"Like a cloud big with a May shower, "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?' ""Twould kill me what would cure my pain; And as I must on earth abide Awhile, yet tempt me not to break My chain." A SONG. A WIDOW bird sate mourning for her love The frozen wind crept on above, There was no leaf upon the forest bare, And little motion in the air Except the mill-wheel's sound. FRAGMENTS OF AN UNFINISHED DRAMA. THE following fragments are part of a Drama, undertaken for the amusement of the individuals who composed our intimate society, but left unfinished. I have preserved a sketch of the story as far as it had been shadowed in the poet's mind. An Enchantress, living in one of the islands of the Indian Archipelago, saves the life of a Pirate, a man of savage but noble nature. She becomes enamoured of him; and he, inconstant to his mortal love, for awhile returns her passion; but at length, recalling the memory of her whom he left, and who laments his loss, he escapes from the enchanted island and returns to his lady. His mode of life makes him again go to sea, and the Enchantress seizes the opportunity to bring him, by a spirit-brewed tempest, back to her island. Scene, before the Cavern of the Indian Enchantress. ENCHANTRESS. He came like a dream in the dawn of life, He is gone, and my peace is turned to strife, And for my sake Make answer the while my heart shall break! But my heart has a music which Echo's lips, Though tender and true, yet can answer not, And the shadow that moves in the soul's eclipse Can return not the kiss by his now forgot; Sweet lips! he who hath On my desolate path Cast the darkness of absence, worse than death! The Enchantress makes her spell: she is answered by a Spirit. SPIRIT. Within the silent centre of the earth My mansion is; where I have lived insphered Of this dim spot, which mortals call the world; In the dark space of interstellar air. A good Spirit, who watches over the Pirate's fate, leads, in a mysterious manner, the lady of his love to the Enchanted Isle. She is accompanied by a youth, who loves her, but whose passion she returns only with a sisterly affection. The ensuing scene takes place between them on their arrival at the Isle. INDIAN YOUTH AND LADY. INDIAN. And if my grief should still be dearer to me LADY. I offer only That which I seek, some human sympathy INDIAN. Oh! my friend, My sister, my beloved! What do I say? My brain is dizzy, and I scarce know whether LADY. Peace, perturbed heart! I am to thee only as thou to mine, The passing wind which heals the brow at noon, You also loved? INDIAN. But you said LADY. Loved! Oh, I love. Methinks This word of love is fit for all the world, And that for gentle hearts another name Would speak of gentler thoughts than the world owns. I have loved. INDIAN. And thou lovest not? If so Young as thou art, thou canst afford to weep. LADY. Oh! would that I could claim exemption He came, and went, and left me what I am. INDIAN. Your breath is like soft music, your words are But as you said— LADY. He was so awful, yet So beautiful in mystery and terror, Calming me as the loveliness of heaven More need that I should be most true and kind, To share remorse, and scorn, and solitude, And all the ills that wait on those who do The tasks of ruin in the world of life. He fled, and I have followed him. |