", "Reclining, as they ate, of Liberty,", "And Hope, and Justice, and Laone's name,", "Earth's children did a woof of happy converse frame.", "", "Their feast was such as Earth, the general mother,", "Pours from her fairest bosom, when she smiles", "In the embrace of Autumn;--to each other", "As when some parent fondly reconciles", "Her warring children, she their wrath beguiles", "With her own sustenance, they relenting weep:", "Such was this Festival, which from their isles", "And continents, and winds, and oceans deep,", "All shapes might throng to share, that fly, or walk or creep,--", "", "Might share in peace and innocence, for gore", "Or poison none this festal did pollute,", "But, piled on high, an overflowing store", "Of pomegranates and citrons, fairest fruit,", "Melons, and dates, and figs, and many a root", "Sweet and sustaining, and bright grapes ere yet", "Accursed fire their mild juice could transmute", "Into a mortal bane, and brown corn set", "In baskets; with pure streams their thirsting lips they wet.", "", "Laone had descended from the shrine,", "And every deepest look and holiest mind", "Fed on her form, though now those tones divine", "Were silent as she passed; she did unwind", "Her veil, as with the crowds of her own kind", "She mixed; some impulse made my heart refrain", "From seeking her that night, so I reclined", "Amidst a group, where on the utmost plain", "A festal watchfire burned beside the dusky main.", "", "And joyous was our feast; pathetic talk,", "And wit, and harmony of choral strains,", "While far Orion o'er the waves did walk", "That flow among the isles, held us in chains", "Of sweet captivity which none disdains", "Who feels; but when his zone grew dim in mist", "Which clothes the Ocean's bosom, o'er the plains", "The multitudes went homeward, to their rest,", "Which that delightful day with its own shadow blessed.", "", "CANTO 6.", "", "Beside the dimness of the glimmering sea,", "Weaving swift language from impassioned themes,", "With that dear friend I lingered, who to me", "So late had been restored, beneath the gleams", "Of the silver stars; and ever in soft dreams", "Of future love and peace sweet converse lapped", "Our willing fancies, till the pallid beams", "Of the last watchfire fell, and darkness wrapped", "The waves, and each bright chain of floating fire was snapped;", "", "And till we came even to the City's wall", "And the great gate; then, none knew whence or why,", "Disquiet on the multitudes did fall:", "And first, one pale and breathless passed us by,", "And stared and spoke not;--then with piercing cry", "A troop of wild-eyed women, by the shrieks", "Of their own terror driven,--tumultuously", "Hither and thither hurrying with pale cheeks,", "Each one from fear unknown a sudden refuge seeks--", "", "Then, rallying cries of treason and of danger", "Resounded: and--'They come! to arms! to arms!", "The Tyrant is amongst us, and the stranger", "Comes to enslave us in his name! to arms!'", "In vain: for Panic, the pale fiend who charms", "Strength to forswear her right, those millions swept", "Like waves before the tempest--these alarms", "Came to me, as to know their cause I lept", "On the gate's turret, and in rage and grief and scorn I wept!", "", "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", "I heard approach, and saw the throng below", "Stream through the gates like foam-wrought waterfalls", "Fed from a thousand storms--the fearful glow", "Of bombs flares overhead--at intervals", "The red artillery's bolt mangling among them falls.", "", "And now the horsemen come--and all was done", "Swifter than I have spoken--I beheld", "Their red swords flash in the unrisen sun.", "I rushed among the rout, to have repelled", "That miserable flight--one moment quelled", "By voice and looks and eloquent despair,", "As if reproach from their own hearts withheld", "Their steps, they stood; but soon came pouring there", "New multitudes, and did those rallied bands o'erbear.", "", "I strove, as, drifted on some cataract", "By irresistible streams, some wretch might strive", "Who hears its fatal roar:--the files compact", "Whelmed me, and from the gate availed to drive", "With quickening impulse, as each bolt did rive", "Their ranks with bloodier chasm:--into the plain", "Disgorged at length the dead and the alive", "In one dread mass, were parted, and the stain", "Of blood, from mortal steel fell o'er the fields like rain.", "", "For now the despot's bloodhounds with their prey", "Unarmed and unaware, were gorging deep", "Their gluttony of death; the loose array", "Of horsemen o'er the wide fields murdering sweep,", "And with loud laughter for their tyrant reap", "A harvest sown with other hopes; the while,", "Far overhead, ships from Propontis keep", "A killing rain of fire:--when the waves smile", "As sudden earthquakes light many a volcano-isle,", "", "Thus sudden, unexpected feast was spread", "For the carrion-fowls of Heaven.--I saw the sight--", "I moved--I lived--as o'er the heaps of dead,", "Whose stony eyes glared in the morning light", "I trod;--to me there came no thought of flight,", "But with loud cries of scorn, which whoso heard", "That dreaded death, felt in his veins the might", "Of virtuous shame return, the crowd I stirred,", "And desperation's hope in many hearts recurred.", "", "A band of brothers gathering round me, made,", "Although unarmed, a steadfast front, and still", "Retreating, with stern looks beneath the shade", "Of gathered eyebrows, did the victors fill", "With doubt even in success; deliberate will", "Inspired our growing troop; not overthrown", "It gained the shelter of a grassy hill,", "And ever still our comrades were hewn down,", "And their defenceless limbs beneath our footsteps strown.", "", "Immovably we stood--in joy I found,", "Beside me then, firm as a giant pine", "Among the mountain-vapours driven around,", "The old man whom I loved--his eyes divine", "With a mild look of courage answered mine,", "And my young friend was near, and ardently", "His hand grasped mine a moment--now the line", "Of war extended, to our rallying cry", "As myriads flocked in love and brotherhood to die.", "", "For ever while the sun was climbing Heaven", "The horseman hewed our unarmed myriads down", "Safely, though when by thirst of carnage driven", "Too near, those slaves were swiftly overthrown", "By hundreds leaping on them:--flesh and bone", "Soon made our ghastly ramparts; then the shaft", "Of the artillery from the sea was thrown", "More fast and fiery, and the conquerors laughed", "In pride to hear the wind our screams of torment waft.", "", "For on one side alone the hill gave shelter,", "So vast that phalanx of unconquered men,", "And there the living in the blood did welter", "Of the dead and dying, which in that green glen,", "Like stifled torrents, made a plashy fen", "Under the feet--thus was the butchery waged", "While the sun clomb Heaven's eastern steep--but when", "It 'gan to sink--a fiercer combat raged,", "For in more doubtful strife the armies were engaged.", "", "Within a cave upon the hill were found", "A bundle of rude pikes, the instrument", "Of those who war but on their native ground", "For natural rights: a shout of joyance sent", "Even from our hearts the wide air pierced and rent,", "As those few arms the bravest and the best", "Seized, and each sixth, thus armed, did now present", "A line which covered and sustained the rest,", "A confident phalanx, which the foes on every side invest.", "", "That onset turned the foes to flight almost;", "But soon they saw their present strength, and knew", "That coming night would to our resolute host", "Bring victory; so dismounting, close they drew", "Their glittering files, and then the combat grew", "Unequal but most horrible;--and ever", "Our myriads, whom the swift bolt overthrew,", "Or the red sword, failed like a mountain river", "Which rushes forth in foam to sink in sands for ever.", "", "Sorrow and shame, to see with their own kind", "Our human brethren mix, like beasts of blood,", "To mutual ruin armed by one behind", "Who sits and scoffs!--That friend so mild and good,", "Who like its shadow near my youth had stood,", "Was stabbed!--my old preserver's hoary hair", "With the flesh clinging to its roots, was strewed", "Under my feet!--I lost all sense or care,", "And like the rest I grew desperate and unaware.", "", "The battle became ghastlier--in the midst", "I paused, and saw, how ugly and how fell", "O Hate! thou art, even when thy life thou shedd'st", "For love. The ground in many a little dell", "Was broken, up and down whose steeps befell", "Alternate victory and defeat, and there", "The combatants with rage most horrible", "Strove, and their eyes started with cracking stare,", "And impotent their tongues they lolled into the air,", "", "Flaccid and foamy, like a mad dog's hanging;", "Want, and Moon-madness, and the pest's swift Bane", "When 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 pain", "Thou loathed slave! I saw all shapes of death", "And ministered to many, o'er the plain", "While carnage in the sunbeam's warmth did seethe,", "Till twilight o'er the east wove her serenest wreath.", "", "The few who yet survived, resolute and firm", "Around me fought. At the decline of day", "Winding above the mountain's snowy term", "New banners shone; they quivered in the ray", "Of the sun's unseen orb--ere night the array", "Of fresh troops hemmed us in--of those brave bands", "I soon survived alone--and now I lay", "Vanquished and faint, the grasp of bloody hands", "I felt, and saw on high the glare of falling brands,", "", "When on my foes a sudden terror came,", "And they fled, scattering--lo! with reinless speed", "A black Tartarian horse of giant frame", "Comes trampling over the dead, the living bleed", "Beneath the hoofs of that tremendous steed,", "On which, like to an Angel, robed in white,", "Sate one waving a sword;--the hosts recede", "And fly, as through their ranks with awful might,", "Sweeps in the shadow of eve that Phantom swift and bright;", "", "And its path made a solitude.--I rose", "And marked its coming: it relaxed its course", "As it approached me, and the wind that flows", "Through night, bore accents to mine ear whose force", "Might create smiles in death--the Tartar horse", "Paused, and I saw the shape its might which swayed,", "And heard her musical pants, like the sweet source", "Of waters in the desert, as she said,", "'Mount with me, Laon, now'--I rapidly obeyed.", "", "Then: 'Away! away!' she cried, and stretched her sword", "As 'twere a scourge over the courser's head,", "And lightly shook the reins.--We spake no word,", "But like the vapour of the tempest fled", "Over the plain; her dark hair was dispread", "Like the pine's locks upon the lingering blast;", "Over mine eyes its shadowy strings it spread", "Fitfully, and the hills and streams fled fast,", "As o'er their glimmering forms the steed's broad shadow passed.", "", "And his hoofs ground the rocks to fire and dust,", "His strong sides made the torrents rise in spray,", "And turbulence, as of a whirlwind's gust", "Surrounded us;--and still away! away!", "Through the desert night we sped, while she alway", "Gazed on a mountain which we neared, whose crest,", "Crowned with a marble ruin, in the ray", "Of the obscure stars gleamed;--its rugged breast", "The steed strained up, and then his impulse did arrest.", "", "A rocky hill which overhung the Ocean:--", "From that lone ruin, when the steed that panted", "Paused, might be heard the murmur of the motion", "Of waters, as in spots for ever haunted", "By the choicest winds of Heaven, which are enchanted", "To music, by the wand of Solitude,", "That wizard wild, and the far tents implanted", "Upon the plain, be seen by those who stood", "Thence marking the dark shore of Ocean's curved flood.", "", "One moment these were heard and seen--another", "Passed; 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,", "Cythna, (for, from the eyes whose deepest light", "Of love and sadness made my lips feel pale", "With influence strange of mournfullest delight,", "My own sweet Cythna looked), with joy did quail,", "And felt her strength in tears of human weakness fail.", "", "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 unclosing", "Her tremulous lips, said, 'Friend, thy bands were losing", "The battle, as I stood before the King", "In bonds.--I burst them then, and swiftly choosing", "The time, did seize a Tartar's sword, and spring", "Upon his horse, and swift, as on the whirlwind's wing,", "", "'Have thou and I been borne beyond pursuer,", "And we are here.'--Then, turning to the steed,", "She pressed the white moon on his front with pure", "And rose-like lips, and many a fragrant weed", "From the green ruin plucked, that he might feed;--", "But I to a stone seat that Maiden led,", "And, kissing her fair eyes, said, 'Thou hast need", "Of rest,' and I heaped up the courser's bed", "In a green mossy nook, with mountain flowers dispread.", "", "Within that ruin, where a shattered portal", "Looks to the eastern stars, abandoned now", "By 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 roof", "Fair clinging weeds with ivy pale did grow,", "Clasping its gray rents with a verdurous woof,", "A hanging dome of leaves, a canopy moon-proof.", "", "The autumnal winds, as if spell-bound, had made", "A natural couch of leaves in that recess,", "Which seasons none disturbed, but, in the shade", "Of flowering parasites, did Spring love to dress", "With their sweet blooms the wintry loneliness", "Of those dead leaves, shedding their stars, whene'er", "The wandering wind her nurslings might caress;", "Whose intertwining fingers ever there", "Made music wild and soft that filled the listening air.", "", "We know not where we go, or what sweet dream", "May pilot us through caverns strange and fair", "Of far and pathless passion, while the stream", "Of life, our bark doth on its whirlpools bear,", "Spreading swift wings as sails to the dim air;", "Nor should we seek to know, so the devotion", "Of love and gentle thoughts be heard still there", "Louder and louder from the utmost Ocean", "Of universal life, attuning its commotion.", "", "To the pure all things are pure! Oblivion wrapped", "Our spirits, and the fearful overthrow", "Of public hope was from our being snapped,", "Though linked years had bound it there; for now", "A power, a thirst, a knowledge, which below", "All thoughts, like light beyond the atmosphere,", "Clothing its clouds with grace, doth ever flow,", "Came on us, as we sate in silence there,", "Beneath the golden stars of the clear azure air;--", "", "In silence which doth follow talk that causes", "The baffled heart to speak with sighs and tears,", "When wildering passion swalloweth up the pauses", "Of inexpressive speech:--the youthful years", "Which we together passed, their hopes and fears,", "The blood itself which ran within our frames,", "That likeness of the features which endears", "The thoughts expressed by them, our very names,", "And all the winged hours which speechless memory claims,", "", "Had found a voice--and ere that voice did pass,", "The night grew damp and dim, and, through a rent", "Of the ruin where we sate, from the morass", "A wandering Meteor by some wild wind sent,", "Hung high in the green dome, to which it lent", "A faint and pallid lustre; while the song", "Of blasts, in which its blue hair quivering bent,", "Strewed strangest sounds the moving leaves among;", "A wondrous light, the sound as of a spirit's tongue.", "", "The Meteor showed the leaves on which we sate,", "And Cythna's glowing arms, and the thick ties", "Of her soft hair, which bent with gathered weight", "My neck near hers; her dark and deepening eyes,", "Which, as twin phantoms of one star that lies", "O'er a dim well, move, though the star reposes,", "Swam in our mute and liquid ecstasies,", "Her marble brow, and eager lips, like roses,", "With their own fragrance pale, which Spring but half uncloses.", "", "The Meteor to its far morass returned:", "The beating of our veins one interval", "Made still; and then I felt the blood that burned", "Within her frame, mingle with mine, and fall", "Around my heart like fire; and over all", "A mist was spread, the sickness of a deep", "And speechless swoon of joy, as might befall", "Two disunited spirits when they leap", "In union from this earth's obscure and fading sleep.", "", "Was it one moment that confounded thus", "All thought, all sense, all feeling, into one", "Unutterable power, which shielded us", "Even from our own cold looks, when we had gone", "Into a wide and wild oblivion", "Of tumult and of tenderness? or now", "Had ages, such as make the moon and sun,", "The seasons, and mankind their changes know,", "Left fear and time unfelt by us alone below?", "", "I know not. What are kisses whose fire clasps", "The failing heart in languishment, or limb", "Twined within limb? or the quick dying gasps", "Of the life meeting, when the faint eyes swim", "Through tears of a wide mist boundless and dim,", "In one caress? What is the strong control", "Which leads the heart that dizzy steep to climb,", "Where far over the world those vapours roll", "Which blend two restless frames in one reposing soul?", "", "It is the shadow which doth float unseen,", "But not unfelt, o'er blind mortality,", "Whose divine darkness fled not from that green", "And lone recess, where lapped in peace did lie", "Our linked frames, till, from the changing sky", "That night and still another day had fled;", "And then I saw and felt. The moon was high,", "And clouds, as of a coming storm, were spread", "Under its orb,--loud winds were gathering overhead.", "", "Cythna's sweet lips seemed lurid in the moon,", "Her fairest limbs with the night wind were chill,", "And her dark tresses were all loosely strewn", "O'er her pale bosom:--all within was still,", "And the sweet peace of joy did almost fill", "The depth of her unfathomable look;--", "And we sate calmly, though that rocky hill,", "The waves contending in its caverns strook,", "For they foreknew the storm, and the gray ruin shook.", "", "There we unheeding sate, in the communion", "Of interchanged vows, which, with a rite", "Of faith most sweet and sacred, stamped our union.--", "Few were the living hearts which could unite", "Like ours, or celebrate a bridal night", "With such close sympathies, for they had sprung", "From linked youth, and from the gentle might", "Of earliest love, delayed and cherished long,", "Which common hopes and fears made, like a tempest, strong.", "", "And such is Nature's law divine, that those", "Who grow together cannot choose but love,", "If faith or custom do not interpose,", "Or common slavery mar what else might move", "All gentlest thoughts; as in the sacred grove", "Which shades the springs of Ethiopian Nile,", "That living tree which, if the arrowy dove", "Strike with her shadow, shrinks in fear awhile,", "But its own kindred leaves clasps while the sunbeams smile;", "", "And clings to them, when darkness may dissever", "The close caresses of all duller plants", "Which bloom on the wide earth--thus we for ever", "Were linked, for love had nursed us in the haunts", "Where knowledge, from its secret source enchants", "Young hearts with the fresh music of its springing,", "Ere yet its gathered flood feeds human wants,", "As the great Nile feeds Egypt; ever flinging", "Light on the woven boughs which o'er its waves are swinging.", "", "The tones of Cythna's voice like echoes were", "Of those far murmuring streams; they rose and fell,", "Mixed with mine own in the tempestuous air,--", "And so we sate, until our talk befell", "Of the late ruin, swift and horrible,", "And how those seeds of hope might yet be sown,", "Whose fruit is evil's mortal poison: well,", "For us, this ruin made a watch-tower lone,", "But Cythna's eyes looked faint, and now two days were gone", "", "Since she had food:--therefore I did awaken", "The Tartar steed, who, from his ebon mane", "Soon as the clinging slumbers he had shaken,", "Bent his thin head to seek the brazen rein,", "Following me obediently; with pain", "Of heart, so deep and dread, that one caress,", "When lips and heart refuse to part again", "Till they have told their fill, could scarce express", "The anguish of her mute and fearful tenderness,", "", "Cythna beheld me part, as I bestrode", "That willing steed--the tempest and the night,", "Which gave my path its safety as I rode", "Down the ravine of rocks, did soon unite", "The darkness and the tumult of their might", "Borne on all winds.--Far through the streaming rain", "Floating at intervals the garments white", "Of Cythna gleamed, and her voice once again", "Came to me on the gust, and soon I reached the plain.", "", "I dreaded not the tempest, nor did he", "Who bore me, but his eyeballs wide and red", "Turned on the lightning's cleft exultingly;", "And when the earth beneath his tameless tread,", "Shook with the sullen thunder, he would spread", "His nostrils to the blast, and joyously", "Mock the fierce peal with neighings;--thus we sped", "O'er the lit plain, and soon I could descry", "Where Death and Fire had gorged the spoil of victory.", "", "There was a desolate village in a wood", "Whose bloom-inwoven leaves now scattering fed", "The hungry storm; it was a place of blood,", "A heap of hearthless walls;--the flames were dead", "Within those dwellings now,--the life had fled", "From all those corpses now,--but the wide sky", "Flooded with lightning was ribbed overhead", "By the black rafters, and around did lie", "Women, and babes, and men, slaughtered confusedly.", "", "Beside the fountain in the market-place", "Dismounting, I beheld those corpses stare", "With horny eyes upon each other's face,", "And on the earth and on the vacant air,", "And upon me, close to the waters where", "I stooped to slake my thirst;--I shrank to taste,", "For the salt bitterness of blood was there;", "But tied the steed beside, and sought in haste", "If any yet survived amid that ghastly waste.", "", "No living thing was there beside one woman,", "Whom I found wandering in the streets, and she", "Was withered from a likeness of aught human", "Into a fiend, by some strange misery:", "Soon as she heard my steps she leaped on me,", "And glued her burning lips to mine, and laughed", "With a loud, long, and frantic laugh of glee,", "And cried, 'Now, Mortal, thou hast deeply quaffed", "The Plague's blue kisses--soon millions shall pledge the draught!", "", "'My name is Pestilence--this bosom dry,", "Once fed two babes--a sister and a brother--", "When I came home, one in the blood did lie", "Of three death-wounds--the flames had ate the other!", "Since then I have no longer been a mother,", "But I am Pestilence;--hither and thither", "I flit about, that I may slay and smother:--", "All lips which I have kissed must surely wither,", "But Death's--if thou art he, we'll go to work together!", "", "'What seek'st thou here? The moonlight comes in flashes,--", "The dew is rising dankly from the dell--", "'Twill moisten her! and thou shalt see the gashes", "In my sweet boy, now full of worms--but tell", "First what thou seek'st.'--'I seek for food.'--''Tis well,", "Thou shalt have food. Famine, my paramour,", "Waits for us at the feast--cruel and fell", "Is Famine, but he drives not from his door", "Those whom these lips have kissed, alone. No more, no more!'", "", "As thus she spake, she grasped me with the strength", "Of madness, and by many a ruined hearth", "She led, and over many a corpse:--at length", "We came to a lone hut where on the earth", "Which made its floor, she in her ghastly mirth,", "Gathering from all those homes now desolate,", "Had piled three heaps of loaves, making a dearth", "Among the dead--round which she set in state", "A ring of cold, stiff babes; silent and stark they sate.", "", "She leaped upon a pile, and lifted high", "Her mad looks to the lightning, and cried: 'Eat!", "Share the great feast--to-morrow we must die!'", "And then she spurned the loaves with her pale feet,", "Towards her bloodless guests;--that sight to meet,", "Mine eyes and my heart ached, and but that she", "Who loved me, did with absent looks defeat", "Despair, I might have raved in sympathy;", "But now I took the food that woman offered me;", "", "And vainly having with her madness striven", "If I might win her to return with me,", "Departed. In the eastern beams of Heaven", "The lightning now grew pallid--rapidly,", "As by the shore of the tempestuous sea", "The dark steed bore me; and the mountain gray", "Soon echoed to his hoofs, and I could see", "Cythna among the rocks, where she alway", "Had sate with anxious eyes fixed on the lingering day.", "", "And joy was ours to meet: she was most pale,", "Famished, and wet and weary, so I cast", "My arms around her, lest her steps should fail", "As to our home we went, and thus embraced,", "Her full heart seemed a deeper joy to taste", "Than e'er the prosperous know; the steed behind", "Trod peacefully along the mountain waste;", "We reached our home ere morning could unbind", "Night's latest veil, and on our bridal-couch reclined.", "", "Her chilled heart having cherished in my bosom,", "And sweetest kisses past, we two did share", "Our peaceful meal:--as an autumnal blossom", "Which spreads its shrunk leaves in the sunny air,", "After cold showers, like rainbows woven there,", "Thus in her lips and cheeks the vital spirit", "Mantled, and in her eyes, an atmosphere", "Of health, and hope; and sorrow languished near it,", "And fear, and all that dark despondence doth inherit.", "", "CANTO 7.", "", "So we sate joyous as the morning ray", "Which fed upon the wrecks of night and storm", "Now lingering on the winds; light airs did play", "Among the dewy weeds, the sun was warm,", "And we sate linked in the inwoven charm", "Of converse and caresses sweet and deep,", "Speechless caresses, talk that might disarm", "Time, though he wield the darts of death and sleep,", "And those thrice mortal barbs in his own poison steep.", "", "I told her of my sufferings and my madness,", "And how, awakened from that dreamy mood", "By Liberty's uprise, the strength of gladness", "Came to my spirit in my solitude;", "And all that now I was--while tears pursued", "Each other down her fair and listening cheek", "Fast as the thoughts which fed them, like a flood", "From sunbright dales; and when I ceased to speak,", "Her accents soft and sweet the pausing air did wake.", "", "She told me a strange tale of strange endurance,", "Like broken memories of many a heart", "Woven into one; to which no firm assurance,", "So wild were they, could her own faith impart.", "She said that not a tear did dare to start", "From the swoln brain, and that her thoughts were firm", "When from all mortal hope she did depart,", "Borne by those slaves across the Ocean's term,", "And that she reached the port without one fear infirm.", "", "One was she among many there, the thralls", "Of the cold Tyrant's cruel lust; and they", "Laughed mournfully in those polluted halls;", "But she was calm and sad, musing alway", "On loftiest enterprise, till on a day", "The Tyrant heard her singing to her lute", "A wild, and sad, and spirit-thrilling lay,", "Like winds that die in wastes--one moment mute", "The evil thoughts it made, which did his breast pollute.", "", "Even when he saw her wondrous loveliness,", "One moment to great Nature's sacred power", "He bent, and was no longer passionless;", "But when he bade her to his secret bower", "Be borne, a loveless victim, and she tore", "Her locks in agony, and her words of flame", "And mightier looks availed not; then he bore", "Again his load of slavery, and became", "A king, a heartless beast, a pageant and a name.", "", "She told me what a loathsome agony", "Is that when selfishness mocks love's delight,", "Foul as in dream's most fearful imagery,", "To dally with the mowing dead--that night", "All torture, fear, or horror made seem light", "Which the soul dreams or knows, and when the day", "Shone on her awful frenzy, from the sight", "Where like a Spirit in fleshly chains she lay", "Struggling, aghast and pale the Tyrant fled away.", "", "Her madness was a beam of light, a power", "Which dawned through the rent soul; and words it gave,", "Gestures and looks, such as in whirlwinds bore", "Which might not be withstood--whence none could save--", "All who approached their sphere,--like some calm wave", "Vexed into whirlpools by the chasms beneath;", "And sympathy made each attendant slave", "Fearless and free, and they began to breathe", "Deep curses, like the voice of flames far underneath.", "", "The King felt pale upon his noonday throne:", "At night two slaves he to her chamber sent,--", "One was a green and wrinkled eunuch, grown", "From human shape into an instrument", "Of all things ill--distorted, bowed and bent.", "The other was a wretch from infancy", "Made dumb by poison; who nought knew or meant", "But to obey: from the fire isles came he,", "A diver lean and strong, of Oman's coral sea.", "", "They bore her to a bark, and the swift stroke", "Of silent rowers clove the blue moonlight seas,", "Until upon their path the morning broke;", "They anchored then, where, be there calm or breeze,", "The gloomiest of the drear Symplegades", "Shakes with the sleepless surge;--the Ethiop there", "Wound his long arms around her, and with knees", "Like iron clasped her feet, and plunged with her", "Among the closing waves out of the boundless air.", "", "'Swift as an eagle stooping from the plain", "Of morning light, into some shadowy wood,", "He plunged through the green silence of the main,", "Through many a cavern which the eternal flood", "Had scooped, as dark lairs for its monster brood;", "And among mighty shapes which fled in wonder,", "And among mightier shadows which pursued", "His heels, he wound: until the dark rocks under", "He touched a golden chain--a sound arose like thunder.", "", "'A stunning clang of massive bolts redoubling", "Beneath the deep--a burst of waters driven", "As from the roots of the sea, raging and bubbling:", "And in that roof of crags a space was riven", "Through which there shone the emerald beams of heaven,", "Shot through the lines of many waves inwoven,", "Like sunlight through acacia woods at even,", "Through which, his way the diver having cloven,", "Passed like a spark sent up out of a burning oven.", "", "'And then,' she said, 'he laid me in a cave", "Above the waters, by that chasm of sea,", "A fountain round and vast, in which the wave", "Imprisoned, boiled and leaped perpetually,", "Down which, one moment resting, he did flee,", "Winning the adverse depth; that spacious cell", "Like an hupaithric temple wide and high,", "Whose aery dome is inaccessible,", "Was pierced with one round cleft through which the sunbeams fell.", "", "'Below, the fountain's brink was richly paven", "With the deep's wealth, coral, and pearl, and sand", "Like spangling gold, and purple shells engraven", "With mystic legends by no mortal hand,", "Left there, when thronging to the moon's command,", "The gathering waves rent the Hesperian gate", "Of mountains, and on such bright floor did stand", "Columns, and shapes like statues, and the state", "Of kingless thrones, which Earth did in her heart create.", "", "'The fiend of madness which had made its prey", "Of my poor heart, was lulled to sleep awhile:", "There was an interval of many a day,", "And a sea-eagle brought me food the while,", "Whose nest was built in that untrodden isle,", "And who, to be the gaoler had been taught", "Of that strange dungeon; as a friend whose smile", "Like light and rest at morn and even is sought", "That wild bird was to me, till madness misery brought.", "", "'The misery of a madness slow and creeping,", "Which made the earth seem fire, the sea seem air,", "And the white clouds of noon which oft were sleeping,", "In the blue heaven so beautiful and fair,", "Like hosts of ghastly shadows hovering there;", "And the sea-eagle looked a fiend, who bore", "Thy mangled limbs for food!--Thus all things were", "Transformed into the agony which I wore", "Even as a poisoned robe around my bosom's core.", "", "'Again I knew the day and night fast fleeing,", "The eagle, and the fountain, and the air;", "Another frenzy came--there seemed a being", "Within me--a strange load my heart did bear,", "As if some living thing had made its lair", "Even in the fountains of my life:--a long", "And wondrous vision wrought from my despair,", "Then grew, like sweet reality among", "Dim visionary woes, an unreposing throng.", "", "'Methought I was about to be a mother--", "Month after month went by, and still I dreamed", "That we should soon be all to one another,", "I and my child; and still new pulses seemed", "To beat beside my heart, and still I deemed", "There was a babe within--and, when the rain", "Of winter through the rifted cavern streamed,", "Methought, after a lapse of lingering pain,", "I saw that lovely shape, which near my heart had lain.", "", "'It was a babe, beautiful from its birth,--", "It was like thee, dear love, its eyes were thine,", "Its brow, its lips, and so upon the earth", "It laid its fingers, as now rest on mine", "Thine own, beloved!--'twas a dream divine;", "Even to remember how it fled, how swift,", "How utterly, might make the heart repine,--", "Though 'twas a dream.'--Then Cythna did uplift", "Her looks on mine, as if some doubt she sought to shift:", "", "A doubt which would not flee, a tenderness", "Of questioning grief, a source of thronging tears;", "Which having passed, as one whom sobs oppress", "She spoke: 'Yes, in the wilderness of years", "Her memory, aye, like a green home appears;", "She sucked her fill even at this breast, sweet love,", "For many months. I had no mortal fears;", "Methought I felt her lips and breath approve,--", "It was a human thing which to my bosom clove.", "", "'I watched the dawn of her first smiles; and soon", "When zenith stars were trembling on the wave,", "Or when the beams of the invisible moon,", "Or sun, from many a prism within the cave", "Their gem-born shadows to the water gave,", "Her looks would hunt them, and with outspread hand,", "From the swift lights which might that fountain pave,", "She would mark one, and laugh, when that command", "Slighting, it lingered there, and could not understand.", "", "'Methought her looks began to talk with me;", "And no articulate sounds, but something sweet", "Her lips would frame,--so sweet it could not be,", "That it was meaningless; her touch would meet", "Mine, and our pulses calmly flow and beat", "In response while we slept; and on a day", "When I was happiest in that strange retreat,", "With heaps of golden shells we two did play,--", "Both infants, weaving wings for time's perpetual way.", "", "'Ere night, methought, her waning eyes were grown", "Weary with joy, and tired with our delight,", "We, on the earth, like sister twins lay down", "On one fair mother's bosom:--from that night", "She fled,--like those illusions clear and bright,", "Which dwell in lakes, when the red moon on high", "Pause ere it wakens tempest;--and her flight,", "Though 'twas the death of brainless fantasy,", "Yet smote my lonesome heart more than all misery.", "", "'It seemed that in the dreary night the diver", "Who brought me thither, came again, and bore", "My child away. I saw the waters quiver,", "When he so swiftly sunk, as once before:", "Then morning came--it shone even as of yore,", "But I was changed--the very life was gone", "Out of my heart--I wasted more and more,", "Day after day, and sitting there alone,", "Vexed the inconstant waves with my perpetual moan.", "", "'I was no longer mad, and yet methought", "My breasts were swoln and changed:--in every vein", "The blood stood still one moment, while that thought", "Was passing--with a gush of sickening pain", "It ebbed even to its withered springs again:", "When my wan eyes in stern resolve I turned", "From that most strange delusion, which would fain", "Have waked the dream for which my spirit yearned", "With more than human love,--then left it unreturned.", "", "'So now my reason was restored to me", "I struggled with that dream, which, like a beast", "Most fierce and beauteous, in my memory", "Had made its lair, and on my heart did feast;", "But all that cave and all its shapes, possessed", "By thoughts which could not fade, renewed each one", "Some smile, some look, some gesture which had blessed", "Me heretofore: I, sitting there alone,", "Vexed the inconstant waves with my perpetual moan.", "", "'Time passed, I know not whether months or years;", "For day, nor night, nor change of seasons made", "Its note, but thoughts and unavailing tears:", "And I became at last even as a shade,", "A smoke, a cloud on which the winds have preyed,", "Till it be thin as air; until, one even,", "A Nautilus upon the fountain played,", "Spreading his azure sail where breath of Heaven", "Descended not, among the waves and whirlpools driven.", "", "'And, when the Eagle came, that lovely thing,", "Oaring with rosy feet its silver boat,", "Fled near me as for shelter; on slow wing,", "The Eagle, hovering o'er his prey did float;", "But when he saw that I with fear did note", "His purpose, proffering my own food to him,", "The eager plumes subsided on his throat--", "He came where that bright child of sea did swim,", "And o'er it cast in peace his shadow broad and dim.", "", "'This wakened me, it gave me human strength;", "And hope, I know not whence or wherefore, rose,", "But I resumed my ancient powers at length;", "My spirit felt again like one of those", "Like thine, whose fate it is to make the woes", "Of humankind their prey--what was this cave?", "Its deep foundation no firm purpose knows", "Immutable, resistless, strong to save,", "Like mind while yet it mocks the all-devouring grave.", "", "'And where was Laon? might my heart be dead,", "While that far dearer heart could move and be?", "Or whilst over the earth the pall was spread,", "Which I had sworn to rend? I might be free,", "Could I but win that friendly bird to me,", "To bring me ropes; and long in vain I sought", "By intercourse of mutual imagery", "Of objects, if such aid he could be taught;", "But fruit, and flowers, and boughs, yet never ropes he brought.", "", "'We live in our own world, and mine was made", "From glorious fantasies of hope departed:", "Aye we are darkened with their floating shade,", "Or cast a lustre on them--time imparted", "Such power to me--I became fearless-hearted,", "My eye and voice grew firm, calm was my mind,", "And piercing, like the morn, now it has darted", "Its lustre on all hidden things, behind", "Yon dim and fading clouds which load the weary wind.", "", "'My mind became the book through which I grew", "Wise in all human wisdom, and its cave,", "Which like a mine I rifled through and through,", "To me the keeping of its secrets gave--", "One mind, the type of all, the moveless wave", "Whose calm reflects all moving things that are,", "Necessity, and love, and life, the grave,", "And sympathy, fountains of hope and fear,", "Justice, and truth, and time, and the world's natural sphere.", "", "'And on the sand would I make signs to range", "These woofs, as they were woven, of my thought;", "Clear, elemental shapes, whose smallest change", "A subtler language within language wrought:", "The key of truths which once were dimly taught", "In old Crotona;--and sweet melodies", "Of love, in that lorn solitude I caught", "From mine own voice in dream, when thy dear eyes", "Shone through my sleep, and did that utterance harmonize.", "", "'Thy songs were winds whereon I fled at will,", "As in a winged chariot, o'er the plain", "Of crystal youth; and thou wert there to fill", "My heart with joy, and there we sate again", "On the gray margin of the glimmering main,", "Happy as then but wiser far, for we", "Smiled on the flowery grave in which were lain", "Fear, Faith and Slavery; and mankind was free,", "Equal, and pure, and wise, in Wisdom's prophecy.", "", "'For to my will my fancies were as slaves", "To do their sweet and subtile ministries;", "And oft from that bright fountain's shadowy waves", "They would make human throngs gather and rise", "To combat with my overflowing eyes,", "And voice made deep with passion--thus I grew", "Familiar with the shock and the surprise", "And war of earthly minds, from which I drew", "The power which has been mine to frame their thoughts anew.", "", "'And thus my prison was the populous earth--", "Where I saw--even as misery dreams of morn", "Before the east has given its glory birth--", "Religion's pomp made desolate by the scorn", "Of Wisdom's faintest smile, and thrones uptorn,", "And dwellings of mild people interspersed", "With undivided fields of ripening corn,", "And love made free,--a hope which we have nursed", "Even with our blood and tears,--until its glory burst.", "", "'All is not lost! There is some recompense", "For hope whose fountain can be thus profound,", "Even throned Evil's splendid impotence,", "Girt by its hell of power, the secret sound", "Of hymns to truth and freedom--the dread bound", "Of life and death passed fearlessly and well,", "Dungeons wherein the high resolve is found,", "Racks which degraded woman's greatness tell,", "And what may else be good and irresistible.", "", "'Such are the thoughts which, like the fires that flare", "In storm-encompassed isles, we cherish yet", "In this dark ruin--such were mine even there;", "As in its sleep some odorous violet,", "While yet its leaves with nightly dews are wet,", "Breathes in prophetic dreams of day's uprise,", "Or as, ere Scythian frost in fear has met", "Spring's messengers descending from the skies,", "The buds foreknow their life--this hope must ever rise.", "", "'So years had passed, when sudden earthquake rent", "The depth of ocean, and the cavern cracked", "With sound, as if the world's wide continent", "Had fallen in universal ruin wracked:", "And through the cleft streamed in one cataract", "The stifling waters--when I woke, the flood", "Whose banded waves that crystal cave had sacked", "Was ebbing round me, and my bright abode", "Before me yawned--a chasm desert, and bare, and broad.", "", "'Above me was the sky, beneath the sea:", "I stood upon a point of shattered stone,", "And heard loose rocks rushing tumultuously", "With splash and shock into the deep--anon", "All ceased, and there was silence wide and lone.", "I felt that I was free! The Ocean-spray", "Quivered beneath my feet, the broad Heaven shone", "Around, and in my hair the winds did play", "Lingering as they pursued their unimpeded way.", "", "'My spirit moved upon the sea like wind", "Which round some thymy cape will lag and hover,", "Though it can wake the still cloud, and unbind", "The strength of tempest: day was almost over,", "When through the fading light I could discover", "A ship approaching--its white sails were fed", "With the north wind--its moving shade did cover", "The twilight deep; the mariners in dread", "Cast anchor when they saw new rocks around them spread.", "", "'And when they saw one sitting on a crag,", "They sent a boat to me;--the Sailors rowed", "In awe through many a new and fearful jag", "Of overhanging rock, through which there flowed", "The foam of streams that cannot make abode.", "They came and questioned me, but when they heard", "My voice, they became silent, and they stood", "And moved as men in whom new love had stirred", "Deep thoughts: so to the ship we passed without a word.", "", "CANTO 8.", "", "'I sate beside the Steersman then, and gazing", "Upon the west, cried, \"Spread the sails! Behold!", "The sinking moon is like a watch-tower blazing", "Over the mountains yet;--the City of Gold", "Yon Cape alone does from the sight withhold;", "The stream is fleet--the north breathes steadily", "Beneath the stars; they tremble with the cold!", "Ye cannot rest upon the dreary sea!--", "Haste, haste to the warm home of happier destiny!\"", "", "'The Mariners obeyed--the Captain stood", "Aloof, and, whispering to the Pilot, said,", "\"Alas, alas! I fear we are pursued", "By wicked ghosts; a Phantom of the Dead,", "The night before we sailed, came to my bed", "In dream, like that!\" The Pilot then replied,", "\"It cannot be--she is a human Maid--", "Her low voice makes you weep--she is some bride,", "Or daughter of high birth--she can be nought beside.\"", "", "'We passed the islets, borne by wind and stream,", "And as we sailed, the Mariners came near", "And thronged around to listen;--in the gleam", "Of the pale moon I stood, as one whom fear", "May not attaint, and my calm voice did rear;", "\"Ye are all human--yon broad moon gives light", "To millions who the selfsame likeness wear,", "Even while I speak--beneath this very night,", "Their thoughts flow on like ours, in sadness or delight.", "", "'\"What dream ye? Your own hands have built an home,", "Even for yourselves on a beloved shore:", "For some, fond eyes are pining till they come,", "How they will greet him when his toils are o'er,", "And laughing babes rush from the well-known door!", "Is this your care? ye toil for your own good--", "Ye feel and think--has some immortal power", "Such purposes? or in a human mood,", "Dream ye some Power thus builds for man in solitude?", "", "'\"What is that Power? Ye mock yourselves, and give", "A human heart to what ye cannot know:", "As if the cause of life could think and live!", "'Twere as if man's own works should feel, and show", "The hopes, and fears, and thoughts from which they flow,", "And he be like to them! Lo! Plague is free", "To waste, Blight, Poison, Earthquake, Hail, and Snow,", "Disease, and Want, and worse Necessity", "Of hate and ill, and Pride, and Fear, and Tyranny!", "", "'\"What is that Power? Some moon-struck sophist stood", "Watching the shade from his own soul upthrown", "Fill Heaven and darken Earth, and in such mood", "The Form he saw and worshipped was his own,", "His likeness in the world's vast mirror shown;", "And 'twere an innocent dream, but that a faith", "Nursed by fear's dew of poison, grows thereon,", "And that men say, that Power has chosen Death", "On all who scorn its laws, to wreak immortal wrath.", "", "'\"Men say that they themselves have heard and seen,", "Or known from others who have known such things,", "A Shade, a Form, which Earth and Heaven between", "Wields an invisible rod--that Priests and Kings,", "Custom, domestic sway, ay, all that brings", "Man's freeborn soul beneath the oppressor's heel,", "Are his strong ministers, and that the stings", "Of death will make the wise his vengeance feel,", "Though truth and virtue arm their hearts with tenfold steel.", "", "'\"And it is said, this Power will punish wrong;", "Yes, add despair to crime, and pain to pain!", "And deepest hell, and deathless snakes among,", "Will bind the wretch on whom is fixed a stain,", "Which, like a plague, a burden, and a bane,", "Clung to him while he lived; for love and hate,", "Virtue and vice, they say are difference vain--", "The will of strength is right--this human state", "Tyrants, that they may rule, with lies thus desolate.", "", "'\"Alas, what strength? Opinion is more frail", "Than yon dim cloud now fading on the moon", "Even while we gaze, though it awhile avail", "To hide the orb of truth--and every throne", "Of Earth or Heaven, though shadow, rests thereon,", "One shape of many names:--for this ye plough", "The barren waves of ocean, hence each one", "Is slave or tyrant; all betray and bow,", "Command, or kill, or fear, or wreak, or suffer woe.", "", "'\"Its names are each a sign which maketh holy", "All power--ay, the ghost, the dream, the shade", "Of power--lust, falsehood, hate, and pride, and folly;", "The pattern whence all fraud and wrong is made,", "A law to which mankind has been betrayed;", "And human love, is as the name well known", "Of a dear mother, whom the murderer laid", "In bloody grave, and into darkness thrown,", "Gathered her wildered babes around him as his own.", "", "'\"O Love, who to the hearts of wandering men", "Art as the calm to Ocean's weary waves!", "Justice, or Truth, or Joy! those only can", "From slavery and religion's labyrinth caves", "Guide us, as one clear star the seaman saves.", "To give to all an equal share of good,", "To track the steps of Freedom, though through graves", "She pass, to suffer all in patient mood,", "To weep for crime, though stained with thy friend's dearest blood,--", "", "'\"To feel the peace of self-contentment's lot,", "To own all sympathies, and outrage none,", "And in the inmost bowers of sense and thought,", "Until life's sunny day is quite gone down,", "To sit and smile with Joy, or, not alone,", "To kiss salt tears from the worn cheek of Woe;", "To live, as if to love and live were one,--", "This is not faith or law, nor those who bow", "To thrones on Heaven or Earth, such destiny may know.", "", "'\"But children near their parents tremble now,", "Because they must obey--one rules another,", "And as one Power rules both high and low,", "So man is made the captive of his brother,", "And Hate is throned on high with Fear her mother,", "Above the Highest--and those fountain-cells,", "Whence love yet flowed when faith had choked all other,", "Are darkened--Woman as the bond-slave dwells", "Of man, a slave; and life is poisoned in its wells.", "", "'\"Man seeks for gold in mines, that he may weave", "A lasting chain for his own slavery;--", "In fear and restless care that he may live", "He toils for others, who must ever be", "The joyless thralls of like captivity;", "He murders, for his chiefs delight in ruin;", "He builds the altar, that its idol's fee", "May be his very blood; he is pursuing--", "O, blind and willing wretch!--his own obscure undoing.", "", "'\"Woman!--she is his slave, she has become", "A thing I weep to speak--the child of scorn,", "The outcast of a desolated home;", "Falsehood, and fear, and toil, like waves have worn", "Channels upon her cheek, which smiles adorn,", "As calm decks the false Ocean:--well ye know", "What Woman is, for none of Woman born", "Can choose but drain the bitter dregs of woe,", "Which ever from the oppressed to the oppressors flow.", "", "'\"This need not be; ye might arise, and will", "That gold should lose its power, and thrones their glory;", "That love, which none may bind, be free to fill", "The world, like light; and evil faith, grown hoary", "With crime, be quenched and die.--Yon promontory", "Even now eclipses the descending moon!--", "Dungeons and palaces are transitory--", "High temples fade like vapour--Man alone", "Remains, whose will has power when all beside is gone.", "", "'\"Let all be free and equal!--From your hearts", "I feel an echo; through my inmost frame", "Like sweetest sound, seeking its mate, it darts--", "Whence come ye, friends? Alas, I cannot name", "All that I read of sorrow, toil, and shame,", "On your worn faces; as in legends old", "Which make immortal the disastrous fame", "Of conquerors and impostors false and bold,", "The discord of your hearts, I in your looks behold.", "", "'\"Whence come ye, friends? from pouring human blood", "Forth on the earth? Or bring ye steel and gold,", "That Kings may dupe and slay the multitude?", "Or from the famished poor, pale, weak and cold,", "Bear ye the earnings of their toil? Unfold!", "Speak! Are your hands in slaughter's sanguine hue", "Stained freshly? have your hearts in guile grown old?", "Know yourselves thus! ye shall be pure as dew,", "And I will be a friend and sister unto you.", "", "'\"Disguise it not--we have one human heart--", "All mortal thoughts confess a common home:", "Blush not for what may to thyself impart", "Stains of inevitable crime: the doom", "Is this, which has, or may, or must become", "Thine, and all humankind's. Ye are the spoil", "Which Time thus marks for the devouring tomb--", "Thou and thy thoughts and they, and all the toil", "Wherewith ye twine the rings of life's perpetual coil.", "", "'\"Disguise it not--ye blush for what ye hate,", "And Enmity is sister unto Shame;", "Look on your mind--it is the book of fate--", "Ah! it is dark with many a blazoned name", "Of misery--all are mirrors of the same;", "But the dark fiend who with his iron pen", "Dipped in scorn's fiery poison, makes his fame", "Enduring there, would o'er the heads of men", "Pass harmless, if they scorned to make their hearts his den.", "", "'\"Yes, it is Hate, that shapeless fiendly thing", "Of many names, all evil, some divine,", "Whom self-contempt arms with a mortal sting;", "Which, when the heart its snaky folds entwine", "Is wasted quite, and when it doth repine", "To gorge such bitter prey, on all beside", "It turns with ninefold rage, as with its twine", "When Amphisbaena some fair bird has tied,", "Soon o'er the putrid mass he threats on every side.", "", "'\"Reproach not thine own soul, but know thyself,", "Nor hate another's crime, nor loathe thine own.", "It is the dark idolatry of self,", "Which, when our thoughts and actions once are gone,", "Demands that man should weep, and bleed, and groan;", "Oh, vacant expiation! Be at rest.--", "The past is Death's, the future is thine own;", "And love and joy can make the foulest breast", "A paradise of flowers, where peace might build her nest.", "", "'\"Speak thou! whence come ye?\"--A Youth made reply:", "\"Wearily, wearily o'er the boundless deep", "We sail;--thou readest well the misery", "Told in these faded eyes, but much doth sleep", "Within, which there the poor heart loves to keep,", "Or dare not write on the dishonoured brow;", "Even from our childhood have we learned to steep", "The bread of slavery in the tears of woe,", "And never dreamed of hope or refuge until now.", "", "'\"Yes--I must speak--my secret should have perished", "Even with the heart it wasted, as a brand", "Fades in the dying flame whose life it cherished,", "But that no human bosom can withstand", "Thee, wondrous Lady, and the mild command", "Of thy keen eyes:--yes, we are wretched slaves,", "Who from their wonted loves and native land", "Are reft, and bear o'er the dividing waves", "The unregarded prey of calm and happy graves.", "", "'\"We drag afar from pastoral vales the fairest", "Among the daughters of those mountains lone,", "We drag them there, where all things best and rarest", "Are stained and trampled:--years have come and gone", "Since, like the ship which bears me, I have known", "No thought;--but now the eyes of one dear Maid", "On mine with light of mutual love have shone--", "She is my life,--I am but as the shade", "Of her,--a smoke sent up from ashes, soon to fade.", "", "'\"For she must perish in the Tyrant's hall--", "Alas, alas!\"--He ceased, and by the sail", "Sate cowering--but his sobs were heard by all,", "And still before the ocean and the gale", "The ship fled fast till the stars 'gan to fail;", "And, round me gathered with mute countenance,", "The Seamen gazed, the Pilot, worn and pale", "With toil, the Captain with gray locks, whose glance", "Met mine in restless awe--they stood as in a trance.", "", "'\"Recede not! pause not now! Thou art grown old,", "But Hope will make thee young, for Hope and Youth", "Are children of one mother, even Love--behold!", "The eternal stars gaze on us!--is the truth", "Within your soul? care for your own, or ruth", "For others' sufferings? do ye thirst to bear", "A heart which not the serpent Custom's tooth", "May violate?--Be free! and even here,", "Swear to be firm till death!\" They cried, \"We swear! We swear!\"", "", "'The very darkness shook, as with a blast", "Of subterranean thunder, at the cry;", "The hollow shore its thousand echoes cast", "Into the night, as if the sea and sky,", "And earth, rejoiced with new-born liberty,", "For in that name they swore! Bolts were undrawn,", "And on the deck, with unaccustomed eye", "The captives gazing stood, and every one", "Shrank as the inconstant torch upon her countenance shone.", "", "'They were earth's purest children, young and fair,", "With eyes the shrines of unawakened thought,", "And brows as bright as Spring or Morning, ere", "Dark time had there its evil legend wrought", "In characters of cloud which wither not.--", "The change was like a dream to them; but soon", "They knew the glory of their altered lot,", "In the bright wisdom of youth's breathless noon,", "Sweet talk, and smiles, and sighs, all bosoms did attune.", "", "'But one was mute; her cheeks and lips most fair,", "Changing their hue like lilies newly blown,", "Beneath a bright acacia's shadowy hair,", "Waved by the wind amid the sunny noon,", "Showed that her soul was quivering; and full soon", "That Youth arose, and breathlessly did look", "On her and me, as for some speechless boon:", "I smiled, and both their hands in mine I took,", "And felt a soft delight from what their spirits shook.", "", "CANTO 9.", "", "'That night we anchored in a woody bay,", "And sleep no more around us dared to hover", "Than, when all doubt and fear has passed away,", "It shades the couch of some unresting lover,", "Whose heart is now at rest: thus night passed over", "In mutual joy:--around, a forest grew", "Of poplars and dark oaks, whose shade did cover", "The waning stars pranked in the waters blue,", "And trembled in the wind which from the morning flew.", "", "'The joyous Mariners, and each free Maiden", "Now brought from the deep forest many a bough,", "With woodland spoil most innocently laden;", "Soon wreaths of budding foliage seemed to flow", "Over the mast and sails, the stern and prow", "Were canopied with blooming boughs,--the while", "On the slant sun's path o'er the waves we go", "Rejoicing, like the dwellers of an isle", "Doomed to pursue those waves that cannot cease to smile.", "", "'The many ships spotting the dark blue deep", "With snowy sails, fled fast as ours came nigh,", "In fear and wonder; and on every steep", "Thousands did gaze, they heard the startling cry,", "Like Earth's own voice lifted unconquerably", "To all her children, the unbounded mirth,", "The glorious joy of thy name--Liberty!", "They heard!--As o'er the mountains of the earth", "From peak to peak leap on the beams of Morning's birth:", "", "'So from that cry over the boundless hills", "Sudden was caught one universal sound,", "Like a volcano's voice, whose thunder fills", "Remotest skies,--such glorious madness found", "A path through human hearts with stream which drowned", "Its struggling fears and cares, dark Custom's brood;", "They knew not whence it came, but felt around", "A wide contagion poured--they called aloud", "On Liberty--that name lived on the sunny flood.", "", "'We reached the port.--Alas! from many spirits", "The wisdom which had waked that cry, was fled,", "Like the brief glory which dark Heaven inherits", "From the false dawn, which fades ere it is spread,", "Upon the night's devouring darkness shed:", "Yet soon bright day will burst--even like a chasm", "Of fire, to burn the shrouds outworn and dead,", "Which wrap the world; a wide enthusiasm,", "To cleanse the fevered world as with an earthquake's spasm!", "", "'I walked through the great City then, but free", "From shame or fear; those toil-worn Mariners", "And happy Maidens did encompass me;", "And like a subterranean wind that stirs", "Some forest among caves, the hopes and fears", "From every human soul, a murmur strange", "Made as I passed; and many wept, with tears", "Of joy and awe, and winged thoughts did range,", "And half-extinguished words, which prophesied of change.", "", "'For, with strong speech I tore the veil that hid", "Nature, and Truth, and Liberty, and Love,--", "As one who from some mountain's pyramid", "Points to the unrisen sun!--the shades approve", "His truth, and flee from every stream and grove.", "Thus, gentle thoughts did many a bosom fill,--", "Wisdom, the mail of tried affections wove", "For many a heart, and tameless scorn of ill,", "Thrice steeped in molten steel the unconquerable will.", "", "'Some said I was a maniac wild and lost;", "Some, that I scarce had risen from the grave,", "The Prophet's virgin bride, a heavenly ghost:--", "Some said, I was a fiend from my weird cave,", "Who had stolen human shape, and o'er the wave,", "The forest, and the mountain, came;--some said", "I was the child of God, sent down to save", "Woman from bonds and death, and on my head", "The burden of their sins would frightfully be laid.", "", "'But soon my human words found sympathy", "In human hearts: the purest and the best,", "As friend with friend, made common cause with me,", "And they were few, but resolute;--the rest,", "Ere yet success the enterprise had blessed,", "Leagued with me in their hearts;--their meals, their slumber,", "Their hourly occupations, were possessed", "By hopes which I had armed to overnumber", "Those hosts of meaner cares, which life's strong wings encumber.", "", "'But chiefly women, whom my voice did waken", "From their cold, careless, willing slavery,", "Sought me: one truth their dreary prison has shaken,--", "They looked around, and lo! they became free!", "Their many tyrants sitting desolately", "In slave-deserted halls, could none restrain;", "For wrath's red fire had withered in the eye,", "Whose lightning once was death,--nor fear, nor gain", "Could tempt one captive now to lock another's chain.", "", "'Those who were sent to bind me, wept, and felt", "Their minds outsoar the bonds which clasped them round,", "Even as a waxen shape may waste and melt", "In the white furnace; and a visioned swound,", "A pause of hope and awe the City bound,", "Which, like the silence of a tempest's birth,", "When in its awful shadow it has wound", "The sun, the wind, the ocean, and the earth,", "Hung terrible, ere yet the lightnings have leaped forth.", "", "'Like clouds inwoven in the silent sky,", "By winds from distant regions meeting there,", "In the high name of truth and liberty,", "Around the City millions gathered were,", "By hopes which sprang from many a hidden lair,--", "Words which the lore of truth in hues of flame", "Arrayed, thine own wild songs which in the air", "Like homeless odours floated, and the name", "Of thee, and many a tongue which thou hadst dipped in flame.", "", "'The Tyrant knew his power was gone, but Fear,", "The nurse of Vengeance, bade him wait the event--", "That perfidy and custom, gold and prayer,", "And whatsoe'er, when force is impotent,", "To fraud the sceptre of the world has lent,", "Might, as he judged, confirm his failing sway.", "Therefore throughout the streets, the Priests he sent", "To curse the rebels.