5. 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. 6. Alas, that love should be a blight and snare The shadow of a starless night, was thrown Which crushed and withered mine, that could not be Aught but a lifeless clog, until revived by thee. 7. 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. 8. No more alone through the world's wilder ness, Although I trod the paths of high intent, tude To trample: this was ours, and we unshaken stood! 9. Now has descended a serener hour, And with inconstant fortune friends return; Tho' 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. 10. Is it that now my inexperienced fingers 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. 11. And what art thou? I know, but dare not speak: Time may interpret to his silent years. Yet in the paleness of thy thoughtful cheek, And in the light thine ample forehead wears, And in thy sweetest smiles, and in thy tears, 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. 12. They say that thou wert lovely from thy birth, Of glorious parents, thou aspiring Child. Shines on thee, thro' the tempests dark and wild Which shake these latter days; and thou canst claim The shelter, from thy Sire, of an immortal name. 13. One voice came forth from many a mighty spirit, Which was the echo of three thousand years; And the tumultuous world stood mute to hear it, As some lone man who in a desert hears cares, Like thunder-stricken dragons, for a space Left the torn human heart, their food and dwelling-place. 14. Truth's deathless voice pauses among mankind! If there must be no response to my cry- 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. LAON AND CYTHNA. ὅσαις δὲ βροτὸν ἔθνος ἀγλαΐαις ἁπτόμεσθα, πλόον· ναυσὶ δ ̓ οὔτε πεζὺς ἰὼν τάχ' εὕροις ἐς Ὑπερβορέων ἀγῶνα θαυματὰν ὁδόν. CANTO FIRST. PIND. Pyth. X. I. 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 aërial 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. II. So as I stood, one blast of muttering thunder Burst in far peals along the waveless deep, |