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!

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!

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 charmèd name he hear,
Shall fade like shadow from his thousand fanes,

While Truth, with Joy enthroned, o'er his lost empire reigns!"

LIII.

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.

LIV.

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.

LV.

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.

LVI.

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 ocean's deep,

All shapes might throng to share that fly or walk or creep,—

LVII.

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.

LVIII.

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.

LIX.

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 VI.

I.

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;

II.

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.

III.

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 leapt

On the gate's turret, and in rage and grief and scorn I wept !

IV.

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.

V.

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.

VI.

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.

VII.

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.

VIII.

Thus sudden, unexpected feast was spread

For the carrion fowls of heaven.-I saw the sightI 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.