--To their gods did they", "For Earthquake, Plague, and Want, kneel in the public way.", "", "'And grave and hoary men were bribed to tell", "From seats where law is made the slave of wrong,", "How glorious Athens in her splendour fell,", "Because her sons were free,--and that among", "Mankind, the many to the few belong,", "By Heaven, and Nature, and Necessity.", "They said, that age was truth, and that the young", "Marred with wild hopes the peace of slavery,", "With which old times and men had quelled the vain and free.", "", "'And with the falsehood of their poisonous lips", "They breathed on the enduring memory", "Of sages and of bards a brief eclipse;", "There was one teacher, who necessity", "Had armed with strength and wrong against mankind,", "His slave and his avenger aye to be;", "That we were weak and sinful, frail and blind,", "And that the will of one was peace, and we", "Should seek for nought on earth but toil and misery--", "", "'\"For thus we might avoid the hell hereafter.\"", "So spake the hypocrites, who cursed and lied;", "Alas, their sway was past, and tears and laughter", "Clung to their hoary hair, withering the pride", "Which in their hollow hearts dared still abide;", "And yet obscener slaves with smoother brow,", "And sneers on their strait lips, thin, blue and wide,", "Said that the rule of men was over now,", "And hence, the subject world to woman's will must bow;", "", "'And gold was scattered through the streets, and wine", "Flowed at a hundred feasts within the wall.", "In vain! the steady towers in Heaven did shine", "As they were wont, nor at the priestly call", "Left Plague her banquet in the Ethiop's hall,", "Nor Famine from the rich man's portal came,", "Where at her ease she ever preys on all", "Who throng to kneel for food: nor fear nor shame,", "Nor faith, nor discord, dimmed hope's newly kindled flame.", "", "'For gold was as a god whose faith began", "To fade, so that its worshippers were few,", "And Faith itself, which in the heart of man", "Gives shape, voice, name, to spectral Terror, knew", "Its downfall, as the altars lonelier grew,", "Till the Priests stood alone within the fane;", "The shafts of falsehood unpolluting flew,", "And the cold sneers of calumny were vain,", "The union of the free with discord's brand to stain.", "", "'The rest thou knowest.--Lo! we two are here--", "We have survived a ruin wide and deep--", "Strange thoughts are mine.--I cannot grieve or fear,", "Sitting with thee upon this lonely steep", "I smile, though human love should make me weep.", "We have survived a joy that knows no sorrow,", "And I do feel a mighty calmness creep", "Over my heart, which can no longer borrow", "Its hues from chance or change, dark children of to-morrow.", "", "'We know not what will come--yet, Laon, dearest,", "Cythna shall be the prophetess of Love,", "Her lips shall rob thee of the grace thou wearest,", "To hide thy heart, and clothe the shapes which rove", "Within the homeless Future's wintry grove;", "For I now, sitting thus beside thee, seem", "Even with thy breath and blood to live and move,", "And violence and wrong are as a dream", "Which rolls from steadfast truth, an unreturning stream.", "", "'The blasts of Autumn drive the winged seeds", "Over the earth,--next come the snows, and rain,", "And frosts, and storms, which dreary Winter leads", "Out of his Scythian cave, a savage train;", "Behold! Spring sweeps over the world again,", "Shedding soft dews from her ethereal wings;", "Flowers on the mountains, fruits over the plain,", "And music on the waves and woods she flings,", "And love on all that lives, and calm on lifeless things.", "", "'O Spring, of hope, and love, and youth, and gladness", "Wind-winged emblem! brightest, best and fairest!", "Whence comest thou, when, with dark Winter's sadness", "The tears that fade in sunny smiles thou sharest?", "Sister of joy, thou art the child who wearest", "Thy mother's dying smile, tender and sweet;", "Thy mother Autumn, for whose grave thou bearest", "Fresh flowers, and beams like flowers, with gentle feet,", "Disturbing not the leaves which are her winding-sheet.", "", "'Virtue, and Hope, and Love, like light and Heaven,", "Surround the world.--We are their chosen slaves.", "Has not the whirlwind of our spirit driven", "Truth's deathless germs to thought's remotest caves?", "Lo, Winter comes!--the grief of many graves,", "The frost of death, the tempest of the sword,", "The flood of tyranny, whose sanguine waves", "Stagnate like ice at Faith the enchanter's word,", "And bind all human hearts in its repose abhorred.", "", "'The seeds are sleeping in the soil: meanwhile", "The Tyrant peoples dungeons with his prey,", "Pale victims on the guarded scaffold smile", "Because they cannot speak; and, day by day,", "The moon of wasting Science wanes away", "Among her stars, and in that darkness vast", "The sons of earth to their foul idols pray,", "And gray Priests triumph, and like blight or blast", "A shade of selfish care o'er human looks is cast.", "", "'This is the winter of the world;--and here", "We die, even as the winds of Autumn fade,", "Expiring in the frore and foggy air.", "Behold! Spring comes, though we must pass, who made", "The promise of its birth,--even as the shade", "Which from our death, as from a mountain, flings", "The future, a broad sunrise; thus arrayed", "As with the plumes of overshadowing wings,", "From its dark gulf of chains, Earth like an eagle springs.", "", "'O dearest love! we shall be dead and cold", "Before this morn may on the world arise;", "Wouldst thou the glory of its dawn behold?", "Alas! gaze not on me, but turn thine eyes", "On thine own heart--it is a paradise", "Which everlasting Spring has made its own,", "And while drear Winter fills the naked skies,", "Sweet streams of sunny thought, and flowers fresh-blown,", "Are there, and weave their sounds and odours into one.", "", "'In their own hearts the earnest of the hope", "Which made them great, the good will ever find;", "And though some envious shade may interlope", "Between the effect and it, One comes behind,", "Who aye the future to the past will bind--", "Necessity, whose sightless strength for ever", "Evil with evil, good with good must wind", "In bands of union, which no power may sever:", "They must bring forth their kind, and be divided never!", "", "'The good and mighty of departed ages", "Are in their graves, the innocent and free,", "Heroes, and Poets, and prevailing Sages,", "Who leave the vesture of their majesty", "To adorn and clothe this naked world;--and we", "Are like to them--such perish, but they leave", "All hope, or love, or truth, or liberty,", "Whose forms their mighty spirits could conceive,", "To be a rule and law to ages that survive.", "", "'So be the turf heaped over our remains", "Even in our happy youth, and that strange lot,", "Whate'er it be, when in these mingling veins", "The blood is still, be ours; let sense and thought", "Pass from our being, or be numbered not", "Among the things that are; let those who come", "Behind, for whom our steadfast will has bought", "A calm inheritance, a glorious doom,", "Insult with careless tread, our undivided tomb.", "", "'Our many thoughts and deeds, our life and love,", "Our happiness, and all that we have been,", "Immortally must live, and burn and move,", "When we shall be no more;--the world has seen", "A type of peace; and--as some most serene", "And lovely spot to a poor maniac's eye,", "After long years, some sweet and moving scene", "Of youthful hope, returning suddenly,", "Quells his long madness--thus man shall remember thee.", "", "'And Calumny meanwhile shall feed on us,", "As worms devour the dead, and near the throne", "And at the altar, most accepted thus", "Shall sneers and curses be;--what we have done", "None shall dare vouch, though it be truly known;", "That record shall remain, when they must pass", "Who built their pride on its oblivion;", "And fame, in human hope which sculptured was,", "Survive the perished scrolls of unenduring brass.", "", "'The while we two, beloved, must depart,", "And Sense and Reason, those enchanters fair,", "Whose wand of power is hope, would bid the heart", "That gazed beyond the wormy grave despair:", "These eyes, these lips, this blood, seems darkly there", "To fade in hideous ruin; no calm sleep", "Peopling with golden dreams the stagnant air,", "Seems our obscure and rotting eyes to steep", "In joy;--but senseless death--a ruin dark and deep!", "", "'These are blind fancies--reason cannot know", "What sense can neither feel, nor thought conceive;", "There is delusion in the world--and woe,", "And fear, and pain--we know not whence we live,", "Or why, or how, or what mute Power may give", "Their being to each plant, and star, and beast,", "Or even these thoughts.--Come near me! I do weave", "A chain I cannot break--I am possessed", "With thoughts too swift and strong for one lone human breast.", "", "'Yes, yes--thy kiss is sweet, thy lips are warm--", "O! willingly, beloved, would these eyes,", "Might they no more drink being from thy form,", "Even as to sleep whence we again arise,", "Close their faint orbs in death: I fear nor prize", "Aught that can now betide, unshared by thee--", "Yes, Love when Wisdom fails makes Cythna wise:", "Darkness and death, if death be true, must be", "Dearer than life and hope, if unenjoyed with thee.", "", "'Alas, our thoughts flow on with stream, whose waters", "Return not to their fountain--Earth and Heaven,", "The Ocean and the Sun, the Clouds their daughters,", "Winter, and Spring, and Morn, and Noon, and Even,", "All that we are or know, is darkly driven", "Towards one gulf.--Lo! what a change is come", "Since I first spake--but time shall be forgiven,", "Though it change all but thee!'--She ceased--night's gloom", "Meanwhile had fallen on earth from the sky's sunless dome.", "", "Though she had ceased, her countenance uplifted", "To Heaven, still spake, with solemn glory bright;", "Her dark deep eyes, her lips, whose motions gifted", "The air they breathed with love, her locks undight.", "'Fair star of life and love,' I cried, 'my soul's delight,", "Why lookest thou on the crystalline skies?", "O, that my spirit were yon Heaven of night,", "Which gazes on thee with its thousand eyes!'", "She turned to me and smiled--that smile was Paradise!", "", "CANTO 10.", "", "Was there a human spirit in the steed,", "That thus with his proud voice, ere night was gone,", "He broke our linked rest? or do indeed", "All living things a common nature own,", "And thought erect an universal throne,", "Where many shapes one tribute ever bear?", "And Earth, their mutual mother, does she groan", "To see her sons contend? and makes she bare", "Her breast, that all in peace its drainless stores may share?", "", "I have heard friendly sounds from many a tongue", "Which was not human--the lone nightingale", "Has answered me with her most soothing song,", "Out of her ivy bower, when I sate pale", "With grief, and sighed beneath; from many a dale", "The antelopes who flocked for food have spoken", "With happy sounds, and motions, that avail", "Like man's own speech; and such was now the token", "Of waning night, whose calm by that proud neigh was broken.", "", "Each night, that mighty steed bore me abroad,", "And I returned with food to our retreat,", "And dark intelligence; the blood which flowed", "Over the fields, had stained the courser's feet;", "Soon the dust drinks that bitter dew,--then meet", "The vulture, and the wild dog, and the snake,", "The wolf, and the hyaena gray, and eat", "The dead in horrid truce: their throngs did make", "Behind the steed, a chasm like waves in a ship's wake.", "", "For, from the utmost realms of earth came pouring", "The banded slaves whom every despot sent", "At that throned traitor's summons; like the roaring", "Of fire, whose floods the wild deer circumvent", "In the scorched pastures of the South; so bent", "The armies of the leagued Kings around", "Their files of steel and flame;--the continent", "Trembled, as with a zone of ruin bound,", "Beneath their feet, the sea shook with their Navies' sound.", "", "From every nation of the earth they came,", "The multitude of moving heartless things,", "Whom slaves call men: obediently they came,", "Like sheep whom from the fold the shepherd brings", "To the stall, red with blood; their many kings", "Led them, thus erring, from their native land;", "Tartar and Frank, and millions whom the wings", "Of Indian breezes lull, and many a band", "The Arctic Anarch sent, and Idumea's sand,", "", "Fertile in prodigies and lies;--so there", "Strange natures made a brotherhood of ill.", "The desert savage ceased to grasp in fear", "His Asian shield and bow, when, at the will", "Of Europe's subtler son, the bolt would kill", "Some shepherd sitting on a rock secure;", "But smiles of wondering joy his face would fill,", "And savage sympathy: those slaves impure,", "Each one the other thus from ill to ill did lure.", "", "For traitorously did that foul Tyrant robe", "His countenance in lies,--even at the hour", "When he was snatched from death, then o'er the globe,", "With secret signs from many a mountain-tower,", "With smoke by day, and fire by night, the power", "Of Kings and Priests, those dark conspirators,", "He called:--they knew his cause their own, and swore", "Like wolves and serpents to their mutual wars", "Strange truce, with many a rite which Earth and Heaven abhors.", "", "Myriads had come--millions were on their way;", "The Tyrant passed, surrounded by the steel", "Of hired assassins, through the public way,", "Choked with his country's dead:--his footsteps reel", "On the fresh blood--he smiles. 'Ay, now I feel", "I am a King in truth!' he said, and took", "His royal seat, and bade the torturing wheel", "Be brought, and fire, and pincers, and the hook,", "And scorpions, that his soul on its revenge might look.", "", "'But first, go slay the rebels--why return", "The victor bands?' he said, 'millions yet live,", "Of whom the weakest with one word might turn", "The scales of victory yet;--let none survive", "But those within the walls--each fifth shall give", "The expiation for his brethren here.--", "Go forth, and waste and kill!'--'O king, forgive", "My speech,' a soldier answered--'but we fear", "The spirits of the night, and morn is drawing near;", "", "'For we were slaying still without remorse,", "And now that dreadful chief beneath my hand", "Defenceless lay, when on a hell-black horse,", "An Angel bright as day, waving a brand", "Which flashed among the stars, passed.'--'Dost thou stand", "Parleying with me, thou wretch?' the king replied;", "'Slaves, bind him to the wheel; and of this band,", "Whoso will drag that woman to his side", "That scared him thus, may burn his dearest foe beside;", "", "'And gold and glory shall be his.--Go forth!'", "They rushed into the plain.--Loud was the roar", "Of their career: the horsemen shook the earth;", "The wheeled artillery's speed the pavement tore;", "The infantry, file after file, did pour", "Their clouds on the utmost hills. Five days they slew", "Among the wasted fields; the sixth saw gore", "Stream through the city; on the seventh, the dew", "Of slaughter became stiff, and there was peace anew:", "", "Peace in the desert fields and villages,", "Between the glutted beasts and mangled dead!", "Peace in the silent streets! save when the cries", "Of victims to their fiery judgement led,", "Made pale their voiceless lips who seemed to dread", "Even in their dearest kindred, lest some tongue", "Be faithless to the fear yet unbetrayed;", "Peace in the Tyrant's palace, where the throng", "Waste the triumphal hours in festival and song!", "", "Day after day the burning sun rolled on", "Over the death-polluted land--it came", "Out of the east like fire, and fiercely shone", "A lamp of Autumn, ripening with its flame", "The few lone ears of corn;--the sky became", "Stagnate with heat, so that each cloud and blast", "Languished and died,--the thirsting air did claim", "All moisture, and a rotting vapour passed", "From the unburied dead, invisible and fast.", "", "First Want, then Plague came on the beasts; their food", "Failed, and they drew the breath of its decay.", "Millions on millions, whom the scent of blood", "Had lured, or who, from regions far away,", "Had tracked the hosts in festival array,", "From their dark deserts; gaunt and wasting now,", "Stalked like fell shades among their perished prey;", "In their green eyes a strange disease did glow,", "They sank in hideous spasm, or pains severe and slow.", "", "The fish were poisoned in the streams; the birds", "In the green woods perished; the insect race", "Was withered up; the scattered flocks and herds", "Who had survived the wild beasts' hungry chase", "Died moaning, each upon the other's face", "In helpless agony gazing; round the City", "All night, the lean hyaenas their sad case", "Like starving infants wailed; a woeful ditty!", "And many a mother wept, pierced with unnatural pity.", "", "Amid the aereal minarets on high,", "The Ethiopian vultures fluttering fell", "From their long line of brethren in the sky,", "Startling the concourse of mankind.--Too well", "These signs the coming mischief did foretell:--", "Strange panic first, a deep and sickening dread", "Within each heart, like ice, did sink and dwell,", "A voiceless thought of evil, which did spread", "With the quick glance of eyes, like withering lightnings shed.", "", "Day after day, when the year wanes, the frosts", "Strip its green crown of leaves, till all is bare;", "So on those strange and congregated hosts", "Came Famine, a swift shadow, and the air", "Groaned with the burden of a new despair;", "Famine, than whom Misrule no deadlier daughter", "Feeds from her thousand breasts, though sleeping there", "With lidless eyes, lie Faith, and Plague, and Slaughter,", "A ghastly brood; conceived of Lethe's sullen water.", "", "There was no food, the corn was trampled down,", "The flocks and herds had perished; on the shore", "The dead and putrid fish were ever thrown;", "The deeps were foodless, and the winds no more", "Creaked with the weight of birds, but, as before", "Those winged things sprang forth, were void of shade;", "The vines and orchards, Autumn's golden store,", "Were burned;--so that the meanest food was weighed", "With gold, and Avarice died before the god it made.", "", "There was no corn--in the wide market-place", "All loathliest things, even human flesh, was sold;", "They weighed it in small scales--and many a face", "Was fixed in eager horror then: his gold", "The miser brought; the tender maid, grown bold", "Through hunger, bared her scorned charms in vain;", "The mother brought her eldest born, controlled", "By instinct blind as love, but turned again", "And bade her infant suck, and died in silent pain.", "", "Then fell blue Plague upon the race of man.", "'O, for the sheathed steel, so late which gave", "Oblivion to the dead, when the streets ran", "With brothers' blood! O, that the earthquake's grave", "Would gape, or Ocean lift its stifling wave!'", "Vain cries--throughout the streets thousands pursued", "Each by his fiery torture howl and rave,", "Or sit in frenzy's unimagined mood,", "Upon fresh heaps of dead; a ghastly multitude.", "", "It was not hunger now, but thirst. Each well", "Was choked with rotting corpses, and became", "A cauldron of green mist made visible", "At sunrise. Thither still the myriads came,", "Seeking to quench the agony of the flame,", "Which raged like poison through their bursting veins;", "Naked they were from torture, without shame,", "Spotted with nameless scars and lurid blains,", "Childhood, and youth, and age, writhing in savage pains.", "", "It was not thirst, but madness! Many saw", "Their own lean image everywhere, it went", "A ghastlier self beside them, till the awe", "Of that dread sight to self-destruction sent", "Those shrieking victims; some, ere life was spent,", "Sought, with a horrid sympathy, to shed", "Contagion on the sound; and others rent", "Their matted hair, and cried aloud, 'We tread", "On fire! the avenging Power his hell on earth has spread!'", "", "Sometimes the living by the dead were hid.", "Near the great fountain in the public square,", "Where corpses made a crumbling pyramid", "Under the sun, was heard one stifled prayer", "For life, in the hot silence of the air;", "And strange 'twas, amid that hideous heap to see", "Some shrouded in their long and golden hair,", "As if not dead, but slumbering quietly", "Like forms which sculptors carve, then love to agony.", "", "Famine had spared the palace of the king:--", "He rioted in festival the while,", "He and his guards and priests; but Plague did fling", "One shadow upon all. Famine can smile", "On him who brings it food, and pass, with guile", "Of thankful falsehood, like a courtier gray,", "The house-dog of the throne; but many a mile", "Comes Plague, a winged wolf, who loathes alway", "The garbage and the scum that strangers make her prey.", "", "So, near the throne, amid the gorgeous feast,", "Sheathed in resplendent arms, or loosely dight", "To luxury, ere the mockery yet had ceased", "That lingered on his lips, the warrior's might", "Was loosened, and a new and ghastlier night", "In dreams of frenzy lapped his eyes; he fell", "Headlong, or with stiff eyeballs sate upright", "Among the guests, or raving mad did tell", "Strange truths; a dying seer of dark oppression's hell.", "", "The Princes and the Priests were pale with terror;", "That monstrous faith wherewith they ruled mankind,", "Fell, like a shaft loosed by the bowman's error,", "On their own hearts: they sought and they could find", "No refuge--'twas the blind who led the blind!", "So, through the desolate streets to the high fane,", "The many-tongued and endless armies wind", "In sad procession: each among the train", "To his own Idol lifts his supplications vain.", "", "'O God!' they cried, 'we know our secret pride", "Has scorned thee, and thy worship, and thy name;", "Secure in human power we have defied", "Thy fearful might; we bend in fear and shame", "Before thy presence; with the dust we claim", "Kindred; be merciful, O King of Heaven!", "Most justly have we suffered for thy fame", "Made dim, but be at length our sins forgiven,", "Ere to despair and death thy worshippers be driven.", "", "'O King of Glory! thou alone hast power!", "Who can resist thy will? who can restrain", "Thy wrath, when on the guilty thou dost shower", "The shafts of thy revenge, a blistering rain?", "Greatest and best, be merciful again!", "Have we not stabbed thine enemies, and made", "The Earth an altar, and the Heavens a fane,", "Where thou wert worshipped with their blood, and laid", "Those hearts in dust which would thy searchless works have weighed?", "", "'Well didst thou loosen on this impious City", "Thine angels of revenge: recall them now;", "Thy worshippers, abased, here kneel for pity,", "And bind their souls by an immortal vow:", "We swear by thee! and to our oath do thou", "Give sanction, from thine hell of fiends and flame,", "That we will kill with fire and torments slow,", "The last of those who mocked thy holy name,", "And scorned the sacred laws thy prophets did proclaim.'", "", "Thus they with trembling limbs and pallid lips", "Worshipped their own hearts' image, dim and vast,", "Scared by the shade wherewith they would eclipse", "The light of other minds;--troubled they passed", "From the great Temple;--fiercely still and fast", "The arrows of the plague among them fell,", "And they on one another gazed aghast,", "And through the hosts contention wild befell,", "As each of his own god the wondrous works did tell.", "", "And Oromaze, Joshua, and Mahomet,", "Moses, and Buddh, Zerdusht, and Brahm, and Foh,", "A tumult of strange names, which never met", "Before, as watchwords of a single woe,", "Arose; each raging votary 'gan to throw", "Aloft his armed hands, and each did howl", "'Our God alone is God!'--and slaughter now", "Would have gone forth, when from beneath a cowl", "A voice came forth, which pierced like ice through every soul.", "", "'Twas an Iberian Priest from whom it came,", "A zealous man, who led the legioned West,", "With words which faith and pride had steeped in flame,", "To quell the unbelievers; a dire guest", "Even to his friends was he, for in his breast", "Did hate and guile lie watchful, intertwined,", "Twin serpents in one deep and winding nest;", "He loathed all faith beside his own, and pined", "To wreak his fear of Heaven in vengeance on mankind.", "", "But more he loathed and hated the clear light", "Of wisdom and free thought, and more did fear,", "Lest, kindled once, its beams might pierce the night,", "Even where his Idol stood; for, far and near", "Did many a heart in Europe leap to hear", "That faith and tyranny were trampled down;", "Many a pale victim, doomed for truth to share", "The murderer's cell, or see, with helpless groan,", "The priests his children drag for slaves to serve their own.", "", "He dared not kill the infidels with fire", "Or steel, in Europe; the slow agonies", "Of legal torture mocked his keen desire:", "So he made truce with those who did despise", "The expiation, and the sacrifice,", "That, though detested, Islam's kindred creed", "Might crush for him those deadlier enemies;", "For fear of God did in his bosom breed", "A jealous hate of man, an unreposing need.", "", "'Peace! Peace!' he cried, 'when we are dead, the Day", "Of Judgement comes, and all shall surely know", "Whose God is God, each fearfully shall pay", "The errors of his faith in endless woe!", "But there is sent a mortal vengeance now", "On earth, because an impious race had spurned", "Him whom we all adore,--a subtle foe,", "By whom for ye this dread reward was earned,", "And kingly thrones, which rest on faith, nigh overturned.", "", "'Think ye, because ye weep, and kneel, and pray,", "That God will lull the pestilence? It rose", "Even from beneath his throne, where, many a day,", "His mercy soothed it to a dark repose:", "It walks upon the earth to judge his foes;", "And what are thou and I, that he should deign", "To curb his ghastly minister, or close", "The gates of death, ere they receive the twain", "Who shook with mortal spells his undefended reign?", "", "'Ay, there is famine in the gulf of hell,", "Its giant worms of fire for ever yawn.--", "Their lurid eyes are on us! those who fell", "By the swift shafts of pestilence ere dawn,", "Are in their jaws! they hunger for the spawn", "Of Satan, their own brethren, who were sent", "To make our souls their spoil. See! see! they fawn", "Like dogs, and they will sleep with luxury spent,", "When those detested hearts their iron fangs have rent!", "", "'Our God may then lull Pestilence to sleep:--", "Pile high the pyre of expiation now,", "A forest's spoil of boughs, and on the heap", "Pour venomous gums, which sullenly and slow,", "When touched by flame, shall burn, and melt, and flow,", "A stream of clinging fire,--and fix on high", "A net of iron, and spread forth below", "A couch of snakes, and scorpions, and the fry", "Of centipedes and worms, earth's hellish progeny!", "", "'Let Laon and Laone on that pyre,", "Linked tight with burning brass, perish!--then pray", "That, with this sacrifice, the withering ire", "Of Heaven may be appeased.' He ceased, and they", "A space stood silent, as far, far away", "The echoes of his voice among them died;", "And he knelt down upon the dust, alway", "Muttering the curses of his speechless pride,", "Whilst shame, and fear, and awe, the armies did divide.", "", "His voice was like a blast that burst the portal", "Of fabled hell; and as he spake, each one", "Saw gape beneath the chasms of fire immortal,", "And Heaven above seemed cloven, where, on a throne", "Girt round with storms and shadows, sate alone", "Their King and Judge--fear killed in every breast", "All natural pity then, a fear unknown", "Before, and with an inward fire possessed,", "They raged like homeless beasts whom burning woods invest.", "", "'Twas morn.--At noon the public crier went forth,", "Proclaiming through the living and the dead,", "'The Monarch saith, that his great Empire's worth", "Is set on Laon and Laone's head:", "He who but one yet living here can lead,", "Or who the life from both their hearts can wring,", "Shall be the kingdom's heir--a glorious meed!", "But he who both alive can hither bring,", "The Princess shall espouse, and reign an equal King.'", "", "Ere night the pyre was piled, the net of iron", "Was spread above, the fearful couch below;", "It overtopped the towers that did environ", "That spacious square; for Fear is never slow", "To build the thrones of Hate, her mate and foe;", "So, she scourged forth the maniac multitude", "To rear this pyramid--tottering and slow,", "Plague-stricken, foodless, like lean herds pursued", "By gadflies, they have piled the heath, and gums, and wood.", "", "Night came, a starless and a moonless gloom.", "Until the dawn, those hosts of many a nation", "Stood round that pile, as near one lover's tomb", "Two gentle sisters mourn their desolation;", "And in the silence of that expectation,", "Was heard on high the reptiles' hiss and crawl--", "It was so deep--save when the devastation", "Of the swift pest, with fearful interval,", "Marking its path with shrieks, among the crowd would fall.", "", "Morn came,--among those sleepless multitudes,", "Madness, and Fear, and Plague, and Famine still", "Heaped corpse on corpse, as in autumnal woods", "The frosts of many a wind with dead leaves fill", "Earth's cold and sullen brooks; in silence, still", "The pale survivors stood; ere noon, the fear", "Of Hell became a panic, which did kill", "Like hunger or disease, with whispers drear,", "As 'Hush! hark! Come they yet?--Just Heaven! thine hour is near!'", "", "And Priests rushed through their ranks, some counterfeiting", "The rage they did inspire, some mad indeed", "With their own lies; they said their god was waiting", "To see his enemies writhe, and burn, and bleed,--", "And that, till then, the snakes of Hell had need", "Of human souls:--three hundred furnaces", "Soon blazed through the wide City, where, with speed,", "Men brought their infidel kindred to appease", "God's wrath, and, while they burned, knelt round on quivering knees.", "", "The noontide sun was darkened with that smoke,", "The winds of eve dispersed those ashes gray.", "The madness which these rites had lulled, awoke", "Again at sunset.--Who shall dare to say", "The deeds which night and fear brought forth, or weigh", "In balance just the good and evil there?", "He might man's deep and searchless heart display,", "And cast a light on those dim labyrinths, where", "Hope, near imagined chasms, is struggling with despair.", "", "'Tis said, a mother dragged three children then,", "To those fierce flames which roast the eyes in the head,", "And laughed, and died; and that unholy men,", "Feasting like fiends upon the infidel dead,", "Looked from their meal, and saw an Angel tread", "The visible floor of Heaven, and it was she!", "And, on that night, one without doubt or dread", "Came to the fire, and said, 'Stop, I am he!", "Kill me!'--They burned them both with hellish mockery.", "", "And, one by one, that night, young maidens came,", "Beauteous and calm, like shapes of living stone", "Clothed in the light of dreams, and by the flame", "Which shrank as overgorged, they laid them down,", "And sung a low sweet song, of which alone", "One word was heard, and that was Liberty;", "And that some kissed their marble feet, with moan", "Like love, and died; and then that they did die", "With happy smiles, which sunk in white tranquillity.", "", "CANTO 11.", "", "She saw me not--she heard me not--alone", "Upon the mountain's dizzy brink she stood;", "She spake not, breathed not, moved not--there was thrown", "Over her look, the shadow of a mood", "Which only clothes the heart in solitude,", "A thought of voiceless depth;--she stood alone,", "Above, the Heavens were spread;--below, the flood", "Was murmuring in its caves;--the wind had blown", "Her hair apart, through which her eyes and forehead shone.", "", "A cloud was hanging o'er the western mountains;", "Before its blue and moveless depth were flying", "Gray mists poured forth from the unresting fountains", "Of darkness in the North:--the day was dying:--", "Sudden, the sun shone forth, its beams were lying", "Like boiling gold on Ocean, strange to see,", "And on the shattered vapours, which defying", "The power of light in vain, tossed restlessly", "In the red Heaven, like wrecks in a tempestuous sea.", "", "It was a stream of living beams, whose bank", "On either side by the cloud's cleft was made;", "And where its chasms that flood of glory drank,", "Its waves gushed forth like fire, and as if swayed", "By some mute tempest, rolled on HER; the shade", "Of her bright image floated on the river", "Of liquid light, which then did end and fade--", "Her radiant shape upon its verge did shiver;", "Aloft, her flowing hair like strings of flame did quiver.", "", "I stood beside her, but she saw me not--", "She looked upon the sea, and skies, and earth;", "Rapture, and love, and admiration wrought", "A passion deeper far than tears, or mirth,", "Or speech, or gesture, or whate'er has birth", "From common joy; which with the speechless feeling", "That led her there united, and shot forth", "From her far eyes a light of deep revealing,", "All but her dearest self from my regard concealing.", "", "Her lips were parted, and the measured breath", "Was now heard there;--her dark and intricate eyes", "Orb within orb, deeper than sleep or death,", "Absorbed the glories of the burning skies,", "Which, mingling with her heart's deep ecstasies,", "Burst from her looks and gestures;--and a light", "Of liquid tenderness, like love, did rise", "From her whole frame, an atmosphere which quite", "Arrayed her in its beams, tremulous and soft and bright.", "", "She would have clasped me to her glowing frame;", "Those warm and odorous lips might soon have shed", "On mine the fragrance and the invisible flame", "Which now the cold winds stole;--she would have laid", "Upon my languid heart her dearest head;", "I might have heard her voice, tender and sweet;", "Her eyes, mingling with mine, might soon have fed", "My soul with their own joy.--One moment yet", "I gazed--we parted then, never again to meet!", "", "Never but once to meet on Earth again!", "She heard me as I fled--her eager tone", "Sunk on my heart, and almost wove a chain", "Around my will to link it with her own,", "So that my stern resolve was almost gone.", "'I cannot reach thee! whither dost thou fly?", "My steps are faint--Come back, thou dearest one--", "Return, ah me! return!'--The wind passed by", "On which those accents died, faint, far, and lingeringly.", "", "Woe! Woe! that moonless midnight!--Want and Pest", "Were horrible, but one more fell doth rear,", "As in a hydra's swarming lair, its crest", "Eminent among those victims--even the Fear", "Of Hell: each girt by the hot atmosphere", "Of his blind agony, like a scorpion stung", "By his own rage upon his burning bier", "Of circling coals of fire; but still there clung", "One hope, like a keen sword on starting threads uphung:", "", "Not death--death was no more refuge or rest;", "Not life--it was despair to be!--not sleep,", "For fiends and chasms of fire had dispossessed", "All natural dreams: to wake was not to weep,", "But to gaze mad and pallid, at the leap", "To which the Future, like a snaky scourge,", "Or like some tyrant's eye, which aye doth keep", "Its withering beam upon his slaves, did urge", "Their steps; they heard the roar of Hell's sulphureous surge.", "", "Each of that multitude, alone, and lost", "To sense of outward things, one hope yet knew;", "As on a foam-girt crag some seaman tossed", "Stares at the rising tide, or like the crew", "Whilst now the ship is splitting through and through;", "Each, if the tramp of a far steed was heard,", "Started from sick despair, or if there flew", "One murmur on the wind, or if some word", "Which none can gather yet, the distant crowd has stirred.", "", "Why became cheeks, wan with the kiss of death,", "Paler from hope? they had sustained despair.", "Why watched those myriads with suspended breath", "Sleepless a second night? they are not here,", "The victims, and hour by hour, a vision drear,", "Warm corpses fall upon the clay-cold dead;", "And even in death their lips are wreathed with fear.--", "The crowd is mute and moveless--overhead", "Silent Arcturus shines--'Ha! hear'st thou not the tread", "", "'Of rushing feet? laughter? the shout, the scream,", "Of triumph not to be contained? See! hark!", "They come, they come! give way!' Alas, ye deem", "Falsely--'tis but a crowd of maniacs stark", "Driven, like a troop of spectres, through the dark,", "From the choked well, whence a bright death-fire sprung,", "A lurid earth-star, which dropped many a spark", "From its blue train, and spreading widely, clung", "To their wild hair, like mist the topmost pines among.", "", "And many, from the crowd collected there,", "Joined that strange dance in fearful sympathies;", "There was the silence of a long despair,", "When the last echo of those terrible cries", "Came from a distant street, like agonies", "Stifled afar.--Before the Tyrant's throne", "All night his aged Senate sate, their eyes", "In stony expectation fixed; when one", "Sudden before them stood, a Stranger and alone.", "", "Dark Priests and haughty Warriors gazed on him", "With baffled wonder, for a hermit's vest", "Concealed his face; but when he spake, his tone,", "Ere yet the matter did their thoughts arrest,--", "Earnest, benignant, calm, as from a breast", "Void of all hate or terror--made them start;", "For as with gentle accents he addressed", "His speech to them, on each unwilling heart", "Unusual awe did fall--a spirit-quelling dart.", "", "'Ye Princes of the Earth, ye sit aghast", "Amid the ruin which yourselves have made,", "Yes, Desolation heard your trumpet's blast,", "And sprang from sleep!--dark Terror has obeyed", "Your bidding--O, that I whom ye have made", "Your foe, could set my dearest enemy free", "From pain and fear! but evil casts a shade,", "Which cannot pass so soon, and Hate must be", "The nurse and parent still of an ill progeny.", "", "'Ye turn to Heaven for aid in your distress;", "Alas, that ye, the mighty and the wise,", "Who, if ye dared, might not aspire to less", "Than ye conceive of power, should fear the lies", "Which thou, and thou, didst frame for mysteries", "To blind your slaves:--consider your own thought,", "An empty and a cruel sacrifice", "Ye now prepare, for a vain idol wrought", "Out of the fears and hate which vain desires have brought.", "", "'Ye seek for happiness--alas, the day!", "Ye find it not in luxury nor in gold,", "Nor in the fame, nor in the envied sway", "For which, O willing slaves to Custom old,", "Severe taskmistress! ye your hearts have sold.", "Ye seek for peace, and when ye die, to dream", "No evil dreams: all mortal things are cold", "And senseless then; if aught survive, I deem", "It must be love and joy, for they immortal seem.", "", "'Fear not the future, weep not for the past.", "Oh, could I win your ears to dare be now", "Glorious, and great, and calm! that ye would cast", "Into the dust those symbols of your woe,", "Purple, and gold, and steel! that ye would go", "Proclaiming to the nations whence ye came,", "That Want, and Plague, and Fear, from slavery flow;", "And that mankind is free, and that the shame", "Of royalty and faith is lost in freedom's fame!", "", "'If thus, 'tis well--if not, I come to say", "That Laon--' while the Stranger spoke, among", "The Council sudden tumult and affray", "Arose, for many of those warriors young,", "Had on his eloquent accents fed and hung", "Like bees on mountain-flowers; they knew the truth,", "And from their thrones in vindication sprung;", "The men of faith and law then without ruth", "Drew forth their secret steel, and stabbed each ardent youth.", "", "They stabbed them in the back and sneered--a slave", "Who stood behind the throne, those corpses drew", "Each to its bloody, dark, and secret grave;", "And one more daring raised his steel anew", "To pierce the Stranger. 'What hast thou to do", "With me, poor wretch?'--Calm, solemn and severe,", "That voice unstrung his sinews, and he threw", "His dagger on the ground, and pale with fear,", "Sate silently--his voice then did the Stranger rear.", "", "'It doth avail not that I weep for ye--", "Ye cannot change, since ye are old and gray,", "And ye have chosen your lot--your fame must be", "A book of blood, whence in a milder day", "Men shall learn truth, when ye are wrapped in clay:", "Now ye shall triumph. I am Laon's friend,", "And him to your revenge will I betray,", "So ye concede one easy boon. Attend!", "For now I speak of things which ye can apprehend.", "", "'There is a People mighty in its youth,", "A land beyond the Oceans of the West,", "Where, though with rudest rites, Freedom and Truth", "Are worshipped; from a glorious Mother's breast,", "Who, since high Athens fell, among the rest", "Sate like the Queen of Nations, but in woe,", "By inbred monsters outraged and oppressed,", "Turns to her chainless child for succour now,", "It draws the milk of Power in Wisdom's fullest flow.", "", "'That land is like an Eagle, whose young gaze", "Feeds on the noontide beam, whose golden plume", "Floats moveless on the storm, and in the blaze", "Of sunrise gleams when Earth is wrapped in gloom;", "An epitaph of glory for the tomb", "Of murdered Europe may thy fame be made,", "Great People! as the sands shalt thou become;", "Thy growth is swift as morn, when night must fade;", "The multitudinous Earth shall sleep beneath thy shade.", "", "'Yes, in the desert there is built a home", "For Freedom. Genius is made strong to rear", "The monuments of man beneath the dome", "Of a new Heaven; myriads assemble there,", "Whom the proud lords of man, in rage or fear,", "Drive from their wasted homes: the boon I pray", "Is this--that Cythna shall be convoyed there--", "Nay, start not at the name--America!", "And then to you this night Laon will I betray.", "", "'With me do what ye will. I am your foe!'", "The light of such a joy as makes the stare", "Of hungry snakes like living emeralds glow,", "Shone in a hundred human eyes--'Where, where", "Is Laon? Haste! fly! drag him swiftly here!", "We grant thy boon.'--'I put no trust in ye,", "Swear by the Power ye dread.'--'We swear, we swear!'", "The Stranger threw his vest back suddenly,", "And smiled in gentle pride, and said, 'Lo! I am he!'", "", "CANTO 12.", "", "The transport of a fierce and monstrous gladness", "Spread through the multitudinous streets, fast flying", "Upon the winds of fear; from his dull madness", "The starveling waked, and died in joy; the dying,", "Among the corpses in stark agony lying,", "Just heard the happy tidings, and in hope", "Closed their faint eyes; from house to house replying", "With loud acclaim, the living shook Heaven's cope,", "And filled the startled Earth with echoes: morn did ope", "", "Its pale eyes then; and lo! the long array", "Of guards in golden arms, and Priests beside,", "Singing their bloody hymns, whose garbs betray", "The blackness of the faith it seems to hide;", "And see, the Tyrant's gem-wrought chariot glide", "Among the gloomy cowls and glittering spears--", "A Shape of light is sitting by his side,", "A child most beautiful. I' the midst appears", "Laon,--exempt alone from mortal hopes and fears.", "", "His head and feet are bare, his hands are bound", "Behind with heavy chains, yet none do wreak", "Their scoffs on him, though myriads throng around;", "There are no sneers upon his lip which speak", "That scorn or hate has made him bold; his cheek", "Resolve has not turned pale,--his eyes are mild", "And calm, and, like the morn about to break,", "Smile on mankind--his heart seems reconciled", "To all things and itself, like a reposing child.", "", "Tumult was in the soul of all beside,", "Ill joy, or doubt, or fear; but those who saw", "Their tranquil victim pass, felt wonder glide", "Into their brain, and became calm with awe.--", "See, the slow pageant near the pile doth draw.", "A thousand torches in the spacious square,", "Borne by the ready slaves of ruthless law,", "Await the signal round: the morning fair", "Is changed to a dim night by that unnatural glare.", "", "And see! beneath a sun-bright canopy,", "Upon a platform level with the pile,", "The anxious Tyrant sit, enthroned on high,", "Girt by the chieftains of the host; all smile", "In expectation, but one child: the while", "I, Laon, led by mutes, ascend my bier", "Of fire, and look around: each distant isle", "Is dark in the bright dawn; towers far and near,", "Pierce like reposing flames the tremulous atmosphere.", "", "There was such silence through the host, as when", "An earthquake trampling on some populous town,", "Has crushed ten thousand with one tread, and men", "Expect the second; all were mute but one,", "That fairest child, who, bold with love, alone", "Stood up before the King, without avail,", "Pleading for Laon's life--her stifled groan", "Was heard--she trembled like one aspen pale", "Among the gloomy pines of a Norwegian vale.", "", "What were his thoughts linked in the morning sun,", "Among those reptiles, stingless with delay,", "Even like a tyrant's wrath?--The signal-gun", "Roared--hark, again! In that dread pause he lay", "As in a quiet dream--the slaves obey--", "A thousand torches drop,--and hark, the last", "Bursts on that awful silence; far away,", "Millions, with hearts that beat both loud and fast,", "Watch for the springing flame expectant and aghast.", "", "They fly--the torches fall--a cry of fear", "Has startled the triumphant!--they recede!", "For, ere the cannon's roar has died, they hear", "The tramp of hoofs like earthquake, and a steed", "Dark and gigantic, with the tempest's speed,", "Bursts through their ranks: a woman sits thereon,", "Fairer, it seems, than aught that earth can breed,", "Calm, radiant, like the phantom of the dawn,", "A spirit from the caves of daylight wandering gone.", "", "All thought it was God's Angel come to sweep", "The lingering guilty to their fiery grave;", "The Tyrant from his throne in dread did leap,--", "Her innocence his child from fear did save;", "Scared by the faith they feigned, each priestly slave", "Knelt for his mercy whom they served with blood,", "And, like the refluence of a mighty wave", "Sucked into the loud sea, the multitude", "With crushing panic, fled in terror's altered mood.", "", "They pause, they blush, they gaze,--a gathering shout", "Bursts like one sound from the ten thousand streams", "Of a tempestuous sea:--that sudden rout", "One checked, who, never in his mildest dreams", "Felt awe from grace or loveliness, the seams", "Of his rent heart so hard and cold a creed", "Had seared with blistering ice--but he misdeems", "That he is wise, whose wounds do only bleed", "Inly for self,--thus thought the Iberian Priest indeed,", "", "And others, too, thought he was wise to see,", "In pain, and fear, and hate, something divine;", "In love and beauty, no divinity.--", "Now with a bitter smile, whose light did shine", "Like a fiend's hope upon his lips and eyne,", "He said, and the persuasion of that sneer", "Rallied his trembling comrades--'Is it mine", "To stand alone, when kings and soldiers fear", "A woman? Heaven has sent its other victim here.'", "", "'Were it not impious,' said the King, 'to break", "Our holy oath?'--'Impious to keep it, say!'", "Shrieked the exulting Priest:--'Slaves, to the stake", "Bind her, and on my head the burden lay", "Of her just torments:--at the Judgement Day", "Will I stand up before the golden throne", "Of Heaven, and cry, \"To Thee did I betray", "An infidel; but for me she would have known", "Another moment's joy! the glory be thine own.\"'", "", "They trembled, but replied not, nor obeyed,", "Pausing in breathless silence. Cythna sprung", "From her gigantic steed, who, like a shade", "Chased by the winds, those vacant streets among", "Fled tameless, as the brazen rein she flung", "Upon his neck, and kissed his mooned brow.", "A piteous sight, that one so fair and young,", "The clasp of such a fearful death should woo", "With smiles of tender joy as beamed from Cythna now.", "", "The warm tears burst in spite of faith and fear", "From many a tremulous eye, but like soft dews", "Which feed Spring's earliest buds, hung gathered there,", "Frozen by doubt,--alas! they could not choose", "But weep; for when her faint limbs did refuse", "To climb the pyre, upon the mutes she smiled;", "And with her eloquent gestures, and the hues", "Of her quick lips, even as a weary child", "Wins sleep from some fond nurse with its caresses mild,", "", "She won them, though unwilling, her to bind", "Near me, among the snakes. When there had fled", "One soft reproach that was most thrilling kind,", "She smiled on me, and nothing then we said,", "But each upon the other's countenance fed", "Looks of insatiate love; the mighty veil", "Which doth divide the living and the dead", "Was almost rent, the world grew dim and pale,--", "All light in Heaven or Earth beside our love did fail.--", "", "Yet--yet--one brief relapse, like the last beam", "Of dying flames, the stainless air around", "Hung silent and serene--a blood-red gleam", "Burst upwards, hurling fiercely from the ground", "The globed smoke,--I heard the mighty sound", "Of its uprise, like a tempestuous ocean;", "And through its chasms I saw, as in a swound,", "The tyrant's child fall without life or motion", "Before his throne, subdued by some unseen emotion.--", "", "And is this death?--The pyre has disappeared,", "The Pestilence, the Tyrant, and the throng;", "The flames grow silent--slowly there is heard", "The music of a breath-suspending song,", "Which, like the kiss of love when life is young,", "Steeps the faint eyes in darkness sweet and deep;", "With ever-changing notes it floats along,", "Till on my passive soul there seemed to creep", "A melody, like waves on wrinkled sands that leap.", "", "The warm touch of a soft and tremulous hand", "Wakened me then; lo! Cythna sate reclined", "Beside me, on the waved and golden sand", "Of a clear pool, upon a bank o'ertwined", "With strange and star-bright flowers, which to the wind", "Breathed divine odour; high above, was spread", "The emerald heaven of trees of unknown kind,", "Whose moonlike blooms and bright fruit overhead", "A shadow, which was light, upon the waters shed.", "", "And round about sloped many a lawny mountain", "With incense-bearing forests and vast caves", "Of marble radiance, to that mighty fountain;", "And where the flood its own bright margin laves,", "Their echoes talk with its eternal waves,", "Which, from the depths whose jagged caverns breed", "Their unreposing strife, it lifts and heaves,--", "Till through a chasm of hills they roll, and feed", "A river deep, which flies with smooth but arrowy speed.", "", "As we sate gazing in a trance of wonder,", "A boat approached, borne by the musical air", "Along the waves which sung and sparkled under", "Its rapid keel--a winged shape sate there,", "A child with silver-shining wings, so fair,", "That as her bark did through the waters glide,", "The shadow of the lingering waves did wear", "Light, as from starry beams; from side to side,", "While veering to the wind her plumes the bark did guide.", "", "The boat was one curved shell of hollow pearl,", "Almost translucent with the light divine", "Of her within; the prow and stern did curl", "Horned on high, like the young moon supine,", "When o'er dim twilight mountains dark with pine,", "It floats upon the sunset's sea of beams,", "Whose golden waves in many a purple line", "Fade fast, till borne on sunlight's ebbing streams,", "Dilating, on earth's verge the sunken meteor gleams.", "", "Its keel has struck the sands beside our feet;--", "Then Cythna turned to me, and from her eyes", "Which swam with unshed tears, a look more sweet", "Than happy love, a wild and glad surprise,", "Glanced as she spake: 'Ay, this is Paradise", "And not a dream, and we are all united!", "Lo, that is mine own child, who in the guise", "Of madness came, like day to one benighted", "In lonesome woods: my heart is now too well requited!'", "", "And then she wept aloud, and in her arms", "Clasped that bright Shape, less marvellously fair", "Than her own human hues and living charms;", "Which, as she leaned in passion's silence there,", "Breathed warmth on the cold bosom of the air,", "Which seemed to blush and tremble with delight;", "The glossy darkness of her streaming hair", "Fell o'er that snowy child, and wrapped from sight", "The fond and long embrace which did their hearts unite.", "", "Then the bright child, the plumed Seraph came,", "And fixed its blue and beaming eyes on mine,", "And said, 'I was disturbed by tremulous shame", "When once we met, yet knew that I was thine", "From the same hour in which thy lips divine", "Kindled a clinging dream within my brain,", "Which ever waked when I might sleep, to twine", "Thine image with HER memory dear--again", "We meet; exempted now from mortal fear or pain.", "", "'When the consuming flames had wrapped ye round,", "The hope which I had cherished went away;", "I fell in agony on the senseless ground,", "And hid mine eyes in dust, and far astray", "My mind was gone, when bright, like dawning day,", "The Spectre of the Plague before me flew,", "And breathed upon my lips, and seemed to say,", "\"They wait for thee, beloved!\"--then I knew", "The death-mark on my breast, and became calm anew.", "", "'It was the calm of love--for I was dying.", "I saw the black and half-extinguished pyre", "In its own gray and shrunken ashes lying;", "The pitchy smoke of the departed fire", "Still hung in many a hollow dome and spire", "Above the towers, like night,--beneath whose shade", "Awed by the ending of their own desire", "The armies stood; a vacancy was made", "In expectation's depth, and so they stood dismayed.", "", "'The frightful silence of that altered mood,", "The tortures of the dying clove alone,", "Till one uprose among the multitude,", "And said--\"The flood of time is rolling on;", "We stand upon its brink, whilst THEY are gone", "To glide in peace down death's mysterious stream.", "Have ye done well? They moulder, flesh and bone,", "Who might have made this life's envenomed dream", "A sweeter draught than ye will ever taste, I deem.", "", "'\"These perish as the good and great of yore", "Have perished, and their murderers will repent,--", "Yes, vain and barren tears shall flow before", "Yon smoke has faded from the firmament", "Even for this cause, that ye who must lament", "The death of those that made this world so fair,", "Cannot recall them now; but there is lent", "To man the wisdom of a high despair,", "When such can die, and he live on and linger here.", "", "'\"Ay, ye may fear not now the Pestilence,", "From fabled hell as by a charm withdrawn;", "All power and faith must pass, since calmly hence", "In pain and fire have unbelievers gone;", "And ye must sadly turn away, and moan", "In secret, to his home each one returning;", "And to long ages shall this hour be known;", "And slowly shall its memory, ever burning,", "Fill this dark night of things with an eternal morning.", "", "'\"For me that world is grown too void and cold,", "Since Hope pursues immortal Destiny", "With steps thus slow--therefore shall ye behold", "How those who love, yet fear not, dare to die;", "Tell to your children this!\" Then suddenly", "He sheathed a dagger in his heart and fell;", "My brain grew dark in death, and yet to me", "There came a murmur from the crowd, to tell", "Of deep and mighty change which suddenly befell.", "", "'Then suddenly I stood, a winged Thought,", "Before the immortal Senate, and the seat", "Of that star-shining spirit, whence is wrought", "The strength of its dominion, good and great,", "The better Genius of this world's estate.", "His realm around one mighty Fane is spread,", "Elysian islands bright and fortunate,", "Calm dwellings of the free and happy dead,", "Where I am sent to lead!' These winged words she said,", "", "And with the silence of her eloquent smile,", "Bade us embark in her divine canoe;", "Then at the helm we took our seat, the while", "Above her head those plumes of dazzling hue", "Into the winds' invisible stream she threw,", "Sitting beside the prow: like gossamer", "On the swift breath of morn, the vessel flew", "O'er the bright whirlpools of that fountain fair,", "Whose shores receded fast, while we seemed lingering there;", "", "Till down that mighty stream, dark, calm, and fleet,", "Between a chasm of cedarn mountains riven,", "Chased by the thronging winds whose viewless feet", "As swift as twinkling beams, had, under Heaven,", "From woods and waves wild sounds and odours driven,", "The boat fled visibly--three nights and days,", "Borne like a cloud through morn, and noon, and even,", "We sailed along the winding watery ways", "Of the vast stream, a long and labyrinthine maze.", "", "A scene of joy and wonder to behold", "That river's shapes and shadows changing ever,", "Where the broad sunrise filled with deepening gold", "Its whirlpools, where all hues did spread and quiver;", "And where melodious falls did burst and shiver", "Among rocks clad with flowers, the foam and spray", "Sparkled like stars upon the sunny river,", "Or when the moonlight poured a holier day,", "One vast and glittering lake around green islands lay.", "", "Morn, noon, and even, that boat of pearl outran", "The streams which bore it, like the arrowy cloud", "Of tempest, or the speedier thought of man,", "Which flieth forth and cannot make abode;", "Sometimes through forests, deep like night, we glode,", "Between the walls of mighty mountains crowned", "With Cyclopean piles, whose turrets proud,", "The homes of the departed, dimly frowned", "O'er the bright waves which girt their dark foundations round.", "", "Sometimes between the wide and flowering meadows,", "Mile after mile we sailed, and 'twas delight", "To see far off the sunbeams chase the shadows", "Over the grass; sometimes beneath the night", "Of wide and vaulted caves, whose roofs were bright", "With starry gems, we fled, whilst from their deep", "And dark-green chasms, shades beautiful and white,", "Amid sweet sounds across our path would sweep,", "Like swift and lovely dreams that walk the waves of sleep.", "", "And ever as we sailed, our minds were full", "Of love and wisdom, which would overflow", "In converse wild, and sweet, and wonderful,", "And in quick smiles whose light would come and go", "Like music o'er wide waves, and in the flow", "Of sudden tears, and in the mute caress--", "For a deep shade was cleft, and we did know,", "That virtue, though obscured on Earth, not less", "Survives all mortal change in lasting loveliness.", "", "Three days and nights we sailed, as thought and feeling", "Number delightful hours--for through the sky", "The sphered lamps of day and night, revealing", "New changes and new glories, rolled on high,", "Sun, Moon and moonlike lamps, the progeny", "Of a diviner Heaven, serene and fair:", "On the fourth day, wild as a windwrought sea", "The stream became, and fast and faster bare", "The spirit-winged boat, steadily speeding there.", "", "Steady and swift, where the waves rolled like mountains", "Within the vast ravine, whose rifts did pour", "Tumultuous floods from their ten thousand fountains,", "The thunder of whose earth-uplifting roar", "Made the air sweep in whirlwinds from the shore,", "Calm as a shade, the boat of that fair child", "Securely fled, that rapid stress before,", "Amid the topmost spray, and sunbows wild,", "Wreathed in the silver mist: in joy and pride we smiled.", "", "The torrent of that wide and raging river", "Is passed, and our aereal speed suspended.", "We look behind; a golden mist did quiver", "When its wild surges with the lake were blended,--", "Our bark hung there, as on a line suspended", "Between two heavens,--that windless waveless lake", "Which four great cataracts from four vales, attended", "By mists, aye feed; from rocks and clouds they break,", "And of that azure sea a silent refuge make.", "", "Motionless resting on the lake awhile,", "I saw its marge of snow-bright mountains rear", "Their peaks aloft, I saw each radiant isle,", "And in the midst, afar, even like a sphere", "Hung in one hollow sky, did there appear", "The Temple of the Spirit; on the sound", "Which issued thence, drawn nearer and more near,", "Like the swift moon this glorious earth around,", "The charmed boat approached, and there its haven found." ], "linecount": "4848" }, { "title": "To --", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "When passion's trance is overpast,", "If tenderness and truth could last,", "Or live, whilst all wild feelings keep", "Some mortal slumber, dark and deep,", "I should not weep, I should not weep!", "", "It were enough to feel, to see,", "Thy soft eyes gazing tenderly,", "And dream the rest--and burn and be", "The secret food of fires unseen,", "Couldst thou but be as thou hast been,", "", "After the slumber of the year", "The woodland violets reappear;", "All things revive in field or grove,", "And sky and sea, but two, which move", "And form all others, life and love." ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "Sonnet to Byron", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "If I esteemed you less, Envy would kill", "Pleasure, and leave to Wonder and Despair", "The ministration of the thoughts that fill", "The mind which, like a worm whose life may share", "A portion of the unapproachable,", "Marks your creations rise as fast and fair", "As perfect worlds at the Creator's will.", "", "But such is my regard that nor your power", "To soar above the heights where others ,", "Nor fame, that shadow of the unborn hour", "Cast from the envious future on the time,", "Move one regret for his unhonoured name", "Who dares these words:--the worm beneath the sod", "May lift itself in homage of the God." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Hymn to Mercury", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK OF HOMER.", "", "Sing, Muse, the son of Maia and of Jove,", "The Herald-child, king of Arcadia", "And all its pastoral hills, whom in sweet love", "Having been interwoven, modest May", "Bore Heaven's dread Supreme. An antique grove", "Shadowed the cavern where the lovers lay", "In the deep night, unseen by Gods or Men,", "And white-armed Juno slumbered sweetly then.", "", "Now, when the joy of Jove had its fulfilling,", "And Heaven's tenth moon chronicled her relief,", "She gave to light a babe all babes excelling,", "A schemer subtle beyond all belief;", "A shepherd of thin dreams, a cow-stealing,", "A night-watching, and door-waylaying thief,", "Who 'mongst the Gods was soon about to thieve,", "And other glorious actions to achieve.", "", "The babe was born at the first peep of day;", "He began playing on the lyre at noon,", "And the same evening did he steal away", "Apollo's herds;--the fourth day of the moon", "On which him bore the venerable May,", "From her immortal limbs he leaped full soon,", "Nor long could in the sacred cradle keep,", "But out to seek Apollo's herds would creep.", "", "Out of the lofty cavern wandering", "He found a tortoise, and cried out--'A treasure!'", "(For Mercury first made the tortoise sing)", "The beast before the portal at his leisure", "The flowery herbage was depasturing,", "Moving his feet in a deliberate measure", "Over the turf. Jove's profitable son", "Eying him laughed, and laughing thus begun:--", "", "'A useful godsend are you to me now,", "King of the dance, companion of the feast,", "Lovely in all your nature! Welcome, you", "Excellent plaything! Where, sweet mountain-beast,", "Got you that speckled shell? Thus much I know,", "You must come home with me and be my guest;", "You will give joy to me, and I will do", "All that is in my power to honour you.", "", "'Better to be at home than out of door,", "So come with me; and though it has been said", "That you alive defend from magic power,", "I know you will sing sweetly when you're dead.'", "Thus having spoken, the quaint infant bore,", "Lifting it from the grass on which it fed", "And grasping it in his delighted hold,", "His treasured prize into the cavern old.", "", "Then scooping with a chisel of gray steel,", "He bored the life and soul out of the beast.--", "Not swifter a swift thought of woe or weal", "Darts through the tumult of a human breast", "Which thronging cares annoy--not swifter wheel", "The flashes of its torture and unrest", "Out of the dizzy eyes--than Maia's son", "All that he did devise hath featly done.", "", "...", "And through the tortoise's hard stony skin", "At proper distances small holes he made,", "And fastened the cut stems of reeds within,", "And with a piece of leather overlaid", "The open space and fixed the cubits in,", "Fitting the bridge to both, and stretched o'er all", "Symphonious cords of sheep-gut rhythmical.", "", "When he had wrought the lovely instrument,", "He tried the chords, and made division meet,", "Preluding with the plectrum, and there went", "Up from beneath his hand a tumult sweet", "Of mighty sounds, and from his lips he sent", "A strain of unpremeditated wit", "Joyous and wild and wanton--such you may", "Hear among revellers on a holiday.", "", "He sung how Jove and May of the bright sandal", "Dallied in love not quite legitimate;", "And his own birth, still scoffing at the scandal,", "And naming his own name, did celebrate;", "His mother's cave and servant maids he planned all", "In plastic verse, her household stuff and state,", "Perennial pot, trippet, and brazen pan,--", "But singing, he conceived another plan.", "", "...", "Seized with a sudden fancy for fresh meat,", "He in his sacred crib deposited", "The hollow lyre, and from the cavern sweet", "Rushed with great leaps up to the mountain's head,", "Revolving in his mind some subtle feat", "Of thievish craft, such as a swindler might", "Devise in the lone season of dun night.", "", "Lo! the great Sun under the ocean's bed has", "Driven steeds and chariot--the child meanwhile strode", "O'er the Pierian mountains clothed in shadows,", "Where the immortal oxen of the God", "Are pastured in the flowering unmown meadows,", "And safely stalled in a remote abode.--", "The archer Argicide, elate and proud,", "Drove fifty from the herd, lowing aloud.", "", "He drove them wandering o'er the sandy way,", "But, being ever mindful of his craft,", "Backward and forward drove he them astray,", "So that the tracks which seemed before, were aft;", "His sandals then he threw to the ocean spray,", "And for each foot he wrought a kind of raft", "Of tamarisk, and tamarisk-like sprigs,", "And bound them in a lump with withy twigs.", "", "And on his feet he tied these sandals light,", "The trail of whose wide leaves might not betray", "His track; and then, a self-sufficing wight,", "Like a man hastening on some distant way,", "He from Pieria's mountain bent his flight;", "But an old man perceived the infant pass", "Down green Onchestus heaped like beds with grass.", "", "The old man stood dressing his sunny vine:", "'Halloo! old fellow with the crooked shoulder!", "You grub those stumps? before they will bear wine", "Methinks even you must grow a little older:", "Attend, I pray, to this advice of mine,", "As you would 'scape what might appal a bolder--", "Seeing, see not--and hearing, hear not--and--", "If you have understanding--understand.'", "", "So saying, Hermes roused the oxen vast;", "O'er shadowy mountain and resounding dell,", "And flower-paven plains, great Hermes passed;", "Till the black night divine, which favouring fell", "Around his steps, grew gray, and morning fast", "Wakened the world to work, and from her cell", "Sea-strewn, the Pallantean Moon sublime", "Into her watch-tower just began to climb.", "", "Now to Alpheus he had driven all", "The broad-foreheaded oxen of the Sun;", "They came unwearied to the lofty stall", "And to the water-troughs which ever run", "Through the fresh fields--and when with rushgrass tall,", "Lotus and all sweet herbage, every one", "Had pastured been, the great God made them move", "Towards the stall in a collected drove.", "", "A mighty pile of wood the God then heaped,", "And having soon conceived the mystery", "Of fire, from two smooth laurel branches stripped", "The bark, and rubbed them in his palms;--on high", "Suddenly forth the burning vapour leaped", "And the divine child saw delightedly.--", "Mercury first found out for human weal", "Tinder-box, matches, fire-irons, flint and steel.", "", "And fine dry logs and roots innumerous", "He gathered in a delve upon the ground--", "And kindled them--and instantaneous", "The strength of the fierce flame was breathed around:", "And whilst the might of glorious Vulcan thus", "Wrapped the great pile with glare and roaring sound,", "Hermes dragged forth two heifers, lowing loud,", "Close to the fire--such might was in the God.", "", "And on the earth upon their backs he threw", "The panting beasts, and rolled them o'er and o'er,", "And bored their lives out. Without more ado", "He cut up fat and flesh, and down before", "The fire, on spits of wood he placed the two,", "Toasting their flesh and ribs, and all the gore", "Pursed in the bowels; and while this was done", "He stretched their hides over a craggy stone.", "", "We mortals let an ox grow old, and then", "Cut it up after long consideration,--", "But joyous-minded Hermes from the glen", "Drew the fat spoils to the more open station", "Of a flat smooth space, and portioned them; and when", "He had by lot assigned to each a ration", "Of the twelve Gods, his mind became aware", "Of all the joys which in religion are.", "", "For the sweet savour of the roasted meat", "Tempted him though immortal. Natheless", "He checked his haughty will and did not eat,", "Though what it cost him words can scarce express,", "And every wish to put such morsels sweet", "Down his most sacred throat, he did repress;", "But soon within the lofty portalled stall", "He placed the fat and flesh and bones and all.", "", "And every trace of the fresh butchery", "And cooking, the God soon made disappear,", "As if it all had vanished through the sky;", "He burned the hoofs and horns and head and hair,--", "The insatiate fire devoured them hungrily;--", "And when he saw that everything was clear,", "He quenched the coal, and trampled the black dust,", "And in the stream his bloody sandals tossed.", "", "All night he worked in the serene moonshine--", "But when the light of day was spread abroad", "He sought his natal mountain-peaks divine.", "On his long wandering, neither Man nor God", "Had met him, since he killed Apollo's kine,", "Nor house-dog had barked at him on his road;", "Now he obliquely through the keyhole passed,", "Like a thin mist, or an autumnal blast.", "", "Right through the temple of the spacious cave", "He went with soft light feet--as if his tread", "Fell not on earth; no sound their falling gave;", "Then to his cradle he crept quick, and spread", "The swaddling-clothes about him; and the knave", "Lay playing with the covering of the bed", "With his left hand about his knees--the right", "Held his beloved tortoise-lyre tight.", "", "There he lay innocent as a new-born child,", "As gossips say; but though he was a God,", "The Goddess, his fair mother, unbeguiled,", "Knew all that he had done being abroad:", "'Whence come you, and from what adventure wild,", "You cunning rogue, and where have you abode", "All the long night, clothed in your impudence?", "What have you done since you departed hence?", "", "'Apollo soon will pass within this gate", "And bind your tender body in a chain", "Inextricably tight, and fast as fate,", "Unless you can delude the God again,", "Even when within his arms--ah, runagate!", "A pretty torment both for Gods and Men", "Your father made when he made you!'--'Dear mother,'", "Replied sly Hermes, 'wherefore scold and bother?", "", "'As if I were like other babes as old,", "And understood nothing of what is what;", "And cared at all to hear my mother scold.", "I in my subtle brain a scheme have got,", "Which whilst the sacred stars round Heaven are rolled", "Will profit you and me--nor shall our lot", "Be as you counsel, without gifts or food,", "To spend our lives in this obscure abode.", "", "29", "'But we will leave this shadow-peopled cave", "And live among the Gods, and pass each day", "In high communion, sharing what they have", "Of profuse wealth and unexhausted prey;", "And from the portion which my father gave", "To Phoebus, I will snatch my share away,", "Which if my father will not--natheless I,", "Who am the king of robbers, can but try.", "", "'And, if Latona's son should find me out,", "I'll countermine him by a deeper plan;", "I'll pierce the Pythian temple-walls, though stout,", "And sack the fane of everything I can--", "Caldrons and tripods of great worth no doubt,", "Each golden cup and polished brazen pan,", "All the wrought tapestries and garments gay.'--", "So they together talked;--meanwhile the Day", "", "Aethereal born arose out of the flood", "Of flowing Ocean, bearing light to men.", "Apollo passed toward the sacred wood,", "Which from the inmost depths of its green glen", "Echoes the voice of Neptune,--and there stood", "On the same spot in green Onchestus then", "That same old animal, the vine-dresser,", "Who was employed hedging his vineyard there.", "", "Latona's glorious Son began:--'I pray", "Tell, ancient hedger of Onchestus green,", "Whether a drove of kine has passed this way,", "All heifers with crooked horns? for they have been", "Stolen from the herd in high Pieria,", "Where a black bull was fed apart, between", "Two woody mountains in a neighbouring glen,", "And four fierce dogs watched there, unanimous as men.", "", "'And what is strange, the author of this theft", "Has stolen the fatted heifers every one,", "But the four dogs and the black bull are left:--", "Stolen they were last night at set of sun,", "Of their soft beds and their sweet food bereft.--", "Now tell me, man born ere the world begun,", "Have you seen any one pass with the cows?'--", "To whom the man of overhanging brows:", "", "'My friend, it would require no common skill", "Justly to speak of everything I see:", "On various purposes of good or ill", "Many pass by my vineyard,--and to me", "'Tis difficult to know the invisible", "Thoughts, which in all those many minds may be:--", "Thus much alone I certainly can say,", "I tilled these vines till the decline of day,", "", "'And then I thought I saw, but dare not speak", "With certainty of such a wondrous thing,", "A child, who could not have been born a week,", "Those fair-horned cattle closely following,", "And in his hand he held a polished stick:", "And, as on purpose, he walked wavering", "From one side to the other of the road,", "And with his face opposed the steps he trod.'", "", "Apollo hearing this, passed quickly on--", "No winged omen could have shown more clear", "That the deceiver was his father's son.", "So the God wraps a purple atmosphere", "Around his shoulders, and like fire is gone", "To famous Pylos, seeking his kine there,", "And found their track and his, yet hardly cold,", "And cried--'What wonder do mine eyes behold!", "", "'Here are the footsteps of the horned herd", "Turned back towards their fields of asphodel;--", "But THESE are not the tracks of beast or bird,", "Gray wolf, or bear, or lion of the dell,", "Or maned Centaur--sand was never stirred", "By man or woman thus! Inexplicable!", "Who with unwearied feet could e'er impress", "The sand with such enormous vestiges?", "", "'That was most strange--but this is stranger still!'", "Thus having said, Phoebus impetuously", "Sought high Cyllene's forest-cinctured hill,", "And the deep cavern where dark shadows lie,", "And where the ambrosial nymph with happy will", "Bore the Saturnian's love-child, Mercury--", "And a delightful odour from the dew", "Of the hill pastures, at his coming, flew.", "", "And Phoebus stooped under the craggy roof", "Arched over the dark cavern:--Maia's child", "Perceived that he came angry, far aloof,", "About the cows of which he had been beguiled;", "And over him the fine and fragrant woof", "Of his ambrosial swaddling-clothes he piled--", "As among fire-brands lies a burning spark", "Covered, beneath the ashes cold and dark.", "", "There, like an infant who had sucked his fill", "And now was newly washed and put to bed,", "Awake, but courting sleep with weary will,", "And gathered in a lump, hands, feet, and head,", "He lay, and his beloved tortoise still", "He grasped and held under his shoulder-blade.", "Phoebus the lovely mountain-goddess knew,", "Not less her subtle, swindling baby, who", "", "Lay swathed in his sly wiles. Round every crook", "Of the ample cavern, for his kine, Apollo", "Looked sharp; and when he saw them not, he took", "The glittering key, and opened three great hollow", "Recesses in the rock--where many a nook", "Was filled with the sweet food immortals swallow,", "And mighty heaps of silver and of gold", "Were piled within--a wonder to behold!", "", "And white and silver robes, all overwrought", "With cunning workmanship of tracery sweet--", "Except among the Gods there can be nought", "In the wide world to be compared with it.", "Latona's offspring, after having sought", "His herds in every corner, thus did greet", "Great Hermes:--'Little cradled rogue, declare", "Of my illustrious heifers, where they are!", "", "'Speak quickly! or a quarrel between us", "Must rise, and the event will be, that I", "Shall hurl you into dismal Tartarus,", "In fiery gloom to dwell eternally;", "Nor shall your father nor your mother loose", "The bars of that black dungeon--utterly", "You shall be cast out from the light of day,", "To rule the ghosts of men, unblessed as they.", "", "To whom thus Hermes slily answered:--'Son", "Of great Latona, what a speech is this!", "Why come you here to ask me what is done", "With the wild oxen which it seems you miss?", "I have not seen them, nor from any one", "Have heard a word of the whole business;", "If you should promise an immense reward,", "I could not tell more than you now have heard.", "", "'An ox-stealer should be both tall and strong,", "And I am but a little new-born thing,", "Who, yet at least, can think of nothing wrong:--", "My business is to suck, and sleep, and fling", "The cradle-clothes about me all day long,--", "Or half asleep, hear my sweet mother sing,", "And to be washed in water clean and warm,", "And hushed and kissed and kept secure from harm.", "", "'O, let not e'er this quarrel be averred!", "The astounded Gods would laugh at you, if e'er", "You should allege a story so absurd", "As that a new-born infant forth could fare", "Out of his home after a savage herd.", "I was born yesterday--my small feet are", "Too tender for the roads so hard and rough:--", "And if you think that this is not enough,", "", "I swear a great oath, by my father's head,", "That I stole not your cows, and that I know", "Of no one else, who might, or could, or did.--", "Whatever things cows are, I do not know,", "For I have only heard the name.'--This said", "He winked as fast as could be, and his brow", "Was wrinkled, and a whistle loud gave he,", "Like one who hears some strange absurdity.", "", "Apollo gently smiled and said:--'Ay, ay,--", "You cunning little rascal, you will bore", "Many a rich man's house, and your array", "Of thieves will lay their siege before his door,", "Silent as night, in night; and many a day", "In the wild glens rough shepherds will deplore", "That you or yours, having an appetite,", "Met with their cattle, comrade of the night!", "", "'And this among the Gods shall be your gift,", "To be considered as the lord of those", "Who swindle, house-break, sheep-steal, and shop-lift;--", "But now if you would not your last sleep doze;", "Crawl out!'--Thus saying, Phoebus did uplift", "The subtle infant in his swaddling clothes,", "And in his arms, according to his wont,", "A scheme devised the illustrious Argiphont.", "", "...", "...", "And sneezed and shuddered--Phoebus on the grass", "Him threw, and whilst all that he had designed", "He did perform--eager although to pass,", "Apollo darted from his mighty mind", "Towards the subtle babe the following scoff:--", "'Do not imagine this will get you off,", "", "'You little swaddled child of Jove and May!", "And seized him:--'By this omen I shall trace", "My noble herds, and you shall lead the way.'--", "Cyllenian Hermes from the grassy place,", "Like one in earnest haste to get away,", "Rose, and with hands lifted towards his face", "Round both his ears up from his shoulders drew", "His swaddling clothes, and--'What mean you to do", "", "'With me, you unkind God?'--said Mercury:", "'Is it about these cows you tease me so?", "I wish the race of cows were perished!--I", "Stole not your cows--I do not even know", "What things cows are. Alas! I well may sigh", "That since I came into this world of woe,", "I should have ever heard the name of one--", "But I appeal to the Saturnian's throne.'", "", "Thus Phoebus and the vagrant Mercury", "Talked without coming to an explanation,", "With adverse purpose. As for Phoebus, he", "Sought not revenge, but only information,", "And Hermes tried with lies and roguery", "To cheat Apollo.--But when no evasion", "Served--for the cunning one his match had found--", "He paced on first over the sandy ground.", "", "...", "He of the Silver Bow the child of Jove", "Followed behind, till to their heavenly Sire", "Came both his children, beautiful as Love,", "And from his equal balance did require", "A judgement in the cause wherein they strove.", "O'er odorous Olympus and its snows", "A murmuring tumult as they came arose,--", "", "And from the folded depths of the great Hill,", "While Hermes and Apollo reverent stood", "Before Jove's throne, the indestructible", "Immortals rushed in mighty multitude;", "And whilst their seats in order due they fill,", "The lofty Thunderer in a careless mood", "To Phoebus said:--'Whence drive you this sweet prey,", "This herald-baby, born but yesterday?--", "", "'A most important subject, trifler, this", "To lay before the Gods!'--'Nay, Father, nay,", "When you have understood the business,", "Say not that I alone am fond of prey.", "I found this little boy in a recess", "Under Cyllene's mountains far away--", "A manifest and most apparent thief,", "A scandalmonger beyond all belief.", "", "'I never saw his like either in Heaven", "Or upon earth for knavery or craft:--", "Out of the field my cattle yester-even,", "By the low shore on which the loud sea laughed,", "He right down to the river-ford had driven;", "And mere astonishment would make you daft", "To see the double kind of footsteps strange", "He has impressed wherever he did range.", "", "'The cattle's track on the black dust, full well", "Is evident, as if they went towards", "The place from which they came--that asphodel", "Meadow, in which I feed my many herds,--", "HIS steps were most incomprehensible--", "I know not how I can describe in words", "Those tracks--he could have gone along the sands", "Neither upon his feet nor on his hands;--", "", "'He must have had some other stranger mode", "Of moving on: those vestiges immense,", "Far as I traced them on the sandy road,", "Seemed like the trail of oak-toppings:--but thence", "No mark nor track denoting where they trod", "The hard ground gave:--but, working at his fence,", "A mortal hedger saw him as he passed", "To Pylos, with the cows, in fiery haste.", "", "'I found that in the dark he quietly", "Had sacrificed some cows, and before light", "Had thrown the ashes all dispersedly", "About the road--then, still as gloomy night,", "Had crept into his cradle, either eye", "Rubbing, and cogitating some new sleight.", "No eagle could have seen him as he lay", "Hid in his cavern from the peering day.", "", "'I taxed him with the fact, when he averred", "Most solemnly that he did neither see", "Nor even had in any manner heard", "Of my lost cows, whatever things cows be;", "Nor could he tell, though offered a reward,", "Not even who could tell of them to me.'", "So speaking, Phoebus sate; and Hermes then", "Addressed the Supreme Lord of Gods and Men:--", "", "'Great Father, you know clearly beforehand", "That all which I shall say to you is sooth;", "I am a most veracious person, and", "Totally unacquainted with untruth.", "At sunrise Phoebus came, but with no band", "Of Gods to bear him witness, in great wrath,", "To my abode, seeking his heifers there,", "And saying that I must show him where they are,", "", "'Or he would hurl me down the dark abyss.", "I know that every Apollonian limb", "Is clothed with speed and might and manliness,", "As a green bank with flowers--but unlike him", "I was born yesterday, and you may guess", "He well knew this when he indulged the whim", "Of bullying a poor little new-born thing", "That slept, and never thought of cow-driving.", "", "'Am I like a strong fellow who steals kine?", "Believe me, dearest Father--such you are--", "This driving of the herds is none of mine;", "Across my threshold did I wander ne'er,", "So may I thrive! I reverence the divine", "Sun and the Gods, and I love you, and care", "Even for this hard accuser--who must know", "I am as innocent as they or you.", "", "'I swear by these most gloriously-wrought portals", "(It is, you will allow, an oath of might)", "Through which the multitude of the Immortals", "Pass and repass forever, day and night,", "Devising schemes for the affairs of mortals--", "I am guiltless; and I will requite,", "Although mine enemy be great and strong,", "His cruel threat--do thou defend the young!'", "", "So speaking, the Cyllenian Argiphont", "Winked, as if now his adversary was fitted:--", "And Jupiter, according to his wont,", "Laughed heartily to hear the subtle-witted", "Infant give such a plausible account,", "And every word a lie. But he remitted", "Judgement at present--and his exhortation", "Was, to compose the affair by arbitration.", "", "And they by mighty Jupiter were bidden", "To go forth with a single purpose both,", "Neither the other chiding nor yet chidden:", "And Mercury with innocence and truth", "To lead the way, and show where he had hidden", "The mighty heifers.--Hermes, nothing loth,", "Obeyed the Aegis-bearer's will--for he", "Is able to persuade all easily.", "", "These lovely children of Heaven's highest Lord", "Hastened to Pylos and the pastures wide", "And lofty stalls by the Alphean ford,", "Where wealth in the mute night is multiplied", "With silent growth. Whilst Hermes drove the herd", "Out of the stony cavern, Phoebus spied", "The hides of those the little babe had slain,", "Stretched on the precipice above the plain.", "", "'How was it possible,' then Phoebus said,", "'That you, a little child, born yesterday,", "A thing on mother's milk and kisses fed,", "Could two prodigious heifers ever flay?", "Even I myself may well hereafter dread", "Your prowess, offspring of Cyllenian May,", "When you grow strong and tall.'--He spoke, and bound", "Stiff withy bands the infant's wrists around.", "", "He might as well have bound the oxen wild;", "The withy bands, though starkly interknit,", "Fell at the feet of the immortal child,", "Loosened by some device of his quick wit.", "Phoebus perceived himself again beguiled,", "And stared--while Hermes sought some hole or pit,", "Looking askance and winking fast as thought,", "Where he might hide himself and not be caught.", "", "Sudden he changed his plan, and with strange skill", "Subdued the strong Latonian, by the might", "Of winning music, to his mightier will;", "His left hand held the lyre, and in his right", "The plectrum struck the chords--unconquerable", "Up from beneath his hand in circling flight", "The gathering music rose--and sweet as Love", "The penetrating notes did live and move", "", "Within the heart of great Apollo--he", "Listened with all his soul, and laughed for pleasure.", "Close to his side stood harping fearlessly", "The unabashed boy; and to the measure", "Of the sweet lyre, there followed loud and free", "His joyous voice; for he unlocked the treasure", "Of his deep song, illustrating the birth", "Of the bright Gods, and the dark desert Earth:", "", "And how to the Immortals every one", "A portion was assigned of all that is;", "But chief Mnemosyne did Maia's son", "Clothe in the light of his loud melodies;--", "And, as each God was born or had begun,", "He in their order due and fit degrees", "Sung of his birth and being--and did move", "Apollo to unutterable love.", "", "These words were winged with his swift delight:", "'You heifer-stealing schemer, well do you", "Deserve that fifty oxen should requite", "Such minstrelsies as I have heard even now.", "Comrade of feasts, little contriving wight,", "One of your secrets I would gladly know,", "Whether the glorious power you now show forth", "Was folded up within you at your birth,", "", "'Or whether mortal taught or God inspired", "The power of unpremeditated song?", "Many divinest sounds have I admired,", "The Olympian Gods and mortal men among;", "But such a strain of wondrous, strange, untired,", "And soul-awakening music, sweet and strong,", "Yet did I never hear except from thee,", "Offspring of May, impostor Mercury!", "", "'What Muse, what skill, what unimagined use,", "What exercise of subtlest art, has given", "Thy songs such power?--for those who hear may choose", "From three, the choicest of the gifts of Heaven,", "Delight, and love, and sleep,--sweet sleep, whose dews", "Are sweeter than the balmy tears of even:--", "And I, who speak this praise, am that Apollo", "Whom the Olympian Muses ever follow:", "", "'And their delight is dance, and the blithe noise", "Of song and overflowing poesy;", "And sweet, even as desire, the liquid voice", "Of pipes, that fills the clear air thrillingly;", "But never did my inmost soul rejoice", "In this dear work of youthful revelry", "As now. I wonder at thee, son of Jove;", "Thy harpings and thy song are soft as love.", "", "'Now since thou hast, although so very small,", "Science of arts so glorious, thus I swear,--", "And let this cornel javelin, keen and tall,", "Witness between us what I promise here,--", "That I will lead thee to the Olympian Hall,", "Honoured and mighty, with thy mother dear,", "And many glorious gifts in joy will give thee,", "And even at the end will ne'er deceive thee.'", "", "To whom thus Mercury with prudent speech:--", "'Wisely hast thou inquired of my skill:", "I envy thee no thing I know to teach", "Even this day:--for both in word and will", "I would be gentle with thee; thou canst reach", "All things in thy wise spirit, and thy sill", "Is highest in Heaven among the sons of Jove,", "Who loves thee in the fulness of his love.", "", "'The Counsellor Supreme has given to thee", "Divinest gifts, out of the amplitude", "Of his profuse exhaustless treasury;", "By thee, 'tis said, the depths are understood", "Of his far voice; by thee the mystery", "Of all oracular fates,--and the dread mood", "Of the diviner is breathed up; even I--", "A child--perceive thy might and majesty.", "", "'Thou canst seek out and compass all that wit", "Can find or teach;--yet since thou wilt, come take", "The lyre--be mine the glory giving it--", "Strike the sweet chords, and sing aloud, and wake", "Thy joyous pleasure out of many a fit", "Of tranced sound--and with fleet fingers make", "Thy liquid-voiced comrade talk with thee,--", "It can talk measured music eloquently.", "", "'Then bear it boldly to the revel loud,", "Love-wakening dance, or feast of solemn state,", "A joy by night or day--for those endowed", "With art and wisdom who interrogate", "It teaches, babbling in delightful mood", "All things which make the spirit most elate,", "Soothing the mind with sweet familiar play,", "Chasing the heavy shadows of dismay.", "", "'To those who are unskilled in its sweet tongue,", "Though they should question most impetuously", "Its hidden soul, it gossips something wrong--", "Some senseless and impertinent reply.", "But thou who art as wise as thou art strong", "Canst compass all that thou desirest. I", "Present thee with this music-flowing shell,", "Knowing thou canst interrogate it well.", "", "'And let us two henceforth together feed,", "On this green mountain-slope and pastoral plain,", "The herds in litigation--they will breed", "Quickly enough to recompense our pain,", "If to the bulls and cows we take good heed;--", "And thou, though somewhat over fond of gain,", "Grudge me not half the profit.'--Having spoke,", "The shell he proffered, and Apollo took;", "", "And gave him in return the glittering lash,", "Installing him as herdsman;--from the look", "Of Mercury then laughed a joyous flash.", "And then Apollo with the plectrum strook", "The chords, and from beneath his hands a crash", "Of mighty sounds rushed up, whose music shook", "The soul with sweetness, and like an adept", "His sweeter voice a just accordance kept.", "", "The herd went wandering o'er the divine mead,", "Whilst these most beautiful Sons of Jupiter", "Won their swift way up to the snowy head", "Of white Olympus, with the joyous lyre", "Soothing their journey; and their father dread", "Gathered them both into familiar", "Affection sweet,--and then, and now, and ever,", "Hermes must love Him of the Golden Quiver,", "", "To whom he gave the lyre that sweetly sounded,", "Which skilfully he held and played thereon.", "He piped the while, and far and wide rebounded", "The echo of his pipings; every one", "Of the Olympians sat with joy astounded;", "While he conceived another piece of fun,", "One of his old tricks--which the God of Day", "Perceiving, said:--'I fear thee, Son of May;--", "", "'I fear thee and thy sly chameleon spirit,", "Lest thou should steal my lyre and crooked bow;", "This glory and power thou dost from Jove inherit,", "To teach all craft upon the earth below;", "Thieves love and worship thee--it is thy merit", "To make all mortal business ebb and flow", "By roguery:--now, Hermes, if you dare", "By sacred Styx a mighty oath to swear", "", "'That you will never rob me, you will do", "A thing extremely pleasing to my heart.'", "Then Mercury swore by the Stygian dew,", "That he would never steal his bow or dart,", "Or lay his hands on what to him was due,", "Or ever would employ his powerful art", "Against his Pythian fane. Then Phoebus swore", "There was no God or Man whom he loved more.", "", "'And I will give thee as a good-will token,", "The beautiful wand of wealth and happiness;", "A perfect three-leaved rod of gold unbroken,", "Whose magic will thy footsteps ever bless;", "And whatsoever by Jove's voice is spoken", "Of earthly or divine from its recess,", "It, like a loving soul, to thee will speak,", "And more than this, do thou forbear to seek.", "", "'For, dearest child, the divinations high", "Which thou requirest, 'tis unlawful ever", "That thou, or any other deity", "Should understand--and vain were the endeavour;", "For they are hidden in Jove's mind, and I,", "In trust of them, have sworn that I would never", "Betray the counsels of Jove's inmost will", "To any God--the oath was terrible.", "", "'Then, golden-wanded brother, ask me not", "To speak the fates by Jupiter designed;", "But be it mine to tell their various lot", "To the unnumbered tribes of human-kind.", "Let good to these, and ill to those be wrought", "As I dispense--but he who comes consigned", "By voice and wings of perfect augury", "To my great shrine, shall find avail in me.", "", "'Him will I not deceive, but will assist;", "But he who comes relying on such birds", "As chatter vainly, who would strain and twist", "The purpose of the Gods with idle words,", "And deems their knowledge light, he shall have missed", "His road--whilst I among my other hoards", "His gifts deposit. Yet, O son of May,", "I have another wondrous thing to say.", "", "'There are three Fates, three virgin Sisters, who", "Rejoicing in their wind-outspeeding wings,", "Their heads with flour snowed over white and new,", "Sit in a vale round which Parnassus flings", "Its circling skirts--from these I have learned true", "Vaticinations of remotest things.", "My father cared not. Whilst they search out dooms,", "They sit apart and feed on honeycombs.", "", "'They, having eaten the fresh honey, grow", "Drunk with divine enthusiasm, and utter", "With earnest willingness the truth they know;", "But if deprived of that sweet food, they mutter", "All plausible delusions;--these to you", "I give;--if you inquire, they will not stutter;", "Delight your own soul with them:--any man", "You would instruct may profit if he can.", "", "'Take these and the fierce oxen, Maia's child--", "O'er many a horse and toil-enduring mule,", "O'er jagged-jawed lions, and the wild", "White-tusked boars, o'er all, by field or pool,", "Of cattle which the mighty Mother mild", "Nourishes in her bosom, thou shalt rule--", "Thou dost alone the veil from death uplift--", "Thou givest not--yet this is a great gift.'", "", "Thus King Apollo loved the child of May", "In truth, and Jove covered their love with joy.", "Hermes with Gods and Men even from that day", "Mingled, and wrought the latter much annoy,", "And little profit, going far astray", "Through the dun night. Farewell, delightful Boy,", "Of Jove and Maia sprung,--never by me,", "Nor thou, nor other songs, shall unremembered be." ], "linecount": "777" }, { "title": "Spirit of Plato", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "FROM THE GREEK.", "", "Eagle! why soarest thou above that tomb?", "To what sublime and star-ypaven home", "Floatest thou?--", "I am the image of swift Plato's spirit,", "Ascending heaven; Athens doth inherit", "His corpse below." ], "linecount": "7" }, { "title": "The First Canzone of the Convito", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "FROM THE ITALIAN OF DANTE.", "", "Ye who intelligent the Third Heaven move,", "Hear the discourse which is within my heart,", "Which cannot be declared, it seems so new.", "The Heaven whose course follows your power and art,", "Oh, gentle creatures that ye are! me drew,", "And therefore may I dare to speak to you,", "Even of the life which now I live--and yet", "I pray that ye will hear me when I cry,", "And tell of mine own heart this novelty;", "How the lamenting Spirit moans in it,", "And how a voice there murmurs against her", "Who came on the refulgence of your sphere.", "", "A sweet Thought, which was once the life within", "This heavy heart, man a time and oft", "Went up before our Father's feet, and there", "It saw a glorious Lady throned aloft;", "And its sweet talk of her my soul did win,", "So that I said, 'Thither I too will fare.'", "That Thought is fled, and one doth now appear", "Which tyrannizes me with such fierce stress,", "That my heart trembles--ye may see it leap--", "And on another Lady bids me keep", "Mine eyes, and says--Who would have blessedness", "Let him but look upon that Lady's eyes,", "Let him not fear the agony of sighs.", "", "This lowly Thought, which once would talk with me", "Of a bright seraph sitting crowned on high,", "Found such a cruel foe it died, and so", "My Spirit wept, the grief is hot even now--", "And said, Alas for me! how swift could flee", "That piteous Thought which did my life console!", "And the afflicted one ... questioning", "Mine eyes, if such a Lady saw they never,", "And why they would...", "I said: 'Beneath those eyes might stand for ever", "He whom ... regards must kill with...", "To have known their power stood me in little stead,", "Those eyes have looked on me, and I am dead.'", "", "'Thou art not dead, but thou hast wandered,", "Thou Soul of ours, who thyself dost fret,'", "A Spirit of gentle Love beside me said;", "For that fair Lady, whom thou dost regret,", "Hath so transformed the life which thou hast led,", "Thou scornest it, so worthless art thou made.", "And see how meek, how pitiful, how staid,", "Yet courteous, in her majesty she is.", "And still call thou her Woman in thy thought;", "Her whom, if thou thyself deceivest not,", "Thou wilt behold decked with such loveliness,", "That thou wilt cry only Lord, lo! here", "Thy handmaiden, do what thou wilt with her.", "", "My song, I fear that thou wilt find but few", "Who fitly shall conceive thy reasoning", "Of such hard matter dost thou entertain.", "Whence, if by misadventure chance should bring", "Thee to base company, as chance may do,", "Quite unaware of what thou dost contain,", "I prithee comfort thy sweet self again,", "My last delight; tell them that they are dull,", "And bid them own that thou art beautiful." ], "linecount": "61" }, { "title": "On an Icicle That Clung to the Grass of a Grave", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Oh! take the pure gem to where southerly breezes,", "Waft repose to some bosom as faithful as fair,", "In which the warm current of love never freezes,", "As it rises unmingled with selfishness there,", "Which, untainted by pride, unpolluted by care,", "Might dissolve the dim icedrop, might bid it arise,", "Too pure for these regions, to gleam in the skies.", "", "Or where the stern warrior, his country defending,", "Dares fearless the dark-rolling battle to pour,", "Or o'er the fell corpse of a dread tyrant bending,", "Where patriotism red with his guilt-reeking gore", "Plants Liberty's flag on the slave-peopled shore,", "With victory's cry, with the shout of the free,", "Let it fly, taintless Spirit, to mingle with thee.", "", "For I found the pure gem, when the daybeam returning,", "Ineffectual gleams on the snow-covered plain,", "When to others the wished-for arrival of morning", "Brings relief to long visions of soul-racking pain;", "But regret is an insult--to grieve is in vain:", "And why should we grieve that a spirit so fair", "Seeks Heaven to mix with its own kindred there?", "", "But still 'twas some Spirit of kindness descending", "To share in the load of mortality's woe,", "Who over thy lowly-built sepulchre bending", "Bade sympathy's tenderest teardrop to flow.", "Not for THEE soft compassion celestials did know,", "But if ANGELS can weep, sure MAN may repine,", "May weep in mute grief o'er thy low-laid shrine.", "", "And did I then say, for the altar of glory,", "That the earliest, the loveliest of flowers I'd entwine,", "Though with millions of blood-reeking victims 'twas gory,", "Though the tears of the widow polluted its shrine,", "Though around it the orphans, the fatherless pine?", "Oh! Fame, all thy glories I'd yield for a tear", "To shed on the grave of a heart so sincere." ], "linecount": "35" }, { "title": "To a Star", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Sweet star, which gleaming o'er the darksome scene", "Through fleecy clouds of silvery radiance fliest,", "Spanglet of light on evening's shadowy veil,", "Which shrouds the day-beam from the waveless lake,", "Lighting the hour of sacred love; more sweet", "Than the expiring morn-star's paly fires:--", "Sweet star! When wearied Nature sinks to sleep,", "And all is hushed,--all, save the voice of Love,", "Whose broken murmurings swell the balmy blast", "Of soft Favonius, which at intervals", "Sighs in the ear of stillness, art thou aught but", "Lulling the slaves of interest to repose", "With that mild, pitying gaze? Oh, I would look", "In thy dear beam till every bond of sense", "Became enamoured--" ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "To Mary Who Died in This Opinion", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Maiden, quench the glare of sorrow", "Struggling in thine haggard eye:", "Firmness dare to borrow", "From the wreck of destiny;", "For the ray morn's bloom revealing", "Can never boast so bright an hue", "As that which mocks concealing,", "And sheds its loveliest light on you.", "", "Yet is the tie departed", "Which bound thy lovely soul to bliss?", "Has it left thee broken-hearted", "In a world so cold as this?", "Yet, though, fainting fair one,", "Sorrow's self thy cup has given,", "Dream thou'lt meet thy dear one,", "Never more to part, in Heaven.", "", "Existence would I barter", "For a dream so dear as thine,", "And smile to die a martyr", "On affection's bloodless shrine.", "Nor would I change for pleasure", "That withered hand and ashy cheek,", "If my heart enshrined a treasure", "Such as forces thine to break." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "To Ireland", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Bear witness, Erin! when thine injured isle", "Sees summer on its verdant pastures smile,", "Its cornfields waving in the winds that sweep", "The billowy surface of thy circling deep!", "Thou tree whose shadow o'er the Atlantic gave", "Peace, wealth and beauty, to its friendly wave, its blossoms fade,", "And blighted are the leaves that cast its shade;", "Whilst the cold hand gathers its scanty fruit,", "Whose chillness struck a canker to its root.", "", "I could stand", "Upon thy shores, O Erin, and could count", "The billows that, in their unceasing swell,", "Dash on thy beach, and every wave might seem", "An instrument in Time the giant's grasp,", "To burst the barriers of Eternity.", "Proceed, thou giant, conquering and to conquer;", "March on thy lonely way! The nations fall", "Beneath thy noiseless footstep; pyramids", "That for millenniums have defied the blast,", "And laughed at lightnings, thou dost crush to nought.", "Yon monarch, in his solitary pomp,", "Is but the fungus of a winter day", "That thy light footstep presses into dust.", "Thou art a conqueror, Time; all things give way", "Before thee but the 'fixed and virtuous will';", "The sacred sympathy of soul which was", "When thou wert not, which shall be when thou perishest.", "", "..." ], "linecount": "28" }, { "title": "To Harriet", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "It is not blasphemy to hope that Heaven", "More perfectly will give those nameless joys", "Which throb within the pulses of the blood", "And sweeten all that bitterness which Earth", "Infuses in the heaven-born soul. O thou", "Whose dear love gleamed upon the gloomy path", "Which this lone spirit travelled, drear and cold,", "Yet swiftly leading to those awful limits", "Which mark the bounds of Time and of the space", "When Time shall be no more; wilt thou not turn", "Those spirit-beaming eyes and look on me,", "Until I be assured that Earth is Heaven,", "And Heaven is Earth?--will not thy glowing cheek,", "Glowing with soft suffusion, rest on mine,", "And breathe magnetic sweetness through the frame", "Of my corporeal nature, through the soul", "Now knit with these fine fibres? I would give", "The longest and the happiest day that fate", "Has marked on my existence but to feel", "ONE soul-reviving kiss...O thou most dear,", "'Tis an assurance that this Earth is Heaven,", "And Heaven the flower of that untainted seed", "Which springeth here beneath such love as ours.", "Harriet! let death all mortal ties dissolve,", "But ours shall not be mortal! The cold hand", "Of Time may chill the love of earthly minds", "Half frozen now; the frigid intercourse", "Of common souls lives but a summer's day;", "It dies, where it arose, upon this earth.", "But ours! oh, 'tis the stretch of Fancy's hope", "To portray its continuance as now,", "Warm, tranquil, spirit-healing; nor when age", "Has tempered these wild ecstasies, and given", "A soberer tinge to the luxurious glow", "Which blazing on devotion's pinnacle", "Makes virtuous passion supersede the power", "Of reason; nor when life's aestival sun", "To deeper manhood shall have ripened me;", "Nor when some years have added judgement's store", "To all thy woman sweetness, all the fire", "Which throbs in thine enthusiast heart; not then", "Shall holy friendship (for what other name", "May love like ours assume?), not even then", "Shall Custom so corrupt, or the cold forms", "Of this desolate world so harden us,", "As when we think of the dear love that binds", "Our souls in soft communion, while we know", "Each other's thoughts and feelings, can we say", "Unblushingly a heartless compliment,", "Praise, hate, or love with the unthinking world,", "Or dare to cut the unrelaxing nerve", "That knits our love to virtue. Can those eyes,", "Beaming with mildest radiance on my heart", "To purify its purity, e'er bend", "To soothe its vice or consecrate its fears?", "Never, thou second Self! Is confidence", "So vain in virtue that I learn to doubt", "The mirror even of Truth? Dark flood of Time,", "Roll as it listeth thee; I measure not", "By month or moments thy ambiguous course.", "Another may stand by me on thy brink,,", "And watch the bubble whirled beyond his ken,", "Which pauses at my feet. The sense of love,", "The thirst for action, and the impassioned thought", "Prolong my being; if I wake no more,", "My life more actual living will contain", "Than some gray veteran's of the world's cold school,", "Whose listless hours unprofitably roll", "By one enthusiast feeling unredeemed,", "Virtue and Love! unbending Fortitude,", "Freedom, Devotedness and Purity!", "That life my Spirit consecrates to you." ], "linecount": "72" }, { "title": "Sonnet. to a Balloon Laden With Knowledge", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Bright ball of flame that through the gloom of even", "Silently takest thine aethereal way,", "And with surpassing glory dimm'st each ray", "Twinkling amid the dark blue depths of Heaven,--", "Unlike the fire thou bearest, soon shalt thou", "Fade like a meteor in surrounding gloom,", "Whilst that, unquenchable, is doomed to glow", "A watch-light by the patriot's lonely tomb;", "A ray of courage to the oppressed and poor;", "A spark, though gleaming on the hovel's hearth,", "Which through the tyrant's gilded domes shall roar;", "A beacon in the darkness of the Earth;", "A sun which, o'er the renovated scene,", "Shall dart like Truth where Falsehood yet has been." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "To Harriet", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "O thou bright Sun! beneath the dark blue line", "Of western distance that sublime descendest,", "And, gleaming lovelier as thy beams decline,", "Thy million hues to every vapour lendest,", "And, over cobweb lawn and grove and stream", "Sheddest the liquid magic of thy light,", "Till calm Earth, with the parting splendour bright,", "Shows like the vision of a beauteous dream;", "What gazer now with astronomic eye", "Could coldly count the spots within thy sphere?", "Such were thy lover, Harriet, could he fly", "The thoughts of all that makes his passion dear,", "And, turning senseless from thy warm caress,--", "Pick flaws in our close-woven happiness." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "To Ianthe", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "I love thee, Baby! for thine own sweet sake;", "Those azure eyes, that faintly dimpled cheek,", "Thy tender frame, so eloquently weak,", "Love in the sternest heart of hate might wake;", "But more when o'er thy fitful slumber bending", "Thy mother folds thee to her wakeful heart,", "Whilst love and pity, in her glances blending,", "All that thy passive eyes can feel impart:", "More, when some feeble lineaments of her,", "Who bore thy weight beneath her spotless bosom,", "As with deep love I read thy face, recur,--", "More dear art thou, O fair and fragile blossom;", "Dearest when most thy tender traits express", "The image of thy mother's loveliness." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "To the Queen of My Heart", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Shall we roam, my love,", "To the twilight grove,", "When the moon is rising bright;", "Oh, I'll whisper there,", "In the cool night-air,", "What I dare not in broad daylight!", "", "I'll tell thee a part", "Of the thoughts that start", "To being when thou art nigh;", "And thy beauty, more bright", "Than the stars' soft light,", "Shall seem as a weft from the sky.", "", "When the pale moonbeam", "On tower and stream", "Sheds a flood of silver sheen,", "How I love to gaze", "As the cold ray strays", "O'er thy face, my heart's throned queen!", "", "Wilt thou roam with me", "To the restless sea,", "And linger upon the steep,", "And list to the flow", "Of the waves below", "How they toss and roar and leap?", "", "Those boiling waves,", "And the storm that raves", "At night o'er their foaming crest,", "Resemble the strife", "That, from earliest life,", "The passions have waged in my breast.", "", "Oh, come then, and rove", "To the sea or the grove,", "When the moon is rising bright;", "And I'll whisper there,", "In the cool night-air,", "What I dare not in broad daylight." ], "linecount": "36" }, { "title": "Like the Touch of Rain", "author": "Edward Thomas", "lines": [ "LIKE the touch of rain she was", "On a man's flesh and hair and eyes", "When the joy of walking thus", "Has taken him by surprise:", "", "With the love of the storm he burns,", "He sings, he laughs, well I know how,", "But forgets when he returns", "As I shall not forget her \"Go now.\"", "", "Those two words shut a door", "Between me and the blessed rain", "That was never shut before", "And will not open again." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "If I Were to Own", "author": "Edward Thomas", "lines": [ "IF I were to own this countryside", "As far as a man in a day could ride,", "And the Tyes were mine for giving or letting,--", "Wingle Tye and Margaretting", "Tye,--and Skreens, Gooshays, and Cockerells,", "Shellow, Rochetts, Bandish, and Pickerells,", "Marlins, Lambkins, and Lillyputs,", "Their copses, ponds, roads, and ruts,", "Fields where plough-horses steam and plovers", "Fling and whimper, hedges that lovers", "Love, and orchards, shrubberies, walls", "Where the sun untroubled by north wind falls,", "And single trees where the thrush sings well", "His proverbs untranslatable,", "I would give them all to my son", "If he would let me any one", "For a song, a blackbird's song, at dawn.", "He should have no more, till on my lawn", "Never a one was left, because I", "Had shot them to put them into a pie,--", "His Essex blackbirds, every one,", "And I was left old and alone.", "", "Then unless I could pay, for rent, a song", "As sweet as a blackbird's, and as long--", "No more--he should have the house, not I:", "Margaretting or Wingle Tye,", "Or it might be Skreens, Gooshays, or Cockerells,", "Shellow, Rochetts, Bandish, or Pickerells,", "Martins, Lambkins, or Lillyputs,", "Should be his till the cart tracks had no ruts." ], "linecount": "30" }, { "title": "The Sun Used to Shine", "author": "Edward Thomas", "lines": [ "THE sun used to shine while we two walked", "Slowly together, paused and started", "Again, and sometimes mused, sometimes talked", "As either pleased, and cheerfully parted", "", "Each night. We never disagreed", "Which gate to rest on. The to be", "And the late past we gave small heed.", "We turned from men or poetry", "", "To rumours of the war remote", "Only till both stood disinclined", "For aught but the yellow flavorous coat", "Of an apple wasps had undermined;", "", "Or a sentry of dark betonies,", "The stateliest of small flowers on earth,", "At the forest verge; or crocuses", "Pale purple as if they had their birth", "", "In sunless Hades fields. The war", "Came back to mind with the moonrise", "Which soldiers in the east afar", "Beheld then. Nevertheless, our eyes", "", "Could as well imagine the Crusades", "Or Caesar's battles. Everything", "To faintness like those rumours fades--", "Like the brook's water glittering", "", "Under the moonlight--like those walks", "Now--like us two that took them, and", "The fallen apples, all the talks", "And silences--like memory's sand", "", "When the tide covers it late or soon,", "And other men through other flowers", "In those fields under the same moon", "Go talking and have easy hours." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "October", "author": "Edward Thomas", "lines": [ "THE green elm with the one great bough of gold", "Lets leaves into the grass slip, one by one,--", "The short hill grass, the mushrooms small milk-white,", "Harebell and scabious and tormentil,", "That blackberry and gorse, in dew and sun,", "Bow down to; and the wind travels too light", "To shake the fallen birch leaves from the fern;", "The gossamers wander at their own will.", "At heavier steps than birds' the squirrels scold.", "", "The rich scene has grown fresh again and new", "As Spring and to the touch is not more cool", "Than it is warm to the gaze; and now I might", "As happy be as earth is beautiful,", "Were I some other or with earth could turn", "In alternation of violet and rose,", "Harebell and snowdrop, at their season due,", "And gorse that has no time not to be gay.", "But if this be not happiness,--who knows?", "Some day I shall think this a happy day,", "And this mood by the name of melancholy", "Shall no more blackened and obscured be." ], "linecount": "21" }, { "title": "To Tirzah", "author": "William Blake", "lines": [ "Whate'er is born of mortal birth", "Must be consumed with the earth,", "To rise from generation free:", "Then what have I to do with thee?", "The sexes sprang from shame and pride,", "Blown in the morn, in evening died;", "But mercy changed death into sleep;", "The sexes rose to work and weep.", "", "Thou, mother of my mortal part,", "With cruelty didst mould my heart,", "And with false self-deceiving tears", "Didst bind my nostrils, eyes, and ears,", "", "Didst close my tongue in senseless clay,", "And me to mortal life betray.", "The death of Jesus set me free:", "Then what have I to do with thee?" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "To the Author of a Poem Entitled Successio.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "Begone, ye critics, and restrain your spite,", "Codrus writes on, and will for ever write.", "The heaviest Muse the swiftest course has gone,", "As clocks run fastest when most lead is on;", "What though no bees around your cradle flew,", "Nor on your lips distill'd the golden dew,", "Yet have we oft discover'd in their stead", "A swarm of drones that buzz'd about your head.", "When you, like Orpheus, strike the warbling lyre,", "Attentive blocks stand round you and admire.", "Wit pass'd through thee no longer is the same,", "As meat digested takes a different name,", "But sense must sure thy safest plunder be,", "Since no reprisals can be made on thee.", "Thus thou may'st rise, and in thy daring flight", "(Though ne'er so weighty) reach a wondrous height.", "So, forced from engines, lead itself can fly,", "And ponderous slugs move nimbly through the sky.", "Sure Bavius copied Maevius to the full,", "And Chaerilus taught Codrus to be dull;", "Therefore, dear friend, at my advice give o'er", "This needless labour; and contend no more", "To prove a _dull succession_ to be true,", "Since 'tis enough we find it so in you." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "The Dying Christian to His Soul.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ " Vital spark of heavenly flame!", " Quit, oh quit this mortal frame:", " Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying,", " Oh the pain, the bliss of dying!", " Cease, fond Nature, cease thy strife,", " And let me languish into life!", "", " Hark! they whisper; angels say,", " 'Sister Spirit, come away!'", " What is this absorbs me quite?", " Steals my senses, shuts my sight,", " Drowns my spirits, draws my breath?", " Tell me, my soul, can this be Death?", "", " The world recedes; it disappears!", " Heaven opens on my eyes! my ears", " With sounds seraphic ring!", " Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!", " O Grave! where is thy victory?", " O Death! where is thy sting?" ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "Prologue to Mr Addison's Tragedy of Cato.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "To wake the soul by tender strokes of art,", "To raise the genius, and to mend the heart;", "To make mankind, in conscious virtue bold,", "Live o'er each scene, and be what they behold:", "For this the tragic Muse first trod the stage,", "Commanding tears to stream through every age;", "Tyrants no more their savage nature kept,", "And foes to virtue wonder'd how they wept.", "Our author shuns by vulgar springs to move", "The hero's glory, or the virgin's love;", "In pitying love, we but our weakness show,", "And wild ambition well deserves its woe.", "Here tears shall flow from a more generous cause,", "Such tears as patriots shed for dying laws:", "He bids your breasts with ancient ardour rise,", "And calls forth Roman drops from British eyes.", "Virtue confess'd in human shape he draws,", "What Plato thought, and godlike Cato was:", "No common object to your sight displays,", "But what with pleasure Heaven itself surveys,", "A brave man struggling in the storms of fate,", "And greatly falling with a falling state.", "While Cato gives his little senate laws,", "What bosom beats not in his country's cause?", "Who sees him act, but envies every deed?", "Who hears him groan, and does not wish to bleed?", "Even when proud Caesar, 'midst triumphal cars,", "The spoils of nations, and the pomp of wars,", "Ignobly vain and impotently great,", "Show'd Rome her Cato's figure drawn in state;", "As her dead father's reverend image pass'd,", "The pomp was darken'd and the day o'ercast;", "The triumph ceased, tears gush'd from every eye;", "The world's great victor pass'd unheeded by;", "Her last good man dejected Rome adored,", "And honour'd Caesar's less than Cato's sword.", "", "Britons, attend: be worth like this approved,", "And show you have the virtue to be moved.", "With honest scorn the first famed Cato view'd", "Rome learning arts from Greece, whom she subdued;", "Your scene precariously subsists too long", "On French translation, and Italian song.", "Dare to have sense yourselves; assert the stage,", "Be justly warm'd with your own native rage;", "Such plays alone should win a British ear,", "As Cato's self had not disdain'd to hear." ], "linecount": "46" }, { "title": "Of a Lady Singing to Her Lute.