XL. 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. XLI. '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. XLII. 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, XLIII. 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, Seemed whispering in my heart, and bore my steps along. XLIV. How, to that vast and peopled city led, Those hopes had lost the glory of their youth, How sadly I returned-might move the hearer's ruth: XLV. 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. XLVI. 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. XLVII. 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. XLVIII. And swift and swifter grew the vessel's motion, And we glode fast o'er a pellucid plain On the blue sunny deep, resplendent far away. XLIX. It was a Temple, such as mortal hand 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. L. 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, Yet, nor in painting's light, or mightier verse, That incommunicable sight, and rest Upon the labouring brain and overburthened breast. LI. Winding among the lawny islands fair, Whose blosmy1 forests starred the shadowy deep, The wingless boat paused where an ivory stair A glimmering o'er the forms on every side, Sculptures like life and thought; immovable, deep-eyed. LII. We came to a vast hall, whose glorious roof Was diamond, which had drank the lightning's sheen In darkness, and now poured it through the woof Of spell-inwoven clouds hung there to screen This is the right word, not bloomy as in Mrs. Shelley's editions: blosmy is good old English.-ED. |