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XXVIII.

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.

XXIX.

"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.

XXX.

"We live in our own world, and mine was made

From glorious phantasies 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 You dim and fading clouds which load the weary wind.

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XXXI.

"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.

XXXII.

"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.

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XXXIII.

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 grey 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.

XXXIV.

"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.

XXXV.

"And thus my prison was the populous earth

Where I saw-even as misery dreams of morn Before the east has given its glory birthReligion'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.

XXXVI.

"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.

XXXVII.

"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.

XXXVIII.

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"So years had passed, when sudden earth

quake 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.

XXXIX.

"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.

XL.

"My spirit moved upon the sea like wind Which round some thymy cape will lag and hover,

Though it can wave 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