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "IMMITATION OF ENGLISH POETS. WALLER", "", "Fair charmer, cease! nor make your voice's prize,", "A heart resign'd, the conquest of your eyes:", "Well might, alas! that threaten'd vessel fail,", "Which winds and lightning both at once assail.", "We were too blest with these enchanting lays,", "Which must be heavenly when an angel plays:", "But killing charms your lover's death contrive,", "Lest heavenly music should be heard alive.", "Orpheus could charm the trees, but thus a tree,", "Taught by your hand, can charm no less than he:", "A poet made the silent wood pursue,", "This vocal wood had drawn the poet too." ], "linecount": "13" }, { "title": "On a Fan of the Author's Design, in Which Was Painted the Story of Cephalus and Procris, With the Motto, 'aura Veni.'", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "IMMITATION OF ENGLISH POETS. WALLER", "", "'Come, gentle Air!' the Aeolian shepherd said,", "While Procris panted in the secret shade;", "'Come, gentle Air!' the fairer Delia cries,", "While at her feet her swain expiring lies.", "Lo! the glad gales o'er all her beauties stray,", "Breathe on her lips, and in her bosom play!", "In Delia's hand this toy is fatal found,", "Nor could that fabled dart more surely wound:", "Both gifts destructive to the givers prove;", "Alike both lovers fall by those they love.", "Yet guiltless too this bright destroyer lives,", "At random wounds, nor knows the wound she gives:", "She views the story with attentive eyes,", "And pities Procris, while her lover dies." ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "Eloisa to Abelard.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "In these deep solitudes and awful cells,", "Where heavenly-pensive Contemplation dwells,", "And ever-musing Melancholy reigns,", "What means this tumult in a vestal's veins?", "Why rove my thoughts beyond this last retreat?", "Why feels my heart its long-forgotten heat?", "Yet, yet I love!--From Abelard it came,", "And Eloisa yet must kiss the name.", "", "Dear fatal name! rest ever unreveal'd,", "Nor pass these lips in holy silence seal'd:", "Hide it, my heart, within that close disguise", "Where, mix'd with God's, his loved idea lies:", "Oh write it not, my hand!--the name appears", "Already written--wash it out, my tears!", "In vain lost Eloisa weeps and prays,", "Her heart still dictates, and her hand obeys.", "", "Relentless walls! whose darksome round contains", "Repentant sighs, and voluntary pains:", "Ye rugged rocks! which holy knees have worn;", "Ye grots and caverns, shagg'd with horrid thorn!", "Shrines! where their vigils pale-eyed virgins keep,", "And pitying saints, whose statues learn to weep!", "Though cold like you, unmoved and silent grown,", "I have not yet forgot myself to stone.", "All is not Heaven's while Abelard has part,", "Still rebel nature holds out half my heart;", "Nor prayers nor fasts its stubborn pulse restrain,", "Nor tears for ages taught to flow in vain.", "", "Soon as thy letters trembling I unclose,", "That well-known name awakens all my woes.", "Oh, name for ever sad! for ever dear!", "Still breathed in sighs, still usher'd with a tear.", "I tremble too, where'er my own I find,", "Some dire misfortune follows close behind.", "Line after line my gushing eyes o'erflow,", "Led through a sad variety of woe;", "Now warm in love, now withering in my bloom,", "Lost in a convent's solitary gloom!", "There stern religion quench'd the unwilling flame,", "There died the best of passions, Love and Fame.", "", "Yet write, oh! write me all, that I may join", "Griefs to thy griefs, and echo sighs to thine.", "Nor foes nor fortune take this power away;", "And is my Abelard less kind than they?", "Tears still are mine, and those I need not spare,", "Love but demands what else were shed in prayer;", "No happier task these faded eyes pursue;", "To read and weep is all they now can do.", "", "Then share thy pain, allow that sad relief;", "Ah, more than share it, give me all thy grief!", "Heaven first taught letters for some wretch's aid,", "Some banish'd lover, or some captive maid;", "They live, they speak, they breathe what love inspires,", "Warm from the soul, and faithful to its fires;", "The virgin's wish without her fears impart,", "Excuse the blush, and pour out all the heart,", "Speed the soft intercourse from soul to soul,", "And waft a sigh from Indus to the Pole.", "", "Thou know'st how guiltless first I met thy flame,", "When Love approach'd me under Friendship's name;", "My fancy form'd thee of angelic kind,", "Some emanation of the all-beauteous Mind.", "Those smiling eyes, attempering every ray,", "Shone sweetly lambent with celestial day.", "Guiltless I gazed; Heaven listen'd while you sung;", "And truths divine came mended from that tongue.", "From lips like those, what precept fail'd to move?", "Too soon they taught me 'twas no sin to love:", "Back through the paths of pleasing sense I ran,", "Nor wish'd an angel whom I loved a man.", "Dim and remote the joys of saints I see;", "Nor envy them that heaven I lose for thee.", "", "How oft, when press'd to marriage, have I said,", "Curse on all laws but those which Love has made!", "Love, free as air, at sight of human ties,", "Spreads his light wings, and in a moment flies.", "Let wealth, let honour, wait the wedded dame,", "August her deed, and sacred be her fame;", "Before true passion all those views remove;", "Fame, wealth, and honour! what are you to Love?", "The jealous god, when we profane his fires,", "Those restless passions in revenge inspires,", "And bids them make mistaken mortals groan,", "Who seek in love for aught but love alone.", "Should at my feet the world's great master fall,", "Himself, his throne, his world, I'd scorn them all:", "Not Cæsar's empress would I deign to prove;", "No, make me mistress to the man I love;", "If there be yet another name more free,", "More fond than mistress, make me that to thee!", "Oh, happy state! when souls each other draw,", "When love is liberty, and nature law:", "All then is full, possessing and possess'd,", "No craving void left aching in the breast:", "Even thought meets thought, ere from the lips it part,", "And each warm wish springs mutual from the heart.", "This, sure, is bliss (if bliss on earth there be)", "And once the lot of Abelard and me.", "", "Alas, how changed! what sudden horrors rise!", "A naked lover bound and bleeding lies!", "Where, where was Eloise? her voice, her hand,", "Her poniard, had opposed the dire command.", "Barbarian, stay! that bloody stroke restrain;", "The crime was common, common be the pain.", "I can no more; by shame, by rage suppress'd,", "Let tears and burning blushes speak the rest.", "", "Canst thou forget that sad, that solemn day,", "When victims at yon altar's foot we lay?", "Canst thou forget what tears that moment fell,", "When, warm in youth, I bade the world farewell?", "As with cold lips I kiss'd the sacred veil,", "The shrines all trembled, and the lamps grew pale:", "Heaven scarce believed the conquest it survey'd,", "And saints with wonder heard the vows I made.", "Yet then, to those dread altars as I drew,", "Not on the cross my eyes were fix'd, but you:", "Not grace, or zeal, love only was my call,", "And if I lose thy love, I lose my all.", "Come! with thy looks, thy words, relieve my woe;", "Those still at least are left thee to bestow.", "Still on that breast enamour'd let me lie,", "Still drink delicious poison from thy eye,", "Pant on thy lip, and to thy heart be press'd;", "Give all thou canst--and let me dream the rest.", "Ah, no! instruct me other joys to prize,", "With other beauties charm my partial eyes,", "Full in my view set all the bright abode,", "And make my soul quit Abelard for God.", "", "Ah, think at least thy flock deserves thy care,", "Plants of thy hand, and children of thy prayer.", "From the false world in early youth they fled,", "By thee to mountains, wilds, and deserts led.", "You raised these hallow'd walls; the desert smiled,", "And Paradise was open'd in the wild.", "No weeping orphan saw his father's stores", "Our shrines irradiate, or emblaze the floors;", "No silver saints, by dying misers given,", "Here bribed the rage of ill-requited Heaven:", "But such plain roofs as Piety could raise,", "And only vocal with the Maker's praise.", "In these lone walls, (their day's eternal bound)", "These moss-grown domes with spiry turrets crown'd,", "Where awful arches make a noonday night,", "And the dim windows shed a solemn light;", "Thy eyes diffused a reconciling ray,", "And gleams of glory brighten'd all the day.", "But now no face divine contentment wears,", "'Tis all blank sadness, or continual tears.", "See how the force of others' prayers I try,", "(Oh pious fraud of amorous charity!)", "But why should I on others' prayers depend?", "Come thou, my father, brother, husband, friend!", "Ah, let thy handmaid, sister, daughter move,", "And all those tender names in one--thy love!", "The darksome pines that, o'er yon rocks reclined,", "Wave high, and murmur to the hollow wind,", "The wandering streams that shine between the hills,", "The grots that echo to the tinkling rills,", "The dying gales that pant upon the trees,", "The lakes that quiver to the curling breeze;", "No more these scenes my meditation aid,", "Or lull to rest the visionary maid.", "But o'er the twilight groves and dusky caves,", "Long-sounding aisles, and intermingled graves,", "Black Melancholy sits, and round her throws", "A death-like silence, and a dread repose:", "Her gloomy presence saddens all the scene,", "Shades every flower, and darkens every green,", "Deepens the murmur of the falling floods,", "And breathes a browner horror on the woods.", "", "Yet here for ever, ever must I stay;", "Sad proof how well a lover can obey!", "Death, only death, can break the lasting chain;", "And here, even then, shall my cold dust remain;", "Here all its frailties, all its flames resign,", "And wait till 'tis no sin to mix with thine.", "", "Ah, wretch! believed the spouse of God in vain,", "Confess'd within the slave of love and man.", "Assist me, Heaven! but whence arose that prayer?", "Sprung it from piety, or from despair?", "Even here, where frozen chastity retires,", "Love finds an altar for forbidden fires.", "I ought to grieve, but cannot what I ought;", "I mourn the lover, not lament the fault;", "I view my crime, but kindle at the view,", "Repent old pleasures, and solicit new;", "Now turn'd to Heaven, I weep my past offence,", "Now think of thee, and curse my innocence.", "Of all affliction taught a lover yet,", "'Tis sure the hardest science to forget!", "How shall I lose the sin, yet keep the sense,", "And love the offender, yet detest the offence?", "How the dear object from the crime remove,", "Or how distinguish penitence from love?", "Unequal task! a passion to resign,", "For hearts so touch'd, so pierced, so lost as mine.", "Ere such a soul regains its peaceful state,", "How often must it love, how often hate!", "How often hope, despair, resent, regret,", "Conceal, disdain,--do all things but forget!", "But let Heaven seize it, all at once 'tis fired;", "Not touch'd, but rapt; not waken'd, but inspired!", "Oh come! oh teach me nature to subdue,", "Renounce my love, my life, myself--and you.", "Fill my fond heart with God alone, for He", "Alone can rival, can succeed to thee.", "", "How happy is the blameless Vestal's lot!", "The world forgetting, by the world forgot:", "Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!", "Each prayer accepted, and each wish resign'd;", "Labour and rest, that equal periods keep;", "'Obedient slumbers that can wake and weep;'", "Desires composed, affections ever even;", "Tears that delight, and sighs that waft to heaven.", "Grace shines around her with serenest beams,", "And whispering angels prompt her golden dreams.", "For her the unfading rose of Eden blooms,", "And wings of seraphs shed divine perfumes;", "For her the spouse prepares the bridal ring,", "For her white virgins hymeneals sing,", "To sounds of heavenly harps she dies away,", "And melts in visions of eternal day.", "", "Far other dreams my erring soul employ,", "Far other raptures, of unholy joy:", "When at the close of each sad, sorrowing day,", "Fancy restores what vengeance snatch'd away,", "Then conscience sleeps, and leaving nature free,", "All my loose soul unbounded springs to thee.", "O curst, dear horrors of all-conscious night!", "How glowing guilt exalts the keen delight!", "Provoking demons all restraint remove,", "And stir within me every source of love.", "I hear thee, view thee, gaze o'er all thy charms,", "And round thy phantom glue my clasping arms.", "I wake:--no more I hear, no more I view,", "The phantom flies me, as unkind as you.", "I call aloud; it hears not what I say:", "I stretch my empty arms; it glides away.", "To dream once more I close my willing eyes;", "Ye soft illusions, dear deceits, arise!", "Alas, no more! methinks we wandering go", "Through dreary wastes, and weep each other's woe,", "Where round some mouldering tower pale ivy creeps,", "And low-brow'd rocks hang nodding o'er the deeps.", "Sudden you mount, you beckon from the skies;", "Clouds interpose, waves roar, and winds arise.", "I shriek, start up, the same sad prospect find,", "And wake to all the griefs I left behind.", "", "For thee the Fates, severely kind, ordain", "A cool suspense from pleasure and from pain;", "Thy life a long dead calm of fix'd repose;", "No pulse that riots, and no blood that glows.", "Still as the sea, ere winds were taught to blow,", "Or moving spirit bade the waters flow;", "Soft as the slumbers of a saint forgiven,", "And mild as opening gleams of promised heaven.", "", "Come, Abelard! for what hast thou to dread?", "The torch of Venus burns not for the dead.", "Nature stands check'd; Religion disapproves;", "Even thou art cold--yet Eloisa loves.", "Ah hopeless, lasting flames! like those that burn", "To light the dead, and warm the unfruitful urn.", "", "What scenes appear where'er I turn my view?", "The dear ideas, where I fly, pursue,", "Rise in the grove, before the altar rise,", "Stain all my soul, and wanton in my eyes.", "I waste the matin lamp in sighs for thee,", "Thy image steals between my God and me,", "Thy voice I seem in every hymn to hear,", "With every bead I drop too soft a tear.", "When from the censer clouds of fragrance roll,", "And swelling organs lift the rising soul,", "One thought of thee puts all the pomp to flight,", "Priests, tapers, temples, swim before my sight:", "In seas of flame my plunging soul is drown'd,", "While altars blaze, and angels tremble round.", "", "While prostrate here in humble grief I lie,", "Kind, virtuous drops just gathering in my eye,", "While praying, trembling, in the dust I roll,", "And dawning grace is opening on my soul:", "Come, if thou dar'st, all charming as thou art!", "Oppose thyself to heaven; dispute my heart;", "Come, with one glance of those deluding eyes", "Blot out each bright idea of the skies;", "Take back that grace, those sorrows, and those tears;", "Take back my fruitless penitence and prayers;", "Snatch me, just mounting, from the blest abode;", "Assist the fiends, and tear me from my God!", "", "No, fly me, fly me, far as pole from pole;", "Rise Alps between us! and whole oceans roll!", "Ah, come not, write not, think not once of me,", "Nor share one pang of all I felt for thee!", "Thy oaths I quit, thy memory resign;", "Forget, renounce me, hate whate'er was mine.", "Fair eyes, and tempting looks (which yet I view)", "Long loved, adored ideas, all adieu!", "O Grace serene! O Virtue heavenly fair!", "Divine oblivion of low-thoughted care!", "Fresh blooming Hope, gay daughter of the sky!", "And Faith, our early immortality!", "Enter, each mild, each amicable guest;", "Receive, and wrap me in eternal rest!", "", "See in her cell sad Eloisa spread,", "Propp'd on some tomb, a neighbour of the dead.", "In each low wind methinks a spirit calls,", "And more than echoes talk along the walls.", "Here, as I watch'd the dying lamps around,", "From yonder shrine I heard a hollow sound.", "'Come, sister, come!' (it said, or seem'd to say)", "'Thy place is here, sad sister, come away!", "Once like thyself, I trembled, wept, and pray'd,", "Love's victim then, though now a sainted maid:", "But all is calm in this eternal sleep;", "Here Grief forgets to groan, and Love to weep,", "Even Superstition loses every fear:", "For God, not man, absolves our frailties here.'", "", "I come, I come! prepare your roseate bowers,", "Celestial palms, and ever-blooming flowers.", "Thither, where sinners may have rest, I go,", "Where flames refined in breasts seraphic glow:", "Thou, Abelard! the last sad office pay,", "And smooth my passage to the realms of day;", "See my lips tremble, and my eyeballs roll,", "Suck my last breath, and catch my flying soul!", "Ah, no!--in sacred vestments may'st thou stand,", "The hallow'd taper trembling in thy hand,", "Present the cross before my lifted eye,", "Teach me at once, and learn of me to die.", "Ah, then thy once-loved Eloisa see!", "It will be then no crime to gaze on me.", "See from my cheek the transient roses fly!", "See the last sparkle languish in my eye!", "Till every motion, pulse, and breath be o'er;", "And even my Abelard be loved no more.", "O Death all-eloquent! you only prove", "What dust we doat on when 'tis man we love.", "", "Then too, when fate shall thy fair frame destroy,", "(That cause of all my guilt, and all my joy!)", "In trance ecstatic may thy pangs be drown'd,", "Bright clouds descend, and angels watch thee round,", "From opening skies may streaming glories shine,", "And saints embrace thee with a love like mine.", "", "May one kind grave unite each hapless name,", "And graft my love immortal on thy fame!", "Then, ages hence, when all my woes are o'er,", "When this rebellious heart shall beat no more;", "If ever chance two wandering lovers brings", "To Paraclete's white walls and silver springs,", "O'er the pale marble shall they join their heads,", "And drink the falling tears each other sheds;", "Then sadly say,--with mutual pity moved,", "'Oh, may we never love as these have loved!'", "From the full choir when loud hosannas rise,", "And swell the pomp of dreadful sacrifice,", "Amid that scene, if some relenting eye", "Glance on the stone where our cold relics lie,", "Devotion's self shall steal a thought from heaven,", "One human tear shall drop, and be forgiven.", "And sure, if Fate some future bard shall join", "In sad similitude of griefs to mine,", "Condemn'd whole years in absence to deplore,", "And image charms he must behold no more;", "Such if there be, who love so long, so well,", "Let him our sad, our tender story tell;", "The well-sung woes will soothe my pensive ghost;", "He best can paint them who shall feel them most." ], "linecount": "366" }, { "title": "Epistle to James Craggs, Esq., Secretary of State.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "A soul as full of worth, as void of pride,", "Which nothing seeks to show, or needs to hide,", "Which nor to guilt nor fear its caution owes,", "And boasts a warmth that from no passion flows.", "A face untaught to feign; a judging eye,", "That darts severe upon a rising lie,", "And strikes a blush through frontless flattery.", "All this thou wert; and being this before,", "Know, kings and fortune cannot make thee more.", "Then scorn to gain a friend by servile ways,", "Nor wish to lose a foe these virtues raise;", "But candid, free, sincere, as you began,", "Proceed--a minister, but still a man.", "Be not (exalted to whate'er degree)", "Ashamed of any friend, not even of me:", "The patriot's plain, but untrod path pursue;", "If not, 'tis I must be ashamed of you." ], "linecount": "17" }, { "title": "To Mr Thomas Southern, on His Birthday, 1742.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "Resign'd to live, prepared to die,", "With not one sin, but poetry,", "This day Tom's fair account has run", "(Without a blot) to eighty-one.", "Kind Boyle, before his poet lays", "A table, with a cloth of bays;", "And Ireland, mother of sweet singers,", "Presents her harp still to his fingers.", "The feast, his towering genius marks", "In yonder wild goose and the larks;", "The mushrooms show his wit was sudden;", "And for his judgment, lo, a pudden!", "Roast beef, though old, proclaims him stout,", "And grace, although a bard, devout.", "May Tom, whom Heaven sent down to raise", "The price of prologues and of plays,", "Be every birthday more a winner,", "Digest his thirty-thousandth dinner;", "Walk to his grave without reproach,", "And scorn a rascal and a coach." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "To Mr C., St James's Place.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ " Few words are best; I wish you well:", " Bethel, I'm told, will soon be here;", " Some morning walks along the Mall,", " And evening friends, will end the year.", "", " If in this interval, between", " The falling leaf and coming frost,", " You please to see, on Twit'nam green,", " Your friend, your poet, and your host:", "", " For three whole days you here may rest", " From office business, news, and strife;", " And (what most folks would think a jest)", " Want nothing else except your wife." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot; or, Prologue to the Satires.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "_P_. Shut, shut the door, good John! fatigued, I said,", "Tie up the knocker, say I'm sick, I'm dead.", "The Dog-star rages! nay, 'tis past a doubt,", "All Bedlam, or Parnassus, is let out:", "Fire in each eye, and papers in each hand,", "They rave, recite, and madden round the land.", "", "What walls can guard me, or what shades can hide?", "They pierce my thickets, through my grot they glide,", "By land, by water, they renew the charge,", "They stop the chariot, and they board the barge.", "No place is sacred, not the church is free,", "Even Sunday shines no Sabbath-day to me:", "Then from the Mint walks forth the man of rhyme,", "Happy! to catch me, just at dinner-time.", "", "Is there a parson, much bemused in beer,", "A maudlin poetess, a rhyming peer,", "A clerk, foredoom'd his father's soul to cross,", "Who pens a stanza, when he should engross?", "Is there, who, lock'd from ink and paper, scrawls", "With desperate charcoal round his darken'd walls?", "All fly to Twit'nam, and in humble strain", "Apply to me, to keep them mad or vain.", "Arthur, whose giddy son neglects the laws,", "Imputes to me and my damn'd works the cause:", "Poor Cornus sees his frantic wife elope,", "And curses wit, and poetry, and Pope.", "", "Friend to my life! (which did not you prolong,", "The world had wanted many an idle song)", "What drop or nostrum can this plague remove?", "Or which must end me, a fool's wrath or love?", "A dire dilemma! either way I'm sped,", "If foes, they write, if friends, they read me dead.", "Seized and tied down to judge, how wretched I!", "Who can't be silent, and who will not lie:", "To laugh, were want of goodness and of grace,", "And to be grave, exceeds all power of face.", "I sit with sad civility, I read", "With honest anguish, and an aching head;", "And drop at last, but in unwilling ears,", "This saving counsel, 'Keep your piece nine years.'", "", "'Nine years!' cries he, who high in Drury-lane,", "Lull'd by soft zephyrs through the broken pane,", "Rhymes ere he wakes, and prints before Term ends,", "Obliged by hunger, and request of friends:", "'The piece, you think, is incorrect? why take it,", "I'm all submission, what you'd have it, make it.'", "", "Three things another's modest wishes bound,", "My friendship, and a prologue, and ten pound.", "", "Pitholeon sends to me: 'You know his Grace,", "I want a patron; ask him for a place.'", "Pitholeon libell'd me--'But here's a letter", "Informs you, sir, 'twas when he knew no better.", "Dare you refuse him? Curll invites to dine,", "He'll write a journal, or he'll turn divine.'", "", "Bless me! a packet.--''Tis a stranger sues,", "A virgin tragedy, an orphan Muse.'", "If I dislike it, 'Furies, death, and rage!'", "If I approve, 'Commend it to the stage.'", "There (thank my stars) my whole commission ends,", "The players and I are, luckily, no friends.", "Fired that the house reject him, ''Sdeath! I'll print it,", "And shame the fools--Your interest, sir, with Lintot.'", "Lintot, dull rogue! will think your price too much:", "'Not, sir, if you revise it, and retouch.'", "All my demurs but double his attacks;", "At last he whispers, 'Do; and we go snacks.'", "Glad of a quarrel, straight I clap the door:", "Sir, let me see your works and you no more.", "", "'Tis sung, when Midas' ears began to spring", "(Midas, a sacred person and a king),", "His very minister who spied them first,", "(Some say his queen) was forced to speak, or burst.", "And is not mine, my friend, a sorer case,", "When every coxcomb perks them in my face?", "", "_A_. Good friend, forbear! you deal in dangerous things.", "I'd never name queens, ministers, or kings;", "Keep close to ears, and those let asses prick,", "'Tis nothing----", "", "_P_. Nothing? if they bite and kick?", "Out with it, Dunciad! let the secret pass,", "That secret to each fool, that he's an ass:", "The truth once told (and wherefore should we lie?)", "The queen of Midas slept, and so may I.", "", "You think this cruel? Take it for a rule,", "No creature smarts so little as a fool.", "Let peals of laughter, Codrus! round thee break,", "Thou unconcern'd canst hear the mighty crack:", "Pit, box, and gallery in convulsions hurl'd,", "Thou stand'st unshook amidst a bursting world.", "Who shames a scribbler? break one cobweb through,", "He spins the slight, self-pleasing thread anew:", "Destroy his fib or sophistry, in vain,", "The creature's at his dirty work again,", "Throned in the centre of his thin designs,", "Proud of a vast extent of flimsy lines!", "Whom have I hurt? has poet yet, or peer,", "Lost the arch'd eyebrow, or Parnassian sneer?", "And has not Colly still his lord, and whore?", "His butchers, Henley, his freemasons, Moore?", "Does not one table Bavius still admit?", "Still to one bishop, Philips seem a wit", "Still Sappho----", "", "_A_. Hold! for God-sake--you'll offend,", "No names--be calm--learn prudence of a friend:", "I too could write, and I am twice as tall;", "But foes like these----", "", "_P_. One flatterer's worse than all.", "Of all mad creatures, if the learn'd are right,", "It is the slaver kills, and not the bite.", "A fool quite angry is quite innocent:", "Alas! 'tis ten times worse when they repent.", "", "One dedicates in high heroic prose,", "And ridicules beyond a hundred foes:", "One from all Grub-street will my fame defend,", "And, more abusive, calls himself my friend.", "This prints my letters, that expects a bribe,", "And others roar aloud, 'Subscribe, subscribe!'", "", "There are, who to my person pay their court:", "I cough like Horace, and, though lean, am short,", "Ammon's great son one shoulder had too high,", "Such Ovid's nose, and, 'Sir! you have an eye'--", "Go on, obliging creatures! make me see", "All that disgraced my betters, met in me.", "Say for my comfort, languishing in bed,", "'Just so immortal Maro held his head:'", "And, when I die, be sure you let me know", "Great Homer died three thousand years ago.", "", "Why did I write? what sin to me unknown", "Dipp'd me in ink, my parents', or my own?", "As yet a child, nor yet a fool to fame,", "I lisp'd in numbers, for the numbers came.", "I left no calling for this idle trade,", "No duty broke, no father disobey'd.", "The Muse but served to ease some friend, not wife,", "To help me through this long disease, my life,", "To second, Arbuthnot! thy art and care,", "And teach the being you preserved to bear.", "", "But why then publish? Granville the polite,", "And knowing Walsh, would tell me I could write;", "Well-natured Garth inflamed with early praise,", "And Congreve loved, and Swift endured my lays;", "The courtly Talbot, Somers, Sheffield read,", "Even mitred Rochester would nod the head,", "And St John's self (great Dryden's friends before)", "With open arms received one poet more.", "Happy my studies, when by these approved!", "Happier their author, when by these beloved!", "From these the world will judge of men and books,", "Not from the Burnets, Oldmixons, and Cookes.", "", "Soft were my numbers; who could take offence", "While pure description held the place of sense?", "Like gentle Fanny's was my flowery theme,", "'A painted mistress, or a purling stream.'", "Yet then did Gildon draw his venal quill;", "I wish'd the man a dinner, and sat still.", "Yet then did Dennis rave in furious fret;", "I never answer'd--I was not in debt.", "If want provoked, or madness made them print,", "I waged no war with Bedlam or the Mint.", "", "Did some more sober critic come abroad--", "If wrong, I smiled; if right, I kiss'd the rod.", "Pains, reading, study, are their just pretence,", "And all they want is spirit, taste, and sense.", "Commas and points they set exactly right,", "And 'twere a sin to rob them of their mite.", "Yet ne'er one sprig of laurel graced these ribalds,", "From slashing Bentley down to piddling Tibbalds:", "Each wight, who reads not, and but scans and spells,", "Each word-catcher, that lives on syllables,", "Even such small critics some regard may claim,", "Preserved in Milton's or in Shakspeare's name.", "Pretty! in amber to observe the forms", "Of hairs, or straws, or dirt, or grubs, or worms!", "The things, we know, are neither rich nor rare,", "But wonder how the devil they got there.", "", "Were others angry--I excused them too;", "Well might they rage, I gave them but their due.", "A man's true merit 'tis not hard to find;", "But each man's secret standard in his mind,", "That casting-weight pride adds to emptiness,", "This, who can gratify for who can guess?", "The bard whom pilfer'd Pastorals renown,", "Who turns a Persian tale for half-a-crown,", "Just writes to make his barrenness appear,", "And strains from hard-bound brains eight lines a year;", "He who, still wanting, though he lives on theft,", "Steals much, spends little, yet has nothing left:", "And he who, now to sense, now nonsense leaning,", "Means not, but blunders round about a meaning:", "And he, whose fustian's so sublimely bad,", "It is not poetry, but prose run mad:", "All these, my modest satire bade translate,", "And own'd that nine such poets made a Tate.", "How did they fume, and stamp, and roar, and chafe!", "And swear, not Addison himself was safe.", "", "Peace to all such! but were there one whose fires", "True genius kindles, and fair fame inspires;", "Blest with each talent and each art to please,", "And born to write, converse, and live with ease:", "Should such a man, too fond to rule alone,", "Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne,", "View him with scornful, yet with jealous eyes,", "And hate for arts that caused himself to rise;", "Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,", "And, without sneering, teach the rest to sneer;", "Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,", "Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike;", "Alike reserved to blame, or to commend,", "A timorous foe, and a suspicious friend;", "Dreading e'en fools, by flatterers besieged,", "And so obliging, that he ne'er obliged;", "Like Cato, give his little senate laws,", "And sit attentive to his own applause;", "While wits and Templars every sentence raise,", "And wonder with a foolish face of praise--", "Who but must laugh, if such a man there be?", "Who would not weep, if Atticus were he?", "", "What though my name stood rubric on the walls,", "Or plaster'd posts, with claps, in capitals?", "Or smoking forth, a hundred hawkers' load,", "On wings of winds came flying all abroad?", "I sought no homage from the race that write;", "I kept, like Asian monarchs, from their sight:", "Poems I heeded (now be-rhymed so long)", "No more than thou, great George! a birthday song.", "I ne'er with wits or witlings pass'd my days,", "To spread about the itch of verse and praise;", "Nor like a puppy, daggled through the town,", "To fetch and carry sing-song up and down;", "Nor at rehearsals sweat, and mouth'd, and cried,", "With handkerchief and orange at my side;", "But sick of fops, and poetry, and prate,", "To Bufo left the whole Castalian state.", "", "Proud as Apollo on his forkèd hill,", "Sat full-blown Bufo, puff'd by every quill;", "Fed with soft dedication all day long,", "Horace and he went hand in hand in song.", "His library (where busts of poets dead", "And a true Pindar stood without a head)", "Received of wits an undistinguish'd race,", "Who first his judgment ask'd, and then a place:", "Much they extoll'd his pictures, much his seat,", "And flatter'd every day, and some days eat:", "Till, grown more frugal in his riper days,", "He paid some bards with port, and some with praise,", "To some a dry rehearsal was assign'd,", "And others (harder still) he paid in kind.", "Dryden alone (what wonder?) came not nigh,", "Dryden alone escaped this judging eye:", "But still the great have kindness in reserve,", "He help'd to bury whom he help'd to starve.", "", "May some choice patron bless each gray-goose quill!", "May every Bavius have his Bufo still!", "So when a statesman wants a day's defence,", "Or envy holds a whole week's war with sense,", "Or simple pride for flattery makes demands,", "May dunce by dunce be whistled off my hands!", "Bless'd be the great! for those they take away,", "And those they left me; for they left me Gay;", "Left me to see neglected genius bloom,", "Neglected die, and tell it on his tomb:", "Of all thy blameless life, the sole return", "My verse, and Queensberry weeping o'er thy urn!", "", "Oh let me live my own, and die so too!", "(To live and die is all I have to do:)", "Maintain a poet's dignity and ease,", "And see what friends, and read what books I please:", "Above a patron, though I condescend", "Sometimes to call a minister my friend.", "I was not born for courts or great affairs;", "I pay my debts, believe, and say my prayers;", "Can sleep without a poem in my head,", "Nor know if Dennis be alive or dead.", "", "Why am I ask'd what next shall see the light?", "Heavens! was I born for nothing but to write?", "Has life no joys for me? or (to be grave)", "Have I no friend to serve, no soul to save?", "'I found him close with Swift--Indeed? no doubt", "(Cries prating Balbus) something will come out.'", "'Tis all in vain, deny it as I will.", "'No, such a genius never can lie still;'", "And then for mine obligingly mistakes", "The first lampoon Sir Will or Bubo makes.", "Poor guiltless I! and can I choose but smile,", "When every coxcomb knows me by my style?", "", "Cursed be the verse, how well soe'er it flow,", "That tends to make one worthy man my foe,", "Give virtue scandal, innocence a fear,", "Or from the soft-eyed virgin steal a tear!", "But he who hurts a harmless neighbour's peace,", "Insults fallen worth, or beauty in distress,", "Who loves a lie, lame slander helps about,", "Who writes a libel, or who copies out:", "That fop, whose pride affects a patron's name,", "Yet, absent, wounds an author's honest fame:", "Who can your merit selfishly approve,", "And show the sense of it without the love;", "Who has the vanity to call you friend,", "Yet wants the honour, injured, to defend;", "Who tells whate'er you think, whate'er you say,", "And, if he lie not, must at least betray:", "Who to the dean, and silver bell can swear,", "And sees at Canons what was never there;", "Who reads, but--with a lust to misapply,", "Make satire a lampoon, and fiction, lie;", "A lash like mine no honest man shall dread,", "But all such babbling blockheads in his stead.", "Let Sporus tremble--", "", "_A_. What? that thing of silk,", "Sporus, that mere white curd of ass's milk?", "Satire or sense, alas! can Sporus feel?", "Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?", "", "_P_. Yet let me flap this bug with gilded wings,", "This painted child of dirt, that stinks and stings;", "Whose buzz the witty and the fair annoys,", "Yet wit ne'er tastes, and beauty ne'er enjoys;", "So well-bred spaniels civilly delight", "In mumbling of the game they dare not bite.", "Eternal smiles his emptiness betray,", "As shallow streams run dimpling all the way.", "Whether in florid impotence he speaks,", "And, as the prompter breathes, the puppet squeaks;", "Or at the ear of Eve, familiar toad!", "Half-froth, half-venom, spits himself abroad,", "In puns or politics, or tales, or lies,", "Or spite, or smut, or rhymes, or blasphemies.", "His wit all see-saw, between that and this,", "Now high, now low, now master up, now miss,", "And he himself one vile antithesis.", "Amphibious thing! that, acting either part,", "The trifling head, or the corrupted heart,", "Fop at the toilet, flatterer at the board,", "Now trips a lady, and now struts a lord.", "Eve's tempter thus the Rabbins have express'd,", "A cherub's face, a reptile all the rest,", "Beauty that shocks you, parts that none will trust,", "Wit that can creep, and pride that licks the dust.", "", "Not Fortune's worshipper, nor Fashion's fool,", "Not Lucre's madman, nor Ambition's tool,", "Not proud, nor servile; be one poet's praise,", "That, if he pleased, he pleased by manly ways:", "That flattery, even to kings, he held a shame,", "And thought a lie in verse or prose the same.", "That not in Fancy's maze he wander'd long,", "But stoop'd to Truth, and moralised his song:", "That not for Fame, but Virtue's better end,", "He stood the furious foe, the timid friend,", "The damning critic, half-approving wit,", "The coxcomb hit, or fearing to be hit;", "Laugh'd at the loss of friends he never had,", "The dull, the proud, the wicked, and the mad;", "The distant threats of vengeance on his head,", "The blow unfelt, the tear he never shed;", "The tale revived, the lie so oft o'erthrown,", "Th' imputed trash, and dulness not his own;", "The morals blacken'd when the writings 'scape,", "The libell'd person, and the pictured shape;", "Abuse, on all he loved, or loved him, spread,", "A friend in exile, or a father dead;", "The whisper that, to greatness still too near,", "Perhaps yet vibrates on his sovereign's ear--", "Welcome for thee, fair Virtue! all the past:", "For thee, fair Virtue! welcome even the last!", "", "_A_. But why insult the poor, affront the great?", "", "_P_. A knave's a knave, to me, in every state:", "Alike my scorn, if he succeed or fail,", "Sporus at court, or Japhet in a jail,", "A hireling scribbler, or a hireling peer,", "Knight of the post corrupt, or of the shire;", "If on a pillory, or near a throne,", "He gain his prince's ear, or lose his own.", "", "Yet soft by nature, more a dupe than wit,", "Sappho can tell you how this man was bit:", "This dreaded satirist Dennis will confess", "Foe to his pride, but friend to his distress:", "So humble, he has knock'd at Tibbald's door,", "Has drunk with Cibber, nay, has rhymed for Moore.", "Full ten years slander'd, did he once reply?", "Three thousand suns went down on Welsted's lie.", "To please a mistress one aspersed his life;", "He lash'd him not, but let her be his wife:", "Let Budgell charge low Grub-street on his quill,", "And write whate'er he pleased, except his will;", "Let the two Curlls of town and court abuse", "His father, mother, body, soul, and Muse.", "Yet why that father held it for a rule,", "It was a sin to call our neighbour fool:", "That harmless mother thought no wife a whore:", "Hear this, and spare his family, James Moore!", "Unspotted names, and memorable long!", "If there be force in virtue, or in song.", "", "Of gentle blood (part shed in honour's cause,", "While yet in Britain honour had applause)", "Each parent sprung----", "", "_A._ What fortune, pray?----", "", "_P._ Their own,", "And better got, than Bestia's from the throne.", "Born to no pride, inheriting no strife,", "Nor marrying discord in a noble wife,", "Stranger to civil and religious rage,", "The good man walk'd innoxious through his age.", "No courts he saw, no suits would ever try,", "Nor dared an oath, nor hazarded a lie.", "Unlearn'd, he knew no schoolman's subtle art,", "No language but the language of the heart.", "By nature honest, by experience wise,", "Healthy by temperance, and by exercise;", "His life, though long, to sickness pass'd unknown,", "His death was instant, and without a groan.", "O grant me thus to live, and thus to die!", "Who sprung from kings shall know less joy than I.", "", "O friend! may each domestic bliss be thine!", "Be no unpleasing melancholy mine:", "Me, let the tender office long engage,", "To rock the cradle of reposing age,", "With lenient arts extend a mother's breath,", "Make languor smile, and smooth the bed of death,", "Explore the thought, explain the asking eye,", "And keep a while one parent from the sky!", "On cares like these if length of days attend,", "May Heaven, to bless those days, preserve my friend,", "Preserve him social, cheerful, and serene,", "And just as rich as when he served a Queen.", "", "_A_. Whether that blessing be denied or given,", "Thus far was right, the rest belongs to Heaven." ], "linecount": "425" }, { "title": "Satire I. to Mr Fortescue.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "SATIRES AND EPISTLES OF HORACE IMITATED.", "", "_P_. There are (I scarce can think it, but am told)", "There are, to whom my satire seems too bold:", "Scarce to wise Peter complaisant enough,", "And something said of Chartres much too rough.", "The lines are weak, another's pleased to say,", "Lord Fanny spins a thousand such a day.", "Timorous by nature, of the rich in awe,", "I come to counsel learnèd in the law:", "'You'll give me, like a friend both sage and free,", "Advice; and (as you use) without a fee.'", "", "_F_. I'd write no more.", "", "_P_. Not write? but then I think,", "And for my soul I cannot sleep a wink.", "I nod in company, I wake at night,", "Fools rush into my head, and so I write.", "", "_F_. You could not do a worse thing for your life.", "Why, if the nights seem tedious--take a wife:", "Or rather truly, if your point be rest,", "Lettuce and cowslip-wine; _probatum est_.", "But talk with Celsus, Celsus will advise", "Hartshorn, or something that shall close your eyes.", "Or, if you needs must write, write Caesar's praise,", "You'll gain at least a knighthood, or the bays.", "", "_P_. What! like Sir Richard, rumbling, rough, and fierce,", "With arms, and George, and Brunswick crowd the verse,", "Rend with tremendous sound your ears asunder,", "With gun, drum, trumpet, blunderbuss, and thunder?", "Or, nobly wild, with Budgell's fire and force,", "Paint angels trembling round his falling horse?", "", "_F_. Then all your Muse's softer art display,", "Let Carolina smooth the tuneful lay,", "Lull with Amelia's liquid name the Nine,", "And sweetly flow through all the royal line.", "", "_P_. Alas! few verses touch their nicer ear;", "They scarce can bear their Laureate twice a-year;", "And justly Caesar scorns the poet's lays,", "It is to history he trusts for praise.", "", "_F_. Better be Cibber, I'll maintain it still,", "Than ridicule all taste, blaspheme quadrille,", "Abuse the city's best good men in metre,", "And laugh at peers that put their trust in Peter.", "Even those you touch not, hate you.", "", "_P_. What should ail them?", "", "_F_. A hundred smart in Timon and in Balaam:", "The fewer still you name, you wound the more;", "Bond is but one, but Harpax is a score.", "", "_P_. Each mortal has his pleasure: none deny", "Scarsdale his bottle, Darty his ham-pie;", "Ridotta sips and dances, till she see", "The doubling lustres dance as fast as she;", "F---- loves the Senate, Hockley-hole his brother,", "Like in all else, as one egg to another.", "I love to pour out all myself, as plain", "As downright Shippen, or as old Montaigne:", "In them, as certain to be loved as seen,", "The soul stood forth, nor kept a thought within;", "In me what spots (for spots I have) appear,", "Will prove at least the medium must be clear.", "In this impartial glass, my Muse intends", "Fair to expose myself, my foes, my friends;", "Publish the present age; but, where my text", "Is vice too high, reserve it for the next:", "My foes shall wish my life a longer date,", "And every friend the less lament my fate,", "My head and heart thus flowing through my quill,", "Verse-man or prose-man, term me which you will,", "Papist or Protestant, or both between,", "Like good Erasmus, in an honest mean,", "In moderation placing all my glory,", "While Tories call me Whig, and Whigs a Tory.", "", "Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet", "To run a-muck, and tilt at all I meet;", "I only wear it in a land of hectors,", "Thieves, supercargoes, sharpers, and directors.", "Save but our army! and let Jove incrust", "Swords, pikes, and guns, with everlasting rust!", "Peace is my dear delight--not Fleury's more:", "But touch me, and no minister so sore.", "Whoe'er offends, at some unlucky time", "Slides into verse, and hitches in a rhyme,", "Sacred to ridicule his whole life long,", "And the sad burthen of some merry song.", "", "Slander or poison dread from Delia's rage,", "Hard words or hanging, if your judge be Page.", "From furious Sappho scarce a milder fate,", "Pox'd by her love, or libell'd by her hate.", "Its proper power to hurt, each creature feels;", "Bulls aim their horns, and asses lift their heels;", "'Tis a bear's talent not to kick, but hug;", "And no man wonders he's not stung by pug.", "So drink with Walters, or with Chartres eat,", "They'll never poison you, they'll only cheat.", "", "Then, learnèd sir! (to cut the matter short)", "Whate'er my fate, or well or ill at court,", "Whether old age, with faint but cheerful ray,", "Attends to gild the evening of my day,", "Or death's black wing already be display'd,", "To wrap me in the universal shade;", "Whether the darken'd room to muse invite,", "Or whiten'd wall provoke the skewer to write:", "In durance, exile, Bedlam, or the Mint,", "Like Lee or Budgell, I will rhyme and print.", "", "_F_. Alas, young man! your days can ne'er be long,", "In flower of age you perish for a song!", "Plums and directors, Shylock and his wife,", "Will club their testers, now, to take your life!", "", "_P_. What? arm'd for Virtue, when I point the pen,", "Brand the bold front of shameless guilty men;", "Dash the proud gamester in his gilded car;", "Bare the mean heart that lurks beneath a star;", "Can there be wanting to defend her cause,", "Lights of the Church, or guardians of the laws?", "Could pension'd Boileau lash, in honest strain,", "Flatterers and bigots even in Louis' reign?", "Could Laureate Dryden pimp and friar engage,", "Yet neither Charles nor James be in a rage?", "And I not strip the gilding off a knave,", "Unplaced, unpension'd, no man's heir, or slave?", "I will, or perish in the generous cause:", "Hear this, and tremble! you who 'scape the laws.", "Yes, while I live, no rich or noble knave", "Shall walk the world, in credit, to his grave.", "TO VIRTUE ONLY, AND HER FRIENDS, A FRIEND,", "The world beside may murmur, or commend.", "Know, all the distant din that world can keep,", "Rolls o'er my grotto, and but soothes my sleep.", "There, my retreat the best companions grace,", "Chiefs out of war, and statesmen out of place.", "There St John mingles with my friendly bowl", "The feast of reason and the flow of soul:", "And he, whose lightning pierced th' Iberian lines,", "Now forms my quincunx, and now ranks my vines,", "Or tames the genius of the stubborn plain,", "Almost as quickly as he conquer'd Spain.", "", "Envy must own, I live among the great,", "No pimp of pleasure, and no spy of state,", "With eyes that pry not, tongue that ne'er repeats,", "Fond to spread friendships, but to cover heats;", "To help who want, to forward who excel;--", "This, all who know me, know; who love me, tell;", "And who unknown defame me, let them be", "Scribblers or peers, alike are mob to me.", "This is my plea, on this I rest my cause--", "What saith my counsel, learnèd in the laws?", "", "_F_. Your plea is good; but still, I say, beware!", "Laws are explain'd by men--so have a care!", "It stands on record, that in Richard's times", "A man was hang'd for very honest rhymes.", "Consult the statute: _quart_. I think, it is,", "_Edwardi Sext_. or _prim, et quint. Eliz_.", "See 'Libels, Satires'--here you have it--read.", "", "_P_. Libels and satires! lawless things indeed!", "But grave epistles, bringing vice to light,", "Such as a king might read, a bishop write,", "Such as Sir Robert would approve--", "", "_F_. Indeed?", "The case is alter'd--you may then proceed;", "In such a cause the plaintiff will be hiss'd,", "My lords the judges laugh, and you're dismiss'd." ], "linecount": "160" }, { "title": "Satire II. to Mr Bethel.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "SATIRES AND EPISTLES OF HORACE IMITATED.", "", "What, and how great, the virtue and the art", "To live on little with a cheerful heart;", "(A doctrine sage, but truly none of mine)", "Let's talk, my friends, but talk before we dine;", "Not when a gilt buffet's reflected pride", "Turns you from sound philosophy aside;", "Not when from plate to plate your eyeballs roll,", "And the brain dances to the mantling bowl.", "", "Hear Bethel's sermon, one not versed in schools,", "But strong in sense, and wise without the rules.", "", "Go, work, hunt, exercise! (he thus began)", "Then scorn a homely dinner, if you can.", "Your wine lock'd up, your butler stroll'd abroad,", "Or fish denied (the river yet unthaw'd),", "If then plain bread and milk will do the feat,", "The pleasure lies in you, and not the meat.", "", "Preach as I please, I doubt our curious men", "Will choose a pheasant still before a hen;", "Yet hens of Guinea full as good I hold,", "Except you eat the feathers green and gold.", "Of carps and mullets why prefer the great,", "(Though cut in pieces ere my lord can eat)", "Yet for small turbots such esteem profess?", "Because God made these large, the other less.", "", "Oldfield, with more than harpy throat endued,", "Cries, 'Send me, gods! a whole hog barbecued!'", "Oh, blast it, south-winds! till a stench exhale", "Rank as the ripeness of a rabbit's tail.", "By what criterion do ye eat, d' ye think,", "If this is prized for sweetness, that for stink?", "When the tired glutton labours through a treat,", "He finds no relish in the sweetest meat,", "He calls for something bitter, something sour,", "And the rich feast concludes extremely poor:", "Cheap eggs, and herbs, and olives still we see;", "Thus much is left of old simplicity!", "", "The robin redbreast till of late had rest,", "And children sacred held a martin's nest,", "Till beccaficos sold so devilish dear", "To one that was, or would have been, a peer.", "Let me extol a cat, on oysters fed,", "I'll have a party at the Bedford-head;", "Or even to crack live crawfish recommend;", "I'd never doubt at court to make a friend.", "", "'Tis yet in vain, I own, to keep a pother", "About one vice, and fall into the other:", "Between excess and famine lies a mean;", "Plain, but not sordid; though not splendid, clean.", "", "Avidien, or his wife (no matter which,", "For him you'll call a dog, and her a bitch)", "Sell their presented partridges, and fruits,", "And humbly live on rabbits and on roots:", "One half-pint bottle serves them both to dine,", "And is at once their vinegar and wine.", "But on some lucky day (as when they found", "A lost bank-bill, or heard their son was drown'd)", "At such a feast, old vinegar to spare,", "Is what two souls so generous cannot bear:", "Oil, though it stink, they drop by drop impart,", "But souse the cabbage with a bounteous heart.", "", "He knows to live, who keeps the middle state,", "And neither leans on this side, nor on that;", "Nor stops, for one bad cork, his butler's pay;", "Swears, like Albutius, a good cook away;", "Nor lets, like Naevius, every error pass,", "The musty wine, foul cloth, or greasy glass.", "Now hear what blessings temperance can bring:", "(Thus said our friend, and what he said I sing)", "First health: the stomach (cramm'd from every dish,", "A tomb of boil'd and roast, and flesh and fish,", "Where bile, and wind, and phlegm, and acid jar,", "And all the man is one intestine war)", "Remembers oft the school-boy's simple fare,", "The temperate sleeps, and spirits light as air.", "", "How pale each worshipful and reverend guest", "Rise from a clergy or a city feast!", "What life in all that ample body, say?", "What heavenly particle inspires the clay?", "The soul subsides, and wickedly inclines", "To seem but mortal, even in sound divines.", "", "On morning wings how active springs the mind", "That leaves the load of yesterday behind!", "How easy every labour it pursues!", "How coming to the poet every Muse!", "Not but we may exceed some holy time,", "Or tired in search of truth, or search of rhyme;", "Ill health some just indulgence may engage,", "And more the sickness of long life, old age;", "For fainting age what cordial drop remains,", "If our intemperate youth the vessel drains?", "", "Our fathers praised rank ven'son. You suppose,", "Perhaps, young men! our fathers had no nose.", "Not so: a buck was then a week's repast,", "And 'twas their point, I ween, to make it last;", "More pleased to keep it till their friends could come,", "Than eat the sweetest by themselves at home.", "Why had not I in those good times my birth,", "Ere coxcomb-pies or coxcombs were on earth?", "", "Unworthy he, the voice of fame to hear--", "That sweetest music to an honest ear--", "(For, faith! Lord Fanny, you are in the wrong,", "The world's good word is better than a song,)", "Who has not learn'd, fresh sturgeon and ham-pie", "Are no rewards for want, and infamy!", "When luxury has lick'd up all thy pelf,", "Cursed by thy neighbours, thy trustees, thyself,", "To friends, to fortune, to mankind a shame,", "Think how posterity will treat thy name;", "And buy a rope, that future times may tell", "Thou hast at least bestow'd one penny well.", "", "'Right,' cries his lordship, 'for a rogue in need", "To have a taste is insolence indeed:", "In me 'tis noble, suits my birth and state,", "My wealth unwieldy, and my heap too great.'", "Then, like the sun, let bounty spread her ray,", "And shine that superfluity away.", "Oh, impudence of wealth! with all thy store,", "How dar'st thou let one worthy man be poor?", "Shall half the new-built churches round thee fall?", "Make quays, build bridges, or repair Whitehall:", "Or to thy country let that heap be lent,", "As Marlbro's was, but not at five per cent.", "", "Who thinks that Fortune cannot change her mind,", "Prepares a dreadful jest for all mankind.", "And who stands safest? tell me, is it he", "That spreads and swells in puff'd prosperity,", "Or, blest with little, whose preventing care", "In peace provides fit arms against a war?", "", "Thus Bethel spoke, who always speaks his thought,", "And always thinks the very thing he ought:", "His equal mind I copy what I can,", "And as I love, would imitate the man.", "In South-sea days not happier, when surmised", "The lord of thousands, than if now excised;", "In forest planted by a father's hand,", "Than in five acres now of rented land.", "Content with little, I can piddle here", "On broccoli and mutton, round the year;", "But ancient friends (though poor, or out of play)", "That touch my bell, I cannot turn away.", "'Tis true, no turbots dignify my boards,", "But gudgeons, flounders, what my Thames affords:", "To Hounslow Heath I point, and Bansted Down,", "Thence comes your mutton, and these chicks my own:", "From yon old walnut-tree a shower shall fall;", "And grapes, long lingering on my only wall,", "And figs from standard and espalier join;", "The devil is in you if you cannot dine:", "Then cheerful healths (your mistress shall have place) 150", "And, what's more rare, a poet shall say grace.", "", "Fortune not much of humbling me can boast;", "Though double tax'd, how little have I lost?", "My life's amusements have been just the same,", "Before and after standing armies came.", "My lands are sold, my father's house is gone;", "I'll hire another's; is not that my own,", "And yours, my friends? through whose free-opening gate", "None comes too early, none departs too late;", "(For I, who hold sage Homer's rule the best,", "Welcome the coming, speed the going guest).", "'Pray Heaven it last!' (cries Swift) 'as you go on;", "I wish to God this house had been your own:", "Pity to build, without a son or wife:", "Why, you'll enjoy it only all your life.'", "Well, if the use be mine, can it concern one,", "Whether the name belong to Pope or Vernon?", "What's property, dear Swift? You see it alter", "From you to me, from me to Peter Walter;", "Or, in a mortgage, prove a lawyer's share;", "Or, in a jointure, vanish from the heir;", "Or in pure equity (the case not clear)", "The Chancery takes your rents for twenty year:", "At best, it falls to some ungracious son,", "Who cries, 'My father's damn'd, and all's my own.'", "Shades, that to Bacon could retreat afford,", "Become the portion of a booby lord;", "And Helmsley, once proud Buckingham's delight,", "Slides to a scrivener or a city knight.", "Let lands and houses have what lords they will,", "Let us be fix'd, and our own masters still.", "", " * * * * *", "", "THE FIRST EPISTLE OF THE FIRST BOOK OF HORACE.", "", "TO LORD BOLINGBROKE.", "", "St John, whose love indulged my labours past,", "Matures my present, and shall bound my last!", "Why will you break the Sabbath of my days?", "Now sick alike of envy and of praise.", "Public too long, ah, let me hide my age!", "See, modest Cibber now has left the stage:", "Our generals now, retired to their estates,", "Hang their old trophies o'er the garden gates,", "In life's cool evening satiate of applause,", "Nor fond of bleeding, even in Brunswick's cause.", "", "A voice there is, that whispers in my ear,", "('Tis reason's voice, which sometimes one can hear)", "'Friend Pope! be prudent, let your Muse take breath,", "And never gallop Pegasus to death;", "Lest, still and stately, void of fire or force,", "You limp, like Blackmore on a Lord Mayor's horse.'", "", "Farewell, then, verse, and love, and every toy,", "The rhymes and rattles of the man or boy;", "What right, what true, what fit we justly call,", "Let this be all my care--for this is all:", "To lay this harvest up, and hoard with haste", "What every day will want, and most, the last.", "", "But ask not, to what doctors I apply;", "Sworn to no master, of no sect am I:", "As drives the storm, at any door I knock:", "And house with Montaigne now, or now with Locke.", "Sometimes a patriot, active in debate,", "Mix with the world, and battle for the state,", "Free as young Lyttelton, her cause pursue,", "Still true to virtue, and as warm as true:", "Sometimes with Aristippus, or St Paul,", "Indulge my candour, and grow all to all;", "Back to my native moderation slide,", "And win my way by yielding to the tide.", "", "Long, as to him who works for debt, the day,", "Long as the night to her whose love's away,", "Long as the year's dull circle seems to run,", "When the brisk minor pants for twenty-one:", "So slow the unprofitable moments roll,", "That lock up all the functions of my soul;", "That keep me from myself; and still delay", "Life's instant business to a future day:", "That task, which, as we follow, or despise,", "The eldest is a fool, the youngest wise.", "Which done, the poorest can no wants endure;", "And which, not done, the richest must be poor.", "", "Late as it is, I put myself to school,", "And feel some comfort not to be a fool.", "Weak though I am of limb, and short of sight,", "Far from a lynx, and not a giant quite;", "I'll do what Mead and Cheselden advise,", "To keep these limbs, and to preserve these eyes.", "Not to go back, is somewhat to advance,", "And men must walk at least before they dance.", "", "Say, does thy blood rebel, thy bosom move", "With wretched avarice, or as wretched love?", "Know, there are words and spells which can control", "Between the fits this fever of the soul:", "Know, there are rhymes, which, fresh and fresh applied,", "Will cure the arrant'st puppy of his pride.", "Be furious, envious, slothful, mad, or drunk,", "Slave to a wife, or vassal to a punk,", "A Switz, a High-Dutch, or a Low-Dutch bear;", "All that we ask is but a patient ear.", "", "'Tis the first virtue, vices to abhor:", "And the first wisdom, to be fool no more.", "But to the world no bugbear is so great,", "As want of figure, and a small estate.", "To either India see the merchant fly,", "Scared at the spectre of pale poverty!", "See him, with pains of body, pangs of soul,", "Burn through the tropic, freeze beneath the pole!", "Wilt thou do nothing for a nobler end,", "Nothing, to make philosophy thy friend?", "To stop thy foolish views, thy long desires,", "And ease thy heart of all that it admires?", "", "Here, Wisdom calls: 'Seek Virtue first, be bold!", "As gold to silver, Virtue is to gold.'", "There, London's voice: 'Get money, money still!", "And then let virtue follow, if she will.'", "This, this the saving doctrine, preach'd to all,", "From low St James's up to high St Paul;", "From him whose quill stands quiver'd at his ear,", "To him who notches sticks at Westminster.", "", "Barnard in spirit, sense, and truth abounds;", "'Pray then, what wants he?' Fourscore thousand pounds;", "A pension, or such harness for a slave", "As Bug now has, and Dorimant would have.", "Barnard, thou art a cit, with all thy worth;", "But Bug and D----l, their Honours, and so forth.", "", "Yet every child another song will sing,", "'Virtue, brave boys! 