Swung blind in unascended majesty, Assume thy winged throne, thou Vesper of our throng!" Who mourns for Adonais? oh come forth, Fond wretch! and know thyself and him aright. Clasp with thy panting soul the pendulous Earth; As from a centre, dart thy spirit's light Beyond all worlds, until its spacious might Satiate the void circumference: then shrink Even to a point within our day and night; And keep thy heart light, lest it make thee sink When hope has kindled hope, and lured thee to the brink. Or go to Rome, which is the sepulchre, Oh, not of him, but of our joy: 'tis nought Glory from those who made the world their prey; Go thou to Rome,-at once the Paradise, And where its wrecks like shatter'd mountains rise, A light of laughing flowers along the grass is spread, Like flame transform'd to marble; and beneath Have pitch'd in Heaven's smile their camp of death, The One remains, the many change and pass; Until Death tramples it to fragments.-Die, If thou wouldst be with that which thou dost seek Follow where all is filed!-Rome's azure sky, Flowers, ruins, statues, music, words, are weak The glory they transfuse with fitting truth to speak. Why linger, why turn back, why shrink, my Heart? Thy hopes are gone before: from all things here They have departed; thou shouldst now depart! A light is passed from the revolving year, And man, and woman; and what still is dear Attracts to crush, repels to make thee wither. The soft sky smiles,-the low wind whispers nea. 'Tis Adonais calls! oh, hasten hither, No more let Life divide what Death can join together That Light whose smile kindles the Universe, The breath whose might I have invoked in song Whilst burning through the inmost veil of Heaven, Beacons from the abode where the Eternal are END OF ADONAIS. SCENE-A Terrace on the Seraglio. MAHMUD (sleeping) an Indian Slave sitting beside his Couch. Chorus of Greek Captive Women. We strew these opiate flowers On thy restless pillow, They were stript from Orient bowers Be thy sleep Like theirs who fell- not ours who weep! Indian. Away, unlovely dreams! Away, false shapes of sleep. Be his, as heaven seems, Sweet as a summer night without a breath. With the soul of slumber; Chorus. Sleep, sleep! our song is laden It was sung by a Samian maiden That calm sleep Whence none may wake, where none shall weep. Indian. I touch thy temples pale! I breathe my soul on thee! Dead, and I would live to weep, Chorus. The spell of the mighty mistress now! The words which, like secret fire, shall flow Through the veins of the frozen earth-low, low! Semicho. I. Life may change, but it may fly not; Hope may vanish, but can die not; Truth be veiled, but still it burneth; Semicho. II. Yet were life a charnel, where Semicho. I. If Liberty Lent not life its soul of light, Truth its prophet's robe to wear, Chorus. In the great morning of the world, Caught, like mountains beacon-lighted, |