Then to a home, for his repose assigned Accompanied by the still throng he went In silence, where, to soothe his rankling mind, Some likeness of his ancient state was lent; And, if his heart could have been innocent
As those who pardoned him, he might have ended His days in peace; but his straight lips were bent, Men said, into a smile which guile portended, [blended. A sight with which that child-like hope with fear was
'Twas midnight now, the eve of that great day Whereon the many nations at whose call The chains of earth like mist melted away, Decreed to hold a sacred Festival,
A rite to attest the equality of all
Who live. So to their homes, to dream or wake All went. The sleepless silence did recal Laone to my thoughts, with hopes that make
The flood recede from which their thirst they seek to
The dawn flowed forth, and from its purple fountains
I drank those hopes which make the spirit quail, As to the plain between the misty mountains And the great City, with a countenance pale I went:-it was a sight which might avail To make men weep exulting tears, for whom Now first from human power the reverend veil Was torn, to see Earth from her general womb Pour fort ner swarming sons to a fraternal doom:
To see, far glancing in the misty morning, The signs of that innumerable host,
To hear one sound of many made, the warning Of Earth to Heaven from its free children lost, While the eternal hills, and the sea tost In wavering light, and, starring the blue sky The city's myriad spires of gold, almost With human joy made mute society,
Its witnesses with men who must hereafter be:
To see, like some vast island from the Ocean, The Altar of the Federation rear
Its pile in the midst; a work which the devotion Of millions in one night created there,
Sudden as when the moonrise makes appear Strange clouds in the east; a marble pyramid Distinct with steps: that mighty shape did wear
The light of genius; its still shadow hid
Far ships: to know. its height the morning mists forbid !
To hear the restless multitudes for ever Around the base of that great Altar flow, As on some mountain islet burst and shiver Atlantic waves; and solemnly and slow As the wind bore that tumult to and fro. To feel the dreamlike music, which did swim Like beams thro' floating clouds on waves below, Falling in pauses from that Altar dim
As silver-sounding tongues breathed an aërial hymn.
To hear, to see, to live, was on that morn Lethean joy! so that all those assembled Cast off their memories of the past outworn: Two only bosoms with their own life trembled, And mine was one,-and we had both dissembled. So with a beating heart I went, as one,
Who having much, covets yet more, resembled ; A lost and dear possession, which not won,
He walks in lonely gloom beneath the noonday sun,
To the great Pyramid I came its stair With female quires was thronged: the loveliest Among the free, grouped with its sculptures rare. As I approached, the morning's golden mist, Which now the wonder-stricken breezes kiss'd With their cold lips, fled, and the summit shone Like Athos seen from Samothracia, drest In earliest light by vintagers, and one
Sate there, a female Shape upon an ivory throne
A form most like the imagined habitant
Of silver exhalations sprung from dawn,
By winds which feed on sunrise woven, to inchant The faiths of men: all mortals' eyes were drawn, As famished mariners thro' strange seas gone Gaze on a burning watch-tower by the light Of those divinest lineaments-alone
With thoughts which none could share, from that fair I turned in sickness, for a veil shrouded her countenance
And, neither did I hear the acclamations,
Which, from brief silence bursting, filled the air
With her strange name and mine, from all the nations Which we, they said, in strength had gathered there From the sleep of bondage; nor the vision fair Of that bright pageantry beheld,-but blind And silent, as a breathing corpse did fare, Leaning upon my friend, till, like a wind,
To fevered cheeks, a voice flowed o'er my troubled mind
Like music of some minstrel heavenly gifted, To one whom fiends inthrall, this voice to me; Scarce did I wish her veil to be uplifted
I was so calm and joyous,-I could see
The platform when we stood, the statues three Which kept their marble watch on that high shrine, The multitudes, the mountains, and the sea, As, when eclipse hath past, things sudden shine To men's astonished eyes most clear and crystalline.
At first Laone spoke most tremulously: But soon her voice that calmness which it shea Gathered, and-" thou art whom I sought to see, And thou art our first votary here," she said, "I had a dear friend once, but he is dead!- And of all those on the wide earth who breathe, Thou dost resemble him alone,-I spread This veil between us two, that thou beneath
Shouldst image one who may have been long lostin death.
"For this wilt thou not henceforth pardon me? Yes, but those joys which silence well requite Forbid reply-why men have chosen me To be the Priestess of this holiest rite
I scarcely know, but that the floods of light Which flow over the world have borne me hither To meet thee, long most dear; and now unite Thine hand with mine, and may all comfort wither From both the hearts whose pulse in joy now beats together.
"If our own will as others' law we bind, If the foul worship trampled here we fear; If as ourselves we cease to love our kind!"-
She paused, and pointed upwards-sculptured there Three shapes around her ivory throne appear; One was a Giant, like a child asleep
On a loose rock, whose grasp crushed, as it were In dream, sceptres and crowns; and one did keep Its watchful eyes in doubt whether to smile or weep;
A Woman sitting on the sculptured disk Of the broad earth, and feeding from one breast A human babe and a young basilisk;
Her looks were sweet as Heaven's when loveliest In Autumn eyes.-The third Image was drest In white wings, swift as clouds in winter skies. Beneath his feet, 'mongst ghastliest forms, represt Lay Faith, an obscene worm, who sought to rise, While calmly on the Sun he turned his diamond eyes.
Beside that Image then I sate, while she
Stood, 'mid the throngs which ever ebbed and flowed
Like light amid the shadows of the sea
Cast from one cloudless star, and on the crowd
That touch, which none who feels forgets, bestowed; And, whilst the sun returned the steadfast gaze
Of the great Image as o'er Heaven it glode,
That rite had place; it ceased when sunset's blaze Burned o'er the isles; all stood in joy and deep amaze,
When in the silence of all spirits there Laone's voice was felt, and thro' the air
Her thrilling gestures spoke, most eloquently fair.
1. "Calm art thou as yon sunset! swift and strong As new-fledged Eagles, beautiful and young, That float among the blinding beams of morning; And underneath thy feet writhe Faith, and Folly, Custom, and Hell, and mortal MelancholyHark! the Earth starts to hear the mighty warning Of thy voice sublime and holy:
Its free spirits, here assembled,
See thee, feel thee, know thee, now :- To thy voice their hearts have trembled Like ten thousand clouds which flow With one wide wind as it flies !- Wisdom! thy irresistible children rise To hail thee, and the elements they chain And their own will to swell the glory of thy train.
2. "O Spirit, vast and deep as Night and Heaven! Mother and soul of all to which is given The light of life, the loveliness of being, Lo! thou dost re-ascend the human heart, Thy throne of power, almighty as thou wert, In dreams of Poets old, grown pale by seeing The shade of thee:-now, millions start To feel thy lightnings thro' them burning: Nature, or God, or Love, or Pleasure, Or Sympathy, the sad tears turning To mutual smiles, a drainless treasure, Descends amidst us;-Scorn and Hate, Revenge and Selfishness, are desolate-
A hundred nations swear that there shall be Pity, and Peace, and Love, among the good and free:
3. "Eldest of things, divine Equality! Wisdom and Love are but the slaves of thee, The angels of thy sway, who pour around thee Treasures from all the cells of human thought, And from the Stars, and from the Ocean brought,
« PoprzedniaDalej » |