'tis virtue makes a king.'", "True, conscious honour is to feel no sin,", "He's arm'd without that's innocent within;", "Be this thy screen, and this thy wall of brass;", "Compared to this, a minister's an ass.", "", "And say, to which shall our applause belong,", "This new court-jargon, or the good old song?", "The modern language of corrupted peers,", "Or what was spoke at Cressy and Poictiers?", "Who counsels best? who whispers, 'Be but great,", "With praise or infamy leave that to fate;", "Get place and wealth, if possible, with grace;", "If not, by any means get wealth and place.'", "For what? to have a box where eunuchs sing,", "And foremost in the circle eye a king.", "Or he, who bids thee face with steady view", "Proud fortune, and look shallow greatness through:", "And, while he bids thee, sets th' example too?", "If such a doctrine, in St James's air,", "Should chance to make the well-dress'd rabble stare;", "If honest S----z take scandal at a spark,", "That less admires the palace than the park:", "Faith, I shall give the answer Reynard gave:", "'I cannot like, dread sir, your royal cave:", "Because I see, by all the tracks about,", "Full many a beast goes in, but none comes out.'", "Adieu to virtue, if you're once a slave:", "Send her to court, you send her to her grave.", "", "Well, if a king's a lion, at the least", "The people are a many-headed beast:", "Can they direct what measures to pursue,", "Who know themselves so little what to do?", "Alike in nothing but one lust of gold,", "Just half the land would buy, and half be sold:", "Their country's wealth our mightier misers drain,", "Or cross, to plunder provinces, the main;", "The rest, some farm the poor-box, some the pews;", "Some keep assemblies, and would keep the stews;", "Some with fat bucks on childless dotards fawn;", "Some win rich widows by their chine and brawn;", "While with the silent growth of ten per cent,", "In dirt and darkness, hundreds stink content.", "", "Of all these ways, if each pursues his own,", "Satire, be kind, and let the wretch alone:", "But show me one who has it in his power", "To act consistent with himself an hour.", "Sir Job sail'd forth, the evening bright and still,", "'No place on earth' (he cried) 'like Greenwich hill!'", "Up starts a palace, lo, the obedient base", "Slopes at its foot, the woods its sides embrace,", "The silver Thames reflects its marble face.", "Now let some whimsy, or that devil within,", "Which guides all those who know not what they mean,", "But give the knight (or give his lady) spleen;", "'Away, away! take all your scaffolds down,", "For, snug's the word: my dear! we'll live in town.'", "", "At amorous Flavio is the stocking thrown?", "That very night he longs to lie alone.", "The fool, whose wife elopes some thrice a quarter,", "For matrimonial solace dies a martyr.", "Did ever Proteus, Merlin, any witch,", "Transform themselves so strangely as the rich?", "Well, but the poor--the poor have the same itch;", "They change their weekly barber, weekly news,", "Prefer a new japanner to their shoes,", "Discharge their garrets, move their beds, and run", "(They know not whither) in a chaise and one;", "They hire their sculler, and when once aboard,", "Grow sick, and damn the climate--like a lord.", "", "You laugh, half-beau, half-sloven if I stand;", "My wig all powder, and all snuff my band;", "You laugh, if coat and breeches strangely vary,", "White gloves, and linen worthy Lady Mary!", "But, when no prelate's lawn with hair-shirt lined", "Is half so incoherent as my mind,", "When (each opinion with the next at strife,", "One ebb and flow of follies all my life)", "I plant, root up; I build, and then confound;", "Turn round to square, and square again to round;", "You never change one muscle of your face,", "You think this madness but a common case,", "Nor once to Chancery, nor to Hale apply;", "Yet hang your lip, to see a seam awry!", "Careless how ill I with myself agree,", "Kind to my dress, my figure, not to me.", "Is this my guide, philosopher, and friend?", "This, he who loves me, and who ought to mend?", "Who ought to make me (what he can, or none),", "That man divine whom Wisdom calls her own;", "Great without title, without fortune bless'd;", "Rich even when plunder'd, honour'd while oppress'd;", "Loved without youth, and follow'd without power;", "At home, though exiled; free, though in the Tower;", "In short, that reasoning, high, immortal thing,", "Just less than Jove, and much above a king,", "Nay, half in heaven--except (what's mighty odd)", "A fit of vapours clouds this demi-god.", "", " * * * * *", "", "THE SIXTH EPISTLE OF THE FIRST BOOK OF HORACE.", "", "TO MR MURRAY.", "", "'Not to admire, is all the art I know,", "To make men happy, and to keep them so.'", "(Plain truth, dear Murray, needs no flowers of speech,", "So take it in the very words of Creech.)", "", "This vault of air, this congregated ball,", "Self-centred sun, and stars that rise and fall,", "There are, my friend! whose philosophic eyes", "Look through and trust the Ruler with his skies,", "To Him commit the hour, the day, the year,", "And view this dreadful All without a fear.", "", "Admire we then what earth's low entrails hold,", "Arabian shores, or Indian seas infold;", "All the mad trade of fools and slaves for gold?", "Or popularity? or stars and strings?", "The mob's applauses, or the gifts of kings?", "Say with what eyes we ought at courts to gaze,", "And pay the great our homage of amaze?", "", "If weak the pleasure that from these can spring,", "The fear to want them is as weak a thing:", "Whether we dread, or whether we desire,", "In either case, believe me, we admire;", "Whether we joy or grieve, the same the curse,", "Surprised at better, or surprised at worse.", "Thus good or bad, to one extreme betray", "The unbalanced mind, and snatch the man away:", "For virtue's self may too much zeal be had;", "The worst of madmen is a saint run mad.", "", "Go then, and, if you can, admire the state", "Of beaming diamonds, and reflected plate;", "Procure a taste to double the surprise,", "And gaze on Parian charms with learnèd eyes:", "Be struck with bright brocade, or Tyrian dye,", "Our birthday nobles' splendid livery.", "If not so pleased, at council-board rejoice,", "To see their judgments hang upon thy voice;", "From morn to night, at Senate, Rolls, and Hall,", "Plead much, read more, dine late, or not at all.", "But wherefore all this labour, all this strife?", "For fame, for riches, for a noble wife?", "Shall one whom nature, learning, birth, conspired", "To form, not to admire, but be admired,", "Sigh, while his Chloe, blind to wit and worth,", "Weds the rich dulness of some son of earth?", "Yet time ennobles, or degrades each line;", "It brighten'd Craggs's, and may darken thine:", "And what is fame? the meanest have their day,", "The greatest can but blaze, and pass away.", "Graced as thou art, with all the power of words,", "So known, so honour'd, at the House of Lords:", "Conspicuous scene! another yet is nigh", "(More silent far) where kings and poets lie;", "Where Murray (long enough his country's pride)", "Shall be no more than Tully, or than Hyde!", "", "Rack'd with sciatics, martyr'd with the stone,", "Will any mortal let himself alone?", "See Ward by batter'd beaux invited over,", "And desperate misery lays hold on Dover.", "The case is easier in the mind's disease;", "There all men may be cured, whene'er they please.", "Would ye be blest? despise low joys, low gains;", "Disdain whatever Cornbury disdains;", "Be virtuous, and be happy for your pains.", "", "But art thou one, whom new opinions sway,", "One who believes as Tindal leads the way,", "Who virtue and a church alike disowns,", "Thinks that but words, and this but brick and stones?", "Fly then, on all the wings of wild desire,", "Admire whate'er the maddest can admire:", "Is wealth thy passion? Hence! from pole to pole,", "Where winds can carry, or where waves can roll,", "For Indian spices, for Peruvian gold,", "Prevent the greedy, and outbid the bold:", "Advance thy golden mountain to the skies;", "On the broad base of fifty thousand rise,", "Add one round hundred, and (if that's not fair)", "Add fifty more, and bring it to a square.", "For, mark the advantage; just so many score", "Will gain a wife with half as many more,", "Procure her beauty, make that beauty chaste,", "And then such friends--as cannot fail to last.", "A man of wealth is dubb'd a man of worth,", "Venus shall give him form, and Anstis birth.", "(Believe me, many a German prince is worse,", "Who, proud of pedigree, is poor of purse).", "His wealth brave Timon gloriously confounds;", "Ask'd for a groat, he gives a hundred pounds;", "Or if three ladies like a luckless play,", "Takes the whole house upon the poet's day.", "Now, in such exigencies not to need,", "Upon my word, you must be rich indeed;", "A noble superfluity it craves,", "Not for yourself, but for your fools and knaves;", "Something, which for your honour they may cheat,", "And which it much becomes you to forget.", "If wealth alone then make and keep us bless'd,", "Still, still be getting, never, never rest.", "", "But if to power and place your passion lie,", "If in the pomp of life consist the joy;", "Then hire a slave, or (if you will) a lord", "To do the honours, and to give the word;", "Tell at your levée, as the crowds approach,", "To whom to nod, whom take into your coach,", "Whom honour with your hand: to make remarks,", "Who rules in Cornwall, or who rules in Berks:", "'This may be troublesome, is near the chair:", "That makes three members, this can choose a mayor.'", "Instructed thus, you bow, embrace, protest,", "Adopt him son, or cousin at the least,", "Then turn about, and laugh at your own jest.", "", "Or if your life be one continued treat,", "If to live well means nothing but to eat;", "Up, up! cries Gluttony, 'tis break of day,", "Go drive the deer, and drag the finny prey;", "With hounds and horns go hunt an appetite--", "So Russel did, but could not eat at night,", "Call'd, happy dog! the beggar at his door,", "And envied thirst and hunger to the poor.", "", "Or shall we every decency confound,", "Through taverns, stews, and bagnios take our round,", "Go dine with Chartres, in each vice outdo", "K--l's lewd cargo, or Ty--y's crew;", "From Latian syrens, French Circaean feasts,", "Return well travell'd, and transform'd to beasts,", "Or for a titled punk, or foreign flame,", "Renounce our country, and degrade our name?", "", "If, after all, we must with Wilmot own,", "The cordial drop of life is love alone,", "And Swift cry wisely, '_Vive la bagatelle!_'", "The man that loves and laughs, must sure do well.", "", "Adieu--if this advice appear the worst,", "E'en take the counsel which I gave you first:", "Or better precepts if you can impart,", "Why do, I'll follow them with all my heart.", "", " * * * * *", "", "THE FIRST EPISTLE OF THE SECOND BOOK OF HORACE.", "", "ADVERTISEMENT.", "", "The reflections of Horace, and the judgments past in his Epistle to", "Augustus, seemed so seasonable to the present times, that I could not", "help applying them to the use of my own country. The author thought them", "considerable enough to address them to his prince; whom he paints with", "all the great and good qualities of a monarch, upon whom the Romans", "depended for the increase of an absolute empire. But to make the poem", "entirely English, I was willing to add one or two of those which", "contribute to the happiness of a free people, and are more consistent", "with the welfare of our neighbours.", "", "This epistle will show the learned world to have fallen into two", "mistakes: One, that Augustus was a patron of poets in general; whereas", "he not only prohibited all but the best writers to name him, but", "recommended that care even to the civil magistrate: _Admonebat", "praetores, ne paterentur nomen suum obsolefieri_, &c. The other, that", "this piece was only a general discourse of poetry; whereas it was an", "apology for the poets, in order to render Augustus more their patron.", "Horace here pleads the cause of his contemporaries, first against the", "taste of the town, whose humour it was to magnify the authors of the", "preceding age; secondly against the court and nobility, who encouraged", "only the writers for the theatre; and lastly against the emperor", "himself, who had conceived them of little use to the government. He", "shows (by a view of the progress of learning, and the change of taste", "among the Romans) that the introduction of the polite arts of Greece had", "given the writers of his time great advantages over their predecessors;", "that their morals were much improved, and the license of those ancient", "poets restrained; that satire and comedy were become more just and", "useful; that whatever extravagances were left on the stage, were owing", "to the ill taste of the nobility; that poets, under due regulations,", "were in many respects useful to the state; and concludes, that it was", "upon them the emperor himself must depend for his fame with posterity.", "", "We may further learn from this epistle, that Horace made his court to", "this great prince by writing with a decent freedom toward him, with a", "just contempt of his low flatterers, and with a manly regard to his own", "character.", "", "TO AUGUSTUS.", "", "While you, great patron of mankind! sustain", "The balanced world, and open all the main;", "Your country, chief, in arms abroad defend,", "At home, with morals, arts, and laws amend;", "How shall the Muse, from such a monarch, steal", "An hour, and not defraud the public weal?", "", "Edward and Henry, now the boast of fame,", "And virtuous Alfred, a more sacred name,", "After a life of generous toils endured,", "The Gaul subdued, or property secured,", "Ambition humbled, mighty cities storm'd,", "Or laws establish'd, and the world reform'd;", "Closed their long glories with a sigh, to find", "The unwilling gratitude of base mankind!", "All human virtue, to its latest breath,", "Finds envy never conquer'd, but by death.", "The great Alcides, every labour past,", "Had still this monster to subdue at last.", "Sure fate of all, beneath whose rising ray", "Each star of meaner merit fades away!", "Oppress'd we feel the beam directly beat,", "Those suns of glory please not till they set.", "", "To thee, the world its present homage pays,", "The harvest early, but mature the praise:", "Great friend of liberty! in kings a name", "Above all Greek, above all Roman fame:", "Whose word is truth, as sacred and revered,", "As Heaven's own oracles from altars heard.", "Wonder of kings! like whom, to mortal eyes", "None e'er has risen, and none e'er shall rise.", "", "Just in one instance, be it yet confess'd,", "Your people, sir, are partial in the rest:", "Foes to all living worth except your own,", "And advocates for folly dead and gone.", "Authors, like coins, grow dear as they grow old;", "It is the rust we value, not the gold.", "Chaucer's worst ribaldry is learn'd by rote,", "And beastly Skelton heads of houses quote:", "One likes no language but the 'Faery Queen';", "A Scot will fight for 'Christ's Kirk o' the Green';", "And each true Briton is to Ben so civil,", "He swears the Muses met him at The Devil.", "", "Though justly Greece her eldest sons admires,", "Why should not we be wiser than our sires?", "In every public virtue we excel;", "We build, we paint, we sing, we dance as well,", "And learnèd Athens to our art must stoop,", "Could she behold us tumbling through a hoop.", "", "If time improve our wit as well as wine,", "Say at what age a poet grows divine?", "Shall we, or shall we not, account him so,", "Who died, perhaps, an hundred years ago?", "End all dispute; and fix the year precise", "When British bards begin t' immortalise?", "", "'Who lasts a century can have no flaw,", "I hold that wit a classic, good in law.'", "Suppose he wants a year, will you compound?", "And shall we deem him ancient, right and sound,", "Or damn to all eternity at once,", "At ninety-nine, a modern and a dunce?", "", "'We shall not quarrel for a year or two;", "By courtesy of England, he may do.'", "", "Then, by the rule that made the horse-tail bare,", "I pluck out year by year, as hair by hair,", "And melt down ancients like a heap of snow:", "While you, to measure merits, look in Stowe,", "And estimating authors by the year,", "Bestow a garland only on a bier.", "", "Shakspeare (whom you and every play-house bill", "Style the divine, the matchless, what you will),", "For gain, not glory, wing'd his roving flight,", "And grew immortal in his own despite.", "Ben, old and poor, as little seem'd to heed", "The life to come, in every poet's creed.", "Who now reads Cowley? if he pleases yet,", "His moral pleases, not his pointed wit;", "Forgot his epic, nay, Pindaric art,", "But still I love the language of his heart.", "", "'Yet surely, surely, these were famous men!", "What boy but hears the sayings of old Ben?", "In all debates where critics bear a part,", "Not one but nods and talks of Johnson's art,", "Of Shakspeare's nature, and of Cowley's wit;", "How Beaumont's judgment check'd what Fletcher writ;", "How Shadwell hasty, Wycherley was slow;", "But, for the passions, Southern sure and Rowe.", "These, only these, support the crowded stage,", "From eldest Heywood down to Cibber's age.'", "", "All this may be; the people's voice is odd,", "It is, and it is not, the voice of God.", "To Gammer Gurton if it give the bays,", "And yet deny the 'Careless Husband' praise,", "Or say our fathers never broke a rule;", "Why then, I say, the public is a fool.", "But let them own, that greater faults than we", "They had, and greater virtues, I'll agree.", "Spenser himself affects the obsolete,", "And Sydney's verse halts ill on Roman feet:", "Milton's strong pinion now not Heaven can bound,", "Now serpent-like, in prose he sweeps the ground,", "In quibbles, angel and archangel join,", "And God the Father turns a school-divine.", "Not that I'd lop the beauties from his book,", "Like slashing Bentley with his desperate hook,", "Or damn all Shakspeare, like the affected fool", "At court, who hates whate'er he read at school.", "", "But for the wits of either Charles's days,", "The mob of gentlemen who wrote with ease;", "Sprat, Carew, Sedley, and a hundred more,", "(Like twinkling stars the Miscellanies o'er)", "One simile, that solitary shines", "In the dry desert of a thousand lines,", "Or lengthen'd thought that gleams through many a page,", "Has sanctified whole poems for an age.", "I lose my patience, and I own it too,", "When works are censured, not as bad, but new;", "While if our elders break all reason's laws,", "These fools demand not pardon, but applause.", "", "On Avon's bank, where flowers eternal blow,", "If I but ask, if any weed can grow?", "One tragic sentence if I dare deride", "Which Betterton's grave action dignified,", "Or well-mouth'd Booth with emphasis proclaims,", "(Though but, perhaps, a muster-roll of names)", "How will our fathers rise up in a rage,", "And swear, all shame is lost in George's age!", "You'd think no fools disgraced the former reign,", "Did not some grave examples yet remain,", "Who scorn a lad should teach his father skill,", "And, having once been wrong, will be so still.", "He who, to seem more deep than you or I,", "Extols old bards, or Merlin's prophecy,", "Mistake him not; he envies, not admires,", "And to debase the sons, exalts the sires.", "Had ancient times conspired to disallow", "What then was new, what had been ancient now?", "Or what remain'd so worthy to be read", "By learned critics of the mighty dead?", "", "In days of ease, when now the weary sword", "Was sheathed, and luxury with Charles restored;", "In every taste of foreign courts improved,", "'All, by the king's example, lived and loved.'", "Then peers grew proud in horsemanship t' excel,", "Newmarket's glory rose, as Britain's fell;", "The soldier breathed the gallantries of France,", "And every flowery courtier writ romance.", "Then marble, soften'd into life, grew warm,", "And yielding metal flow'd to human form:", "Lely on animated canvas stole", "The sleepy eye, that spoke the melting soul.", "No wonder then, when all was love and sport,", "The willing Muses were debauch'd at court:", "On each enervate string they taught the note", "To pant, or tremble through an eunuch's throat.", "", "But Britain, changeful as a child at play,", "Now calls in princes, and now turns away.", "Now Whig, now Tory, what we loved we hate;", "Now all for pleasure, now for Church and State;", "Now for prerogative, and now for laws;", "Effects unhappy! from a noble cause.", "", "Time was, a sober Englishman would knock", "His servants up, and rise by five o'clock,", "Instruct his family in every rule,", "And send his wife to church, his son to school.", "To worship like his fathers, was his care;", "To teach their frugal virtues to his heir;", "To prove, that luxury could never hold;", "And place, on good security, his gold.", "Now times are changed, and one poetic itch", "Has seized the court and city, poor and rich:", "Sons, sires, and grandsires, all will wear the bays,", "Our wives read Milton, and our daughters plays,", "To theatres, and to rehearsals throng,", "And all our grace at table is a song.", "I, who so oft renounce the Muses, lie,", "Not ----'s self e'er tells more fibs than I;", "When sick of muse, our follies we deplore,", "And promise our best friends to rhyme no more;", "We wake next morning in a raging fit,", "And call for pen and ink to show our wit.", "", "He served a 'prenticeship, who sets up shop;", "Ward tried on puppies, and the poor, his drop;", "E'en Radcliffe's doctors travel first to France,", "Nor dare to practise till they've learn'd to dance.", "Who builds a bridge that never drove a pile?", "(Should Ripley venture, all the world would smile)", "But those who cannot write, and those who can,", "All rhyme, and scrawl, and scribble, to a man.", "", "Yet, sir, reflect, the mischief is not great;", "These madmen never hurt the Church or State:", "Sometimes the folly benefits mankind;", "And rarely avarice taints the tuneful mind.", "Allow him but his plaything of a pen,", "He ne'er rebels, or plots, like other men:", "Flight of cashiers, or mobs, he'll never mind;", "And knows no losses while the Muse is kind.", "To cheat a friend, or ward, he leaves to Peter;", "The good man heaps up nothing but mere metre,", "Enjoys his garden and his book in quiet;", "And then--a perfect hermit in his diet.", "", "Of little use the man you may suppose,", "Who says in verse what others say in prose;", "Yet let me show, a poet's of some weight,", "And (though no soldier) useful to the State.", "What will a child learn sooner than a song?", "What better teach a foreigner the tongue?", "What's long or short, each accent where to place,", "And speak in public with some sort of grace?", "I scarce can think him such a worthless thing,", "Unless he praise some monster of a king;", "Or virtue or religion turn to sport,", "To please a lewd or unbelieving court", "Unhappy Dryden!--in all Charles's days,", "Roscommon only boasts unspotted bays;", "And in our own (excuse some courtly stains)", "No whiter page than Addison remains.", "He from the taste obscene reclaims our youth,", "And sets the passions on the side of truth,", "Forms the soft bosom with the gentlest art,", "And pours each human virtue in the heart,", "Let Ireland tell, how wit upheld her cause,", "Her trade supported, and supplied her laws;", "And leave on Swift this grateful verse engraved,", "'The rights a court attack'd, a poet saved.'", "Behold the hand that wrought a nation's cure,", "Stretch'd to relieve the idiot and the poor,", "Proud vice to brand, or injured worth adorn,", "And stretch the ray to ages yet unborn.", "Not but there are, who merit other palms;", "Hopkins and Sternhold glad the heart with psalms:", "The boys and girls whom charity maintains,", "Implore your help in these pathetic strains:", "How could devotion touch the country pews,", "Unless the gods bestow'd a proper muse?", "Verse cheers their leisure, verse assists their work,", "Verse prays for peace, or sings down Pope and Turk.", "The silenced preacher yields to potent strain,", "And feels that grace his prayer besought in vain;", "The blessing thrills through all the labouring throng,", "And Heaven is won by violence of song.", "", "Our rural ancestors, with little blest,", "Patient of labour when the end was rest,", "Indulged the day that housed their annual grain,", "With feasts, and offerings, and a thankful strain:", "The joy their wives, their sons, and servants share,", "Ease of their toil, and partners of their care:", "The laugh, the jest, attendants on the bowl,", "Smooth'd every brow, and open'd every soul:", "With growing years the pleasing license grew,", "And taunts alternate innocently flew.", "But times corrupt, and nature, ill-inclined,", "Produced the point that left a sting behind;", "Till friend with friend, and families at strife,", "Triumphant malice raged through private life.", "Who felt the wrong, or fear'd it, took the alarm,", "Appeal'd to law, and justice lent her arm.", "At length, by wholesome dread of statutes bound,", "The poets learn'd to please, and not to wound:", "Most warp'd to flattery's side; but some, more nice,", "Preserved the freedom, and forbore the vice.", "Hence satire rose, that just the medium hit,", "And heals with morals what it hurts with wit.", "", "We conquer'd France, but felt our captive's charms;", "Her arts victorious triumph'd o'er our arms;", "Britain to soft refinements less a foe,", "Wit grew polite, and numbers learn'd to flow.", "Waller was smooth; but Dryden taught to join", "The varying verse, the full-resounding line,", "The long majestic march, and energy divine:", "Though still some traces of our rustic vein", "And splayfoot verse remain'd, and will remain.", "Late, very late, correctness grew our care,", "When the tired nation breathed from civil war.", "Exact Racine, and Corneille's noble fire,", "Show'd us that France had something to admire.", "Not but the tragic spirit was our own,", "And full in Shakspeare, fair in Otway shone:", "But Otway fail'd to polish or refine,", "And fluent Shakspeare scarce effaced a line.", "Even copious Dryden wanted, or forgot,", "The last and greatest art, the art to blot.", "Some doubt, if equal pains, or equal fire", "The humbler muse of Comedy require.", "But in known images of life, I guess", "The labour greater, as the indulgence less.", "Observe how seldom even the best succeed:", "Tell me if Congreve's fools are fools indeed?", "What pert, low dialogue has Farquhar writ!", "How Van wants grace, who never wanted wit!", "The stage how loosely does Astraea tread,", "Who fairly puts all characters to bed:", "And idle Cibber, how he breaks the laws,", "To make poor Pinky eat with vast applause!", "But fill their purse, our poets' work is done,", "Alike to them, by pathos or by pun.", "", "O you! whom Vanity's light bark conveys", "On Fame's mad voyage by the wind of praise,", "With what a shifting gale your course you ply,", "For ever sunk too low, or borne too high!", "Who pants for glory finds but short repose,", "A breath revives him, or a breath o'erthrows.", "Farewell the stage! if just as thrives the play,", "The silly bard grows fat, or falls away.", "", "There still remains, to mortify a wit,", "The many-headed monster of the pit:", "A senseless, worthless, and unhonour'd crowd;", "Who, to disturb their betters mighty proud,", "Clattering their sticks before ten lines are spoke.", "Call for the farce, the bear, or the black-joke.", "What dear delight to Britons farce affords!", "Ever the taste of mobs, but now of lords;", "(Taste, that eternal wanderer, which flies", "From heads to ears, and now from ears to eyes).", "The play stands still; damn action and discourse,", "Back fly the scenes, and enter foot and horse;", "Pageants on pageants, in long order drawn,", "Peers, heralds, bishops, ermine, gold, and lawn;", "The champion too; and, to complete the jest,", "Old Edward's armour beams on Cibber's breast", "With laughter, sure, Democritus had died,", "Had he beheld an audience gape so wide.", "Let bear or elephant be e'er so white,", "The people, sure, the people are the sight!", "Ah, luckless poet! stretch thy lungs and roar,", "That bear or elephant shall heed thee more;", "While all its throats the gallery extends,", "And all the thunder of the pit ascends!", "Loud as the wolves, on Orcas' stormy steep,", "Howl to the roarings of the Northern deep.", "Such is the shout, the long-applauding note,", "At Quin's high plume, or Oldfield's petticoat;", "Or when from court a birthday suit bestow'd,", "Sinks the lost actor in the tawdry load.", "Booth enters--hark! the universal peal!", "'But has he spoken?' Not a syllable.", "What shook the stage, and made the people stare?", "Cato's long wig, flower'd gown, and lacquer'd chair.", "", "Yet lest you think I rally more than teach,", "Or praise malignly arts I cannot reach,", "Let me for once presume to instruct the times,", "To know the poet from the man of rhymes:", "'Tis he, who gives my breast a thousand pains,", "Can make me feel each passion that he feigns;", "Enrage, compose, with more than magic art,", "With pity, and with terror, tear my heart:", "And snatch me, o'er the earth, or through the air,", "To Thebes, to Athens, when he will, and where.", "", "But not this part of the poetic state", "Alone, deserves the favour of the great:", "Think of those authors, sir, who would rely", "More on a reader's sense, than gazer's eye.", "Or who shall wander where the Muses sing?", "Who climb their mountain, or who taste their spring?", "How shall we fill a library with wit,", "When Merlin's cave is half unfurnish'd yet?", "", "My liege! why writers little claim your thought,", "I guess; and, with their leave, will tell the fault:", "We poets are (upon a poet's word)", "Of all mankind, the creatures most absurd:", "The season, when to come, and when to go,", "To sing, or cease to sing, we never know;", "And if we will recite nine hours in ten,", "You lose your patience, just like other men.", "Then, too, we hurt ourselves, when to defend", "A single verse, we quarrel with a friend;", "Repeat unask'd; lament, the wit's too fine", "For vulgar eyes, and point out every line.", "But most, when straining with too weak a wing,", "We needs will write epistles to the king;", "And from the moment we oblige the town,", "Expect a place, or pension from the crown;", "Or dubb'd historians by express command,", "To enrol your triumphs o'er the seas and land,", "Be call'd to court to plan some work divine,", "As once for Louis, Boileau and Racine.", "", "Yet think, great sir! (so many virtues shown)", "Ah think, what poet best may make them known?", "Or choose, at least, some minister of grace,", "Fit to bestow the Laureate's weighty place.", "", "Charles, to late times to be transmitted fair,", "Assign'd his figure to Bernini's care;", "And great Nassau to Kneller's hand decreed", "To fix him graceful on the bounding steed;", "So well in paint and stone they judged of merit:", "But kings in wit may want discerning spirit.", "The hero William, and the martyr Charles,", "One knighted Blackmore, and one pension'd Quarles;", "Which made old Ben and surly Dennis swear,", "'No Lord's anointed, but a Russian bear.'", "", "Not with such majesty, such bold relief,", "The forms august of king, or conquering chief.", "E'er swell'd on marble, as in verse have shined", "(In polish'd verse) the manners and the mind.", "Oh! could I mount on the Maeonian wing,", "Your arms, your actions, your repose to sing!", "What seas you traversed, and what fields you fought!", "Your country's peace, how oft, how dearly bought!", "How barbarous rage subsided at your word,", "And nations wonder'd while they dropp'd the sword!", "How, when you nodded, o'er the land and deep,", "Peace stole her wing, and wrapp'd the world in sleep;", "Till earth's extremes your mediation own,", "And Asia's tyrants tremble at your throne--", "But verse, alas! your Majesty disdains;", "And I'm not used to panegyric strains:", "The zeal of fools offends at any time,", "But most of all, the zeal of fools in rhyme.", "Besides, a fate attends on all I write,", "That when I aim at praise, they say I bite.", "A vile encomium doubly ridicules:", "There's nothing blackens like the ink of fools.", "If true, a woful likeness; and if lies,", "'Praise undeserved is scandal in disguise:'", "Well may he blush who gives it, or receives;", "And when I flatter, let my dirty leaves", "(Like journals, odes, and such forgotten things", "As Eusden, Philips, Settle, writ of kings)", "Clothe spice, line trunks, or fluttering in a row,", "Befringe the rails of Bedlam and Soho.", "", " * * * * *", "", "THE SECOND EPISTLE OF THE SECOND BOOK OF HORACE.", "", "'Ludentis speciem dabit, et torquebitur.'", "", "--HOR.", "", "Dear Colonel, Cobham's and your country's friend!", "You love a verse, take such as I can send.", "A Frenchman comes, presents you with his boy,", "Bows and begins--'The lad, sir, is of Blois:", "Observe his shape how clean! his locks how curl'd!", "My only son;--I'd have him see the world:", "His French is pure: his voice, too, you shall hear.", "Sir, he's your slave, for twenty pound a-year.", "Mere wax as yet, you fashion him with ease,", "Your barber, cook, upholsterer, what you please:", "A perfect genius at an opera song--", "To say too much, might do my honour wrong.", "Take him with all his virtues, on my word;", "His whole ambition was to serve a lord;", "But, sir, to you, with what would I not part?", "Though, faith! I fear, 'twill break his mother's heart.", "Once (and but once) I caught him in a lie,", "And then, unwhipp'd, he had the grace to cry;", "The fault he has I fairly shall reveal,", "(Could you o'erlook but that) it is to steal.'", "", "If, after this, you took the graceless lad,", "Could you complain, my friend, he proved so bad?", "Faith, in such case, if you should prosecute,", "I think Sir Godfrey should decide the suit;", "Who sent the thief that stole the cash away,", "And punish'd him that put it in his way.", "", "Consider then, and judge me in this light;", "I told you when I went, I could not write;", "You said the same; and are you discontent", "With laws, to which you gave your own assent?", "Nay worse, to ask for verse at such a time!", "D' ye think me good for nothing but to rhyme?", "", "In Anna's wars, a soldier, poor and old,", "Had dearly earn'd a little purse of gold:", "Tired with a tedious march, one luckless night,", "He slept, poor dog! and lost it to a doit.", "This put the man in such a desperate mind,", "Between revenge, and grief, and hunger join'd,", "Against the foe, himself, and all mankind,", "He leap'd the trenches, scaled a castle-wall,", "Tore down a standard, took the fort and all.", "'Prodigious well!' his great commander cried,", "Gave him much praise, and some reward beside.", "Next, pleased his excellence a town to batter;", "(Its name I know not, and it's no great matter)", "'Go on, my friend,' (he cried) 'see yonder walls!", "Advance and conquer! go where glory calls!", "More honours, more rewards attend the brave.'", "Don't you remember what reply he gave?", "'D' ye think me, noble general, such a sot?", "Let him take castles who has ne'er a groat.'", "", "Bred up at home, full early I begun", "To read in Greek the wrath of Peleus' son.", "Besides, my father taught me from a lad,", "The better art to know the good from bad:", "(And little sure imported to remove,", "To hunt for truth in Maudlin's learnèd grove.)", "But knottier points we knew not half so well,", "Deprived us soon of our paternal cell;", "And certain laws, by sufferers thought unjust.", "Denied all posts of profit or of trust:", "Hopes after hopes of pious Papists fail'd,", "While mighty William's thundering arm prevail'd.", "For right hereditary tax'd and fined,", "He stuck to poverty with peace of mind;", "And me, the Muses help'd to undergo it:", "Convict a Papist he, and I a poet.", "But (thanks to Homer) since I live and thrive.", "Indebted to no prince or peer alive,", "Sure I should want the care of ten Monroes,", "If I would scribble, rather than repose.", "", "Years following years, steal something every day,", "At last they steal us from ourselves away;", "In one our frolics, one amusements end,", "In one a mistress drops, in one a friend:", "This subtle thief of life, this paltry time,", "What will it leave me, if it snatch my rhyme?", "If every wheel of that unwearied mill", "That turn'd ten thousand verses, now stands still?", "", "But, after all, what would you have me do?", "When out of twenty I can please not two;", "When this heroics only deigns to praise,", "Sharp satire that, and that Pindaric lays?", "One likes the pheasant's wing, and one the leg;", "The vulgar boil, the learnèd roast an egg;", "Hard task! to hit the palate of such guests,", "When Oldfield loves, what Dartineuf detests.", "", "But grant I may relapse, for want of grace,", "Again to rhyme; can London be the place?", "Who there his Muse, or self, or soul attends,", "In crowds, and courts, law, business, feasts, and friends?", "My counsel sends to execute a deed:", "A poet begs me I will hear him read:", "In Palace-yard at nine you'll find me there--", "At ten for certain, sir, in Bloomsbury Square--", "Before the Lords at twelve my cause comes on--", "There's a rehearsal, sir, exact at one.--", "'Oh, but a wit can study in the streets,", "And raise his mind above the mob he meets.'", "Not quite so well, however, as one ought;", "A hackney-coach may chance to spoil a thought:", "And then a nodding beam, or pig of lead,", "God knows, may hurt the very ablest head.", "Have you not seen, at Guildhall's narrow pass,", "Two aldermen dispute it with an ass?", "And peers give way, exalted as they are,", "Even to their own s-r-v--nce in a car?", "", "Go, lofty poet! and in such a crowd,", "Sing thy sonorous verse--but not aloud.", "Alas! to grottos and to groves we run,", "To ease and silence, every Muse's son:", "Blackmore himself, for any grand effort,", "Would drink and doze at Tooting or Earl's Court.", "How shall I rhyme in this eternal roar?", "How match the bards whom none e'er match'd before?", "", "The man, who, stretch'd in Isis' calm retreat,", "To books and study gives seven years complete,", "See! strew'd with learned dust, his nightcap on,", "He walks, an object new beneath the sun!", "The boys flock round him, and the people stare:", "So stiff, so mute! some statue, you would swear,", "Stepp'd from its pedestal to take the air!", "And here, while town, and court, and city roars,", "With mobs, and duns, and soldiers, at their doors:", "Shall I, in London, act this idle part?", "Composing songs, for fools to get by heart?", "", "The Temple late two brother sergeants saw,", "Who deem'd each other oracles of law;", "With equal talents, these congenial souls,", "One lull'd th' Exchequer, and one stunn'd the Rolls;", "Each had a gravity would make you split,", "And shook his head at Murray, as a wit.", "''Twas, sir, your law'--and 'Sir, your eloquence,'", "'Yours, Cowper's manner--and yours, Talbot's sense.'", "", "Thus we dispose of all poetic merit,", "Yours Milton's genius, and mine Homer's spirit.", "Call Tibbald Shakspeare, and he'll swear the Nine,", "Dear Cibber! never match'd one ode of thine.", "Lord! how we strut through Merlin's cave, to see", "No poets there, but, Stephen, you, and me.", "Walk with respect behind, while we at ease", "Weave laurel crowns, and take what names we please.", "'My dear Tibullus!' if that will not do,", "'Let me be Horace, and be Ovid you:'", "Or 'I'm content, allow me Dryden's strains,", "And you shall rise up Otway for your pains.'", "Much do I suffer, much, to keep in peace", "This jealous, waspish, wrong-head, rhyming race;", "And much must flatter, if the whim should bite", "To court applause by printing what I write:", "But let the fit pass o'er, I'm wise enough", "To stop my ears to their confounded stuff.", "", "In vain bad rhymers all mankind reject,", "They treat themselves with most profound respect;", "'Tis to small purpose that you hold your tongue,", "Each, praised within, is happy all day long,", "But how severely with themselves proceed", "The men, who write such verse as we can read?", "Their own strict judges, not a word they spare", "That wants, or force, or light, or weight, or care,", "Howe'er unwillingly it quits its place,", "Nay though at court (perhaps) it may find grace:", "Such they'll degrade; and sometimes, in its stead,", "In downright charity revive the dead;", "Mark where a bold expressive phrase appears,", "Bright through the rubbish of some hundred years;", "Command old words, that long have slept, to wake,", "Words that wise Bacon or brave Raleigh spake;", "Or bid the new be English, ages hence,", "(For use will father what's begot by sense)", "Pour the full tide of eloquence along,", "Serenely pure, and yet divinely strong,", "Rich with the treasures of each foreign tongue;", "Prune the luxuriant, the uncouth refine,", "But show no mercy to an empty line:", "Then polish all, with so much life and ease,", "You think 'tis nature, and a knack to please:", "But ease in writing flows from art, not chance;", "As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance.", "", "If such the plague and pains to write by rule,", "Better (say I) be pleased, and play the fool;", "Call, if you will, bad rhyming a disease,", "It gives men happiness, or leaves them ease.", "There lived _in primo Georgii_ (they record)", "A worthy member, no small fool, a lord;", "Who, though the House was up, delighted sat,", "Heard, noted, answer'd, as in full debate:", "In all but this, a man of sober life,", "Fond of his friend, and civil to his wife;", "Not quite a madman, though a pasty fell,", "And much too wise to walk into a well.", "Him, the damn'd doctors and his friends immured,", "They bled, they cupp'd, they purged; in short, they cured:", "Whereat the gentleman began to stare--", "'My friends!' he cried, 'pox take you for your care!", "That from a patriot of distinguish'd note,", "Have bled and purged me to a simple vote.'", "", "Well, on the whole, plain prose must be my fate:", "Wisdom (curse on it!) will come soon or late.", "There is a time when poets will grow dull:", "I'll e'en leave verses to the boys at school:", "To rules of poetry no more confined,", "I learn to smooth and harmonise my mind,", "Teach every thought within its bounds to roll,", "And keep the equal measure of the soul.", "", "Soon as I enter at my country door,", "My mind resumes the thread it dropped before;", "Thoughts, which at Hyde-park-corner I forgot,", "Meet, and rejoin me, in the pensive grot,", "There all alone, and compliments apart,", "I ask these sober questions of my heart:", "", "If, when the more you drink, the more you crave,", "You tell the doctor; when the more you have,", "The more you want, why not with equal ease", "Confess as well your folly, as disease?", "The heart resolves this matter in a trice,", "'Men only feel the smart, but not the vice.'", "", "When golden angels cease to cure the evil,", "You give all royal witchcraft to the devil:", "When servile chaplains cry, that birth and place", "Indue a peer with honour, truth, and grace,", "Look in that breast, most dirty D----! be fair,", "Say, can you find out one such lodger there?", "Yet still, not heeding what your heart can teach,", "You go to church to hear these flatterers preach.", "Indeed, could wealth bestow or wit or merit,", "A grain of courage, or a spark of spirit,", "The wisest man might blush, I must agree,", "If D---- loved sixpence more than he.", "", "If there be truth in law, and use can give", "A property, that's yours on which you live.", "Delightful Abbs Court, if its fields afford", "Their fruits to you, confesses you its lord:", "All Worldly's hens, nay, partridge, sold to town,", "His ven'son, too, a guinea makes your own:", "He bought at thousands, what with better wit", "You purchase as you want, and bit by bit;", "Now, or long since, what difference will be found?", "You pay a penny, and he paid a pound.", "", "Heathcote himself, and such large-acred men,", "Lords of fat Ev'sham, or of Lincoln fen,", "Buy every stick of wood that lends them heat,", "Buy every pullet they afford to eat.", "Yet these are wights who fondly call their own", "Half that the devil o'erlooks from Lincoln town.", "The laws of God, as well as of the land,", "Abhor a perpetuity should stand:", "Estates have wings, and hang in fortune's power", "Loose on the point of every wavering hour,", "Ready, by force, or of your own accord,", "By sale, at least by death, to change their lord.", "Man? and for ever? wretch! what wouldst thou have?", "Heir urges heir, like wave impelling wave.", "All vast possessions (just the same the case", "Whether you call them villa, park, or chase)", "Alas, my Bathurst! what will they avail!", "Join Cotswood hills to Saperton's fair dale,", "Let rising granaries and temples here,", "There mingled farms and pyramids appear,", "Link towns to towns with avenues of oak,", "Enclose whole downs in walls,--'tis all a joke!", "Inexorable death shall level all,", "And trees, and stones, and farms, and farmer fall.", "", "Gold, silver, ivory, vases sculptured high,", "Paint, marble, gems, and robes of Persian dye,", "There are who have not--and, thank Heaven, there are,", "Who, if they have not, think not worth their care.", "", "Talk what you will of taste, my friend, you'll find,", "Two of a face, as soon as of a mind.", "Why, of two brothers, rich and restless one", "Ploughs, burns, manures, and toils from sun to sun;", "The other slights, for women, sports, and wines,", "All Townshend's turnips, and all Grosvenor's mines:", "Why one like Bu----, with pay and scorn content,", "Bows and votes on, in court and parliament;", "One, driven by strong benevolence of soul,", "Shall fly, like Oglethorpe, from pole to pole:", "Is known alone to that Directing Power,", "Who forms the genius in the natal hour;", "That God of Nature, who, within us still,", "Inclines our action, not constrains our will;", "Various of temper, as of face or frame,", "Each individual: His great end the same.", "", "Yes, sir, how small soever be my heap,", "A part I will enjoy, as well as keep.", "My heir may sigh, and think it want of grace", "A man so poor would live without a place:", "But sure no statute in his favour says,", "How free, or frugal, I shall pass my days:", "I, who at some times spend, at others spare,", "Divided between carelessness and care.", "'Tis one thing madly to disperse my store:", "Another, not to heed to treasure more;", "Glad, like a boy, to snatch the first good day,", "And pleased, if sordid want be far away.", "", "What is't to me (a passenger, God wot!)", "Whether my vessel be first-rate or not?", "The ship itself may make a better figure,", "But I that sail am neither less nor bigger.", "I neither strut with every favouring breath,", "Nor strive with all the tempest in my teeth.", "In power, wit, figure, virtue, fortune, placed", "Behind the foremost, and before the last.", "", "'But why all this of avarice? I have none.'", "I wish you joy, sir, of a tyrant gone;", "But does no other lord it at this hour,", "As wild and mad--the avarice of power?", "Does neither rage inflame, nor fear appal?", "Not the black fear of death, that saddens all?", "With terrors round, can reason hold her throne,", "Despise the known, nor tremble at the unknown?", "Survey both worlds, intrepid and entire,", "In spite of witches, devils, dreams, and fire?", "Pleased to look forward, pleased to look behind,", "And count each birthday with a grateful mind?", "Has life no sourness, drawn so near its end?", "Canst thou endure a foe, forgive a friend?", "Has age but melted the rough parts away,", "As winter-fruits grow mild ere they decay?", "Or will you think, my friend, your business done,", "When, of a hundred thorns, you pull out one?", "", "Learn to live well, or fairly make your will;", "You've play'd, and loved, and eat, and drank your fill:", "Walk sober off, before a sprightlier age", "Comes tittering on, and shoves you from the stage:", "Leave such to trifle with more grace and ease,", "Whom folly pleases, and whose follies please.", "", " * * * * *", "", "BOOK I. EPISTLE VII.", "", "IMITATED IN THE MANNER OF DR SWIFT.", "", "'Tis true, my lord, I gave my word,", "I would be with you, June the third;", "Changed it to August, and (in short)", "Have kept it--as you do at court.", "You humour me when I am sick,", "Why not when I am splenetic?", "In town, what objects could I meet?", "The shops shut up in every street,", "And funerals blackening all the doors,", "And yet more melancholy whores:", "And what a dust in every place!", "And a thin court that wants your face,", "And fevers raging up and down,", "And W---- and H---- both in town!", "", "'The dog-days are no more the case.'", "'Tis true, but winter comes apace:", "Then southward let your bard retire,", "Hold out some months 'twixt sun and fire,", "And you shall see, the first warm weather,", "Me and the butterflies together.", "", "My lord, your favours well I know;", "'Tis with distinction you bestow;", "And not to every one that comes,", "Just as a Scotchman does his plums.", "'Pray, take them, sir,--enough's a feast:", "Eat some, and pocket up the rest.'", "What! rob your boys? those pretty rogues", "'No, sir, you'll leave them to the hogs.'", "Thus fools with compliments besiege ye,", "Contriving never to oblige ye.", "Scatter your favours on a fop,", "Ingratitude's the certain crop;", "And 'tis but just, I'll tell ye wherefore,", "You give the things you never care for.", "A wise man always is, or should,", "Be mighty ready to do good;", "But makes a difference in his thought", "Betwixt a guinea and a groat.", "", "Now this I'll say, you'll find in me", "A safe companion, and a free;", "But if you'd have me always near--", "A word, pray, in your honour's ear.", "I hope it is your resolution", "To give me back my constitution!", "The sprightly wit, the lively eye,", "Th' engaging smile, the gaiety,", "That laugh'd down many a summer sun,", "And kept you up so oft till one:", "And all that voluntary vein,", "As when Belinda raised my strain.", "", "A weasel once made shift to slink", "In at a corn-loft through a chink;", "But having amply stuff'd his skin,", "Could not get out as he got in:", "Which one belonging to the house", "('Twas not a man, it was a mouse)", "Observing, cried, 'You 'scape not so;", "Lean as you came, sir, you must go.'", "", "Sir, you may spare your application,", "I'm no such beast, nor his relation;", "Nor one that temperance advance,", "Cramm'd to the throat with ortolans:", "Extremely ready to resign", "All that may make me none of mine.", "South-Sea subscriptions take who please,", "Leave me but liberty and ease.", "'Twas what I said to Craggs and Child,", "Who praised my modesty, and smiled.", "Give me, I cried, (enough for me)", "My bread, and independency!", "So bought an annual rent or two,", "And lived--just as you see I do;", "Near fifty, and without a wife,", "I trust that sinking fund, my life.", "Can I retrench? Yes, mighty well,", "Shrink back to my paternal cell,", "A little house, with trees a-row,", "And, like its master, very low.", "There died my father, no man's debtor,", "And there I'll die, nor worse, nor better.", "", "To set this matter full before ye,", "Our old friend Swift will tell his story.", "", "'Harley, the nation's great support'--", "But you may read it,--I stop short." ], "linecount": "1383" }, { "title": "Epilogue to the Satires.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "IN TWO DIALOGUES.", "", "DIALOGUE I.", "", "_Fr_. Not twice a twelvemonth you appear in print,", "And when it comes, the court see nothing in 't.", "You grow correct, that once with rapture writ,", "And are, besides, too moral for a wit.", "Decay of parts, alas! we all must feel--", "Why now, this moment, don't I see you steal?", "'Tis all from Horace; Horace long before ye", "Said, 'Tories call'd him Whig, and Whigs a Tory;'", "And taught his Romans, in much better metre,", "'To laugh at fools who put their trust in Peter.'", "", "But, Horace, sir, was delicate, was nice;", "Bubo observes, he lash'd no sort of vice:", "Horace would say, Sir Billy served the crown,", "Blunt could do business, Huggins knew the town;", "In Sappho touch the failings of the sex,", "In reverend bishops note some small neglects,", "And own, the Spaniard did a waggish thing,", "Who cropp'd our ears, and sent them to the king.", "His sly, polite, insinuating style", "Could please at court, and make Augustus smile:", "An artful manager, that crept between", "His friend and shame, and was a kind of screen.", "But, faith, your very friends will soon be sore;", "Patriots there are, who wish you'd jest no more--", "And where's the glory? 'twill be only thought", "The great man never offer'd you a groat.", "Go see Sir Robert--", "", "_P_. See Sir Robert!--hum--", "And never laugh--for all my life to come?", "Seen him I have, but in his happier hour", "Of social pleasure, ill-exchanged for power;", "Seen him, uncumber'd with the venal tribe,", "Smile without art, and win without a bribe.", "Would he oblige me? let me only find,", "He does not think me what he thinks mankind.", "Come, come, at all I laugh he laughs, no doubt;", "The only difference is, I dare laugh out.", "", "_F_. Why, yes: with Scripture still you may be free;", "A horse-laugh, if you please, at honesty;", "A joke on Jekyl, or some odd old Whig", "Who never changed his principle, or wig:", "A patriot is a fool in every age,", "Whom all Lord Chamberlains allow the stage:", "These nothing hurts; they keep their fashion still,", "And wear their strange old virtue, as they will.", "", "If any ask you, 'Who's the man, so near", "His prince, that writes in verse, and has his ear?'", "Why, answer, Lyttleton, and I'll engage", "The worthy youth shall ne'er be in a rage:", "But were his verses vile, his whisper base,", "You'd quickly find him in Lord Fanny's case.", "Sejanus, Wolsey, hurt not honest Fleury,", "But well may put some statesmen in a fury.", "", "Laugh then at any, but at fools or foes;", "These you but anger, and you mend not those.", "Laugh at your friends, and, if your friends are sore,", "So much the better, you may laugh the more.", "To vice and folly to confine the jest,", "Sets half the world, God knows, against the rest;", "Did not the sneer of more impartial men", "At sense and virtue, balance all again.", "Judicious wits spread wide the ridicule,", "And charitably comfort knave and fool.", "", "_P_. Dear sir, forgive the prejudice of youth:", "Adieu distinction, satire, warmth, and truth!", "Come, harmless characters that no one hit;", "Come, Henley's oratory, Osborn's wit!", "The honey dropping from Favonio's tongue,", "The flowers of Bubo, and the flow of Yonge!", "The gracious dew of pulpit eloquence,", "And all the well-whipt cream of courtly sense,", "That first was Hervy's, Fox's next, and then", "The senate's, and then Hervy's once again.", "Oh come, that easy, Ciceronian style,", "So Latin, yet so English all the while,", "As, though the pride of Middleton and Bland,", "All boys may read, and girls may understand!", "Then might I sing, without the least offence,", "And all I sung should be the nation's sense;", "Or teach the melancholy Muse to mourn,", "Hang the sad verse on Carolina's urn,", "And hail her passage to the realms of rest,", "All parts perform'd, and all her children bless'd!", "So--satire is no more--I feel it die--", "No gazetteer more innocent than I--", "And let, a-God's-name! every fool and knave", "Be graced through life, and flatter'd in his grave.", "", "_F_. Why so? if satire knows its time and place,", "You still may lash the greatest--in disgrace:", "For merit will by turns forsake them all;", "Would you know when exactly when they fall.", "But let all satire in all changes spare", "Immortal Selkirk, and grave Delaware.", "Silent and soft, as saints remove to heaven,", "All ties dissolved, and every sin forgiven,", "These may some gentle ministerial wing", "Receive, and place for ever near a king!", "There, where no passion, pride, or shame transport,", "Lull'd with the sweet nepenthe of a court;", "There, where no father's, brother's, friend's disgrace", "Once break their rest, or stir them from their place:", "But past the sense of human miseries,", "All tears are wiped for ever from all eyes;", "No cheek is known to blush, no heart to throb,", "Save when they lose a question, or a job.", "", "_P_. Good Heaven forbid that I should blast their glory,", "Who know how like Whig ministers to Tory,", "And when three sovereigns died, could scarce be vex'd,", "Considering what a gracious prince was next.", "Have I, in silent wonder, seen such things", "As pride in slaves, and avarice in kings;", "And at a peer, or peeress, shall I fret,", "Who starves a sister, or forswears a debt?", "Virtue, I grant you, is an empty boast;", "But shall the dignity of vice be lost?", "Ye gods! shall Cibber's son, without rebuke,", "Swear like a lord, or Rich out-whore a duke?", "A favourite's porter with his master vie,", "Be bribed as often, and as often lie?", "Shall Ward draw contracts with a statesman's skill?", "Or Japhet pocket, like his Grace, a will?", "Is it for Bond, or Peter, (paltry things)", "To pay their debts, or keep their faith, like kings?", "If Blount dispatch'd himself, he play'd the man,", "And so may'st thou, illustrious Passeran!", "But shall a printer, weary of his life,", "Learn from their books to hang himself and wife?", "This, this, my friend, I cannot, must not bear:", "Vice thus abused, demands a nation's care:", "This calls the Church to deprecate our sin,", "And hurls the thunder of the laws on gin,", "Let modest Foster, if he will, excel", "Ten metropolitans in preaching well;", "A simple Quaker, or a Quaker's wife,", "Outdo Landaff in doctrine,--yea, in life:", "Let humble Allen, with an awkward shame,", "Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.", "Virtue may choose the high or low degree,", "'Tis just alike to virtue, and to me;", "Dwell in a monk, or light upon a king,", "She's still the same beloved, contented thing.", "Vice is undone, if she forgets her birth,", "And stoops from angels to the dregs of earth:", "But 'tis the fall degrades her to a whore;", "Let greatness own her, and she's mean no more:", "Her birth, her beauty, crowds and courts confess,", "Chaste matrons praise her, and grave bishops bless:", "In golden chains the willing world she draws,", "And hers the gospel is, and hers the laws,", "Mounts the tribunal, lifts her scarlet head,", "And sees pale virtue carted in her stead.", "Lo! at the wheels of her triumphal car,", "Old England's genius, rough with many a scar,", "Dragg'd in the dust! his arms hang idly round,", "His flag inverted trails along the ground!", "Our youth, all liveried o'er with foreign gold,", "Before her dance: behind her, crawl the old!", "See thronging millions to the pagod run,", "And offer country, parent, wife, or son!", "Hear her black trumpet through the land proclaim,", "That NOT TO BE CORRUPTED IS THE SHAME!", "In soldier, churchman, patriot, man in power,", "'Tis avarice all, ambition is no more!", "See, all our nobles begging to be slaves!", "See, all our fools aspiring to be knaves!", "The wit of cheats, the courage of a whore,", "Are what ten thousand envy and adore!", "All, all look up with reverential awe,", "At crimes that 'scape, or triumph o'er the law:", "While truth, worth, wisdom, daily they decry--", "'Nothing is sacred now but villany.'", "", "Yet may this verse (if such a verse remain)", "Show, there was one who held it in disdain.", "", "DIALOGUE II.", "", "_Fr_. 'Tis all a libel--Paxton (sir) will say.", "", "_P_. Not yet, my friend! to-morrow, faith, it may;", "And for that very cause I print to-day.", "How should I fret to mangle every line,", "In reverence to the sins of thirty-nine!", "Vice with such giant strides comes on amain,", "Invention strives to be before in vain;", "Feign what I will, and paint it e'er so strong,", "Some rising genius sins up to my song.", "", "_F_. Yet none but you by name the guilty lash;", "Ev'n Guthrie saves half Newgate by a dash.", "Spare then the person, and expose the vice.", "", "_P_. How, sir! not damn the sharper, but the dice?", "Come on then, Satire! general, unconfined,", "Spread thy broad wing, and souse on all the kind.", "Ye statesmen, priests, of one religion all!", "Ye tradesmen, vile, in army, court, or hall!", "Ye reverend atheists----", "", "_F_. Scandal! name them, who?", "", "_P_. Why that's the thing you bid me not to do.", "Who starved a sister, who forswore a debt,", "I never named; the town's inquiring yet.", "The poisoning dame----", "", "_F_. You mean----", "", "_P_. I don't.", "", "_F_. You do.", "", "_P_. See, now I keep the secret, and not you!", "The bribing statesman----", "", "_F_. Hold, too high you go.", "", "_P_. The bribed elector----", "", "_F_. There you stoop too low.", "", "_P_. I fain would please you, if I knew with what;", "Tell me, which knave is lawful game, which not?", "Must great offenders, once escaped the crown,", "Like royal harts, be never more run down?", "Admit, your law to spare the knight requires,", "As beasts of nature may we hunt the 'squires?", "Suppose I censure--you know what I mean--", "To save a bishop, may I name a dean?", "", "_F_. A dean, sir? no: his fortune is not made,", "You hurt a man that's rising in the trade.", "", "_P_. If not the tradesman who set up to-day,", "Much less the 'prentice who to-morrow may.", "Down, down, proud Satire! though a realm be spoil'd,", "Arraign no mightier thief than wretched Wild;", "Or, if a court or country's made a job,", "Go drench a pickpocket, and join the mob.", "", "But, sir, I beg you (for the love of vice!)", "The matter's weighty, pray consider twice;", "Have you less pity for the needy cheat,", "The poor and friendless villain, than the great?", "Alas! the small discredit of a bribe", "Scarce hurts the lawyer, but undoes the scribe.", "Then better, sure, it charity becomes", "To tax directors, who (thank God) have plums;", "Still better, ministers; or, if the thing", "May pinch ev'n there--why lay it on a king.", "", "_F._ Stop! stop!", "", "_P._ Must Satire, then, nor rise nor fall?", "Speak out, and bid me blame no rogues at all.", "", "_F._ Yes, strike that Wild, I'll justify the blow.", "", "_P._ Strike! why the man was hanged ten years ago:", "Who now that obsolete example fears?", "Ev'n Peter trembles only for his ears.", "", "_F._ What, always Peter! Peter thinks you mad,", "You make men desperate if they once are bad:", "Else might he take to virtue some years hence", "", "_P._ As Selkirk, if he lives, will love the Prince.", "", "_F._ Strange spleen to Selkirk!", "", "_P._ Do I wrong the man?", "God knows, I praise a courtier where I can.", "When I confess, there is who feels for fame,", "And melts to goodness, need I Scarb'rough name?", "Pleased, let me own, in Esher's peaceful grove", "(Where Kent and nature vie for Pelham's love)", "The scene, the master, opening to my view,", "I sit and dream I see my Craggs anew!", "Ev'n in a bishop I can spy desert;", "Secker is decent--Rundel has a heart--", "Manners with candour are to Benson given--", "To Berkeley, every virtue under heaven.", "", "But does the court a worthy man remove?", "That instant, I declare, he has my love:", "I shun his zenith, court his mild decline;", "Thus Somers once, and Halifax, were mine.", "Oft, in the clear, still mirror of retreat,", "I studied Shrewsbury, the wise and great:", "Carleton's calm sense, and Stanhope's noble flame,", "Compared, and knew their generous end the same:", "How pleasing Atterbury's softer hour!", "How shined the soul, unconquer'd in the Tower!", "How can I Pulteney, Chesterfield, forget,", "While Roman spirit charms, and Attic wit:", "Argyll, the state's whole thunder born to wield,", "And shake alike the senate and the field:", "Or Wyndham, just to freedom and the throne,", "The master of our passions, and his own.", "Names, which I long have loved, nor loved in vain,", "Rank'd with their friends, not number'd with their train:", "And if yet higher the proud list should end,", "Still let me say,--No follower, but a friend.", "", "Yet think not Friendship only prompts my lays;", "I follow Virtue; where she shines, I praise:", "Point she to priest or elder, Whig or Tory,", "Or round a Quaker's beaver cast a glory.", "I never (to my sorrow I declare)", "Dined with the Man of Ross, or my Lord Mayor.", "Some, in their choice of friends, (nay, look not grave) 100", "Have still a secret bias to a knave:", "To find an honest man I beat about.", "And love him, court him, praise him, in or out.", "", "_F_. Then why so few commended?", "", "_P_. Not so fierce;", "Find you the virtue, and I'll find the verse.", "But random praise--the task can ne'er be done;", "Each mother asks it for her booby son,", "Each widow asks it for 'the best of men,'", "For him she weeps, and him she weds again.", "Praise cannot stoop, like satire, to the ground;", "The number may be hang'd, but not be crown'd.", "Enough for half the greatest of these days,", "To 'scape my censure, not expect my praise.", "Are they not rich? what more can they pretend?", "Dare they to hope a poet for their friend?", "What Richelieu wanted, Louis scarce could gain,", "And what young Ammon wish'd, but wish'd in vain.", "No power the Muse's friendship can command;", "No power, when Virtue claims it, can withstand:", "To Cato, Virgil paid one honest line;", "Oh let my country's friends illumine mine!", "--What are you thinking?", "", "_F_. Faith, the thought's no sin--", "I think your friends are out, and would be in.", "", "_P_. If merely to come in, sir, they go out,", "The way they take is strangely round about.", "", "_F_. They too may be corrupted, you'll allow?", "", "_P_. I only call those knaves who are so now.", "Is that too little? Come then, I'll comply--", "Spirit of Arnall! aid me while I lie.", "Cobham's a coward, Polwarth is a slave,", "And Lyttleton a dark, designing knave,", "St John has ever been a wealthy fool--", "But let me add, Sir Robert's mighty dull,", "Has never made a friend in private life,", "And was, besides, a tyrant to his wife.", "", "But pray, when others praise him, do I blame?", "Call Verres, Wolsey, any odious name?", "Why rail they then, if but a wreath of mine,", "O all-accomplish'd St John! deck thy shrine?", "", "What! shall each spur-gall'd hackney of the day,", "When Paxton gives him double pots and pay,", "Or each new-pension'd sycophant, pretend", "To break my windows if I treat a friend?", "Then wisely plead, to me they meant no hurt,", "But 'twas my guest at whom they threw the dirt?", "Sure, if I spare the minister, no rules", "Of honour bind me, not to maul his tools;", "Sure, if they cannot cut, it may be said", "His saws are toothless, and his hatchet's lead.", "", "It anger'd Turenne, once upon a day,", "To see a footman kick'd that took his pay:", "But when he heard the affront the fellow gave,", "Knew one a man of honour, one a knave,", "The prudent general turn'd it to a jest,", "And begg'd he'd take the pains to kick the rest:", "Which not at present having time to do----", "", "_F_. Hold sir! for God's-sake where 'a the affront to you?", "Against your worship when had Selkirk writ?", "Or Page pour'd forth the torrent of his wit?", "Or grant the bard whose distich all commend", "'In power a servant, out of power a friend,'", "To Walpole guilty of some venial sin;", "What's that to you who ne'er was out nor in?", "", "The priest whose flattery bedropp'd the crown,", "How hurt he you? he only stain'd the gown.", "And how did, pray, the florid youth offend,", "Whose speech you took, and gave it to a friend?", "", "_P_. Faith, it imports not much from whom it came;", "Whoever borrow'd, could not be to blame,", "Since the whole house did afterwards the same.", "Let courtly wits to wits afford supply,", "As hog to hog in huts of Westphaly;", "If one, through Nature's bounty, or his lord's,", "Has what the frugal, dirty soil affords,", "From him the next receives it, thick or thin,", "As pure a mess almost as it came in;", "The blessed benefit, not there confined,", "Drops to the third, who nuzzles close behind;", "From tail to mouth, they feed and they carouse:", "The last full fairly gives it to the House.", "", "_F_. This filthy simile, this beastly line", "Quite turns my stomach----", "", "_P_. So does flattery mine;", "And all your courtly civet-cats can vent,", "Perfume to you, to me is excrement.", "But hear me further--Japhet, 'tis agreed,", "Writ not, and Chartres scarce could write or read,", "In all the courts of Pindus guiltless quite;", "But pens can forge, my friend, that cannot write;", "And must no egg in Japhet's face be thrown,", "Because the deed he forged was not my own?", "Must never patriot then declaim at gin,", "Unless, good man! he has been fairly in?", "No zealous pastor blame a failing spouse,", "Without a staring reason on his brows?", "And each blasphemer quite escape the rod,", "Because the insult's not on man, but God?", "", "Ask you what provocation I have had?", "The strong antipathy of good to bad.", "When truth or virtue an affront endures,", "The affront is mine, my friend, and should be yours.", "Mine, as a foe profess'd to false pretence,", "Who think a coxcomb's honour like his sense;", "Mine, as a friend to every worthy mind;", "And mine, as man, who feel for all mankind.", "", "_F_. You're strangely proud.", "", "_P_. So proud, I am no slave:", "So impudent, I own myself no knave:", "So odd, my country's ruin makes me grave.", "Yes, I am proud; I must be proud to see", "Men not afraid of God, afraid of me:", "Safe from the bar, the pulpit, and the throne,", "Yet touch'd and shamed by ridicule alone.", "", "O sacred weapon! left for truth's defence,", "Sole dread of folly, vice, and insolence!", "To all but heaven-directed hands denied,", "The Muse may give thee, but the gods must guide:", "Rev'rent I touch thee! but with honest zeal;", "To rouse the watchmen of the public weal,", "To virtue's work provoke the tardy Hall,", "And goad the prelate slumbering in his stall.", "Ye tinsel insects! whom a court maintains,", "That counts your beauties only by your stains,", "Spin all your cobwebs o'er the eye of day!", "The Muse's wing shall brush you all away:", "All his grace preaches, all his lordship sings,", "All that makes saints of queens, and gods of kings,--", "All, all but truth, drops dead-born from the press,", "Like the last gazette, or the last address.", "", "When black ambition stains a public cause,", "A monarch's sword when mad vain-glory draws,", "Not Waller's wreath can hide the nation's scar,", "Nor Boileau turn the feather to a star.", "", "Not so, when, diadem'd with rays divine,", "Touch'd with the flame that breaks from Virtue's shrine,", "Her priestess Muse forbids the good to die,", "And opes the temple of Eternity.", "There, other trophies deck the truly brave,", "Than such as Anstis casts into the grave;", "Far other stars than ---- and ---- wear,", "And may descend to Mordington from Stair:", "(Such as on Hough's unsullied mitre shine,", "Or beam, good Digby, from a heart like thine)", "Let Envy howl, while Heaven's whole chorus sings,", "And bark at honour not conferr'd by kings;", "Let Flattery sickening see the incense rise,", "Sweet to the world, and grateful to the skies:", "Truth guards the poet, sanctifies the line,", "And makes immortal verse as mean as mine.", "", "Yes, the last pen for freedom let me draw,", "When truth stands trembling on the edge of law;", "Here, last of Britons! let your names be read;", "Are none, none living? let me praise the dead,", "And for that cause which made your fathers shine,", "Fall by the votes of their degenerate line.", "", "_F_. Alas! alas! pray end what you began,", "And write next winter more 'Essays on Man.'" ], "linecount": "443" }, { "title": "Alastor: Or, the Spirit of Solitude", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "'The good die first,", "And those whose hearts are dry as summer dust,", "Burn to the socket!'", "", "Earth, Ocean, Air, beloved brotherhood!", "If our great Mother has imbued my soul", "With aught of natural piety to feel", "Your love, and recompense the boon with mine;", "If dewy morn, and odorous noon, and even,", "With sunset and its gorgeous ministers,", "And solemn midnight's tingling silentness;", "If autumn's hollow sighs in the sere wood,", "And winter robing with pure snow and crowns", "Of starry ice the grey grass and bare boughs;", "If spring's voluptuous pantings when she breathes", "Her first sweet kisses, have been dear to me;", "If no bright bird, insect, or gentle beast", "I consciously have injured, but still loved", "And cherished these my kindred; then forgive", "This boast, beloved brethren, and withdraw", "No portion of your wonted favour now!", "", "Mother of this unfathomable world!", "Favour my solemn song, for I have loved", "Thee ever, and thee only; I have watched", "Thy shadow, and the darkness of thy steps,", "And my heart ever gazes on the depth", "Of thy deep mysteries. I have made my bed", "In charnels and on coffins, where black death", "Keeps record of the trophies won from thee,", "Hoping to still these obstinate questionings", "Of thee and thine, by forcing some lone ghost,", "Thy messenger, to render up the tale", "Of what we are. In lone and silent hours,", "When night makes a weird sound of its own stillness,", "Like an inspired and desperate alchymist", "Staking his very life on some dark hope,", "Have I mixed awful talk and asking looks", "With my most innocent love, until strange tears,", "Uniting with those breathless kisses, made", "Such magic as compels the charmed night", "To render up thy charge:...and, though ne'er yet", "Thou hast unveiled thy inmost sanctuary,", "Enough from incommunicable dream,", "And twilight phantasms, and deep noon-day thought,", "Has shone within me, that serenely now", "And moveless, as a long-forgotten lyre", "Suspended in the solitary dome", "Of some mysterious and deserted fane,", "I wait thy breath, Great Parent, that my strain", "May modulate with murmurs of the air,", "And motions of the forests and the sea,", "And voice of living beings, and woven hymns", "Of night and day, and the deep heart of man.", "", "There was a Poet whose untimely tomb", "No human hands with pious reverence reared,", "But the charmed eddies of autumnal winds", "Built o'er his mouldering bones a pyramid", "Of mouldering leaves in the waste wilderness:--", "A lovely youth,--no mourning maiden decked", "With weeping flowers, or votive cypress wreath,", "The lone couch of his everlasting sleep:--", "Gentle, and brave, and generous,--no lorn bard", "Breathed o'er his dark fate one melodious sigh:", "He lived, he died, he sung in solitude.", "Strangers have wept to hear his passionate notes,", "And virgins, as unknown he passed, have pined", "And wasted for fond love of his wild eyes.", "The fire of those soft orbs has ceased to burn,", "And Silence, too enamoured of that voice,", "Locks its mute music in her rugged cell.", "", "By solemn vision, and bright silver dream", "His infancy was nurtured. Every sight", "And sound from the vast earth and ambient air,", "Sent to his heart its choicest impulses.", "The fountains of divine philosophy", "Fled not his thirsting lips, and all of great,", "Or good, or lovely, which the sacred past", "In truth or fable consecrates, he felt", "And knew. When early youth had passed, he left", "His cold fireside and alienated home", "To seek strange truths in undiscovered lands.", "Many a wide waste and tangled wilderness", "Has lured his fearless steps; and he has bought", "With his sweet voice and eyes, from savage men,", "His rest and food. Nature's most secret steps", "He like her shadow has pursued, where'er", "The red volcano overcanopies", "Its fields of snow and pinnacles of ice", "With burning smoke, or where bitumen lakes", "On black bare pointed islets ever beat", "With sluggish surge, or where the secret caves,", "Rugged and dark, winding among the springs", "Of fire and poison, inaccessible", "To avarice or pride, their starry domes", "Of diamond and of gold expand above", "Numberless and immeasurable halls,", "Frequent with crystal column, and clear shrines", "Of pearl, and thrones radiant with chrysolite.", "Nor had that scene of ampler majesty", "Than gems or gold, the varying roof of heaven", "And the green earth lost in his heart its claims", "To love and wonder; he would linger long", "In lonesome vales, making the wild his home,", "Until the doves and squirrels would partake", "From his innocuous hand his bloodless food,", "Lured by the gentle meaning of his looks,", "And the wild antelope, that starts whene'er", "The dry leaf rustles in the brake, suspend", "Her timid steps, to gaze upon a form", "More graceful than her own.", "His wandering step,", "Obedient to high thoughts, has visited", "The awful ruins of the days of old:", "Athens, and Tyre, and Balbec, and the waste", "Where stood Jerusalem, the fallen towers", "Of Babylon, the eternal pyramids,", "Memphis and Thebes, and whatsoe'er of strange,", "Sculptured on alabaster obelisk,", "Or jasper tomb, or mutilated sphynx,", "Dark Aethiopia in her desert hills", "Conceals. Among the ruined temples there,", "Stupendous columns, and wild images", "Of more than man, where marble daemons watch", "The Zodiac's brazen mystery, and dead men", "Hang their mute thoughts on the mute walls around,", "He lingered, poring on memorials", "Of the world's youth: through the long burning day", "Gazed on those speechless shapes; nor, when the moon", "Filled the mysterious halls with floating shades", "Suspended he that task, but ever gazed", "And gazed, till meaning on his vacant mind", "Flashed like strong inspiration, and he saw", "The thrilling secrets of the birth of time.", "", "Meanwhile an Arab maiden brought his food,", "Her daily portion, from her father's tent,", "And spread her matting for his couch, and stole", "From duties and repose to tend his steps,", "Enamoured, yet not daring for deep awe", "To speak her love:--and watched his nightly sleep,", "Sleepless herself, to gaze upon his lips", "Parted in slumber, whence the regular breath", "Of innocent dreams arose; then, when red morn", "Made paler the pale moon, to her cold home", "Wildered, and wan, and panting, she returned.", "", "The Poet, wandering on, through Arabie,", "And Persia, and the wild Carmanian waste,", "And o'er the aerial mountains which pour down", "Indus and Oxus from their icy caves,", "In joy and exultation held his way;", "Till in the vale of Cashmire, far within", "Its loneliest dell, where odorous plants entwine", "Beneath the hollow rocks a natural bower,", "Beside a sparkling rivulet he stretched", "His languid limbs. A vision on his sleep", "There came, a dream of hopes that never yet", "Had flushed his cheek. He dreamed a veiled maid", "Sate near him, talking in low solemn tones.", "Her voice was like the voice of his own soul", "Heard in the calm of thought; its music long,", "Like woven sounds of streams and breezes, held", "His inmost sense suspended in its web", "Of many-coloured woof and shifting hues.", "Knowledge and truth and virtue were her theme,", "And lofty hopes of divine liberty,", "Thoughts the most dear to him, and poesy,", "Herself a poet. Soon the solemn mood", "Of her pure mind kindled through all her frame", "A permeating fire; wild numbers then", "She raised, with voice stifled in tremulous sobs", "Subdued by its own pathos; her fair hands", "Were bare alone, sweeping from some strange harp", "Strange symphony, and in their branching veins", "The eloquent blood told an ineffable tale.", "The beating of her heart was heard to fill", "The pauses of her music, and her breath", "Tumultuously accorded with those fits", "Of intermitted song. Sudden she rose,", "As if her heart impatiently endured", "Its bursting burthen: at the sound he turned,", "And saw by the warm light of their own life", "Her glowing limbs beneath the sinuous veil", "Of woven wind, her outspread arms now bare,", "Her dark locks floating in the breath of night,", "Her beamy bending eyes, her parted lips", "Outstretched, and pale, and quivering eagerly.", "His strong heart sunk and sickened with excess", "Of love. He reared his shuddering limbs and quelled", "His gasping breath, and spread his arms to meet", "Her panting bosom:...she drew back a while,", "Then, yielding to the irresistible joy,", "With frantic gesture and short breathless cry", "Folded his frame in her dissolving arms.", "Now blackness veiled his dizzy eyes, and night", "Involved and swallowed up the vision; sleep,", "Like a dark flood suspended in its course,", "Rolled back its impulse on his vacant brain.", "", "Roused by the shock he started from his trance--", "The cold white light of morning, the blue moon", "Low in the west, the clear and garish hills,", "The distinct valley and the vacant woods,", "Spread round him where he stood. Whither have fled", "The hues of heaven that canopied his bower", "Of yesternight? The sounds that soothed his sleep,", "The mystery and the majesty of Earth,", "The joy, the exultation? His wan eyes", "Gaze on the empty scene as vacantly", "As ocean's moon looks on the moon in heaven.", "The spirit of sweet human love has sent", "A vision to the sleep of him who spurned", "Her choicest gifts. He eagerly pursues", "Beyond the realms of dream that fleeting shade;", "He overleaps the bounds. Alas! Alas!", "Were limbs, and breath, and being intertwined", "Thus treacherously? Lost, lost, for ever lost", "In the wide pathless desert of dim sleep,", "That beautiful shape! Does the dark gate of death", "Conduct to thy mysterious paradise,", "O Sleep? Does the bright arch of rainbow clouds", "And pendent mountains seen in the calm lake,", "Lead only to a black and watery depth,", "While death's blue vault, with loathliest vapours hung,", "Where every shade which the foul grave exhales", "Hides its dead eye from the detested day,", "Conducts, O Sleep, to thy delightful realms?", "This doubt with sudden tide flowed on his heart;", "The insatiate hope which it awakened, stung", "His brain even like despair.", "While daylight held", "The sky, the Poet kept mute conference", "With his still soul. At night the passion came,", "Like the fierce fiend of a distempered dream,", "And shook him from his rest, and led him forth", "Into the darkness.--As an eagle, grasped", "In folds of the green serpent, feels her breast", "Burn with the poison, and precipitates", "Through night and day, tempest, and calm, and cloud,", "Frantic with dizzying anguish, her blind flight", "O'er the wide aery wilderness: thus driven", "By the bright shadow of that lovely dream,", "Beneath the cold glare of the desolate night,", "Through tangled swamps and deep precipitous dells,", "Startling with careless step the moonlight snake,", "He fled. Red morning dawned upon his flight,", "Shedding the mockery of its vital hues", "Upon his cheek of death. He wandered on", "Till vast Aornos seen from Petra's steep", "Hung o'er the low horizon like a cloud;", "Through Balk, and where the desolated tombs", "Of Parthian kings scatter to every wind", "Their wasting dust, wildly he wandered on,", "Day after day a weary waste of hours,", "Bearing within his life the brooding care", "That ever fed on its decaying flame.", "And now his limbs were lean; his scattered hair,", "Sered by the autumn of strange suffering", "Sung dirges in the wind; his listless hand", "Hung like dead bone within its withered skin;", "Life, and the lustre that consumed it, shone", "As in a furnace burning secretly", "From his dark eyes alone. The cottagers,", "Who ministered with human charity", "His human wants, beheld with wondering awe", "Their fleeting visitant. The mountaineer,", "Encountering on some dizzy precipice", "That spectral form, deemed that the Spirit of wind", "With lightning eyes, and eager breath, and feet", "Disturbing not the drifted snow, had paused", "In its career: the infant would conceal", "His troubled visage in his mother's robe", "In terror at the glare of those wild eyes,", "To remember their strange light in many a dream", "Of after-times; but youthful maidens, taught", "By nature, would interpret half the woe", "That wasted him, would call him with false names", "Brother and friend, would press his pallid hand", "At parting, and watch, dim through tears, the path", "Of his departure from their father's door.", "", "At length upon the lone Chorasmian shore", "He paused, a wide and melancholy waste", "Of putrid marshes. A strong impulse urged", "His steps to the sea-shore. A swan was there,", "Beside a sluggish stream among the reeds.", "It rose as he approached, and, with strong wings", "Scaling the upward sky, bent its bright course", "High over the immeasurable main.", "His eyes pursued its flight:--'Thou hast a home,", "Beautiful bird; thou voyagest to thine home,", "Where thy sweet mate will twine her downy neck", "With thine, and welcome thy return with eyes", "Bright in the lustre of their own fond joy.", "And what am I that I should linger here,", "With voice far sweeter than thy dying notes,", "Spirit more vast than thine, frame more attuned", "To beauty, wasting these surpassing powers", "In the deaf air, to the blind earth, and heaven", "That echoes not my thoughts?' A gloomy smile", "Of desperate hope wrinkled his quivering lips.", "For sleep, he knew, kept most relentlessly", "Its precious charge, and silent death exposed,", "Faithless perhaps as sleep, a shadowy lure,", "With doubtful smile mocking its own strange charms.", "", "Startled by his own thoughts he looked around.", "There was no fair fiend near him, not a sight", "Or sound of awe but in his own deep mind.", "A little shallop floating near the shore", "Caught the impatient wandering of his gaze.", "It had been long abandoned, for its sides", "Gaped wide with many a rift, and its frail joints", "Swayed with the undulations of the tide.", "A restless impulse urged him to embark", "And meet lone Death on the drear ocean's waste;", "For well he knew that mighty Shadow loves", "The slimy caverns of the populous deep.", "", "The day was fair and sunny; sea and sky", "Drank its inspiring radiance, and the wind", "Swept strongly from the shore, blackening the waves.", "Following his eager soul, the wanderer", "Leaped in the boat, he spread his cloak aloft", "On the bare mast, and took his lonely seat,", "And felt the boat speed o'er the tranquil sea", "Like a torn cloud before the hurricane.", "", "As one that in a silver vision floats", "Obedient to the sweep of odorous winds", "Upon resplendent clouds, so rapidly", "Along the dark and ruffled waters fled", "The straining boat.--A whirlwind swept it on,", "With fierce gusts and precipitating force,", "Through the white ridges of the chafed sea.", "The waves arose. Higher and higher still", "Their fierce necks writhed beneath the tempest's scourge", "Like serpents struggling in a vulture's grasp.", "Calm and rejoicing in the fearful war", "Of wave ruining on wave, and blast on blast", "Descending, and black flood on whirlpool driven", "With dark obliterating course, he sate:", "As if their genii were the ministers", "Appointed to conduct him to the light", "Of those beloved eyes, the Poet sate,", "Holding the steady helm. Evening came on,", "The beams of sunset hung their rainbow hues", "High 'mid the shifting domes of sheeted spray", "That canopied his path o'er the waste deep;", "Twilight, ascending slowly from the east,", "Entwined in duskier wreaths her braided locks", "O'er the fair front and radiant eyes of day;", "Night followed, clad with stars. On every side", "More horribly the multitudinous streams", "Of ocean's mountainous waste to mutual war", "Rushed in dark tumult thundering, as to mock", "The calm and spangled sky. The little boat", "Still fled before the storm; still fled, like foam", "Down the steep cataract of a wintry river;", "Now pausing on the edge of the riven wave;", "Now leaving far behind the bursting mass", "That fell, convulsing ocean: safely fled--", "As if that frail and wasted human form,", "Had been an elemental god.", "", "At midnight", "The moon arose; and lo! the ethereal cliffs", "Of Caucasus, whose icy summits shone", "Among the stars like sunlight, and around", "Whose caverned base the whirlpools and the waves", "Bursting and eddying irresistibly", "Rage and resound forever.--Who shall save?--", "The boat fled on,--the boiling torrent drove,--", "The crags closed round with black and jagged arms,", "The shattered mountain overhung the sea,", "And faster still, beyond all human speed,", "Suspended on the sweep of the smooth wave,", "The little boat was driven. A cavern there", "Yawned, and amid its slant and winding depths", "Ingulfed the rushing sea. The boat fled on", "With unrelaxing speed.--'Vision and Love!'", "The Poet cried aloud, 'I have beheld", "The path of thy departure. Sleep and death", "Shall not divide us long.'", "", "The boat pursued", "The windings of the cavern. Daylight shone", "At length upon that gloomy river's flow;", "Now, where the fiercest war among the waves", "Is calm, on the unfathomable stream", "The boat moved slowly. Where the mountain, riven,", "Exposed those black depths to the azure sky,", "Ere yet the flood's enormous volume fell", "Even to the base of Caucasus, with sound", "That shook the everlasting rocks, the mass", "Filled with one whirlpool all that ample chasm:", "Stair above stair the eddying waters rose,", "Circling immeasurably fast, and laved", "With alternating dash the gnarled roots", "Of mighty trees, that stretched their giant arms", "In darkness over it. I' the midst was left,", "Reflecting, yet distorting every cloud,", "A pool of treacherous and tremendous calm.", "Seized by the sway of the ascending stream,", "With dizzy swiftness, round, and round, and round,", "Ridge after ridge the straining boat arose,", "Till on the verge of the extremest curve,", "Where, through an opening of the rocky bank,", "The waters overflow, and a smooth spot", "Of glassy quiet mid those battling tides", "Is left, the boat paused shuddering.--Shall it sink", "Down the abyss? Shall the reverting stress", "Of that resistless gulf embosom it?", "Now shall it fall?--A wandering stream of wind,", "Breathed from the west, has caught the expanded sail,", "And, lo! with gentle motion, between banks", "Of mossy slope, and on a placid stream,", "Beneath a woven grove it sails, and, hark!", "The ghastly torrent mingles its far roar,", "With the breeze murmuring in the musical woods.", "Where the embowering trees recede, and leave", "A little space of green expanse, the cove", "Is closed by meeting banks, whose yellow flowers", "For ever gaze on their own drooping eyes,", "Reflected in the crystal calm. The wave", "Of the boat's motion marred their pensive task,", "Which naught but vagrant bird, or wanton wind,", "Or falling spear-grass, or their own decay", "Had e'er disturbed before. The Poet longed", "To deck with their bright hues his withered hair,", "But on his heart its solitude returned,", "And he forbore. Not the strong impulse hid", "In those flushed cheeks, bent eyes, and shadowy frame", "Had yet performed its ministry: it hung", "Upon his life, as lightning in a cloud", "Gleams, hovering ere it vanish, ere the floods", "Of night close over it.", "The noonday sun", "Now shone upon the forest, one vast mass", "Of mingling shade, whose brown magnificence", "A narrow vale embosoms. There, huge caves,", "Scooped in the dark base of their aery rocks,", "Mocking its moans, respond and roar for ever.", "The meeting boughs and implicated leaves", "Wove twilight o'er the Poet's path, as led", "By love, or dream, or god, or mightier Death,", "He sought in Nature's dearest haunt some bank,", "Her cradle, and his sepulchre. More dark", "And dark the shades accumulate. The oak,", "Expanding its immense and knotty arms,", "Embraces the light beech. The pyramids", "Of the tall cedar overarching frame", "Most solemn domes within, and far below,", "Like clouds suspended in an emerald sky,", "The ash and the acacia floating hang", "Tremulous and pale. Like restless serpents, clothed", "In rainbow and in fire, the parasites,", "Starred with ten thousand blossoms, flow around", "The grey trunks, and, as gamesome infants' eyes,", "With gentle meanings, and most innocent wiles,", "Fold their beams round the hearts of those that love,", "These twine their tendrils with the wedded boughs", "Uniting their close union; the woven leaves", "Make net-work of the dark blue light of day,", "And the night's noontide clearness, mutable", "As shapes in the weird clouds. Soft mossy lawns", "Beneath these canopies extend their swells,", "Fragrant with perfumed herbs, and eyed with blooms", "Minute yet beautiful. One darkest glen", "Sends from its woods of musk-rose, twined with jasmine,", "A soul-dissolving odour to invite", "To some more lovely mystery. Through the dell,", "Silence and Twilight here, twin-sisters, keep", "Their noonday watch, and sail among the shades,", "Like vaporous shapes half-seen; beyond, a well,", "Dark, gleaming, and of most translucent wave,", "Images all the woven boughs above,", "And each depending leaf, and every speck", "Of azure sky, darting between their chasms;", "Nor aught else in the liquid mirror laves", "Its portraiture, but some inconstant star", "Between one foliaged lattice twinkling fair,", "Or painted bird, sleeping beneath the moon,", "Or gorgeous insect floating motionless,", "Unconscious of the day, ere yet his wings", "Have spread their glories to the gaze of noon.", "", "Hither the Poet came. His eyes beheld", "Their own wan light through the reflected lines", "Of his thin hair, distinct in the dark depth", "Of that still fountain; as the human heart,", "Gazing in dreams over the gloomy grave,", "Sees its own treacherous likeness there. He heard", "The motion of the leaves, the grass that sprung", "Startled and glanced and trembled even to feel", "An unaccustomed presence, and the sound", "Of the sweet brook that from the secret springs", "Of that dark fountain rose. A Spirit seemed", "To stand beside him--clothed in no bright robes", "Of shadowy silver or enshrining light,", "Borrowed from aught the visible world affords", "Of grace, or majesty, or mystery;--", "But, undulating woods, and silent well,", "And leaping rivulet, and evening gloom", "Now deepening the dark shades, for speech assuming,", "Held commune with him, as if he and it", "Were all that was,--only...when his regard", "Was raised by intense pensiveness,...two eyes,", "Two starry eyes, hung in the gloom of thought,", "And seemed with their serene and azure smiles", "To beckon him.", "", "Obedient to the light", "That shone within his soul, he went, pursuing", "The windings of the dell.--The rivulet,", "Wanton and wild, through many a green ravine", "Beneath the forest flowed. Sometimes it fell", "Among the moss with hollow harmony", "Dark and profound. Now on the polished stones", "It danced; like childhood laughing as it went:", "Then, through the plain in tranquil wanderings crept,", "Reflecting every herb and drooping bud", "That overhung its quietness.--'O stream!", "Whose source is inaccessibly profound,", "Whither do thy mysterious waters tend?", "Thou imagest my life. Thy darksome stillness,", "Thy dazzling waves, thy loud and hollow gulfs,", "Thy searchless fountain, and invisible course", "Have each their type in me; and the wide sky.", "And measureless ocean may declare as soon", "What oozy cavern or what wandering cloud", "Contains thy waters, as the universe", "Tell where these living thoughts reside, when stretched", "Upon thy flowers my bloodless limbs shall waste", "I' the passing wind!'", "", "Beside the grassy shore", "Of the small stream he went; he did impress", "On the green moss his tremulous step, that caught", "Strong shuddering from his burning limbs. As one", "Roused by some joyous madness from the couch", "Of fever, he did move; yet, not like him,", "Forgetful of the grave, where, when the flame", "Of his frail exultation shall be spent,", "He must descend. With rapid steps he went", "Beneath the shade of trees, beside the flow", "Of the wild babbling rivulet; and now", "The forest's solemn canopies were changed", "For the uniform and lightsome evening sky.", "Grey rocks did peep from the spare moss, and stemmed", "The struggling brook; tall spires of windlestrae", "Threw their thin shadows down the rugged slope,", "And nought but gnarled roots of ancient pines", "Branchless and blasted, clenched with grasping roots", "The unwilling soil. A gradual change was here,", "Yet ghastly. For, as fast years flow away,", "The smooth brow gathers, and the hair grows thin", "And white, and where irradiate dewy eyes", "Had shone, gleam stony orbs:--so from his steps", "Bright flowers departed, and the beautiful shade", "Of the green groves, with all their odorous winds", "And musical motions. Calm, he still pursued", "The stream, that with a larger volume now", "Rolled through the labyrinthine dell; and there", "Fretted a path through its descending curves", "With its wintry speed. On every side now rose", "Rocks, which, in unimaginable forms,", "Lifted their black and barren pinnacles", "In the light of evening, and its precipice", "Obscuring the ravine, disclosed above,", "Mid toppling stones, black gulfs and yawning caves,", "Whose windings gave ten thousand various tongues", "To the loud stream. Lo! where the pass expands", "Its stony jaws, the abrupt mountain breaks,", "And seems, with its accumulated crags,", "To overhang the world: for wide expand", "Beneath the wan stars and descending moon", "Islanded seas, blue mountains, mighty streams,", "Dim tracts and vast, robed in the lustrous gloom", "Of leaden-coloured even, and fiery hills", "Mingling their flames with twilight, on the verge", "Of the remote horizon. The near scene,", "In naked and severe simplicity,", "Made contrast with the universe. A pine,", "Rock-rooted, stretched athwart the vacancy", "Its swinging boughs, to each inconstant blast", "Yielding one only response, at each pause", "In most familiar cadence, with the howl", "The thunder and the hiss of homeless streams", "Mingling its solemn song, whilst the broad river", "Foaming and hurrying o'er its rugged path,", "Fell into that immeasurable void", "Scattering its waters to the passing winds.", "", "Yet the grey precipice and solemn pine", "And torrent were not all;--one silent nook", "Was there. Even on the edge of that vast mountain,", "Upheld by knotty roots and fallen rocks,", "It overlooked in its serenity", "The dark earth, and the bending vault of stars.", "It was a tranquil spot, that seemed to smile", "Even in the lap of horror. Ivy clasped", "The fissured stones with its entwining arms,", "And did embower with leaves for ever green,", "And berries dark, the smooth and even space", "Of its inviolated floor, and here", "The children of the autumnal whirlwind bore,", "In wanton sport, those bright leaves, whose decay,", "Red, yellow, or ethereally pale,", "Rivals the pride of summer. 'Tis the haunt", "Of every gentle wind, whose breath can teach", "The wilds to love tranquillity. One step,", "One human step alone, has ever broken", "The stillness of its solitude:--one voice", "Alone inspired its echoes;--even that voice", "Which hither came, floating among the winds,", "And led the loveliest among human forms", "To make their wild haunts the depository", "Of all the grace and beauty that endued", "Its motions, render up its majesty,", "Scatter its music on the unfeeling storm,", "And to the damp leaves and blue cavern mould,", "Nurses of rainbow flowers and branching moss,", "Commit the colours of that varying cheek,", "That snowy breast, those dark and drooping eyes.", "", "The dim and horned moon hung low, and poured", "A sea of lustre on the horizon's verge", "That overflowed its mountains. Yellow mist", "Filled the unbounded atmosphere, and drank", "Wan moonlight even to fulness; not a star", "Shone, not a sound was heard; the very winds,", "Danger's grim playmates, on that precipice", "Slept, clasped in his embrace.--O, storm of death!", "Whose sightless speed divides this sullen night: 610", "And thou, colossal Skeleton, that, still", "Guiding its irresistible career", "In thy devastating omnipotence,", "Art king of this frail world, from the red field", "Of slaughter, from the reeking hospital,", "The patriot's sacred couch, the snowy bed", "Of innocence, the scaffold and the throne,", "A mighty voice invokes thee. Ruin calls", "His brother Death. A rare and regal prey", "He hath prepared, prowling around the world;", "Glutted with which thou mayst repose, and men", "Go to their graves like flowers or creeping worms,", "Nor ever more offer at thy dark shrine", "The unheeded tribute of a broken heart.", "", "When on the threshold of the green recess", "The wanderer's footsteps fell, he knew that death", "Was on him. Yet a little, ere it fled,", "Did he resign his high and holy soul", "To images of the majestic past,", "That paused within his passive being now,", "Like winds that bear sweet music, when they breathe", "Through some dim latticed chamber. He did place", "His pale lean hand upon the rugged trunk", "Of the old pine. Upon an ivied stone", "Reclined his languid head, his limbs did rest,", "Diffused and motionless, on the smooth brink", "Of that obscurest chasm;--and thus he lay,", "Surrendering to their final impulses", "The hovering powers of life. Hope and despair,", "The torturers, slept; no mortal pain or fear", "Marred his repose; the influxes of sense,", "And his own being unalloyed by pain,", "Yet feebler and more feeble, calmly fed", "The stream of thought, till he lay breathing there", "At peace, and faintly smiling:--his last sight", "Was the great moon, which o'er the western line", "Of the wide world her mighty horn suspended,", "With whose dun beams inwoven darkness seemed", "To mingle. Now upon the jagged hills", "It rests; and still as the divided frame", "Of the vast meteor sunk, the Poet's blood,", "That ever beat in mystic sympathy", "With nature's ebb and flow, grew feebler still:", "And when two lessening points of light alone", "Gleamed through the darkness, the alternate gasp", "Of his faint respiration scarce did stir", "The stagnate night:--till the minutest ray", "Was quenched, the pulse yet lingered in his heart.", "It paused--it fluttered. But when heaven remained", "Utterly black, the murky shades involved", "An image, silent, cold, and motionless,", "As their own voiceless earth and vacant air.", "Even as a vapour fed with golden beams", "That ministered on sunlight, ere the west", "Eclipses it, was now that wondrous frame--", "No sense, no motion, no divinity--", "A fragile lute, on whose harmonious strings", "The breath of heaven did wander--a bright stream", "Once fed with many-voiced waves--a dream", "Of youth, which night and time have quenched for ever,", "Still, dark, and dry, and unremembered now.", "", "Oh, for Medea's wondrous alchemy,", "Which wheresoe'er it fell made the earth gleam", "With bright flowers, and the wintry boughs exhale", "From vernal blooms fresh fragrance! O, that God,", "Profuse of poisons, would concede the chalice", "Which but one living man has drained, who now,", "Vessel of deathless wrath, a slave that feels", "No proud exemption in the blighting curse", "He bears, over the world wanders for ever,", "Lone as incarnate death! O, that the dream", "Of dark magician in his visioned cave,", "Raking the cinders of a crucible", "For life and power, even when his feeble hand", "Shakes in its last decay, were the true law", "Of this so lovely world! But thou art fled,", "Like some frail exhalation; which the dawn", "Robes in its golden beams,--ah! thou hast fled!", "The brave, the gentle and the beautiful,", "The child of grace and genius. Heartless things", "Are done and said i' the world, and many worms", "And beasts and men live on, and mighty Earth", "From sea and mountain, city and wilderness,", "In vesper low or joyous orison,", "Lifts still its solemn voice:--but thou art fled--", "Thou canst no longer know or love the shapes", "Of this phantasmal scene, who have to thee", "Been purest ministers, who are, alas!", "Now thou art not. Upon those pallid lips", "So sweet even in their silence, on those eyes", "That image sleep in death, upon that form", "Yet safe from the worm's outrage, let no tear", "Be shed--not even in thought. Nor, when those hues", "Are gone, and those divinest lineaments,", "Worn by the senseless wind, shall live alone", "In the frail pauses of this simple strain,", "Let not high verse, mourning the memory", "Of that which is no more, or painting's woe", "Or sculpture, speak in feeble imagery", "Their own cold powers. Art and eloquence,", "And all the shows o' the world are frail and vain", "To weep a loss that turns their lights to shade.", "It is a woe \"too deep for tears,\" when all", "Is reft at once, when some surpassing Spirit,", "Whose light adorned the world around it, leaves", "Those who remain behind, not sobs or groans,", "The passionate tumult of a clinging hope;", "But pale despair and cold tranquillity,", "Nature's vast frame, the web of human things,", "Birth and the grave, that are not as they were." ], "linecount": "730" }, { "title": "To Harriet", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Thy look of love has power to calm", "The stormiest passion of my soul;", "Thy gentle words are drops of balm", "In life's too bitter bowl;", "No grief is mine, but that alone", "These choicest blessings I have known.", "", "Harriet! if all who long to live", "In the warm sunshine of thine eye,", "That price beyond all pain must give,--", "Beneath thy scorn to die;", "Then hear thy chosen own too late", "His heart most worthy of thy hate.", "", "Be thou, then, one among mankind", "Whose heart is harder not for state,", "Thou only virtuous, gentle, kind,", "Amid a world of hate;", "And by a slight endurance seal", "A fellow-being's lasting weal.", "", "For pale with anguish is his cheek,", "His breath comes fast, his eyes are dim,", "Thy name is struggling ere he speak,", "Weak is each trembling limb;", "In mercy let him not endure", "The misery of a fatal cure.", "", "Oh, trust for once no erring guide!", "Bid the remorseless feeling flee;", "'Tis malice, 'tis revenge, 'tis pride,", "'Tis anything but thee;", "Oh, deign a nobler pride to prove,", "And pity if thou canst not love." ], "linecount": "30" }, { "title": "To Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Mine eyes were dim with tears unshed;", "Yes, I was firm--thus wert not thou;--", "My baffled looks did fear yet dread", "To meet thy looks--I could not know", "How anxiously they sought to shine", "With soothing pity upon mine.", "", "To sit and curb the soul's mute rage", "Which preys upon itself alone;", "To curse the life which is the cage", "Of fettered grief that dares not groan,", "Hiding from many a careless eye", "The scorned load of agony.", "", "Whilst thou alone, then not regarded,", "The ... thou alone should be,", "To spend years thus, and be rewarded,", "As thou, sweet love, requited me", "When none were near--Oh! I did wake", "From torture for that moment's sake.", "", "Upon my heart thy accents sweet", "Of peace and pity fell like dew", "On flowers half dead;--thy lips did meet", "Mine tremblingly; thy dark eyes threw", "Their soft persuasion on my brain,", "Charming away its dream of pain.", "", "We are not happy, sweet! our state", "Is strange and full of doubt and fear;", "More need of words that ills abate;--", "Reserve or censure come not near", "Our sacred friendship, lest there be", "No solace left for thee and me.", "", "Gentle and good and mild thou art,", "Nor can I live if thou appear", "Aught but thyself, or turn thine heart", "Away from me, or stoop to wear", "The mask of scorn, although it be", "To hide the love thou feel'st for me." ], "linecount": "36" }, { "title": "To --", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Yet look on me--take not thine eyes away,", "Which feed upon the love within mine own,", "Which is indeed but the reflected ray", "Of thine own beauty from my spirit thrown.", "Yet speak to me--thy voice is as the tone", "Of my heart's echo, and I think I hear", "That thou yet lovest me; yet thou alone", "Like one before a mirror, without care", "Of aught but thine own features, imaged there;", "", "And yet I wear out life in watching thee;", "A toil so sweet at times, and thou indeed", "Art kind when I am sick, and pity me..." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "To --", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "DAKRTSI DIOISO POTMON 'APOTMON.", "", "Oh! there are spirits of the air,", "And genii of the evening breeze,", "And gentle ghosts, with eyes as fair", "As star-beams among twilight trees:--", "Such lovely ministers to meet", "Oft hast thou turned from men thy lonely feet.", "", "With mountain winds, and babbling springs,", "And moonlight seas, that are the voice", "Of these inexplicable things,", "Thou didst hold commune, and rejoice", "When they did answer thee; but they", "Cast, like a worthless boon, thy love away.", "", "And thou hast sought in starry eyes", "Beams that were never meant for thine,", "Another's wealth:--tame sacrifice", "To a fond faith! still dost thou pine?", "Still dost thou hope that greeting hands,", "Voice, looks, or lips, may answer thy demands?", "", "Ah! wherefore didst thou build thine hope", "On the false earth's inconstancy?", "Did thine own mind afford no scope", "Of love, or moving thoughts to thee?", "That natural scenes or human smiles", "Could steal the power to wind thee in their wiles?", "", "Yes, all the faithless smiles are fled", "Whose falsehood left thee broken-hearted;", "The glory of the moon is dead;", "Night's ghosts and dreams have now departed;", "Thine own soul still is true to thee,", "But changed to a foul fiend through misery.", "", "This fiend, whose ghastly presence ever", "Beside thee like thy shadow hangs,", "Dream not to chase;--the mad endeavour", "Would scourge thee to severer pangs.", "Be as thou art. Thy settled fate,", "Dark as it is, all change would aggravate." ], "linecount": "37" }, { "title": "To Wordsworth", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Poet of Nature, thou hast wept to know", "That things depart which never may return:", "Childhood and youth, friendship and love's first glow,", "Have fled like sweet dreams, leaving thee to mourn.", "These common woes I feel. One loss is mine", "Which thou too feel'st, yet I alone deplore.", "Thou wert as a lone star, whose light did shine", "On some frail bark in winter's midnight roar:", "Thou hast like to a rock-built refuge stood", "Above the blind and battling multitude:", "In honoured poverty thy voice did weave", "Songs consecrate to truth and liberty,--", "Deserting these, thou leavest me to grieve,", "Thus having been, that thou shouldst cease to be." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "The awful shadow of some unseen Power", "Floats though unseen among us,--visiting", "This various world with as inconstant wing", "As summer winds that creep from flower to flower,--", "Like moonbeams that behind some piny mountain shower,", "It visits with inconstant glance", "Each human heart and countenance;", "Like hues and harmonies of evening,--", "Like clouds in starlight widely spread,--", "Like memory of music fled,--", "Like aught that for its grace may be", "Dear, and yet dearer for its mystery.", "", "Spirit of BEAUTY, that dost consecrate", "With thine own hues all thou dost shine upon", "Of human thought or form,--where art thou gone?", "Why dost thou pass away and leave our state,", "This dim vast vale of tears, vacant and desolate?", "Ask why the sunlight not for ever", "Weaves rainbows o'er yon mountain-river,", "Why aught should fail and fade that once is shown,", "Why fear and dream and death and birth", "Cast on the daylight of this earth", "Such gloom,--why man has such a scope", "For love and hate, despondency and hope?", "", "No voice from some sublimer world hath ever", "To sage or poet these responses given--", "Therefore the names of Demon, Ghost, and Heaven.", "Remain the records of their vain endeavour,", "Frail spells--whose uttered charm might not avail to sever,", "From all we hear and all we see,", "Doubt, chance, and mutability.", "Thy light alone--like mist o'er mountains driven,", "Or music by the night-wind sent", "Through strings of some still instrument,", "Or moonlight on a midnight stream,", "Gives grace and truth to life's unquiet dream.", "", "Love, Hope, and Self-esteem, like clouds depart", "And come, for some uncertain moments lent.", "Man were immortal, and omnipotent,", "Didst thou, unknown and awful as thou art,", "Keep with thy glorious train firm state within his heart.", "Thou messenger of sympathies,", "That wax and wane in lovers' eyes--", "Thou--that to human thought art nourishment,", "Like darkness to a dying flame!", "Depart not as thy shadow came", "Depart not--lest the grave should be,", "Like life and fear, a dark reality.", "", "While yet a boy I sought for ghosts, and sped", "Through many a listening chamber, cave and ruin,", "And starlight wood, with fearful steps pursuing", "Hopes of high talk with the departed dead.", "I called on poisonous names with which our youth is fed;", "I was not heard--I saw them not--", "When musing deeply on the lot", "Of life, at that sweet time when winds are wooing", "All vital things that wake to bring", "News of birds and blossoming,--", "Sudden, thy shadow fell on me;", "I shrieked, and clasped my hands in ecstasy!", "", "I vowed that I would dedicate my powers", "To thee and thine--have I not kept the vow?", "With beating heart and streaming eyes, even now", "I call the phantoms of a thousand hours", "Each from his voiceless grave: they have in visioned bowers", "Of studious zeal or love's delight", "Outwatched with me the envious night--", "They know that never joy illumed my brow", "Unlinked with hope that thou wouldst free", "This world from its dark slavery,", "That thou--O awful LOVELINESS,", "Wouldst give whate'er these words cannot express.", "", "The day becomes more solemn and serene", "When noon is past--there is a harmony", "In autumn, and a lustre in its sky,", "Which through the summer is not heard or seen,", "As if it could not be, as if it had not been!", "Thus let thy power, which like the truth", "Of nature on my passive youth", "Descended, to my onward life supply", "Its calm--to one who worships thee,", "And every form containing thee,", "Whom, SPIRIT fair, thy spells did bind", "To fear himself, and love all human kind." ], "linecount": "84" }, { "title": "Fragment of a Ghost Story", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "A shovel of his ashes took", "From the hearth's obscurest nook,", "Muttering mysteries as she went.", "Helen and Henry knew that Granny", "Was as much afraid of Ghosts as any,", "And so they followed hard--", "But Helen clung to her brother's arm,", "And her own spasm made her shake." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "To Constantia, Singing", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Thus to be lost and thus to sink and die,", "Perchance were death indeed!--Constantia, turn!", "In thy dark eyes a power like light doth lie,", "Even though the sounds which were thy voice, which burn", "Between thy lips, are laid to sleep;", "Within thy breath, and on thy hair, like odour, it is yet,", "And from thy touch like fire doth leap.", "Even while I write, my burning cheeks are wet.", "Alas, that the torn heart can bleed, but not forget!", "", "A breathless awe, like the swift change", "Unseen, but felt in youthful slumbers,", "Wild, sweet, but uncommunicably strange,", "Thou breathest now in fast ascending numbers.", "The cope of heaven seems rent and cloven", "By the enchantment of thy strain,", "And on my shoulders wings are woven,", "To follow its sublime career", "Beyond the mighty moons that wane", "Upon the verge of Nature's utmost sphere,", "Till the world's shadowy walls are past and disappear.", "", "Her voice is hovering o'er my soul--it lingers", "O'ershadowing it with soft and lulling wings,", "The blood and life within those snowy fingers", "Teach witchcraft to the instrumental strings.", "My brain is wild, my breath comes quick--", "The blood is listening in my frame,", "And thronging shadows, fast and thick,", "Fall on my overflowing eyes;", "My heart is quivering like a flame;", "As morning dew, that in the sunbeam dies,", "I am dissolved in these consuming ecstasies.", "", "I have no life, Constantia, now, but thee,", "Whilst, like the world-surrounding air, thy song", "Flows on, and fills all things with melody.--", "Now is thy voice a tempest swift and strong,", "On which, like one in trance upborne,", "Secure o'er rocks and waves I sweep,", "Rejoicing like a cloud of morn.", "Now 'tis the breath of summer night,", "Which when the starry waters sleep,", "Round western isles, with incense-blossoms bright,", "Lingering, suspends my soul in its voluptuous flight." ], "linecount": "42" }, { "title": "To Constantia: Stanzas 1 and 2", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "As restored by Mr. C.D. Locock.", "", "Cease, cease--for such wild lessons madmen learn", "Thus to be lost, and thus to sink and die", "Perchance were death indeed!--Constantia turn", "In thy dark eyes a power like light doth lie", "Even though the sounds its voice that were", "Between lips are laid to sleep:", "Within thy breath, and on thy hair", "Like odour, it is yet", "And from thy touch like fire doth leap--", "Even while I write, my burning cheeks are wet--", "Alas, that the torn heart can bleed but not forget.", "", " breathless awe like the swift change", "Of dreams unseen but felt in youthful slumbers", "Wild sweet yet incommunicably strange", "Thou breathest now in fast ascending numbers..." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "To Constantia", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "The rose that drinks the fountain dew", "In the pleasant air of noon,", "Grows pale and blue with altered hue--", "In the gaze of the nightly moon;", "For the planet of frost, so cold and bright,", "Makes it wan with her borrowed light.", "", "Such is my heart--roses are fair,", "And that at best a withered blossom;", "But thy false care did idly wear", "Its withered leaves in a faithless bosom;", "And fed with love, like air and dew,", "Its growth--" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Fragment: To One Singing", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "My spirit like a charmed bark doth swim", "Upon the liquid waves of thy sweet singing,", "Far far away into the regions dim", "", "Of rapture--as a boat, with swift sails winging", "Its way adown some many-winding river,", "Speeds through dark forests o'er the waters swinging..." ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "A Fragment: To Music", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Silver key of the fountain of tears,", "Where the spirit drinks till the brain is wild;", "Softest grave of a thousand fears,", "Where their mother, Care, like a drowsy child,", "Is laid asleep in flowers." ], "linecount": "5" }, { "title": "Another Fragment: To Music", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "No, Music, thou art not the 'food of Love.'", "Unless Love feeds upon its own sweet self,", "Till it becomes all Music murmurs of." ], "linecount": "3" }, { "title": "To the Lord Chancellor", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Thy country's curse is on thee, darkest crest", "Of that foul, knotted, many-headed worm", "Which rends our Mother's bosom--Priestly Pest!", "Masked Resurrection of a buried Form!", "", "Thy country's curse is on thee! Justice sold,", "Truth trampled, Nature's landmarks overthrown,", "And heaps of fraud-accumulated gold,", "Plead, loud as thunder, at Destruction's throne.", "", "And whilst that sure slow Angel which aye stands", "Watching the beck of Mutability", "Delays to execute her high commands,", "And, though a nation weeps, spares thine and thee,", "", "Oh, let a father's curse be on thy soul,", "And let a daughter's hope be on thy tomb;", "Be both, on thy gray head, a leaden cowl", "To weigh thee down to thine approaching doom.", "", "I curse thee by a parent's outraged love,", "By hopes long cherished and too lately lost,", "By gentle feelings thou couldst never prove,", "By griefs which thy stern nature never crossed;", "", "By those infantine smiles of happy light,", "Which were a fire within a stranger's hearth,", "Quenched even when kindled, in untimely night", "Hiding the promise of a lovely birth:", "", "By those unpractised accents of young speech,", "Which he who is a father thought to frame", "To gentlest lore, such as the wisest teach--", "THOU strike the lyre of mind!--oh, grief and shame!", "", "By all the happy see in children's growth--", "That undeveloped flower of budding years--", "Sweetness and sadness interwoven both,", "Source of the sweetest hopes and saddest fears-", "", "By all the days, under an hireling's care,", "Of dull constraint and bitter heaviness,--", "O wretched ye if ever any were,--", "Sadder than orphans, yet not fatherless!", "", "By the false cant which on their innocent lips", "Must hang like poison on an opening bloom,", "By the dark creeds which cover with eclipse", "Their pathway from the cradle to the tomb--", "", "By thy most impious Hell, and all its terror;", "By all the grief, the madness, and the guilt", "Of thine impostures, which must be their error--", "That sand on which thy crumbling power is built--", "", "By thy complicity with lust and hate--", "Thy thirst for tears--thy hunger after gold--", "The ready frauds which ever on thee wait--", "The servile arts in which thou hast grown old--", "", "By thy most killing sneer, and by thy smile--", "By all the arts and snares of thy black den,", "And--for thou canst outweep the crocodile--", "By thy false tears--those millstones braining men--", "", "By all the hate which checks a father's love--", "By all the scorn which kills a father's care--", "By those most impious hands which dared remove", "Nature's high bounds--by thee--and by despair--", "", "Yes, the despair which bids a father groan,", "And cry, 'My children are no longer mine--", "The blood within those veins may be mine own,", "But--Tyrant--their polluted souls are thine;--", "", "I curse thee--though I hate thee not.--O slave!", "If thou couldst quench the earth-consuming Hell", "Of which thou art a daemon, on thy grave", "This curse should be a blessing. Fare thee well!" ], "linecount": "64" }, { "title": "To William Shelley", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "The billows on the beach are leaping around it,", "The bark is weak and frail,", "The sea looks black, and the clouds that bound it", "Darkly strew the gale.", "Come with me, thou delightful child,", "Come with me, though the wave is wild,", "And the winds are loose, we must not stay,", "Or the slaves of the law may rend thee away.", "", "They have taken thy brother and sister dear,", "They have made them unfit for thee;", "They have withered the smile and dried the tear", "Which should have been sacred to me.", "To a blighting faith and a cause of crime", "They have bound them slaves in youthly prime,", "And they will curse my name and thee", "Because we fearless are and free.", "", "Come thou, beloved as thou art;", "Another sleepeth still", "Near thy sweet mother's anxious heart,", "Which thou with joy shalt fill,", "With fairest smiles of wonder thrown", "On that which is indeed our own,", "And which in distant lands will be", "The dearest playmate unto thee.", "", "Fear not the tyrants will rule for ever,", "Or the priests of the evil faith;", "They stand on the brink of that raging river,", "Whose waves they have tainted with death.", "It is fed from the depth of a thousand dells,", "Around them it foams and rages and swells;", "And their swords and their sceptres I floating see,", "Like wrecks on the surge of eternity.", "", "Rest, rest, and shriek not, thou gentle child!", "The rocking of the boat thou fearest,", "And the cold spray and the clamour wild?--", "There, sit between us two, thou dearest--", "Me and thy mother--well we know", "The storm at which thou tremblest so,", "With all its dark and hungry graves,", "Less cruel than the savage slaves", "Who hunt us o'er these sheltering waves.", "", "This hour will in thy memory", "Be a dream of days forgotten long.", "We soon shall dwell by the azure sea", "Of serene and golden Italy,", "Or Greece, the Mother of the free;", "And I will teach thine infant tongue", "To call upon those heroes old", "In their own language, and will mould", "Thy growing spirit in the flame", "Of Grecian lore, that by such name", "A patriot's birthright thou mayst claim!" ], "linecount": "52" }, { "title": "From the Original Draft of the Poem to William Shelley", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "The world is now our dwelling-place;", "Where'er the earth one fading trace", "Of what was great and free does keep,", "That is our home!...", "Mild thoughts of man's ungentle race", "Shall our contented exile reap;", "For who that in some happy place", "His own free thoughts can freely chase", "By woods and waves can clothe his face", "In cynic smiles? Child! we shall weep.", "", "This lament,", "The memory of thy grievous wrong", "Will fade...", "But genius is omnipotent", "To hallow..." ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "Fragments Supposed to Be Parts of Otho", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Those whom nor power, nor lying faith, nor toil,", "Nor custom, queen of many slaves, makes blind,", "Have ever grieved that man should be the spoil", "Of his own weakness, and with earnest mind", "Fed hopes of its redemption; these recur", "Chastened by deathful victory now, and find", "Foundations in this foulest age, and stir", "Me whom they cheer to be their minister.", "", "Dark is the realm of grief: but human things", "Those may not know who cannot weep for them.", "", "...", "", "Once more descend", "The shadows of my soul upon mankind,", "For to those hearts with which they never blend,", "Thoughts are but shadows which the flashing mind", "From the swift clouds which track its flight of fire,", "Casts on the gloomy world it leaves behind.", "", "...", "", "'O THAT A CHARIOT OF CLOUD WERE MINE'.", "", "O that a chariot of cloud were mine!", "Of cloud which the wild tempest weaves in air,", "When the moon over the ocean's line", "Is spreading the locks of her bright gray hair.", "O that a chariot of cloud were mine!", "I would sail on the waves of the billowy wind", "To the mountain peak and the rocky lake,", "And the..." ], "linecount": "27" }, { "title": "Fragment: To a Friend Released From Prison", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "For me, my friend, if not that tears did tremble", "In my faint eyes, and that my heart beat fast", "With feelings which make rapture pain resemble,", "Yet, from thy voice that falsehood starts aghast,", "I thank thee--let the tyrant keep", "His chains and tears, yea, let him weep", "With rage to see thee freshly risen,", "Like strength from slumber, from the prison,", "In which he vainly hoped the soul to bind", "Which on the chains must prey that fetter humankind." ], "linecount": "10" }, { "title": "Lines to a Critic", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Honey from silkworms who can gather,", "Or silk from the yellow bee?", "The grass may grow in winter weather", "As soon as hate in me.", "", "Hate men who cant, and men who pray,", "And men who rail like thee;", "An equal passion to repay", "They are not coy like me.", "", "Or seek some slave of power and gold", "To be thy dear heart's mate;", "Thy love will move that bigot cold", "Sooner than me, thy hate.", "", "A passion like the one I prove", "Cannot divided be;", "I hate thy want of truth and love--", "How should I then hate thee?" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "To the Nile", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Month after month the gathered rains descend", "Drenching yon secret Aethiopian dells,", "And from the desert's ice-girt pinnacles", "Where Frost and Heat in strange embraces blend", "On Atlas, fields of moist snow half depend.", "Girt there with blasts and meteors Tempest dwells", "By Nile's aereal urn, with rapid spells", "Urging those waters to their mighty end.", "O'er Egypt's land of Memory floods are level", "And they are thine, O Nile--and well thou knowest", "That soul-sustaining airs and blasts of evil", "And fruits and poisons spring where'er thou flowest.", "Beware, O Man--for knowledge must to thee,", "Like the great flood to Egypt, ever be." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "To Mary --", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "O Mary dear, that you were here", "With your brown eyes bright and clear.", "And your sweet voice, like a bird", "Singing love to its lone mate", "In the ivy bower disconsolate;", "Voice the sweetest ever heard!", "And your brow more...", "Than the ... sky", "Of this azure Italy.", "Mary dear, come to me soon,", "I am not well whilst thou art far;", "As sunset to the sphered moon,", "As twilight to the western star,", "Thou, beloved, art to me.", "", "O Mary dear, that you were here;", "The Castle echo whispers 'Here!'" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Invocation to Misery", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Come, be happy!--sit near me,", "Shadow-vested Misery:", "Coy, unwilling, silent bride,", "Mourning in thy robe of pride,", "Desolation--deified!", "", "Come, be happy!--sit near me:", "Sad as I may seem to thee,", "I am happier far than thou,", "Lady, whose imperial brow", "Is endiademed with woe.", "", "Misery! we have known each other,", "Like a sister and a brother", "Living in the same lone home,", "Many years--we must live some", "Hours or ages yet to come.", "", "'Tis an evil lot, and yet", "Let us make the best of it;", "If love can live when pleasure dies,", "We two will love, till in our eyes", "This heart's Hell seem Paradise.", "", "Come, be happy!--lie thee down", "On the fresh grass newly mown,", "Where the Grasshopper doth sing", "Merrily--one joyous thing", "In a world of sorrowing!", "", "There our tent shall be the willow,", "And mine arm shall be thy pillow;", "Sounds and odours, sorrowful", "Because they once were sweet, shall lull", "Us to slumber, deep and dull.", "", "Ha! thy frozen pulses flutter", "With a love thou darest not utter.", "Thou art murmuring--thou art weeping--", "Is thine icy bosom leaping", "While my burning heart lies sleeping?", "", "Kiss me;--oh! thy lips are cold:", "Round my neck thine arms enfold--", "They are soft, but chill and dead;", "And thy tears upon my head", "Burn like points of frozen lead.", "", "Hasten to the bridal bed--", "Underneath the grave 'tis spread:", "In darkness may our love be hid,", "Oblivion be our coverlid--", "We may rest, and none forbid.", "", "Clasp me till our hearts be grown", "Like two shadows into one;", "Till this dreadful transport may", "Like a vapour fade away,", "In the sleep that lasts alway.", "", "We may dream, in that long sleep,", "That we are not those who weep;", "E'en as Pleasure dreams of thee,", "Life-deserting Misery,", "Thou mayst dream of her with me.", "", "Let us laugh, and make our mirth,", "At the shadows of the earth,", "As dogs bay the moonlight clouds,", "Which, like spectres wrapped in shrouds,", "Pass o'er night in multitudes.", "", "All the wide world, beside us,", "Show like multitudinous", "Puppets passing from a scene;", "What but mockery can they mean,", "Where I am--where thou hast been?" ], "linecount": "65" }, { "title": "Fragment: To Byron", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "O mighty mind, in whose deep stream this age", "Shakes like a reed in the unheeding storm,", "Why dost thou curb not thine own sacred rage?" ], "linecount": "3" }, { "title": "Fragment: Apostrophe to Silence", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Silence! Oh, well are Death and Sleep and Thou", "Three brethren named, the guardians gloomy-winged", "Of one abyss, where life, and truth, and joy", "Are swallowed up--yet spare me, Spirit, pity me,", "Until the sounds I hear become my soul,", "And it has left these faint and weary limbs,", "To track along the lapses of the air", "This wandering melody until it rests", "Among lone mountains in some..." ], "linecount": "9" }, { "title": "Song to the Men of England", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Men of England, wherefore plough", "For the lords who lay ye low?", "Wherefore weave with toil and care", "The rich robes your tyrants wear?", "", "Wherefore feed, and clothe, and save,", "From the cradle to the grave,", "Those ungrateful drones who would", "Drain your sweat--nay, drink your blood?", "", "Wherefore, Bees of England, forge", "Many a weapon, chain, and scourge,", "That these stingless drones may spoil", "The forced produce of your toil?", "", "Have ye leisure, comfort, calm,", "Shelter, food, love's gentle balm?", "Or what is it ye buy so dear", "With your pain and with your fear?", "", "The seed ye sow, another reaps;", "The wealth ye find, another keeps;", "The robes ye weave, another wears;", "The arms ye forge; another bears.", "", "Sow seed,--but let no tyrant reap;", "Find wealth,--let no impostor heap;", "Weave robes,--let not the idle wear;", "Forge arms,--in your defence to bear.", "", "Shrink to your cellars, holes, and cells;", "In halls ye deck another dwells.", "Why shake the chains ye wrought? Ye see", "The steel ye tempered glance on ye.", "", "With plough and spade, and hoe and loom,", "Trace your grave, and build your tomb,", "And weave your winding-sheet, till fair", "England be your sepulchre." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "Fragment: To the People of England", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "People of England, ye who toil and groan,", "Who reap the harvests which are not your own,", "Who weave the clothes which your oppressors wear,", "And for your own take the inclement air;", "Who build warm houses...", "And are like gods who give them all they have,", "And nurse them from the cradle to the grave...", "", "..." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "An Ode, Written October, 1819, Before the Spaniards Had Recovered Their Liberty", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Arise, arise, arise!", "There is blood on the earth that denies ye bread;", "Be your wounds like eyes", "To weep for the dead, the dead, the dead.", "What other grief were it just to pay?", "Your sons, your wives, your brethren, were they;", "Who said they were slain on the battle day?", "", "Awaken, awaken, awaken!", "The slave and the tyrant are twin-born foes;", "Be the cold chains shaken", "To the dust where your kindred repose, repose:", "Their bones in the grave will start and move,", "When they hear the voices of those they love,", "Most loud in the holy combat above.", "", "Wave, wave high the banner!", "When Freedom is riding to conquest by:", "Though the slaves that fan her", "Be Famine and Toil, giving sigh for sigh.", "And ye who attend her imperial car,", "Lift not your hands in the banded war,", "But in her defence whose children ye are.", "", "Glory, glory, glory,", "To those who have greatly suffered and done!", "Never name in story", "Was greater than that which ye shall have won.", "Conquerors have conquered their foes alone,", "Whose revenge, pride, and power they have overthrown", "Ride ye, more victorious, over your own.", "", "Bind, bind every brow", "With crownals of violet, ivy, and pine:", "Hide the blood-stains now", "With hues which sweet Nature has made divine:", "Green strength, azure hope, and eternity:", "But let not the pansy among them be;", "Ye were injured, and that means memory." ], "linecount": "35" }, { "title": "Ode to Heaven", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "CHORUS OF SPIRITS:", "", "FIRST SPIRIT:", "Palace-roof of cloudless nights!", "Paradise of golden lights!", "Deep, immeasurable, vast,", "Which art now, and which wert then", "Of the Present and the Past,", "Of the eternal Where and When,", "Presence-chamber, temple, home,", "Ever-canopying dome,", "Of acts and ages yet to come!", "", "Glorious shapes have life in thee,", "Earth, and all earth's company;", "Living globes which ever throng", "Thy deep chasms and wildernesses;", "And green worlds that glide along;", "And swift stars with flashing tresses;", "And icy moons most cold and bright,", "And mighty suns beyond the night,", "Atoms of intensest light.", "", "Even thy name is as a god,", "Heaven! for thou art the abode", "Of that Power which is the glass", "Wherein man his nature sees.", "Generations as they pass", "Worship thee with bended knees.", "Their unremaining gods and they", "Like a river roll away:", "Thou remainest such--alway!--", "", "SECOND SPIRIT:", "Thou art but the mind's first chamber,", "Round which its young fancies clamber,", "Like weak insects in a cave,", "Lighted up by stalactites;", "But the portal of the grave,", "Where a world of new delights", "Will make thy best glories seem", "But a dim and noonday gleam", "From the shadow of a dream!", "", "THIRD SPIRIT:", "Peace! the abyss is wreathed with scorn", "At your presumption, atom-born!", "What is Heaven? and what are ye", "Who its brief expanse inherit?", "What are suns and spheres which flee", "With the instinct of that Spirit", "Of which ye are but a part?", "Drops which Nature's mighty heart", "Drives through thinnest veins! Depart!", "", "What is Heaven? a globe of dew,", "Filling in the morning new", "Some eyed flower whose young leaves waken", "On an unimagined world:", "Constellated suns unshaken,", "Orbits measureless, are furled", "In that frail and fading sphere,", "With ten millions gathered there,", "To tremble, gleam, and disappear." ], "linecount": "58" }, { "title": "Ode to the West Wind", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,", "Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead", "Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,", "", "Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,", "Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,", "Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed", "", "The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,", "Each like a corpse within its grave, until", "Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow", "", "Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill", "(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)", "With living hues and odours plain and hill:", "", "Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;", "Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh, hear!", "", "Thou on whose stream, mid the steep sky's commotion,", "Loose clouds like earth's decaying leaves are shed,", "Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean,", "", "Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread", "On the blue surface of thine aery surge,", "Like the bright hair uplifted from the head", "", "Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge", "Of the horizon to the zenith's height,", "The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge", "", "Of the dying year, to which this closing night", "Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre,", "Vaulted with all thy congregated might", "", "Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere", "Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: oh, hear!", "", "Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams", "The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,", "Lulled by the coil of his crystalline streams,", "", "Beside a pumice isle in Baiae's bay,", "And saw in sleep old palaces and towers", "Quivering within the wave's intenser day,", "", "All overgrown with azure moss and flowers", "So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou", "For whose path the Atlantic's level powers", "", "Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below", "The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear", "The sapless foliage of the ocean, know", "", "Thy voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear,", "And tremble and despoil themselves: oh, hear!", "", "If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;", "If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;", "A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share", "", "The impulse of thy strength, only less free", "Than thou, O uncontrollable! If even", "I were as in my boyhood, and could be", "", "The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven,", "As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed", "Scarce seemed a vision; I would ne'er have striven", "", "As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.", "Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!", "I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!", "", "A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed", "One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.", "", "Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:", "What if my leaves are falling like its own!", "The tumult of thy mighty harmonies", "", "Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,", "Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,", "My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!", "", "Drive my dead thoughts over the universe", "Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!", "And, by the incantation of this verse,", "", "Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth", "Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!", "Be through my lips to unawakened earth", "", "The trumpet of a prophecy! O, Wind,", "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?" ], "linecount": "70" }, { "title": "To Sophia [Miss Stacey]", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Thou art fair, and few are fairer", "Of the Nymphs of earth or ocean;", "They are robes that fit the wearer--", "Those soft limbs of thine, whose motion", "Ever falls and shifts and glances", "As the life within them dances.", "", "Thy deep eyes, a double Planet,", "Gaze the wisest into madness", "With soft clear fire,--the winds that fan it", "Are those thoughts of tender gladness", "Which, like zephyrs on the billow,", "Make thy gentle soul their pillow.", "", "If, whatever face thou paintest", "In those eyes, grows pale with pleasure,", "If the fainting soul is faintest", "When it hears thy harp's wild measure,", "Wonder not that when thou speakest", "Of the weak my heart is weakest.", "", "As dew beneath the wind of morning,", "As the sea which whirlwinds waken,", "As the birds at thunder's warning,", "As aught mute yet deeply shaken,", "As one who feels an unseen spirit", "Is my heart when thine is near it." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "To William Shelley", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "(With what truth may I say--", "Roma! Roma! Roma!", "Non e piu come era prima!)", "", "My lost William, thou in whom", "Some bright spirit lived, and did", "That decaying robe consume", "Which its lustre faintly hid,--", "Here its ashes find a tomb,", "But beneath this pyramid", "Thou art not--if a thing divine", "Like thee can die, thy funeral shrine", "Is thy mother's grief and mine.", "", "Where art thou, my gentle child?", "Let me think thy spirit feeds,", "With its life intense and mild,", "The love of living leaves and weeds", "Among these tombs and ruins wild;--", "Let me think that through low seeds", "Of sweet flowers and sunny grass", "Into their hues and scents may pass", "A portion--" ], "linecount": "21" }, { "title": "To William Shelley", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Thy little footsteps on the sands", "Of a remote and lonely shore;", "The twinkling of thine infant hands,", "Where now the worm will feed no more;", "Thy mingled look of love and glee", "When we returned to gaze on thee--" ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "To Mary Shelley", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "My dearest Mary, wherefore hast thou gone,", "And left me in this dreary world alone?", "Thy form is here indeed--a lovely one--", "But thou art fled, gone down the dreary road,", "That leads to Sorrow's most obscure abode;", "Thou sittest on the hearth of pale despair,", "Where", "For thine own sake I cannot follow thee." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "To Mary Shelley", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "The world is dreary,", "And I am weary", "Of wandering on without thee, Mary;", "A joy was erewhile", "In thy voice and thy smile,", "And 'tis gone, when I should be gone too, Mary." ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "Fragment: 'Follow to the Deep Wood's Weeds'", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Follow to the deep wood's weeds,", "Follow to the wild-briar dingle,", "Where we seek to intermingle,", "And the violet tells her tale", "To the odour-scented gale,", "For they two have enough to do", "Of such work as I and you." ], "linecount": "7" }, { "title": "Fragment: Love the Universe to-Day", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "And who feels discord now or sorrow?", "Love is the universe to-day--", "These are the slaves of dim to-morrow,", "Darkening Life's labyrinthine way." ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "Fragment: 'A Gentle Story of Two Lovers Young'", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "A gentle story of two lovers young,", "Who met in innocence and died in sorrow,", "And of one selfish heart, whose rancour clung", "Like curses on them; are ye slow to borrow", "The lore of truth from such a tale?", "Or in this world's deserted vale,", "Do ye not see a star of gladness", "Pierce the shadows of its sadness,--", "When ye are cold, that love is a light sent", "From Heaven, which none shall quench, to cheer the innocent?" ], "linecount": "10" }, { "title": "Fragment: Sufficient Unto the Day", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Is not to-day enough? Why do I peer", "Into the darkness of the day to come?", "Is not to-morrow even as yesterday?", "And will the day that follows change thy doom?", "Few flowers grow upon thy wintry way;", "And who waits for thee in that cheerless home", "Whence thou hast fled, whither thou must return", "Charged with the load that makes thee faint and mourn?" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Fragment: A Tale Untold", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "One sung of thee who left the tale untold,", "Like the false dawns which perish in the bursting;", "Like empty cups of wrought and daedal gold,", "Which mock the lips with air, when they are thirsting." ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "Fragment: To Italy", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "As the sunrise to the night,", "As the north wind to the clouds,", "As the earthquake's fiery flight,", "Ruining mountain solitudes,", "Everlasting Italy,", "Be those hopes and fears on thee." ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "To a Skylark", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!", "Bird thou never wert,", "That from Heaven, or near it,", "Pourest thy full heart", "In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.", "", "Higher still and higher", "From the earth thou springest", "Like a cloud of fire;", "The blue deep thou wingest,", "And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.", "", "In the golden lightning", "Of the sunken sun,", "O'er which clouds are bright'ning.", "Thou dost float and run;", "Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun.", "", "The pale purple even", "Melts around thy flight;", "Like a star of Heaven,", "In the broad daylight", "Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight,", "", "Keen as are the arrows", "Of that silver sphere,", "Whose intense lamp narrows", "In the white dawn clear", "Until we hardly see--we feel that it is there.", "", "All the earth and air", "With thy voice is loud,", "As, when night is bare,", "From one lonely cloud", "The moon rains out her beams, and Heaven is overflowed.", "", "What thou art we know not;", "What is most like thee?", "From rainbow clouds there flow not", "Drops so bright to see", "As from thy presence showers a rain of melody.", "", "Like a Poet hidden", "In the light of thought,", "Singing hymns unbidden,", "Till the world is wrought", "To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not:", "", "Like a high-born maiden", "In a palace-tower,", "Soothing her love-laden", "Soul in secret hour", "With music sweet as love, which overflows her bower:", "", "Like a glow-worm golden", "In a dell of dew,", "Scattering unbeholden", "Its aereal hue", "Among the flowers and grass, which screen it from the view!", "", "Like a rose embowered", "In its own green leaves,", "By warm winds deflowered,", "Till the scent it gives", "Makes faint with too much sweet those heavy-winged thieves:", "", "Sound of vernal showers", "On the twinkling grass,", "Rain-awakened flowers,", "All that ever was", "Joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass:", "", "Teach us, Sprite or Bird,", "What sweet thoughts are thine:", "I have never heard", "Praise of love or wine", "That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine.", "", "Chorus Hymeneal,", "Or triumphal chant,", "Matched with thine would be all", "But an empty vaunt,", "A thing wherein we feel there is some hidden want.", "", "What objects are the fountains", "Of thy happy strain?", "What fields, or waves, or mountains?", "What shapes of sky or plain?", "What love of thine own kind? what ignorance of pain?", "", "With thy clear keen joyance", "Languor cannot be:", "Shadow of annoyance", "Never came near thee:", "Thou lovest--but ne'er knew love's sad satiety.", "", "Waking or asleep,", "Thou of death must deem", "Things more true and deep", "Than we mortals dream,", "Or how could thy notes flow in such a crystal stream?", "", "We look before and after,", "And pine for what is not:", "Our sincerest laughter", "With some pain is fraught;", "Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.", "", "Yet if we could scorn", "Hate, and pride, and fear;", "If we were things born", "Not to shed a tear,", "I know not how thy joy we ever should come near.", "", "Better than all measures", "Of delightful sound,", "Better than all treasures", "That in books are found,", "Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground!", "", "Teach me half the gladness", "That thy brain must know,", "Such harmonious madness", "From my lips would flow", "The world should listen then--as I am listening now." ], "linecount": "105" }, { "title": "Ode to Liberty", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Yet, Freedom, yet, thy banner, torn but flying,", "Streams like a thunder-storm against the wind.--BYRON.", "", "A glorious people vibrated again", "The lightning of the nations: Liberty", "From heart to heart, from tower to tower, o'er Spain,", "Scattering contagious fire into the sky,", "Gleamed. My soul spurned the chains of its dismay,", "And in the rapid plumes of song", "Clothed itself, sublime and strong;", "As a young eagle soars the morning clouds among,", "Hovering inverse o'er its accustomed prey;", "Till from its station in the Heaven of fame", "The Spirit's whirlwind rapped it, and the ray", "Of the remotest sphere of living flame", "Which paves the void was from behind it flung,", "As foam from a ship's swiftness, when there came", "A voice out of the deep: I will record the same.", "", "The Sun and the serenest Moon sprang forth:", "The burning stars of the abyss were hurled", "Into the depths of Heaven. The daedal earth,", "That island in the ocean of the world,", "Hung in its cloud of all-sustaining air:", "But this divinest universe", "Was yet a chaos and a curse,", "For thou wert not: but, power from worst producing worse,", "The spirit of the beasts was kindled there,", "And of the birds, and of the watery forms,", "And there was war among them, and despair", "Within them, raging without truce or terms:", "The bosom of their violated nurse", "Groaned, for beasts warred on beasts, and worms on worms,", "And men on men; each heart was as a hell of storms.", "", "Man, the imperial shape, then multiplied", "His generations under the pavilion", "Of the Sun's throne: palace and pyramid,", "Temple and prison, to many a swarming million", "Were, as to mountain-wolves their ragged caves.", "This human living multitude", "Was savage, cunning, blind, and rude,", "For thou wert not; but o'er the populous solitude,", "Like one fierce cloud over a waste of waves,", "Hung Tyranny; beneath, sate deified", "The sister-pest, congregator of slaves;", "Into the shadow of her pinions wide", "Anarchs and priests, who feed on gold and blood", "Till with the stain their inmost souls are dyed,", "Drove the astonished herds of men from every side.", "", "The nodding promontories, and blue isles,", "And cloud-like mountains, and dividuous waves", "Of Greece, basked glorious in the open smiles", "Of favouring Heaven: from their enchanted caves", "Prophetic echoes flung dim melody.", "On the unapprehensive wild", "The vine, the corn, the olive mild,", "Grew savage yet, to human use unreconciled;", "And, like unfolded flowers beneath the sea,", "Like the man's thought dark in the infant's brain,", "Like aught that is which wraps what is to be,", "Art's deathless dreams lay veiled by many a vein", "Of Parian stone; and, yet a speechless child,", "Verse murmured, and Philosophy did strain", "Her lidless eyes for thee; when o'er the Aegean main", "", "Athens arose: a city such as vision", "Builds from the purple crags and silver towers", "Of battlemented cloud, as in derision", "Of kingliest masonry: the ocean-floors", "Pave it; the evening sky pavilions it;", "Its portals are inhabited", "By thunder-zoned winds, each head", "Within its cloudy wings with sun-fire garlanded,--", "A divine work! Athens, diviner yet,", "Gleamed with its crest of columns, on the will", "Of man, as on a mount of diamond, set;", "For thou wert, and thine all-creative skill", "Peopled, with forms that mock the eternal dead", "In marble immortality, that hill", "Which was thine earliest throne and latest oracle.", "", "Within the surface of Time's fleeting river", "Its wrinkled image lies, as then it lay", "Immovably unquiet, and for ever", "It trembles, but it cannot pass away!", "The voices of thy bards and sages thunder", "With an earth-awakening blast", "Through the caverns of the past:", "(Religion veils her eyes; Oppression shrinks aghast:)", "A winged sound of joy, and love, and wonder,", "Which soars where Expectation never flew,", "Rending the veil of space and time asunder!", "One ocean feeds the clouds, and streams, and dew;", "One Sun illumines Heaven; one Spirit vast", "With life and love makes chaos ever new,", "As Athens doth the world with thy delight renew.", "", "Then Rome was, and from thy deep bosom fairest,", "Like a wolf-cub from a Cadmaean Maenad,", "She drew the milk of greatness, though thy dearest", "From that Elysian food was yet unweaned;", "And many a deed of terrible uprightness", "By thy sweet love was sanctified;", "And in thy smile, and by thy side,", "Saintly Camillus lived, and firm Atilius died.", "But when tears stained thy robe of vestal-whiteness,", "And gold profaned thy Capitolian throne,", "Thou didst desert, with spirit-winged lightness,", "The senate of the tyrants: they sunk prone", "Slaves of one tyrant: Palatinus sighed", "Faint echoes of Ionian song; that tone", "Thou didst delay to hear, lamenting to disown", "", "From what Hyrcanian glen or frozen hill,", "Or piny promontory of the Arctic main,", "Or utmost islet inaccessible,", "Didst thou lament the ruin of thy reign,", "Teaching the woods and waves, and desert rocks,", "And every Naiad's ice-cold urn,", "To talk in echoes sad and stern", "Of that sublimest lore which man had dared unlearn?", "For neither didst thou watch the wizard flocks", "Of the Scald's dreams, nor haunt the Druid's sleep.", "What if the tears rained through thy shattered locks", "Were quickly dried? for thou didst groan, not weep,", "When from its sea of death, to kill and burn,", "The Galilean serpent forth did creep,", "And made thy world an undistinguishable heap.", "", "A thousand years the Earth cried, 'Where art thou?'", "And then the shadow of thy coming fell", "On Saxon Alfred's olive-cinctured brow:", "And many a warrior-peopled citadel.", "Like rocks which fire lifts out of the flat deep,", "Arose in sacred Italy,", "Frowning o'er the tempestuous sea", "Of kings, and priests, and slaves, in tower-crowned majesty;", "That multitudinous anarchy did sweep", "And burst around their walls, like idle foam,", "Whilst from the human spirit's deepest deep", "Strange melody with love and awe struck dumb", "Dissonant arms; and Art, which cannot die,", "With divine wand traced on our earthly home", "Fit imagery to pave Heaven's everlasting dome.", "", "Thou huntress swifter than the Moon! thou terror", "Of the world's wolves! thou bearer of the quiver,", "Whose sunlike shafts pierce tempest-winged Error,", "As light may pierce the clouds when they dissever", "In the calm regions of the orient day!", "Luther caught thy wakening glance;", "Like lightning, from his leaden lance", "Reflected, it dissolved the visions of the trance", "In which, as in a tomb, the nations lay;", "And England's prophets hailed thee as their queen,", "In songs whose music cannot pass away,", "Though it must flow forever: not unseen", "Before the spirit-sighted countenance", "Of Milton didst thou pass, from the sad scene", "Beyond whose night he saw, with a dejected mien.", "", "The eager hours and unreluctant years", "As on a dawn-illumined mountain stood.", "Trampling to silence their loud hopes and fears,", "Darkening each other with their multitude,", "And cried aloud, 'Liberty!' Indignation", "Answered Pity from her cave;", "Death grew pale within the grave,", "And Desolation howled to the destroyer, Save!", "When like Heaven's Sun girt by the exhalation", "Of its own glorious light, thou didst arise.", "Chasing thy foes from nation unto nation", "Like shadows: as if day had cloven the skies", "At dreaming midnight o'er the western wave,", "Men started, staggering with a glad surprise,", "Under the lightnings of thine unfamiliar eyes.", "", "Thou Heaven of earth! what spells could pall thee then", "In ominous eclipse? a thousand years", "Bred from the slime of deep Oppression's den.", "Dyed all thy liquid light with blood and tears.", "Till thy sweet stars could weep the stain away;", "How like Bacchanals of blood", "Round France, the ghastly vintage, stood", "Destruction's sceptred slaves, and Folly's mitred brood!", "When one, like them, but mightier far than they,", "The Anarch of thine own bewildered powers,", "Rose: armies mingled in obscure array,", "Like clouds with clouds, darkening the sacred bowers", "Of serene Heaven. He, by the past pursued,", "Rests with those dead, but unforgotten hours,", "Whose ghosts scare victor kings in their ancestral towers.", "", "England yet sleeps: was she not called of old?", "Spain calls her now, as with its thrilling thunder", "Vesuvius wakens Aetna, and the cold", "Snow-crags by its reply are cloven in sunder:", "O'er the lit waves every Aeolian isle", "From Pithecusa to Pelorus", "Howls, and leaps, and glares in chorus:", "They cry, 'Be dim; ye lamps of Heaven suspended o'er us!'", "Her chains are threads of gold, she need but smile", "And they dissolve; but Spain's were links of steel,", "Till bit to dust by virtue's keenest file.", "Twins of a single destiny! appeal", "To the eternal years enthroned before us", "In the dim West; impress us from a seal,", "All ye have thought and done! Time cannot dare conceal.", "", "Tomb of Arminius! render up thy dead", "Till, like a standard from a watch-tower's staff,", "His soul may stream over the tyrant's head;", "Thy victory shall be his epitaph,", "Wild Bacchanal of truth's mysterious wine,", "King-deluded Germany,", "His dead spirit lives in thee.", "Why do we fear or hope? thou art already free!", "And thou, lost Paradise of this divine", "And glorious world! thou flowery wilderness!", "Thou island of eternity! thou shrine", "Where Desolation, clothed with loveliness,", "Worships the thing thou wert! O Italy,", "Gather thy blood into thy heart; repress", "The beasts who make their dens thy sacred palaces.", "", "Oh, that the free would stamp the impious name", "Of KING into the dust! or write it there,", "So that this blot upon the page of fame", "Were as a serpent's path, which the light air", "Erases, and the flat sands close behind!", "Ye the oracle have heard:", "Lift the victory-flashing sword.", "And cut the snaky knots of this foul gordian word,", "Which, weak itself as stubble, yet can bind", "Into a mass, irrefragably firm,", "The axes and the rods which awe mankind;", "The sound has poison in it, 'tis the sperm", "Of what makes life foul, cankerous, and abhorred;", "Disdain not thou, at thine appointed term,", "To set thine armed heel on this reluctant worm.", "", "Oh, that the wise from their bright minds would kindle", "Such lamps within the dome of this dim world,", "That the pale name of PRIEST might shrink and dwindle", "Into the hell from which it first was hurled,", "A scoff of impious pride from fiends impure;", "Till human thoughts might kneel alone,", "Each before the judgement-throne", "Of its own aweless soul, or of the Power unknown!", "Oh, that the words which make the thoughts obscure", "From which they spring, as clouds of glimmering dew", "From a white lake blot Heaven's blue portraiture,", "Were stripped of their thin masks and various hue", "And frowns and smiles and splendours not their own,", "Till in the nakedness of false and true", "They stand before their Lord, each to receive its due!", "", "He who taught man to vanquish whatsoever", "Can be between the cradle and the grave", "Crowned him the King of Life. Oh, vain endeavour!", "If on his own high will, a willing slave,", "He has enthroned the oppression and the oppressor", "What if earth can clothe and feed", "Amplest millions at their need,", "And power in thought be as the tree within the seed?", "Or what if Art, an ardent intercessor,", "Driving on fiery wings to Nature's throne,", "Checks the great mother stooping to caress her,", "And cries: 'Give me, thy child, dominion", "Over all height and depth'? if Life can breed", "New wants, and wealth from those who toil and groan,", "Rend of thy gifts and hers a thousandfold for one!", "", "Come thou, but lead out of the inmost cave", "Of man's deep spirit, as the morning-star", "Beckons the Sun from the Eoan wave,", "Wisdom. I hear the pennons of her car", "Self-moving, like cloud charioted by flame;", "Comes she not, and come ye not,", "Rulers of eternal thought,", "To judge, with solemn truth, life's ill-apportioned lot?", "Blind Love, and equal Justice, and the Fame", "Of what has been, the Hope of what will be?", "O Liberty! if such could be thy name", "Wert thou disjoined from these, or they from thee:", "If thine or theirs were treasures to be bought", "By blood or tears, have not the wise and free", "Wept tears, and blood like tears?--The solemn harmony", "", "Paused, and the Spirit of that mighty singing", "To its abyss was suddenly withdrawn;", "Then, as a wild swan, when sublimely winging", "Its path athwart the thunder-smoke of dawn,", "Sinks headlong through the aereal golden light", "On the heavy-sounding plain,", "When the bolt has pierced its brain;", "As summer clouds dissolve, unburthened of their rain;", "As a far taper fades with fading night,", "As a brief insect dies with dying day,--", "My song, its pinions disarrayed of might,", "Drooped; o'er it closed the echoes far away", "Of the great voice which did its flight sustain,", "As waves which lately paved his watery way", "Hiss round a drowner's head in their tempestuous play." ], "linecount": "287" }, { "title": "Cancelled Passage of the Ode to Liberty", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Within a cavern of man's trackless spirit", "Is throned an Image, so intensely fair", "That the adventurous thoughts that wander near it", "Worship, and as they kneel, tremble and wear", "The splendour of its presence, and the light", "Penetrates their dreamlike frame", "Till they become charged with the strength of flame." ], "linecount": "7" }, { "title": "To --", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "I fear thy kisses, gentle maiden,", "Thou needest not fear mine;", "My spirit is too deeply laden", "Ever to burthen thine.", "", "I fear thy mien, thy tones, thy motion,", "Thou needest not fear mine;", "Innocent is the heart's devotion", "With which I worship thine." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Ode to Naples", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "EPODE 1a.", "", "I stood within the City disinterred;", "And heard the autumnal leaves like light footfalls", "Of spirits passing through the streets; and heard", "The Mountain's slumberous voice at intervals", "Thrill through those roofless halls;", "The oracular thunder penetrating shook", "The listening soul in my suspended blood;", "I felt that Earth out of her deep heart spoke--", "I felt, but heard not:--through white columns glowed", "The isle-sustaining ocean-flood,", "A plane of light between two heavens of azure!", "Around me gleamed many a bright sepulchre", "Of whose pure beauty, Time, as if his pleasure", "Were to spare Death, had never made erasure;", "But every living lineament was clear", "As in the sculptor's thought; and there", "The wreaths of stony myrtle, ivy, and pine,", "Like winter leaves o'ergrown by moulded snow,", "Seemed only not to move and grow", "Because the crystal silence of the air", "Weighed on their life; even as the Power divine", "Which then lulled all things, brooded upon mine.", "", "EPODE 2a.", "", "Then gentle winds arose", "With many a mingled close", "Of wild Aeolian sound, and mountain-odours keen;", "And where the Baian ocean", "Welters with airlike motion,", "Within, above, around its bowers of starry green,", "Moving the sea-flowers in those purple caves,", "Even as the ever stormless atmosphere", "Floats o'er the Elysian realm,", "It bore me, like an Angel, o'er the waves", "Of sunlight, whose swift pinnace of dewy air", "No storm can overwhelm.", "I sailed, where ever flows", "Under the calm Serene", "A spirit of deep emotion", "From the unknown graves", "Of the dead Kings of Melody.", "Shadowy Aornos darkened o'er the helm", "The horizontal aether; Heaven stripped bare", "Its depth over Elysium, where the prow", "Made the invisible water white as snow;", "From that Typhaean mount, Inarime,", "There streamed a sunbright vapour, like the standard", "Of some aethereal host;", "Whilst from all the coast,", "Louder and louder, gathering round, there wandered", "Over the oracular woods and divine sea", "Prophesyings which grew articulate--", "They seize me--I must speak them!--be they fate!", "", "STROPHE 1.", "", "Naples! thou Heart of men which ever pantest", "Naked, beneath the lidless eye of Heaven!", "Elysian City, which to calm enchantest", "The mutinous air and sea! they round thee, even", "As sleep round Love, are driven!", "Metropolis of a ruined Paradise", "Long lost, late won, and yet but half regained!", "Bright Altar of the bloodless sacrifice", "Which armed Victory offers up unstained", "To Love, the flower-enchained!", "Thou which wert once, and then didst cease to be,", "Now art, and henceforth ever shalt be, free,", "If Hope, and Truth, and Justice can avail,--", "Hail, hail, all hail!", "", "STROPHE 2.", "", "Thou youngest giant birth", "Which from the groaning earth", "Leap'st, clothed in armour of impenetrable scale!", "Last of the Intercessors!", "Who 'gainst the Crowned Transgressors", "Pleadest before God's love! Arrayed in Wisdom's mail,", "Wave thy lightning lance in mirth", "Nor let thy high heart fail,", "Though from their hundred gates the leagued Oppressors", "With hurried legions move!", "Hail, hail, all hail!", "", "ANTISTROPHE 1a.", "", "What though Cimmerian Anarchs dare blaspheme", "Freedom and thee? thy shield is as a mirror", "To make their blind slaves see, and with fierce gleam", "To turn his hungry sword upon the wearer;", "A new Actaeon's error", "Shall theirs have been--devoured by their own hounds!", "Be thou like the imperial Basilisk", "Killing thy foe with unapparent wounds!", "Gaze on Oppression, till at that dread risk", "Aghast she pass from the Earth's disk:", "Fear not, but gaze--for freemen mightier grow,", "And slaves more feeble, gazing on their foe:--", "If Hope, and Truth, and Justice may avail,", "Thou shalt be great--All hail!", "", "ANTISTROPHE 2a.", "", "From Freedom's form divine,", "From Nature's inmost shrine,", "Strip every impious gawd, rend", "Error veil by veil;", "O'er Ruin desolate,", "O'er Falsehood's fallen state,", "Sit thou sublime, unawed; be the Destroyer pale!", "And equal laws be thine,", "And winged words let sail,", "Freighted with truth even from the throne of God:", "That wealth, surviving fate,", "Be thine.--All hail!", "", "ANTISTROPHE 1b.", "", "Didst thou not start to hear Spain's thrilling paean", "From land to land re-echoed solemnly,", "Till silence became music? From the Aeaean", "To the cold Alps, eternal Italy", "Starts to hear thine! The Sea", "Which paves the desert streets of Venice laughs", "In light, and music; widowed Genoa wan", "By moonlight spells ancestral epitaphs,", "Murmuring, 'Where is Doria?' fair Milan,", "Within whose veins long ran", "The viper's palsying venom, lifts her heel", "To bruise his head. The signal and the seal", "(If Hope and Truth and Justice can avail)", "Art thou of all these hopes.--O hail!", "", "ANTISTROPHE 2b.", "", "Florence! beneath the sun,", "Of cities fairest one,", "Blushes within her bower for Freedom's expectation:", "From eyes of quenchless hope", "Rome tears the priestly cope,", "As ruling once by power, so now by admiration,--", "An athlete stripped to run", "From a remoter station", "For the high prize lost on Philippi's shore:--", "As then Hope, Truth, and Justice did avail,", "So now may Fraud and Wrong! O hail!", "", "EPODE 1b.", "", "Hear ye the march as of the Earth-born Forms", "Arrayed against the ever-living Gods?", "The crash and darkness of a thousand storms", "Bursting their inaccessible abodes", "Of crags and thunder-clouds?", "See ye the banners blazoned to the day,", "Inwrought with emblems of barbaric pride?", "Dissonant threats kill Silence far away,", "The serene Heaven which wraps our Eden wide", "With iron light is dyed;", "The Anarchs of the North lead forth their legions", "Like Chaos o'er creation, uncreating;", "An hundred tribes nourished on strange religions", "And lawless slaveries,--down the aereal regions", "Of the white Alps, desolating,", "Famished wolves that bide no waiting,", "Blotting the glowing footsteps of old glory,", "Trampling our columned cities into dust,", "Their dull and savage lust", "On Beauty's corse to sickness satiating--", "They come! The fields they tread look black and hoary", "With fire--from their red feet the streams run gory!", "", "EPODE 2b.", "", "Great Spirit, deepest Love!", "Which rulest and dost move", "All things which live and are, within the Italian shore;", "Who spreadest Heaven around it,", "Whose woods, rocks, waves, surround it;", "Who sittest in thy star, o'er Ocean's western floor;", "Spirit of beauty! at whose soft command", "The sunbeams and the showers distil its foison", "From the Earth's bosom chill;", "Oh, bid those beams be each a blinding brand", "Of lightning! bid those showers be dews of poison!", "Bid the Earth's plenty kill!", "Bid thy bright Heaven above,", "Whilst light and darkness bound it,", "Be their tomb who planned", "To make it ours and thine!", "Or, with thine harmonizing ardours fill", "And raise thy sons, as o'er the prone horizon", "Thy lamp feeds every twilight wave with fire--", "Be man's high hope and unextinct desire", "The instrument to work thy will divine!", "Then clouds from sunbeams, antelopes from leopards,", "And frowns and fears from thee,", "Would not more swiftly flee", "Than Celtic wolves from the Ausonian shepherds.--", "Whatever, Spirit, from thy starry shrine", "Thou yieldest or withholdest, oh, let be", "This city of thy worship ever free!" ], "linecount": "187" }, { "title": "To the Moon", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Art thou pale for weariness", "Of climbing heaven and gazing on the earth,", "Wandering companionless", "Among the stars that have a different birth,--", "And ever changing, like a joyless eye", "That finds no object worth its constancy?", "", "Thou chosen sister of the Spirit,", "That grazes on thee till in thee it pities..." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "The Tower of Famine", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Amid the desolation of a city,", "Which was the cradle, and is now the grave", "Of an extinguished people,--so that Pity", "", "Weeps o'er the shipwrecks of Oblivion's wave,", "There stands the Tower of Famine. It is built", "Upon some prison-homes, whose dwellers rave", "", "For bread, and gold, and blood: Pain, linked to Guilt,", "Agitates the light flame of their hours,", "Until its vital oil is spent or spilt.", "", "There stands the pile, a tower amid the towers", "And sacred domes; each marble-ribbed roof,", "The brazen-gated temples, and the bowers", "", "Of solitary wealth,--the tempest-proof", "Pavilions of the dark Italian air,--", "Are by its presence dimmed--they stand aloof,", "", "And are withdrawn--so that the world is bare;", "As if a spectre wrapped in shapeless terror", "Amid a company of ladies fair", "", "Should glide and glow, till it became a mirror", "Of all their beauty, and their hair and hue,", "The life of their sweet eyes, with all its error,", "Should be absorbed, till they to marble grew." ], "linecount": "22" }, { "title": "Lines to a Reviewer", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Alas, good friend, what profit can you see", "In hating such a hateless thing as me?", "There is no sport in hate where all the rage", "Is on one side: in vain would you assuage", "Your frowns upon an unresisting smile,", "In which not even contempt lurks to beguile", "Your heart, by some faint sympathy of hate.", "Oh, conquer what you cannot satiate!", "For to your passion I am far more coy", "Than ever yet was coldest maid or boy", "In winter noon. Of your antipathy", "If I am the Narcissus, you are free", "To pine into a sound with hating me." ], "linecount": "13" }, { "title": "Fragment: Milton's Spirit", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "I dreamed that Milton's spirit rose, and took", "From life's green tree his Uranian lute;", "And from his touch sweet thunder flowed, and shook", "All human things built in contempt of man,--", "And sanguine thrones and impious altars quaked,", "Prisons and citadels..." ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "Fragment: To the Mind of Man", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Thou living light that in thy rainbow hues", "Clothest this naked world; and over Sea", "And Earth and air, and all the shapes that be", "In peopled darkness of this wondrous world", "The Spirit of thy glory dost diffuse", "... truth ... thou Vital Flame", "Mysterious thought that in this mortal frame", "Of things, with unextinguished lustre burnest", "Now pale and faint now high to Heaven upcurled", "That eer as thou dost languish still returnest", "And ever", "Before the ... before the Pyramids", "", "So soon as from the Earth formless and rude", "One living step had chased drear Solitude", "Thou wert, Thought; thy brightness charmed the lids", "Of the vast snake Eternity, who kept", "The tree of good and evil.--" ], "linecount": "17" }, { "title": "To Night", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Swiftly walk o'er the western wave,", "Spirit of Night!", "Out of the misty eastern cave,", "Where, all the long and lone daylight,", "Thou wovest dreams of joy and fear,", "'Which make thee terrible and dear,--", "Swift be thy flight!", "", "Wrap thy form in a mantle gray,", "Star-inwrought!", "Blind with thine hair the eyes of Day;", "Kiss her until she be wearied out,", "Then wander o'er city, and sea, and land,", "Touching all with thine opiate wand--", "Come, long-sought!", "", "When I arose and saw the dawn,", "I sighed for thee;", "When light rode high, and the dew was gone,", "And noon lay heavy on flower and tree,", "And the weary Day turned to his rest,", "Lingering like an unloved guest, I sighed for thee.", "", "Thy brother Death came, and cried,", "Wouldst thou me?", "Thy sweet child Sleep, the filmy-eyed,", "Murmured like a noontide bee,", "Shall I nestle near thy side?", "Wouldst thou me?--And I replied,", "No, not thee!", "", "Death will come when thou art dead,", "Soon, too soon--", "Sleep will come when thou art fled;", "Of neither would I ask the boon", "I ask of thee, beloved Night--", "Swift be thine approaching flight,", "Come soon, soon!" ], "linecount": "34" }, { "title": "To Emilia Viviani", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Madonna, wherefore hast thou sent to me", "Sweet-basil and mignonette?", "Embleming love and health, which never yet", "In the same wreath might be.", "Alas, and they are wet!", "Is it with thy kisses or thy tears?", "For never rain or dew", "Such fragrance drew", "From plant or flower--the very doubt endears", "My sadness ever new,", "The sighs I breathe, the tears I shed for thee.", "", "Send the stars light, but send not love to me,", "In whom love ever made", "Health like a heap of embers soon to fade--" ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "To --", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Music, when soft voices die,", "Vibrates in the memory--", "Odours, when sweet violets sicken,", "Live within the sense they quicken.", "", "Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,", "Are heaped for the beloved's bed;", "And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone,", "Love itself shall slumber on." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "To Edward Williams", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "The serpent is shut out from Paradise.", "The wounded deer must seek the herb no more", "In which its heart-cure lies:", "The widowed dove must cease to haunt a bower", "Like that from which its mate with feigned sighs", "Fled in the April hour.", "I too must seldom seek again", "Near happy friends a mitigated pain.", "", "Of hatred I am proud,--with scorn content;", "Indifference, that once hurt me, now is grown", "Itself indifferent;", "But, not to speak of love, pity alone", "Can break a spirit already more than bent.", "The miserable one", "Turns the mind's poison into food,--", "Its medicine is tears,--its evil good.", "", "Therefore, if now I see you seldomer,", "Dear friends, dear FRIEND! know that I only fly", "Your looks, because they stir", "Griefs that should sleep, and hopes that cannot die:", "The very comfort that they minister", "I scarce can bear, yet I,", "So deeply is the arrow gone,", "Should quickly perish if it were withdrawn.", "", "When I return to my cold home, you ask", "Why I am not as I have ever been.", "YOU spoil me for the task", "Of acting a forced part in life's dull scene,--", "Of wearing on my brow the idle mask", "Of author, great or mean,", "In the world's carnival. I sought", "Peace thus, and but in you I found it not.", "", "Full half an hour, to-day, I tried my lot", "With various flowers, and every one still said,", "'She loves me--loves me not.'", "And if this meant a vision long since fled--", "If it meant fortune, fame, or peace of thought--", "If it meant,--but I dread", "To speak what you may know too well:", "Still there was truth in the sad oracle.", "", "The crane o'er seas and forests seeks her home;", "No bird so wild but has its quiet nest,", "When it no more would roam;", "The sleepless billows on the ocean's breast", "Break like a bursting heart, and die in foam,", "And thus at length find rest:", "Doubtless there is a place of peace", "Where MY weak heart and all its throbs will cease.", "", "I asked her, yesterday, if she believed", "That I had resolution. One who HAD", "Would ne'er have thus relieved", "His heart with words,--but what his judgement bade", "Would do, and leave the scorner unrelieved.", "These verses are too sad", "To send to you, but that I know,", "Happy yourself, you feel another's woe." ], "linecount": "56" }, { "title": "To --", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "One word is too often profaned", "For me to profane it,", "One feeling too falsely disdained", "For thee to disdain it;", "One hope is too like despair", "For prudence to smother,", "And pity from thee more dear", "Than that from another.", "", "I can give not what men call love,", "But wilt thou accept not", "The worship the heart lifts above", "And the Heavens reject not,--", "The desire of the moth for the star,", "Of the night for the morrow,", "The devotion to something afar", "From the sphere of our sorrow?" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "To-Morrow", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Where art thou, beloved To-morrow?", "When young and old, and strong and weak,", "Rich and poor, through joy and sorrow,", "Thy sweet smiles we ever seek,--", "In thy place--ah! well-a-day!", "We find the thing we fled--To-day." ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "Fragment: 'I Stood upon a Heaven-Cleaving Turret'", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "I stood upon a heaven-cleaving turret", "Which overlooked a wide Metropolis--", "And in the temple of my heart my Spirit", "Lay prostrate, and with parted lips did kiss", "The dust of Desolations hearth--", "And with a voice too faint to falter", "It shook that trembling fane with its weak prayer", "'Twas noon,--the sleeping skies were blue", "The city" ], "linecount": "9" }, { "title": "The Magnetic Lady to Her Patient", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "'Sleep, sleep on! forget thy pain;", "My hand is on thy brow,", "My spirit on thy brain;", "My pity on thy heart, poor friend;", "And from my fingers flow", "The powers of life, and like a sign,", "Seal thee from thine hour of woe;", "And brood on thee, but may not blend", "With thine.", "", "'Sleep, sleep on! I love thee not;", "But when I think that he", "Who made and makes my lot", "As full of flowers as thine of weeds,", "Might have been lost like thee;", "And that a hand which was not mine", "Might then have charmed his agony", "As I another's--my heart bleeds", "For thine.", "", "'Sleep, sleep, and with the slumber of", "The dead and the unborn", "Forget thy life and love;", "Forget that thou must wake forever;", "Forget the world's dull scorn;", "Forget lost health, and the divine", "Feelings which died in youth's brief morn;", "And forget me, for I can never", "Be thine.", "", "'Like a cloud big with a May shower,", "My soul weeps healing rain", "On thee, thou withered flower!", "It breathes mute music on thy sleep", "Its odour calms thy brain!", "Its light within thy gloomy breast", "Spreads like a second youth again.", "By mine thy being is to its deep", "Possessed.", "", "'The spell is done. How feel you now?'", "'Better--Quite well,' replied", "The sleeper.--'What would do", "You good when suffering and awake?", "What cure your head and side?--'", "'What would cure, that would kill me, Jane:", "And as I must on earth abide", "Awhile, yet tempt me not to break", "My chain.'" ], "linecount": "45" }, { "title": "To Jane: The Invitation", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Best and brightest, come away!", "Fairer far than this fair Day,", "Which, like thee to those in sorrow,", "Comes to bid a sweet good-morrow", "To the rough Year just awake", "In its cradle on the brake.", "The brightest hour of unborn Spring,", "Through the winter wandering,", "Found, it seems, the halcyon Morn", "To hoar February born,", "Bending from Heaven, in azure mirth,", "It kissed the forehead of the Earth,", "And smiled upon the silent sea,", "And bade the frozen streams be free,", "And waked to music all their fountains,", "And breathed upon the frozen mountains,", "And like a prophetess of May", "Strewed flowers upon the barren way,", "Making the wintry world appear", "Like one on whom thou smilest, dear.", "", "Away, away, from men and towns,", "To the wild wood and the downs--", "To the silent wilderness", "Where the soul need not repress", "Its music lest it should not find", "An echo in another's mind,", "While the touch of Nature's art", "Harmonizes heart to heart.", "I leave this notice on my door", "For each accustomed visitor:--", "'I am gone into the fields", "To take what this sweet hour yields;--", "Reflection, you may come to-morrow,", "Sit by the fireside with Sorrow.--", "You with the unpaid bill, Despair,--", "You, tiresome verse-reciter, Care,--", "I will pay you in the grave,--", "Death will listen to your stave.", "Expectation too, be off!", "To-day is for itself enough;", "Hope, in pity mock not Woe", "With smiles, nor follow where I go;", "Long having lived on thy sweet food,", "At length I find one moment's good", "After long pain--with all your love,", "This you never told me of.'", "", "Radiant Sister of the Day,", "Awake! arise! and come away!", "To the wild woods and the plains,", "And the pools where winter rains", "Image all their roof of leaves,", "Where the pine its garland weaves", "Of sapless green and ivy dun", "Round stems that never kiss the sun;", "Where the lawns and pastures be,", "And the sandhills of the sea;--", "Where the melting hoar-frost wets", "The daisy-star that never sets,", "And wind-flowers, and violets,", "Which yet join not scent to hue,", "Crown the pale year weak and new;", "When the night is left behind", "In the deep east, dun and blind,", "And the blue noon is over us,", "And the multitudinous", "Billows murmur at our feet,", "Where the earth and ocean meet,", "And all things seem only one", "In the universal sun." ], "linecount": "69" }, { "title": "To Jane: The Recollection", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Now the last day of many days,", "All beautiful and bright as thou,", "The loveliest and the last, is dead,", "Rise, Memory, and write its praise!", "Up,--to thy wonted work! come, trace", "The epitaph of glory fled,--", "For now the Earth has changed its face,", "A frown is on the Heaven's brow.", "", "We wandered to the Pine Forest", "That skirts the Ocean's foam,", "The lightest wind was in its nest,", "The tempest in its home.", "The whispering waves were half asleep,", "The clouds were gone to play,", "And on the bosom of the deep", "The smile of Heaven lay;", "It seemed as if the hour were one", "Sent from beyond the skies,", "Which scattered from above the sun", "A light of Paradise.", "", "We paused amid the pines that stood", "The giants of the waste,", "Tortured by storms to shapes as rude", "As serpents interlaced;", "And, soothed by every azure breath,", "That under Heaven is blown,", "To harmonies and hues beneath,", "As tender as its own,", "Now all the tree-tops lay asleep,", "Like green waves on the sea,", "As still as in the silent deep", "The ocean woods may be.", "", "How calm it was!--the silence there", "By such a chain was bound", "That even the busy woodpecker", "Made stiller by her sound", "The inviolable quietness;", "The breath of peace we drew", "With its soft motion made not less", "The calm that round us grew.", "There seemed from the remotest seat", "Of the white mountain waste,", "To the soft flower beneath our feet,", "A magic circle traced,--", "A spirit interfused around", "A thrilling, silent life,--", "To momentary peace it bound", "Our mortal nature's strife;", "And still I felt the centre of", "The magic circle there", "Was one fair form that filled with love", "The lifeless atmosphere.", "", "We paused beside the pools that lie", "Under the forest bough,--", "Each seemed as 'twere a little sky", "Gulfed in a world below;", "A firmament of purple light", "Which in the dark earth lay,", "More boundless than the depth of night,", "And purer than the day--", "In which the lovely forests grew,", "As in the upper air,", "More perfect both in shape and hue", "Than any spreading there.", "There lay the glade and neighbouring lawn,", "And through the dark green wood", "The white sun twinkling like the dawn", "Out of a speckled cloud.", "Sweet views which in our world above", "Can never well be seen,", "Were imaged by the water's love", "Of that fair forest green.", "And all was interfused beneath", "With an Elysian glow,", "An atmosphere without a breath,", "A softer day below.", "Like one beloved the scene had lent", "To the dark water's breast,", "Its every leaf and lineament", "With more than truth expressed;", "Until an envious wind crept by,", "Like an unwelcome thought,", "Which from the mind's too faithful eye", "Blots one dear image out.", "Though thou art ever fair and kind,", "The forests ever green,", "Less oft is peace in Shelley's mind,", "Than calm in waters, seen." ], "linecount": "88" }, { "title": "To Jane: 'The Keen Stars Were Twinkling'", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "The keen stars were twinkling,", "And the fair moon was rising among them,", "Dear Jane!", "The guitar was tinkling,", "But the notes were not sweet till you sung them", "Again.", "", "As the moon's soft splendour", "O'er the faint cold starlight of Heaven", "Is thrown,", "So your voice most tender", "To the strings without soul had then given", "Its own.", "", "The stars will awaken,", "Though the moon sleep a full hour later,", "To-night;", "No leaf will be shaken", "Whilst the dews of your melody scatter", "Delight.", "", "Though the sound overpowers,", "Sing again, with your dear voice revealing", "A tone", "Of some world far from ours,", "Where music and moonlight and feeling", "Are one." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Homer's Hymn to Castor and Pollux", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Ye wild-eyed Muses, sing the Twins of Jove,", "Whom the fair-ankled Leda, mixed in love", "With mighty Saturn's Heaven-obscuring Child,", "On Taygetus, that lofty mountain wild,", "Brought forth in joy: mild Pollux, void of blame,", "And steed-subduing Castor, heirs of fame.", "These are the Powers who earth-born mortals save", "And ships, whose flight is swift along the wave.", "When wintry tempests o'er the savage sea", "Are raging, and the sailors tremblingly", "Call on the Twins of Jove with prayer and vow,", "Gathered in fear upon the lofty prow,", "And sacrifice with snow-white lambs,--the wind", "And the huge billow bursting close behind,", "Even then beneath the weltering waters bear", "The staggering ship--they suddenly appear,", "On yellow wings rushing athwart the sky,", "And lull the blasts in mute tranquillity,", "And strew the waves on the white Ocean's bed,", "Fair omen of the voyage; from toil and dread", "The sailors rest, rejoicing in the sight,", "And plough the quiet sea in safe delight." ], "linecount": "22" }, { "title": "Homer's Hymn to the Moon", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Daughters of Jove, whose voice is melody,", "Muses, who know and rule all minstrelsy", "Sing the wide-winged Moon! Around the earth,", "From her immortal head in Heaven shot forth,", "Far light is scattered--boundless glory springs;", "Where'er she spreads her many-beaming wings", "The lampless air glows round her golden crown.", "", "But when the Moon divine from Heaven is gone", "Under the sea, her beams within abide,", "Till, bathing her bright limbs in Ocean's tide,", "Clothing her form in garments glittering far,", "And having yoked to her immortal car", "The beam-invested steeds whose necks on high", "Curve back, she drives to a remoter sky", "A western Crescent, borne impetuously.", "Then is made full the circle of her light,", "And as she grows, her beams more bright and bright", "Are poured from Heaven, where she is hovering then,", "A wonder and a sign to mortal men.", "", "The Son of Saturn with this glorious Power", "Mingled in love and sleep--to whom she bore", "Pandeia, a bright maid of beauty rare", "Among the Gods, whose lives eternal are.", "", "Hail Queen, great Moon, white-armed Divinity,", "Fair-haired and favourable! thus with thee", "My song beginning, by its music sweet", "Shall make immortal many a glorious feat", "Of demigods, with lovely lips, so well", "Which minstrels, servants of the Muses, tell." ], "linecount": "29" }, { "title": "Homer's Hymn to the Sun", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Offspring of Jove, Calliope, once more", "To the bright Sun, thy hymn of music pour;", "Whom to the child of star-clad Heaven and Earth", "Euryphaessa, large-eyed nymph, brought forth;", "Euryphaessa, the famed sister fair", "Of great Hyperion, who to him did bear", "A race of loveliest children; the young Morn,", "Whose arms are like twin roses newly born,", "The fair-haired Moon, and the immortal Sun,", "Who borne by heavenly steeds his race doth run", "Unconquerably, illuming the abodes", "Of mortal Men and the eternal Gods.", "", "Fiercely look forth his awe-inspiring eyes,", "Beneath his golden helmet, whence arise", "And are shot forth afar, clear beams of light;", "His countenance, with radiant glory bright,", "Beneath his graceful locks far shines around,", "And the light vest with which his limbs are bound,", "Of woof aethereal delicately twined,", "Glows in the stream of the uplifting wind.", "His rapid steeds soon bear him to the West;", "Where their steep flight his hands divine arrest,", "And the fleet car with yoke of gold, which he", "Sends from bright Heaven beneath the shadowy sea." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Homer's Hymn to the Earth: Mother of All", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "O universal Mother, who dost keep", "From everlasting thy foundations deep,", "Eldest of things, Great Earth, I sing of thee!", "All shapes that have their dwelling in the sea,", "All things that fly, or on the ground divine", "Live, move, and there are nourished--these are thine;", "These from thy wealth thou dost sustain; from thee", "Fair babes are born, and fruits on every tree", "Hang ripe and large, revered Divinity!", "", "The life of mortal men beneath thy sway", "Is held; thy power both gives and takes away!", "Happy are they whom thy mild favours nourish;", "All things unstinted round them grow and flourish.", "For them, endures the life-sustaining field", "Its load of harvest, and their cattle yield", "Large increase, and their house with wealth is filled.", "Such honoured dwell in cities fair and free,", "The homes of lovely women, prosperously;", "Their sons exult in youth's new budding gladness,", "And their fresh daughters free from care or sadness,", "With bloom-inwoven dance and happy song,", "On the soft flowers the meadow-grass among,", "Leap round them sporting--such delights by thee", "Are given, rich Power, revered Divinity.", "", "Mother of gods, thou Wife of starry Heaven,", "Farewell! be thou propitious, and be given", "A happy life for this brief melody,", "Nor thou nor other songs shall unremembered be." ], "linecount": "28" }, { "title": "Homer's Hymn to Minerva", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "I sing the glorious Power with azure eyes,", "Athenian Pallas! tameless, chaste, and wise,", "Tritogenia, town-preserving Maid,", "Revered and mighty; from his awful head", "Whom Jove brought forth, in warlike armour dressed,", "Golden, all radiant! wonder strange possessed", "The everlasting Gods that Shape to see,", "Shaking a javelin keen, impetuously", "Rush from the crest of Aegis-bearing Jove;", "Fearfully Heaven was shaken, and did move", "Beneath the might of the Cerulean-eyed;", "Earth dreadfully resounded, far and wide;", "And, lifted from its depths, the sea swelled high", "In purple billows, the tide suddenly", "Stood still, and great Hyperion's son long time", "Checked his swift steeds, till, where she stood sublime,", "Pallas from her immortal shoulders threw", "The arms divine; wise Jove rejoiced to view.", "Child of the Aegis-bearer, hail to thee,", "Nor thine nor others' praise shall unremembered be." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "Homer's Hymn to Venus", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "[VERSES 1-55, WITH SOME OMISSIONS.]", "", "Muse, sing the deeds of golden Aphrodite,", "Who wakens with her smile the lulled delight", "Of sweet desire, taming the eternal kings", "Of Heaven, and men, and all the living things", "That fleet along the air, or whom the sea,", "Or earth, with her maternal ministry,", "Nourish innumerable, thy delight", "All seek ... O crowned Aphrodite!", "Three spirits canst thou not deceive or quell:--", "Minerva, child of Jove, who loves too well", "Fierce war and mingling combat, and the fame", "Of glorious deeds, to heed thy gentle flame.", "Diana ... golden-shafted queen,", "Is tamed not by thy smiles; the shadows green", "Of the wild woods, the bow, the...", "And piercing cries amid the swift pursuit", "Of beasts among waste mountains,--such delight", "Is hers, and men who know and do the right.", "Nor Saturn's first-born daughter, Vesta chaste,", "Whom Neptune and Apollo wooed the last,", "Such was the will of aegis-bearing Jove;", "But sternly she refused the ills of Love,", "And by her mighty Father's head she swore", "An oath not unperformed, that evermore", "A virgin she would live mid deities", "Divine: her father, for such gentle ties", "Renounced, gave glorious gifts--thus in his hall", "She sits and feeds luxuriously. O'er all", "In every fane, her honours first arise", "From men--the eldest of Divinities.", "", "These spirits she persuades not, nor deceives,", "But none beside escape, so well she weaves", "Her unseen toils; nor mortal men, nor gods", "Who live secure in their unseen abodes.", "She won the soul of him whose fierce delight", "Is thunder--first in glory and in might.", "And, as she willed, his mighty mind deceiving,", "With mortal limbs his deathless limbs inweaving,", "Concealed him from his spouse and sister fair,", "Whom to wise Saturn ancient Rhea bare.", "but in return,", "In Venus Jove did soft desire awaken,", "That by her own enchantments overtaken,", "She might, no more from human union free,", "Burn for a nursling of mortality.", "For once amid the assembled Deities,", "The laughter-loving Venus from her eyes", "", "Shot forth the light of a soft starlight smile,", "And boasting said, that she, secure the while,", "Could bring at Will to the assembled Gods", "The mortal tenants of earth's dark abodes,", "And mortal offspring from a deathless stem", "She could produce in scorn and spite of them.", "Therefore he poured desire into her breast", "Of young Anchises,", "Feeding his herds among the mossy fountains", "Of the wide Ida's many-folded mountains,--", "Whom Venus saw, and loved, and the love clung", "Like wasting fire her senses wild among." ], "linecount": "60" }, { "title": "To Stella", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "FROM THE GREEK OF PLATO.", "", "Thou wert the morning star among the living,", "Ere thy fair light had fled;--", "Now, having died, thou art as Hesperus, giving", "New splendour to the dead." ], "linecount": "5" }, { "title": "To the Moonbeam", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Moonbeam, leave the shadowy vale,", "To bathe this burning brow.", "Moonbeam, why art thou so pale,", "As thou walkest o'er the dewy dale,", "Where humble wild-flowers grow?", "Is it to mimic me?", "But that can never be;", "For thine orb is bright,", "And the clouds are light,", "That at intervals shadow the star-studded night.", "", "Now all is deathy still on earth;", "Nature's tired frame reposes;", "And, ere the golden morning's birth", "Its radiant hues discloses,", "Flies forth its balmy breath.", "But mine is the midnight of Death,", "And Nature's morn", "To my bosom forlorn", "Brings but a gloomier night, implants a deadlier thorn.", "", "Wretch! Suppress the glare of madness", "Struggling in thine haggard eye,", "For the keenest throb of sadness,", "Pale Despair's most sickening sigh,", "Is but to mimic me;", "And this must ever be,", "When the twilight of care,", "And the night of despair,", "Seem in my breast but joys to the pangs that rankle there." ], "linecount": "28" }, { "title": "To Death", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Death! where is thy victory?", "To triumph whilst I die,", "To triumph whilst thine ebon wing", "Enfolds my shuddering soul?", "O Death! where is thy sting?", "Not when the tides of murder roll,", "When nations groan, that kings may bask in bliss,", "Death! canst thou boast a victory such as this--", "When in his hour of pomp and power", "His blow the mightiest murderer gave,", "Mid Nature's cries the sacrifice", "Of millions to glut the grave;", "When sunk the Tyrant Desolation's slave;", "Or Freedom's life-blood streamed upon thy shrine;", "Stern Tyrant, couldst thou boast a victory such as mine?", "", "To know in dissolution's void", "That mortals' baubles sunk decay;", "That everything, but Love, destroyed", "Must perish with its kindred clay,--", "Perish Ambition's crown,", "Perish her sceptred sway:", "From Death's pale front fades Pride's fastidious frown.", "In Death's damp vault the lurid fires decay,", "That Envy lights at heaven-born Virtue's beam--", "That all the cares subside,", "Which lurk beneath the tide", "Of life's unquiet stream;--", "Yes! this is victory!", "And on yon rock, whose dark form glooms the sky,", "To stretch these pale limbs, when the soul is fled;", "To baffle the lean passions of their prey,", "To sleep within the palace of the dead!", "Oh! not the King, around whose dazzling throne", "His countless courtiers mock the words they say,", "Triumphs amid the bud of glory blown,", "As I in this cold bed, and faint expiring groan!", "", "Tremble, ye proud, whose grandeur mocks the woe", "Which props the column of unnatural state!", "You the plainings, faint and low,", "From Misery's tortured soul that flow,", "Shall usher to your fate.", "", "Tremble, ye conquerors, at whose fell command", "The war-fiend riots o'er a peaceful land!", "You Desolation's gory throng", "Shall bear from Victory along", "To that mysterious strand." ], "linecount": "46" }, { "title": "Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Here I sit with my paper, my pen and my ink,", "First of this thing, and that thing, and t'other thing think;", "Then my thoughts come so pell-mell all into my mind,", "That the sense or the subject I never can find:", "This word is wrong placed,--no regard to the sense,", "The present and future, instead of past tense,", "Then my grammar I want; O dear! what a bore,", "I think I shall never attempt to write more,", "With patience I then my thoughts must arraign,", "Have them all in due order like mutes in a train,", "Like them too must wait in due patience and thought,", "Or else my fine works will all come to nought.", "My wit too's so copious, it flows like a river,", "But disperses its waters on black and white never;", "Like smoke it appears independent and free,", "But ah luckless smoke! it all passes like thee--", "Then at length all my patience entirely lost,", "My paper and pens in the fire are tossed;", "But come, try again--you must never despair,", "Our Murray's or Entick's are not all so rare,", "Implore their assistance--they'll come to your aid,", "Perform all your business without being paid,", "They'll tell you the present tense, future and past,", "Which should come first, and which should come last,", "This Murray will do--then to Entick repair,", "To find out the meaning of any word rare.", "This they friendly will tell, and ne'er make you blush,", "With a jeering look, taunt, or an O fie! tush!", "Then straight all your thoughts in black and white put,", "Not minding the if's, the be's, and the but,", "Then read it all over, see how it will run,", "How answers the wit, the retort, and the pun,", "Your writings may then with old Socrates vie,", "May on the same shelf with Demosthenes lie,", "May as Junius be sharp, or as Plato be sage.", "The pattern or satire to all of the age;", "But stop--a mad author I mean not to turn,", "Nor with thirst of applause does my heated brain burn,", "Sufficient that sense, wit, and grammar combined,", "My letters may make some slight food for the mind;", "That my thoughts to my friends I may freely impart,", "In all the warm language that flows from the heart.", "Hark! futurity calls! it loudly complains,", "It bids me step forward and just hold the reins,", "My excuse shall be humble, and faithful, and true,", "Such as I fear can be made but by few--", "Of writers this age has abundance and plenty,", "Three score and a thousand, two millions and twenty,", "Three score of them wits who all sharply vie,", "To try what odd creature they best can belie,", "A thousand are prudes who for CHARITY write,", "And fill up their sheets with spleen, envy, and spite[,]", "One million are bards, who to Heaven aspire,", "And stuff their works full of bombast, rant, and fire,", "T'other million are wags who in Grubstreet attend,", "And just like a cobbler the old writings mend,", "The twenty are those who for pulpits indite,", "And pore over sermons all Saturday night.", "And now my good friends--who come after I mean,", "As I ne'er wore a cassock, or dined with a dean.", "Or like cobblers at mending I never did try,", "Nor with poets in lyrics attempted to vie;", "As for prudes these good souls I both hate and detest,", "So here I believe the matter must rest.--", "I've heard your complaint--my answer I've made,", "And since to your calls all the tribute I've paid,", "Adieu my good friend; pray never despair,", "But grammar and sense and everything dare,", "Attempt but to write dashing, easy, and free,", "Then take out your grammar and pay him his fee,", "Be not a coward, shrink not to a tense,", "But read it all over and make it out sense.", "What a tiresome girl!--pray soon make an end,", "Else my limited patience you'll quickly expend.", "Well adieu, I no longer your patience will try--", "So swift to the post now the letter shall fly." ], "linecount": "76" }, { "title": "To Miss -- -- [Harriet Grove] From Miss -- -- [Elizabeth Shelley]", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "For your letter, dear -- , accept my best thanks,", "Rendered long and amusing by virtue of franks,", "Though concise they would please, yet the longer the better,", "The more news that's crammed in, more amusing the letter,", "All excuses of etiquette nonsense I hate,", "Which only are fit for the tardy and late,", "As when converse grows flat, of the weather they talk,", "How fair the sun shines--a fine day for a walk,", "Then to politics turn, of Burdett's reformation,", "One declares it would hurt, t'other better the nation,", "Will ministers keep? sure they've acted quite wrong,", "The burden this is of each morning-call song.", "So -- is going to -- you say,", "I hope that success her great efforts will pay [--]", "That will see her, be dazzled outright,", "And declare he can't bear to be out of her sight.", "Write flaming epistles with love's pointed dart,", "Whose sharp little arrow struck right on his heart,", "Scold poor innocent Cupid for mischievous ways,", "He knows not how much to laud forth her praise,", "That he neither eats, drinks or sleeps for her sake,", "And hopes her hard heart some compassion will take,", "A refusal would kill him, so desperate his flame,", "But he fears, for he knows she is not common game,", "Then praises her sense, wit, discernment and grace,", "He's not one that's caught by a sly looking face,", "Yet that's TOO divine--such a black sparkling eye,", "At the bare glance of which near a thousand will die;", "Thus runs he on meaning but one word in ten,", "More than is meant by most such kind of men,", "For they're all alike, take them one with another,", "Begging pardon--with the exception of my brother.", "Of the drawings you mention much praise I have heard,", "Most opinion's the same, with the difference of word,", "Some get a good name by the voice of the crowd,", "Whilst to poor humble merit small praise is allowed,", "As in parliament votes, so in pictures a name,", "Oft determines a fate at the altar of fame.--", "So on Friday this City's gay vortex you quit,", "And no longer with Doctors and Johnny cats sit--", "Now your parcel's arrived -- letter shall go,", "I hope all your joy mayn't be turned into woe,", "Experience will tell you that pleasure is vain,", "When it promises sunshine how often comes rain.", "So when to fond hope every blessing is nigh,", "How oft when we smile it is checked with a sigh,", "When Hope, gay deceiver, in pleasure is dressed,", "How oft comes a stroke that may rob us of rest.", "When we think ourselves safe, and the goal near at hand,", "Like a vessel just landing, we're wrecked near the strand,", "And though memory forever the sharp pang must feel,", "'Tis our duty to bear, and our hardship to steel--", "May misfortunes dear Girl, ne'er thy happiness cloy,", "May thy days glide in peace, love, comfort and joy,", "May thy tears with soft pity for other woes flow,", "Woes, which thy tender heart never may know,", "For hardships our own, God has taught us to bear,", "Though sympathy's soul to a friend drops a tear.", "Oh dear! what sentimental stuff have I written,", "Only fit to tear up and play with a kitten.", "What sober reflections in the midst of this letter!", "Jocularity sure would have suited much better;", "But there are exceptions to all common rules,", "For this is a truth by all boys learned at schools.", "Now adieu my dear -- I'm sure I must tire,", "For if I do, you may throw it into the fire,", "So accept the best love of your cousin and friend,", "Which brings this nonsensical rhyme to an end." ], "linecount": "68" }, { "title": "To [Harriet]", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Ah! sweet is the moonbeam that sleeps on yon fountain,", "And sweet the mild rush of the soft-sighing breeze,", "And sweet is the glimpse of yon dimly-seen mountain,", "'Neath the verdant arcades of yon shadowy trees.", "", "But sweeter than all was thy tone of affection,", "Which scarce seemed to break on the stillness of eve,", "Though the time it is past!--yet the dear recollection,", "For aye in the heart of thy must live.", "", "Yet he hears thy dear voice in the summer winds sighing,", "Mild accents of happiness lisp in his ear,", "When the hope-winged moments athwart him are flying,", "And he thinks of the friend to his bosom so dear.--", "", "And thou dearest friend in his bosom for ever", "Must reign unalloyed by the fast rolling year,", "He loves thee, and dearest one never, Oh! never", "Canst thou cease to be loved by a heart so sincere." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "To -- [Harriet]", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Stern, stern is the voice of fate's fearful command,", "When accents of horror it breathes in our ear,", "Or compels us for aye bid adieu to the land,", "Where exists that loved friend to our bosom so dear,", "", "'Tis sterner than death o'er the shuddering wretch bending,", "And in skeleton grasp his fell sceptre extending,", "Like the heart-stricken deer to that loved covert wending,", "Which never again to his eyes may appear--", "", "And ah! he may envy the heart-stricken quarry,", "Who bids to the friend of affection farewell,", "He may envy the bosom so bleeding and gory,", "He may envy the sound of the drear passing knell,", "", "Not so deep is his grief on his death couch reposing,", "When on the last vision his dim eyes are closing!", "As the outcast whose love-raptured senses are losing,", "The last tones of thy voice on the wild breeze that swell!", "", "Those tones were so soft, and so sad, that ah! never,", "Can the sound cease to vibrate on Memory's ear,", "In the stern wreck of Nature for ever and ever,", "The remembrance must live of a friend so sincere." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "Victoria", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "'Twas dead of the night, when I sat in my dwelling;", "One glimmering lamp was expiring and low;", "Around, the dark tide of the tempest was swelling,", "Along the wild mountains night-ravens were yelling,--", "They bodingly presaged destruction and woe.", "", "'Twas then that I started!--the wild storm was howling,", "Nought was seen, save the lightning, which danced in the sky;", "Above me, the crash of the thunder was rolling,", "And low, chilling murmurs, the blast wafted by.", "", "My heart sank within me--unheeded the war", "Of the battling clouds, on the mountain-tops, broke;--", "Unheeded the thunder-peal crashed in mine ear--", "This heart, hard as iron, is stranger to fear;", "But conscience in low, noiseless whispering spoke.", "", "'Twas then that her form on the whirlwind upholding,", "The ghost of the murdered Victoria strode;", "In her right hand, a shadowy shroud she was holding,", "She swiftly advanced to my lonesome abode.", "", "I wildly then called on the tempest to bear me--'" ], "linecount": "19" }, { "title": "St. Irvyne's Tower", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "How swiftly through Heaven's wide expanse", "Bright day's resplendent colours fade!", "How sweetly does the moonbeam's glance", "With silver tint St. Irvyne's glade!", "", "No cloud along the spangled air,", "Is borne upon the evening breeze;", "How solemn is the scene! how fair", "The moonbeams rest upon the trees!", "", "Yon dark gray turret glimmers white,", "Upon it sits the mournful owl;", "Along the stillness of the night,", "Her melancholy shriekings roll.", "", "But not alone on Irvyne's tower,", "The silver moonbeam pours her ray;", "It gleams upon the ivied bower,", "It dances in the cascade's spray.", "", "'Ah! why do dark'ning shades conceal", "The hour, when man must cease to be?", "Why may not human minds unveil", "The dim mists of futurity?--", "", "'The keenness of the world hath torn", "The heart which opens to its blast;", "Despised, neglected, and forlorn,", "Sinks the wretch in death at last.'" ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Melody to a Scene of Former Times", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Art thou indeed forever gone,", "Forever, ever, lost to me?", "Must this poor bosom beat alone,", "Or beat at all, if not for thee?", "Ah! why was love to mortals given,", "To lift them to the height of Heaven,", "Or dash them to the depths of Hell?", "Yet I do not reproach thee, dear!", "Ah, no! the agonies that swell", "This panting breast, this frenzied brain,", "Might wake my --'s slumb'ring tear.", "Oh! Heaven is witness I did love,", "And Heaven does know I love thee still,", "Does know the fruitless sick'ning thrill,", "When reason's judgement vainly strove", "To blot thee from my memory;", "But which might never, never be.", "Oh! I appeal to that blest day", "When passion's wildest ecstasy", "Was coldness to the joys I knew,", "When every sorrow sunk away.", "Oh! I had never lived before,", "But now those blisses are no more.", "And now I cease to live again,", "I do not blame thee, love; ah, no!", "The breast that feels this anguished woe.", "Throbs for thy happiness alone.", "Two years of speechless bliss are gone,", "I thank thee, dearest, for the dream.", "'Tis night--what faint and distant scream", "Comes on the wild and fitful blast?", "It moans for pleasures that are past,", "It moans for days that are gone by.", "Oh! lagging hours, how slow you fly!", "I see a dark and lengthened vale,", "The black view closes with the tomb;", "But darker is the lowering gloom", "That shades the intervening dale.", "In visioned slumber for awhile", "I seem again to share thy smile,", "I seem to hang upon thy tone.", "Again you say, 'Confide in me,", "For I am thine, and thine alone,", "And thine must ever, ever be.'", "But oh! awak'ning still anew,", "Athwart my enanguished senses flew", "A fiercer, deadlier agony!" ], "linecount": "47" }, { "title": "To the Republicans of North America", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Brothers! between you and me", "Whirlwinds sweep and billows roar:", "Yet in spirit oft I see", "On thy wild and winding shore", "Freedom's bloodless banners wave,--", "Feel the pulses of the brave", "Unextinguished in the grave,--", "See them drenched in sacred gore,--", "Catch the warrior's gasping breath", "Murmuring 'Liberty or death!'", "", "Shout aloud! Let every slave,", "Crouching at Corruption's throne,", "Start into a man, and brave", "Racks and chains without a groan:", "And the castle's heartless glow,", "And the hovel's vice and woe,", "Fade like gaudy flowers that blow--", "Weeds that peep, and then are gone", "Whilst, from misery's ashes risen,", "Love shall burst the captive's prison.", "", "Cotopaxi! bid the sound", "Through thy sister mountains ring,", "Till each valley smile around", "At the blissful welcoming!", "And, O thou stern Ocean deep,", "Thou whose foamy billows sweep", "Shores where thousands wake to weep", "Whilst they curse a villain king,", "On the winds that fan thy breast", "Bear thou news of Freedom's rest!", "", "Can the daystar dawn of love,", "Where the flag of war unfurled", "Floats with crimson stain above", "The fabric of a ruined world?", "Never but to vengeance driven", "When the patriot's spirit shriven", "Seeks in death its native Heaven!", "There, to desolation hurled,", "Widowed love may watch thy bier,", "Balm thee with its dying tear." ], "linecount": "40" }, { "title": "The Canterbury Tales. The Doctor's Tale.", "author": "Geoffrey Chaucer", "lines": [ "THE PROLOGUE.", "", "[\"YEA, let that passe,\" quoth our Host, \"as now.", "Sir Doctor of Physik, I praye you,", "Tell us a tale of some honest mattere.\"", "\"It shall be done, if that ye will it hear,\"", "Said this Doctor; and his tale gan anon.", "\"Now, good men,\" quoth he, \"hearken everyone.\"]", "", "THE TALE.", "", "There was, as telleth Titus Livius,", "A knight, that called was Virginius,", "Full filled of honour and worthiness,", "And strong of friendes, and of great richess.", "This knight one daughter hadde by his wife;", "No children had he more in all his life.", "Fair was this maid in excellent beauty", "Aboven ev'ry wight that man may see:", "For nature had with sov'reign diligence", "Y-formed her in so great excellence,", "As though she woulde say, \"Lo, I, Nature,", "Thus can I form and paint a creature,", "When that me list; who can me counterfeit?", "Pygmalion? not though he aye forge and beat,", "Or grave or painte: for I dare well sayn,", "Apelles, Zeuxis, shoulde work in vain,", "Either to grave, or paint, or forge, or beat,", "If they presumed me to counterfeit.", "For he that is the former principal,", "Hath made me his vicar-general", "To form and painten earthly creatures", "Right as me list, and all thing in my cure is,", "Under the moone, that may wane and wax.", "And for my work right nothing will I ax", "My lord and I be full of one accord.", "I made her to the worship of my lord;", "So do I all mine other creatures,", "What colour that they have, or what figures.\"", "Thus seemeth me that Nature woulde say.", "", "This maiden was of age twelve year and tway,", "In which that Nature hadde such delight.", "For right as she can paint a lily white,", "And red a rose, right with such painture", "She painted had this noble creature,", "Ere she was born, upon her limbes free,", "Where as by right such colours shoulde be:", "And Phoebus dyed had her tresses great,", "Like to the streames of his burned heat.", "And if that excellent was her beauty,", "A thousand-fold more virtuous was she.", "In her there lacked no condition,", "That is to praise, as by discretion.", "As well in ghost as body chaste was she:", "For which she flower'd in virginity,", "With all humility and abstinence,", "With alle temperance and patience,", "With measure eke of bearing and array.", "Discreet she was in answering alway,", "Though she were wise as Pallas, dare I sayn;", "Her faconde eke full womanly and plain,", "No counterfeited termes hadde she", "To seeme wise; but after her degree", "She spake, and all her worde's more and less", "Sounding in virtue and in gentleness.", "Shamefast she was in maiden's shamefastness,", "Constant in heart, and ever in business", "To drive her out of idle sluggardy:", "Bacchus had of her mouth right no mast'ry.", "For wine and slothe do Venus increase,", "As men in fire will casten oil and grease.", "And of her owen virtue, unconstrain'd,", "She had herself full often sick y-feign'd,", "For that she woulde flee the company,", "Where likely was to treaten of folly,", "As is at feasts, at revels, and at dances,", "That be occasions of dalliances.", "Such thinges make children for to be", "Too soone ripe and bold, as men may see,", "Which is full perilous, and hath been yore;", "For all too soone may she learne lore", "Of boldeness, when that she is a wife.", "", "And ye mistresses, in your olde life", "That lordes' daughters have in governance,", "Take not of my wordes displeasance", "Thinke that ye be set in governings", "Of lordes' daughters only for two things;", "Either for ye have kept your honesty,", "Or else for ye have fallen in frailty", "And knowe well enough the olde dance,", "And have forsaken fully such meschance", "For evermore; therefore, for Christe's sake,", "To teach them virtue look that ye not slake.", "A thief of venison, that hath forlaft", "His lik'rousness, and all his olde craft,", "Can keep a forest best of any man;", "Now keep them well, for if ye will ye can.", "Look well, that ye unto no vice assent,", "Lest ye be damned for your wick' intent,", "For whoso doth, a traitor is certain;", "And take keep of that I shall you sayn;", "Of alle treason, sov'reign pestilence", "Is when a wight betrayeth innocence.", "Ye fathers, and ye mothers eke also,", "Though ye have children, be it one or mo',", "Yours is the charge of all their surveyance,", "While that they be under your governance.", "Beware, that by example of your living,", "Or by your negligence in chastising,", "That they not perish for I dare well say,", "If that they do, ye shall it dear abeye.", "Under a shepherd soft and negligent", "The wolf hath many a sheep and lamb to-rent.", "Suffice this example now as here,", "For I must turn again to my mattere.", "", "This maid, of which I tell my tale express,", "She kept herself, her needed no mistress;", "For in her living maidens mighte read,", "As in a book, ev'ry good word and deed", "That longeth to a maiden virtuous;", "She was so prudent and so bounteous.", "For which the fame out sprang on every side", "Both of her beauty and her bounte wide:", "That through the land they praised her each one", "That loved virtue, save envy alone,", "That sorry is of other manne's weal,", "And glad is of his sorrow and unheal --", "The Doctor maketh this descriptioun. --", "This maiden on a day went in the town", "Toward a temple, with her mother dear,", "As is of younge maidens the mannere.", "Now was there then a justice in that town,", "That governor was of that regioun:", "And so befell, this judge his eyen cast", "Upon this maid, avising her full fast,", "As she came forth by where this judge stood;", "Anon his hearte changed and his mood,", "So was he caught with beauty of this maid", "And to himself full privily he said,", "\"This maiden shall be mine for any man.\"", "Anon the fiend into his hearte ran,", "And taught him suddenly, that he by sleight", "This maiden to his purpose winne might.", "For certes, by no force, nor by no meed,", "Him thought he was not able for to speed;", "For she was strong of friendes, and eke she", "Confirmed was in such sov'reign bounte,", "That well he wist he might her never win,", "As for to make her with her body sin.", "For which, with great deliberatioun,", "He sent after a clerk was in the town,", "The which he knew for subtle and for bold.", "This judge unto this clerk his tale told", "In secret wise, and made him to assure", "He shoulde tell it to no creature,", "And if he did, he shoulde lose his head.", "And when assented was this cursed rede,", "Glad was the judge, and made him greate cheer,", "And gave him giftes precious and dear.", "When shapen was all their conspiracy", "From point to point, how that his lechery", "Performed shoulde be full subtilly,", "As ye shall hear it after openly,", "Home went this clerk, that highte Claudius.", "This false judge, that highte Appius, --", "(So was his name, for it is no fable,", "But knowen for a storial thing notable;", "The sentence of it sooth is out of doubt); --", "This false judge went now fast about", "To hasten his delight all that he may.", "And so befell, soon after on a day,", "This false judge, as telleth us the story,", "As he was wont, sat in his consistory,", "And gave his doomes upon sundry case';", "This false clerk came forth a full great pace,", "And saide; Lord, if that it be your will,", "As do me right upon this piteous bill,", "In which I plain upon Virginius.", "And if that he will say it is not thus,", "I will it prove, and finde good witness,", "That sooth is what my bille will express.\"", "The judge answer'd, \"Of this, in his absence,", "I may not give definitive sentence.", "Let do him call, and I will gladly hear;", "Thou shalt have alle right, and no wrong here.\"", "Virginius came to weet the judge's will,", "And right anon was read this cursed bill;", "The sentence of it was as ye shall hear", "\"To you, my lord, Sir Appius so clear,", "Sheweth your poore servant Claudius,", "How that a knight called Virginius,", "Against the law, against all equity,", "Holdeth, express against the will of me,", "My servant, which that is my thrall by right,", "Which from my house was stolen on a night,", "While that she was full young; I will it preve", "By witness, lord, so that it you not grieve;", "She is his daughter not, what so he say.", "Wherefore to you, my lord the judge, I pray,", "Yield me my thrall, if that it be your will.\"", "Lo, this was all the sentence of the bill.", "Virginius gan upon the clerk behold;", "But hastily, ere he his tale told,", "And would have proved it, as should a knight,", "And eke by witnessing of many a wight,", "That all was false that said his adversary,", "This cursed judge would no longer tarry,", "Nor hear a word more of Virginius,", "But gave his judgement, and saide thus:", "\"I deem anon this clerk his servant have;", "Thou shalt no longer in thy house her save.", "Go, bring her forth, and put her in our ward", "The clerk shall have his thrall: thus I award.\"", "", "And when this worthy knight, Virginius,", "Through sentence of this justice Appius,", "Muste by force his deare daughter give", "Unto the judge, in lechery to live,", "He went him home, and sat him in his hall,", "And let anon his deare daughter call;", "And with a face dead as ashes cold", "Upon her humble face he gan behold,", "With father's pity sticking through his heart,", "All would he from his purpose not convert.", "\"Daughter,\" quoth he, \"Virginia by name,", "There be two wayes, either death or shame,", "That thou must suffer, -- alas that I was bore!", "For never thou deservedest wherefore", "To dien with a sword or with a knife,", "O deare daughter, ender of my life,", "Whom I have foster'd up with such pleasance", "That thou were ne'er out of my remembrance;", "O daughter, which that art my laste woe,", "And in this life my laste joy also,", "O gem of chastity, in patience", "Take thou thy death, for this is my sentence:", "For love and not for hate thou must be dead;", "My piteous hand must smiten off thine head.", "Alas, that ever Appius thee say!", "Thus hath he falsely judged thee to-day.\"", "And told her all the case, as ye before", "Have heard; it needeth not to tell it more.", "", "\"O mercy, deare father,\" quoth the maid.", "And with that word she both her armes laid", "About his neck, as she was wont to do,", "(The teares burst out of her eyen two),", "And said, \"O goode father, shall I die?", "Is there no grace? is there no remedy?\"", "\"No, certes, deare daughter mine,\" quoth he.", "\"Then give me leisure, father mine, quoth she,", "\"My death for to complain a little space", "For, pardie, Jephthah gave his daughter grace", "For to complain, ere he her slew, alas!", "And, God it wot, nothing was her trespass,", "But for she ran her father first to see,", "To welcome him with great solemnity.\"", "And with that word she fell a-swoon anon;", "And after, when her swooning was y-gone,", "She rose up, and unto her father said:", "\"Blessed be God, that I shall die a maid.", "Give me my death, ere that I have shame;", "Do with your child your will, in Godde's name.\"", "And with that word she prayed him full oft", "That with his sword he woulde smite her soft;", "And with that word, a-swoon again she fell.", "Her father, with full sorrowful heart and fell,", "Her head off smote, and by the top it hent,", "And to the judge he went it to present,", "As he sat yet in doom in consistory.", "", "And when the judge it saw, as saith the story,", "He bade to take him, and to hang him fast.", "But right anon a thousand people in thrast", "To save the knight, for ruth and for pity", "For knowen was the false iniquity.", "The people anon had suspect in this thing,", "By manner of the clerke's challenging,", "That it was by th'assent of Appius;", "They wiste well that he was lecherous.", "For which unto this Appius they gon,", "And cast him in a prison right anon,", "Where as he slew himself: and Claudius,", "That servant was unto this Appius,", "Was doomed for to hang upon a tree;", "But that Virginius, of his pity,", "So prayed for him, that he was exil'd;", "And elles certes had he been beguil'd;", "The remenant were hanged, more and less,", "That were consenting to this cursedness.", "Here men may see how sin hath his merite:", "Beware, for no man knows how God will smite", "In no degree, nor in which manner wise", "The worm of conscience may agrise", "Of wicked life, though it so privy be,", "That no man knows thereof, save God and he;", "For be he lewed man or elles lear'd,", "He knows not how soon he shall be afear'd;", "Therefore I rede you this counsel take,", "Forsake sin, ere sinne you forsake." ], "linecount": "294" }, { "title": "To Helen", "author": "Edgar Allan Poe", "lines": [ "I saw thee once--once only--years ago:", "I must not say _how_ many--but _not_ many.", "It was a July midnight; and from out", "A full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring,", "Sought a precipitate pathway up through heaven,", "There fell a silvery-silken veil of light,", "With quietude, and sultriness and slumber,", "Upon the upturn'd faces of a thousand", "Roses that grew in an enchanted garden,", "Where no wind dared to stir, unless on tiptoe--", "Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses", "That gave out, in return for the love-light,", "Their odorous souls in an ecstatic death--", "Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses", "That smiled and died in this parterre, enchanted", "By thee, and by the poetry of thy presence.", "", "Clad all in white, upon a violet bank", "I saw thee half-reclining; while the moon", "Fell on the upturn'd faces of the roses,", "And on thine own, upturn'd--alas, in sorrow!", "", "Was it not Fate, that, on this July midnight--", "Was it not Fate (whose name is also Sorrow),", "That bade me pause before that garden-gate,", "To breathe the incense of those slumbering roses?", "No footstep stirred: the hated world all slept,", "Save only thee and me--(O Heaven!--O God!", "How my heart beats in coupling those two words!)--", "Save only thee and me. I paused--I looked--", "And in an instant all things disappeared.", "(Ah, bear in mind this garden was enchanted!)", "The pearly lustre of the moon went out:", "The mossy banks and the meandering paths,", "The happy flowers and the repining trees,", "Were seen no more: the very roses' odors", "Died in the arms of the adoring airs.", "All--all expired save thee--save less than thou:", "Save only the divine light in thine eyes--", "Save but the soul in thine uplifted eyes.", "I saw but them--they were the world to me.", "I saw but them--saw only them for hours--", "Saw only them until the moon went down.", "What wild heart-histories seemed to lie unwritten", "Upon those crystalline, celestial spheres!", "How dark a woe! yet how sublime a hope!", "How silently serene a sea of pride!", "How daring an ambition! yet how deep--", "How fathomless a capacity for love!", "", "But now, at length, dear Dian sank from sight,", "Into a western couch of thunder-cloud;", "And thou, a ghost, amid the entombing trees", "Didst glide away. _Only thine eyes remained._", "They _would not_ go--they never yet have gone.", "Lighting my lonely pathway home that night,", "_They_ have not left me (as my hopes have) since.", "They follow me--they lead me through the years.", "", "They are my ministers--yet I their slave.", "Their office is to illumine and enkindle--", "My duty, _to be saved_ by their bright light,", "And purified in their electric fire,", "And sanctified in their elysian fire.", "They fill my soul with Beauty (which is Hope),", "And are far up in Heaven--the stars I kneel to", "In the sad, silent watches of my night;", "While even in the meridian glare of day", "I see them still--two sweetly scintillant", "Venuses, unextinguished by the sun!" ], "linecount": "66" }, { "title": "To My Mother", "author": "Edgar Allan Poe", "lines": [ "Because I feel that, in the Heavens above,", " The angels, whispering to one another,", "Can find, among their burning terms of love,", " None so devotional as that of \"Mother,\"", "Therefore by that dear name I long have called you--", " You who are more than mother unto me,", "And fill my heart of hearts, where Death installed you,", " In setting my Virginia's spirit free.", "My mother--my own mother, who died early,", " Was but the mother of myself; but you", "Are mother to the one I loved so dearly,", " And thus are dearer than the mother I knew", "By that infinity with which my wife", " Was dearer to my soul than its soul-life." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "To F--", "author": "Edgar Allan Poe", "lines": [ "Beloved! amid the earnest woes", " That crowd around my earthly path--", "(Drear path, alas! where grows", "Not even one lonely rose)--", " My soul at least a solace hath", "In dreams of thee, and therein knows", "An Eden of bland repose.", "", "And thus thy memory is to me", " Like some enchanted far-off isle", "In some tumultuous sea--", "Some ocean throbbing far and free", " With storm--but where meanwhile", "Serenest skies continually", " Just o'er that one bright inland smile." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "To Frances S. Osgood", "author": "Edgar Allan Poe", "lines": [ "Thou wouldst be loved?--then let thy heart", " From its present pathway part not;", "Being everything which now thou art,", " Be nothing which thou art not.", "So with the world thy gentle ways,", " Thy grace, thy more than beauty,", "Shall be an endless theme of praise.", " And love a simple duty." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "To Marie Louise (Shew)", "author": "Edgar Allan Poe", "lines": [ "Of all who hail thy presence as the morning--", "Of all to whom thine absence is the night--", "The blotting utterly from out high heaven", "The sacred sun--of all who, weeping, bless thee", "Hourly for hope--for life--ah, above all,", "For the resurrection of deep buried faith", "In truth, in virtue, in humanity--", "Of all who, on despair's unhallowed bed", "Lying down to die, have suddenly arisen", "At thy soft-murmured words, \"Let there be light!\"", "At thy soft-murmured words that were fulfilled", "In thy seraphic glancing of thine eyes--", "Of all who owe thee most, whose gratitude", "Nearest resembles worship,--oh, remember", "The truest, the most fervently devoted,", "And think that these weak lines are written by him--", "By him who, as he pens them, thrills to think", "His spirit is communing with an angel's." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "To Marie Louise (Shew)", "author": "Edgar Allan Poe", "lines": [ "Not long ago, the writer of these lines,", "In the mad pride of intellectuality,", "Maintained \"the power of words\"--denied that ever", "A thought arose within the human brain", "Beyond the utterance of the human tongue:", "And now, as if in mockery of that boast,", "Two words--two foreign soft dissyllables--", "Italian tones, made only to be murmured", "By angels dreaming in the moonlit \"dew", "That hangs like chains of pearl on Hermon hill,\"--", "Have stirred from out the abysses of his heart,", "Unthought-like thoughts that are the souls of thought,", "Richer, far wilder, far diviner visions", "Than even the seraph harper, Israfel,", "(Who has \"the sweetest voice of all God's creatures,\")", "Could hope to utter. And I! my spells are broken.", "The pen falls powerless from my shivering hand.", "With thy dear name as text, though hidden by thee,", "I cannot write--I cannot speak or think--", "Alas, I cannot feel; for 'tis not feeling,", "This standing motionless upon the golden", "Threshold of the wide-open gate of dreams,", "Gazing, entranced, adown the gorgeous vista,", "And thrilling as I see, upon the right,", "Upon the left, and all the way along,", "Amid empurpled vapors, far away", "To where the prospect terminates--_thee only_!" ], "linecount": "27" }, { "title": "To One In Paradise", "author": "Edgar Allan Poe", "lines": [ "Thou wast that all to me, love,", " For which my soul did pine--", "A green isle in the sea, love,", " A fountain and a shrine,", "All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers,", "And all the flowers were mine.", "", "Ah, dream too bright to last!", " Ah, starry Hope! that didst arise", "But to be overcast!", " A voice from out the Future cries,", "\"On! on!\"--but o'er the Past", " (Dim gulf!) my spirit hovering lies", "Mute, motionless, aghast!", "", "For, alas! alas! with me", " The light of Life is o'er!", "\"No more--no more--no more\"--", "(Such language holds the solemn sea", " To the sands upon the shore)", "Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree,", " Or the stricken eagle soar!", "", "And all my days are trances,", " And all my nightly dreams", "Are where thy dark eye glances,", " And where thy footstep gleams--", "In what ethereal dances,", " By what eternal streams!", "", "Alas! for that accursed time", " They bore thee o'er the billow,", "From love to titled age and crime,", " And an unholy pillow!", "From me, and from our misty clime,", " Where weeps the silver willow!" ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "To Zante", "author": "Edgar Allan Poe", "lines": [ "Fair isle, that from the fairest of all flowers,", " Thy gentlest of all gentle names dost take!", "How many memories of what radiant hours", " At sight of thee and thine at once awake!", "How many scenes of what departed bliss!", " How many thoughts of what entombed hopes!", "How many visions of a maiden that is", " No more--no more upon thy verdant slopes!", "", "_No more!_ alas, that magical sad sound", " Transforming all! Thy charms shall please _no more_--", "Thy memory _no more!_ Accursed ground", " Henceforward I hold thy flower-enamelled shore,", "O hyacinthine isle! O purple Zante!", " \"Isola d'oro! Fior di Levante!\"" ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet--To Science", "author": "Edgar Allan Poe", "lines": [ "SCIENCE! true daughter of Old Time thou art!", " Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes.", "Why preyest thou thus upon the poet's heart,", " Vulture, whose wings are dull realities", "How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise,", " Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering", "To seek for treasure in the jewelled skies,", " Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing!", "Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car?", " And driven the Hamadryad from the wood", "To seek a shelter in some happier star?", " Hast thou not torn the Naiad from her flood,", "The Elfin from the green grass, and from me", "The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree?" ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "To Helen", "author": "Edgar Allan Poe", "lines": [ "Helen, thy beauty is to me", " Like those Nicean barks of yore,", "That gently, o'er a perfumed sea,", " The weary, wayworn wanderer bore", " To his own native shore.", "", "On desperate seas long wont to roam,", " Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,", "Thy Naiad airs have brought me home", " To the glory that was Greece,", "To the grandeur that was Rome.", "", "Lo! in yon brilliant window niche,", " How statue-like I see thee stand,", " The agate lamp within thy hand!", "Ah, Psyche, from the regions which", " Are Holy Land!" ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "To----", "author": "Edgar Allan Poe", "lines": [ "I heed not that my earthly lot", " Hath--little of Earth in it--", "That years of love have been forgot", " In the hatred of a minute:--", "I mourn not that the desolate", " Are happier, sweet, than I,", "But that _you_ sorrow for _my_ fate", " Who am a passer-by." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "To----", "author": "Edgar Allan Poe", "lines": [ "The bowers whereat, in dreams, I see", " The wantonest singing birds,", "", "Are lips--and all thy melody", " Of lip-begotten words--", "", "Thine eyes, in Heaven of heart enshrined", " Then desolately fall,", "O God! on my funereal mind", " Like starlight on a pall--", "", "Thy heart--_thy_ heart!--I wake and sigh,", " And sleep to dream till day", "Of the truth that gold can never buy--", " Of the baubles that it may." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "To The River", "author": "Edgar Allan Poe", "lines": [ "Fair river! in thy bright, clear flow", " Of crystal, wandering water,", "Thou art an emblem of the glow", " Of beauty--the unhidden heart--", " The playful maziness of art", " In old Alberto's daughter;", "", "But when within thy wave she looks--", " Which glistens then, and trembles--", "Why, then, the prettiest of brooks", " Her worshipper resembles;", "For in his heart, as in thy stream,", " Her image deeply lies--", "His heart which trembles at the beam", " Of her soul-searching eyes." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Hymn To Aristogeiton And Harmodius", "author": "Edgar Allan Poe", "lines": [ "Wreathed in myrtle, my sword I'll conceal,", " Like those champions devoted and brave,", "When they plunged in the tyrant their steel,", " And to Athens deliverance gave.", "", "Beloved heroes! your deathless souls roam", " In the joy breathing isles of the blest;", "Where the mighty of old have their home--", " Where Achilles and Diomed rest.", "", "In fresh myrtle my blade I'll entwine,", " Like Harmodius, the gallant and good,", "When he made at the tutelar shrine", " A libation of Tyranny's blood.", "", "Ye deliverers of Athens from shame!", " Ye avengers of Liberty's wrongs!", "Endless ages shall cherish your fame,", " Embalmed in their echoing songs!" ], "linecount": "16" } ]